Why hasn't a Markief Morris to Celtics trade happened?

[obnoxiousmime]

It seems that Morris would be a great fit for this team. He's talented, on a great deal, and it doesn't seem like the Suns are asking for a lot. McDonough, the Suns GM has a good relationship with his former boss, Ainge. The Celtics also have plenty of draft picks of various worth available to deal.

Reasons why it may not have happened yet:

1) The Celtics don't want Markief's $24 million guaranteed on their cap the next three seasons.
2) The Suns don't want to deal another one of their talented players to the Celtics. McDonough (whose job is in danger) doesn't want to look like he got ripped off twice by his old boss Ainge.
3) The Celtics are really low-balling the Suns.
4) The Celtics are concerned Morris will be bad in the locker room and is not worth the risk (it seems like Isaiah would be able to provide a character reference here, along with Ryan McDonough giving Ainge the straight dope about Markief's character).
5) The Celtics really believe in their current big man rotation and don't have the minutes for Markief (hey, they're just possible theories, don't laugh).
6) The Celtics are saving their assets for a possible better deal at the trade deadline/in the near future.
7) The Celtics don't like Morris' game or don't think he's a fit.

What do you guys think?

[Who]

I don't think Ainge rates him over the C's current crop of PFs.

Not a big enough upgrade over them. Which leads me to believe that there is only around 6-7 PFs in the league that Ainge pursue over Olynyk, Sully and Co.

[obnoxiousmime]

I don't think Ainge rates him over the C's current crop of PFs.

Not a big enough upgrade over them. Which leads me to believe that there is only around 6-7 PFs in the league that Ainge pursue over Olynyk, Sully and Co.

All things being equal and attitude issues aside, I would rather have Morris than either Olynyk or Sullinger. Sullinger will be a free agent soon and although his value has dipped, it's hard to imagine he couldn't manage something close to or exceeding what remains of Morris' deal after this season: 3 years, 24 million. In that sense you could be saving money by replacing Sullinger with Morris. If you think Morris is better, even better.

You seem very secure with Olynyk and Sullinger at the 4. Have you noticed almost every post recently is how we might upgrade that position?

[SHAQATTACK]

It shouldn't

[celticsfan8591]

Probably because Morris isn't good enough to justify the headaches he causes.  He'd be more of a chemistry problem than Boogie and has a fraction of the talent.  Boogies is immature and hot-headed, Morris is just an outright ****.

[Al91]

Boogie can still play and throw tantrums under the guise that he just cares so much (a lot of people like to lean on that explanation, almost comparing Boogie's heart to KG's...jury is still out if you ask me).

Meanwhile, it's far too easy for me to connect the recent "issues" the Morris brothers have gotten themselves to the idea that they're team-killers. The Morris brothers have had a fun run-ins with the law if I remember correctly, definitely more than one occasion. In fact I believe one of the brothers has some outstanding charge still levied against him currently. So no, I don't want any bit of the Morris duo in Boston for all of the reasons you already provided, plus his legal issues.

He may be a fine player in a different location, but let that place be somewhere other than Boston.

[PhoSita]

(a) Markieff is having a bad year so far, worse than Sullinger -- though you could question whether this is due to dissatisfaction with his situation

(b) Ryan McDonough, an Ainge disciple, has probably adopted Ainge's philosophy of never selling a player for less than you think he's worth -- even when his market value is seriously depressed by on-court and off-court struggles.

[apc]

Stevens doesn't like towels thrown at him?

[Kane3387]

He's not even close to talented enough to be the kind of story he is. That's why. He's a complete distraction and its pretty disappointing. 

[86MaxwellSmart]

I think the Celtics need Bigger AND Stronger forwards---Morris is that(well, stronger anyway)....our guys like K.O. and Jerebko get pushed around a lot....Maybe Ainge is waiting to see what happens in Sactown----cause you probably wouldn't want Cousins AND Morris on the same team...but who knows...maybe we could get the other Morris here too.

[Geo123]

Because of this....

"Steve Kyler ‏@stevekylerNBA  · 3h3 hours ago 

Steve Kyler Retweeted James Gatt
Not sure why there is this belief that a guy performing poorly and under contract through 2018-19 is good?

James Gatt @Gatt1334   @stevekylerNBA well I was thinking that Morris has a pretty good contract because when on his game he is probably worth more then that ?

Steve Kyler Retweeted James Gatt
The running narrative from teams is they would rather have the $7.5 million in cap space in July than Morris." 

[LooseCannon]

Markieff Morris is the new Lance Stephenson.

[Smartacus]

Marcus Morris' emergence as Detroit's starting 3 has restoked my interest in Markief. Both brothers seem like they need to be happy in their situation to play well.

They're Philly guys too who probably fit better in the Eastern Conference.

[BudweiserCeltic]

I don't think Ainge rates him over the C's current crop of PFs.

Not a big enough upgrade over them. Which leads me to believe that there is only around 6-7 PFs in the league that Ainge pursue over Olynyk, Sully and Co.

The problem that I see with this analysis is that you're basing it off previous seasons' performances (2 seasons to be exact) rather than what he seems to currently be offering. Whatever the reason may be, he's playing quite poorly this year to go along with the headache he's causing with his attitude.

So right now he's an actual downgrade to what we currently have + long contract (which may be good or bad depending on how you look at it, worth considering his return to performance vs. the headache vs. opportunities in the free-agent market).

I don't think he's worth gambling on at this point. If you can get him on the cheap as an addition to our rotation rather than someone who supplants one of our main 3 guys (he might make a good 4th big and see if he works up his game again), then that would make sense for us in some sense. Other than that, we're best off letting him be a headache for someone else (and his pending legal problems). Point remains how much we'd rather retain cap space over him or not.