Last week, when it was announced that Kevin Durant had patched things up with the front office of the Brooklyn Nets and had essentially taken back his trade request, fans breathed a huge sigh of relief.
Now the Nets have turned their focus towards finalizing their roster and going after their first-ever NBA championship.
Their roster has looked stacked in the backcourt and at the wing position, but it had been a bit weak and thin up front.
On Tuesday, Brooklyn went ahead and got veteran power forward Markieff Morris, one of the few remaining free agents, to agree to a one-year deal.
Free agent Markieff Morris has agreed to a one-year deal with the Brooklyn Nets, pending physical exam, sources tell @TheAthletic @Stadium.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) August 30, 2022
While this isn’t exactly an earth-shattering move, it could end up paying dividends for the Nets.
Morris Is A Retro Power Forward
At 6-foot-8 and 245 pounds, Morris is a rugged big man who can handle many of the league’s more powerful big forwards.
He may not be a defensive stopper, but he can at least physically match up with men such as Giannis Antetokounmpo, Jayson Tatum, and Jimmy Butler while making them work for everything they get on the offensive end.
In addition, Morris isn’t afraid to mix it up and get physical when he needs to.
Many people will remember that just several months ago, he was involved in a violent confrontation with Denver Nuggets star Nikola Jokic.
Morris bumped Jokic for a somewhat hard foul, and Jokic reacted with a very violent shove of Morris that was literally career-threatening.
tbt to the time Nikola Jokic bodied Markieff Morris 💀
— PointsBet Sportsbook (@PointsBetUSA) August 30, 2022
Morris suffered whiplash as a result, and he was forced to miss several months of action.
One problem the Nets have had the last couple of years is a reputation for being soft and a lack of enforcer-type players who could help the team remain afloat when the opposition slows down the pace and turns a game into a slugfest.
Now they have one man who won’t have a problem if the Nets are forced into that style of play by a team such as the Boston Celtics, Philadelphia 76ers, or Miami Heat.
But Morris will also give them another benefit that no team can never have too much of.
He Is A Strong Stretch 4
In the modern NBA, you can never have too much 3-point shooting, and although Brooklyn has some great 3-point shooters, it finished just 10th last season in 3-point shooting percentage.
Overall, Morris isn’t a great outside shooter percentage-wise, as he owns a career accuracy of just 34.1 percent from beyond the arc, but he can get hot.
On top of that, he has championship experience, as he won a world championship with LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers less than two calendar years ago.
During their title run, Morris shot 42.0 percent from downtown in 21 playoff games, and he hit at least four treys in three games in that postseason.
If the Nets get somewhere close to THIS version of Markieff Morris, then their offense is gonna be unstoppable. pic.twitter.com/51LKo4UHtF
— Jac Manuell (@JacManuell) August 30, 2022
With his ability to space the floor, Durant, Kyrie Irving, and Ben Simmons will have more space to do their damage in the paint.
