Three letters are all that’s needed to describe the 2015-16 Phoenix Suns season.
Ugh.
Now get ready for more ugh.
Markieff Morris is making headlines again for all the wrong reasons. This time, it’s for his shoving and shouting match with Archie Goodwin, which took place in a timeout huddle during the Suns’ Wednesday night loss to the Warriors. Here’s the Vine of the incident, courtesy of CBS Sports’ Ananth Pandian:
Markieff Morris argues with and pushes his teammate Archie Goodwin https://t.co/LXo0GWDU1v
— AP (@Ananth_Pandian) February 11, 2016
You might think this is a big deal, but Suns interim head coach Earl Watson does not.
Here’s what he said after the fact, per Bright Side of the Sun’s Dave King:
“There was one point this year when the two lived together. They’re the closest on the team. They’re like big brother little brother. I only caught the end of it, but the situation is this: this team has a lot of passion, we want to fight, we want to win. We expect everyone to play their hardest and we expect everyone to be accountable for how they play. We have to learn and will learn how to continue to grow and we have to control our emotions. Other than that, those two are really close. The team is not split. Those two are the closest on the team, they have a bond, a unique relationship. As we’ve seen, unique relationships can lead to something else throughout the league on other teams.”
Um, silver linings? Maybe?
Look, mid-game dustups aren’t uncommon among friends, and tensions in Phoenix are exacerbated by all the losing. But Markieff Morris needs to have a better head on his shoulders. He has completely devolved since the Suns shipped his brother Marcus to the Detroit Pistons, to the point where his should-be-ridiculously-reasonable deal may not be immovable.
So, you know, ugh.