This is the second game in a row where Markieff Morris has played somewhat limited minutes, but has been an absolute bucket-getter during the time he was on the court. Last game, it was 23 points in 22 minutes, this game, it’s 22 points in 20 minutes. I don’t normally think of him as a post-up threat, but he has been fearless in scoring out of those situations, and that’s gotta be a sight for the sore eyes of Pistons fans who have endured years and years of Drummond’s unaesthetic (and usually unsuccessful) post-ups.
Are the Pistons showcasing Markieff for a trade right now? If they are, they’re doing it in a crafty way, since he’s not getting the amount of minutes you would expect for somebody being showcased. Maybe Casey told him that, when he’s on the court, he should be looking to score on every possession. For an outside observer, it simply looks like Morris is trying to play his way back into a larger role on the team, and is maybe being marginalized on the Pistons. There’s probably a bunch of rival GM’s out there who are salivating at the the thought of adding Morris for their playoff push. Maybe they’re even thinking about adding both Morris brothers.
The thing is, recent history has told us that Morris (the Makieff version) might not be so useful for a playoff push. The Thunder acquired him from the Wizards at the deadline last season and he wasn’t good for them at all. Somehow, the fit just wasn’t there. However, GM’s could easily handwave that away by pinning the fault on Russell Westbrook, because most issues with fit and team chemistry are actually his fault in the end. I’ll be F5’ing Wojnaroosky’s Twitter in the upcoming days and weeks to see if Morris does get moved.