Fansided

Markieff Morris threw a towel at head coach Jeff Hornacek

By John Buhler

Dec 21, 2015; Salt Lake City, UT, USA; Phoenix Suns forward Markieff Morris (11) sits the bench in the final second of their 110-89 loss to the Utah Jazz at vivint.SmartHome Arena. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Swinger-USA TODAY Sports
Dec 21, 2015; Salt Lake City, UT, USA; Phoenix Suns forward Markieff Morris (11) sits the bench in the final second of their 110-89 loss to the Utah Jazz at vivint.SmartHome Arena. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Swinger-USA TODAY Sports /
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Markieff Morris was not happy that Phoenix Suns head coach Jeff Hornacek benched him in the fourth quarter Wednesday night and threw a towel a Hornacek.

Phoenix Suns forward Markieff Morris does not have a solid relationship with his head coach Jeff Hornacek. On Wednesday night in Suns’ 104-96 loss to the Denver Nuggets, Hornacek pulled Morris from the game with 9:47 remaining in the fourth quarter and Morris proceed to throw his towel in Hornacek’s general direction. Hornacek then tossed the towel back at Morris with his own angered comments.

Phoenix has been in the middle of the NBA’s Western Conference for the last three seasons under former player Hornacek. The Suns are 12-19 and are once again probably not going to make the Western Conference Playoffs. Morris has not been happy in Phoenix since the organization traded away his identical twin brother Marcus Morris in the offseason.

Morris’ play has dipped this season since the trade of his brother. Morris once a center piece for this Suns team doesn’t start anymore. Hornacek told the Arizona Republic’s Paul Coro about Morris, “He’s made about not playing. I look at the stat sheet. He’s a minus-13 in 12 minutes. So there, I took him out…He thinks he’s better than that. Show me.”

The Suns will reportedly “discuss possible discipline” for Morris’ towel throwing incident, per Coro. With a souring relationship with the team and the organization, the Suns may look to trade away its second Morris brother in a year’s time.

Morris has not been the same player since the Suns traded away his brother. Maybe he needs a change of environment to get back to averaging 15.3 points and 6.2 rebounds per game like he did in 2014-15? With the issues with the Morris brothers, former point guard Goran Dragic demanding a trade last season, and a roster that always has too many point guards, something has to give with this Suns team.

Is Hornacek or the front office the issue or do the Suns routinely acquire players with difficult personalities? Morris doesn’t seem like a fixture in Phoenix for much longer after his towel throwing incident involving Hornacek.

According to Sham Charania of Yahoo! Sports, the Suns have suspended Morris for two games for this towel throwing incident.

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