(Photo: Ron Turenne/NBAE via Getty Images)
Coming off of an ankle injury and offseason sports hernia surgery, Markieff Morris has had a slow start to the 2017-18 season. In 14 games, the power forward is averaging 9 points on 42.1 percent shooting, 4.4 rebounds and 1.1 assists. Last season, Morris averaged 14 points on 45.7 percent shooting, 6.5 rebounds, and 1.7 assists per game. In hopes to try and get his 6-foot-10 forward going, head coach Scott Brooks sat down with Morris with a one-on-one film session between the team's shootaround.
“We had a nice little film session this morning, just him and I,” Brooks shared pregame before the Wizards and Pistons even tipper off. “Pointing out some of the things that we can take advantage of with his skill set. And he is well aware that he needs to play better for us to have success. One of our key performers in last season’s success was him. During that stretch of games, it seemed like every night it was nearly 20 points and 8 or 9 rebounds for two or three months.”
One of the biggest upgrades at head coach between Randy Wittman and Scott Brooks is that the latter is a people person that is more relatable to today’s players. John Wall and Bradley Beal often reference that Brooks gives them and the team a lot of freedom with their everyday lives. That helps to explain why Brooks wants to help Morris beyond his performance in NBA arenas.
“It gives me a time to talk to him, not only with what I see on the film, but what’s going on,” Brooks related. “I think it’s important to always stay connected with our guys. It’s not always just about basketball. It’s about relationships off the court and helping him out on how to manage things. I’m not a psychologist, but I like talking to players and getting into how they think, and how I can help them play better. We need Keef to play better. He’s a good player for us.”
When the Wizards went on that 17-game home winning streak, much of it was thanks to Morris’ elite level of play. If Washington wants to compete to play in the Eastern Conference Finals, then they will need him to once again tilt the odds in their favor.
“We had good dialogue,” Brooks continued. “He understands how important he is to our team. He’s always, in my mind, been the wild card. He plays well, we are hard to beat. He’s a good player, he’s a skilled basketball player and he knows he’s going to have to play better. It’s not like if he doesn’t play better tonight, he’s going to get benched. I know that he is well aware how important he is for our success.”
To say Morris delivered is an understatement. He finished with 23 points, a season-high, on 10 of 16 shooting including 2 of 3 from deep, 7 rebounds, and 3 assists in 28 minutes of play.
“He came out and played with the force that we -- that I -- saw many times last year,” Brooks said after saying he takes zero credit for Morris’ performance following the film sessions hours before. “By playing hard it gives you a chance to play well, and I thought he did that tonight with coming back from his surgery. I think that's behind him. He knows that with John out, that we're down a man and he needs to, not take over the scoring, but participate and get involved more of the scoring. And then defensively, I think he did a great job, and he's guarding a guy that's playing like an All-Star in Tobias [Harris]. He's a hard guy to guard.”
Morris, who keeps it real, but is soft spoken, was finally not frustrated with one of his performances.
“It felt good,” Morris said. “It’s about time I had a good game. I have to keep pressing forward and be more aggressive.”
The power forward shared that Brooks was challenging him to be more active in games during the one-on-one meeting.
“I guess you can say that,” Morris responded when asked if the film session resulted in his performance. “Every time, we sit down and watch film the benefit is always positive. Basically, it told me my activity was low and I stand around the 3-point line too much. I have to be more aggressive offensively.”
A reason Morris is not as active as he was last year, is his lingering injuries. Between his sprained ankle from the Boston playoff series last season and his hernia surgery 10 weeks ago, he is still not 100 percent.
“Hell naw,” Morris said when asked if he was 100 percent even though Brooks said there is no injury that he is aware of on Wednesday. “85, 90 [percent]. It takes some time, I came back three weeks before I was supposed to.”
When Morris is able to get back to 100 percent, which may not be anytime soon as he explained that the grueling NBA schedule of constant travel and practices let alone games is slowing down his recovery, Washington will be able to look like the team that nearly got to the Eastern Conference Finals last season. In the meantime, the Wizards need him to do more of what he did tonight, while Wall is out at least another week.