Phoenix Suns Betting on Potential over Production by Extending Morris Twins
The Phoenix Suns weren't finished spending after reaching a five-year, $70 million agreement with emerging star Eric Bledsoe.
On the heels of a surprise 48-win season that nearly qualified the Suns for the playoffs, general manager Ryan McDonough's front office had a mandate to keep this young roster intact. That includes keeping the NBA's most famous twin duo in the fold for years to come.
In a market increasingly characterized by swelling player values, both of those deals are unequivocal bargains.
"We are excited to be able to extend the contracts of Marcus and Markieff," McDonough said in a statement on the team's website, via NBA.com. "They have had great success playing together at every level of basketball, including last season with the Suns...They are just entering their primes and we think they will play the best basketball of their careers over the course of the next five years."
It's what you'd expect a GM to say, but the optimism is well-founded.
Markieff turned heads in his third season out of Kansas, averaging a career-high 13.8 points and six rebounds in 26.6 minutes per contest. He ranked as one of the league's most effective sixth men, and his ability to stretch the floor becomes even more vital in the absence of Channing Frye, who left via free agency for the Orlando Magic.
NBA.com notes that, "In 2013-14, Markieff finished fourth in voting for the NBA Sixth Man of the Year and 10th in voting for NBA Most Improved Player as he led the league in points scored off the bench (1,115), double-digit scoring games off the bench (59) and double-doubles off the bench (11)."
Marcus commanded a smaller contract, reflecting the extent to which his career has been slightly less productive. Still, he's coming off a season in which he averaged a career-high 22 minutes and 9.7 points per game.
Markieff was taken by Phoenix with the 13th overall pick in 2011. Marcus was taken immediately thereafter by the Houston Rockets and wasn't traded to the Suns until 2013, at which point the Morris brothers became just the second pair of twins to join forces in the NBA—the first being Dick and Tom Van Arsdale, also of the Suns, way back in 1976-77 (h/t ESPN.com).
To this point, neither brother has shown superstar potential. They're strong complementary players, and their versatility fits well with a Suns team that ranked eighth in pace a season ago, per Hollinger's NBA Team Statistics. Head coach Jeff Hornacek likes to push tempo and look for the long ball, a game plan that privileges 4s who can space the floor.
Only three teams attempted more three-point field goals than the Suns last season, and this team collectively made 37.2 percent of those attempts—tied for the seventh-best mark in the league.
So these extensions are in part of a matter of chemistry. Continuity is always a good thing, but it's even better when the personnel gel with the system.
But these extensions also reflect a hope that the Morris brothers continue their improvement. Each has undergone steady growth in his first three seasons, and—at 25 years old—McDonough's belief that they're "just entering their primes" isn't unrealistic.
History seems to suggest Markieff has the higher ceiling, but he'll likely be facing greater challenges this season.
As Grantland's Zach Lowe put it, "Defenses will focus on him, and Morris will share the floor with more accomplished scorers if he replaces Channing Frye in the starting lineup."
The good news is Morris has an increasingly polished game that very well could withstand heightened defensive attention.
Lowe added that, "Morris was one of the league's very best post-up scorers last year; he shot 46 percent from the block, drew fouls at a decent rate, and took care of the ball, per Synergy."
The big question is what kind of strides Markieff can make going forward. Having already made a big leap last season, a more pessimistic school of thought holds that his play will more or less plateau from here on out.
Even if that's the case, Phoenix may have gotten a bargain.
As NBCSports.com's Dan Feldman notes, "With the salary cap projected to rise drastically the next few years, neither [deal] will burn Phoenix."
But the relatively modest dollar amounts attached to these deals should caution against any unreasonable expectations about how much impact either Morris twin will make—now or ever. No one is betting on All-Star appearances.
Rather, the realistic hope is that the Morrises continue taking small steps along with a young roster that's still finding itself.
"We had to go over and over things last year because it was all new," Hornacek said, according to The Arizona Republic's Paul Coro. "This year, we'll get into things quicker and be able to play more. We should be able to cover the little things. We did a great job of scoring last season, but now it's about the little things."
Last season was Hornacek's first in Phoenix. Bledsoe and swingman Gerald Green are coming off their first campaigns with the club. After adding point guard Isaiah Thomas this summer, McDonough's roster appears to have taken shape.
Now's the time for that group to build some connectivity and continue its rapid maturation.
From that perspective, it's hard to see either of these deals backfiring even a little bit. At worst, the Suns have two good (maybe very good) power forwards in a rotation that tends to rely more on guard play anyway. This was something of a no-brainer for the organization.
Besides, this franchise isn't going anywhere without taking some chances.
"In finance, you learn once you've spent money, it is a sunk cost and it has no bearing on your next decision," owner Robert Sarver said of past personnel decisions earlier in September, per Coro. "In this case, some numbers were really big. That makes you pause. You get used to the fact that you're going to make mistakes. If you're afraid to make mistakes, you're going to be afraid to make decisions."
The Suns certainly haven't been averse to making decisions this summer. They'll pay Thomas just $7,238,606 this season, a figure that declines in each of the three years after that. And even Bledsoe's pricey contract could eventually prove worth every penny.
Striking deals with Markieff and Marcus was the next logical step in a bid to keep the band together.
It wasn't Phoenix's noisiest move of the summer, but it was a crucial one. That will become all the clearer in time.
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