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Suns sign Marcus, Markieff Morris to contract extensions

2K views 16 replies 8 participants last post by  Hyperion 
#1 ·
The Suns doubled down on the Morris twins.

Marcus and Markieff Morris each signed four-year contract extensions with the Suns more than a month before the deadline, navigating the peculiar circumstance of twin contract negotiations with agent Leon Rose. The Suns secured the forwards to what appear to be fair-value deals that could prove even better when the salary cap skyrockets in two years.

Markieff Morris received a four-year, $32 million extension while Marcus took a four-year, $20 million extension. Each is finishing up his four-year rookie contract this season with Markieff at $3.15 million and Marcus at $3.11 million, setting up their extensions to go through the 2018-19 season. They are the only Suns players under contract that long besides Eric Bledsoe, who signed a five-year, $70 million contract last week.


"We wanted to lock these guys in for as long as possible," Suns General Manager Ryan McDonough said. "The twins and Leon Rose really wanted to get it done. Marcus and Markieff saw the value of playing together. If they went into restricted free agency (in July) without extensions, I don't want to say it'd be impossible to stay together but it would've been harder.

"They like it here. They've worked their butts off in the past 15-16 months since I've been here and Jeff (Hornacek's) been here."

Faced with the unique circumstance of working on simultaneous contract extensions for the 25-year-old twins, Suns President of Basketball Operations Lon Babby began with negotiating the total number for their deals with Rose and then went to the twins for how they thought the money should be divided. Babby and McDonough agreed with the twins' proposal.

"They're very close and we didn't want to suggest anything that would be a disconnect to what they thought their value was," Babby said. "I didn't delegate the whole project to them but I did ask, 'How would you divide it up?' They're so close and in it together that it was better to negotiate the total amount and then go to them for how to divide it. They desperately wanted to be together and they play better together. They motivate each other and it's been fun for me to watch their maturation."

Markieff rivaled Chicago's Taj Gibson as the best reserve big man in the NBA last season, finishing fourth in Sixth Man Award voting. Markieff's contract compares favorably for the Suns to the four-year, $38 million contract that Gibson signed two years ago. Markieff posted career bests for points per game (13.8), rebounds per game (6.0) and field goal percentage (48.6) last season in his first full season with his brother, fulfilling the theory that they play better together. The power forward is going to be counted on to fill the vacancy of Channing Frye, who signed with Orlando.

Marcus played in every game last season, also averaging career highs for points (9.7) and rebounds (3.9) and shooting a career-best 44.2 percent. The small forward made 38.1 percent of his 3-point tries and could be used at both forward spots this season. He signed to a contract that is slightly less that the league mid-level exception.

The Morris twins, drafted 13th and 14th in 2011, are the only twin teammates in NBA history besides the Suns' Dick and Tom Van Arsdale, who played the 1976-77 season together.

"They thrive off of each other," McDonough said. "I've seen a lot of maturing and development into leadership roles from them."

There are no option years or trade kickers in the twins' contracts, each of which escalates in pay.
http://www.azcentral.com/story/spor...markieff-morris-contract-extensions/16420367/
 
#2 ·
I wonder if Marcus is okay with his brother making that much more than him.
 
#8 ·
I like the way the team took care of this. Signing two brothers to extensions at the same time could have really gone badly. Focussing on a total and giving the brothers input in to how it would be split up was brilliant.

Now, if only that would work in other situations.
 
#9 ·
Not going to lie I didn't expect Keiff to get that much. Last year he was solid but not spectacular. Though I do think he will take another small step forward, and I think his peak is like 16 and 8 maybe as a starter. Which is solid and would be great at this price tag.

Like Diss said, Marcus wouldn't make anything near this if it wasn't for his brother so I'm sure he's absolutely fine doubling his pay day. Now if the Cap jumps like it's supposed to Suns will be looking good. Now to try and get Dragic at a bargain and see if Plumlee/Len are worth keeping around.
 
#10 ·
Kieff is great. He is a solid defender who can guard 3's and 4's. He also is deadly from 3pt range. I foresee Marcus developing his outside shot soon. That will open the lanes for him to play like Maggette.
 
#11 ·
I'm going to assume you got them confused because I wouldn't call Markieff's 31% last year or 33% for his career "deadly from 3pt range". And I wouldn't follow that upby saying Marcus will develop his outside shot soon considering he is a career 37%(38% last year) shoot from 3pt range.
 
#13 ·
I can't tell them apart. I looked up their numbers and flipped them. When watching, Kieff seemed to hit key 3s though.
 
#12 ·
I am good with Keiff's dollar amount and agree with what the article said about him comparing to Taj Gibson.


I'll say this, I am much more happy paying Keiff 32 million over 4 years than Channing Frye the same amount.

On the flipside, I hope that just paying players to be on the roster because they are siblings doesn't come back to bite us.

My excitement for hoops season has probably ramped up from a -11 2 weeks ago to maybe a 4-5 now.
 
#17 ·
For some reason the press seems to think he was instrumental to the suns' success last year. I guess they never watched a game because he was terrible.
 
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