Markieff Morris and P.J. Tucker looking forward to opportunity with Heat, alongside Adebayo
The Miami Heat’s three biggest additions this offseason have at least one thing in common. Veterans Kyle Lowry, Markieff Morris and P.J. Tucker have each been part of teams that have eliminated Jimmy Butler from the playoffs at some point over the past three seasons.
Lowry’s Toronto Raptors ended Butler’s season with the Philadelphia 76ers in the second round of the 2019 playoffs on the way to winning an NBA championship. Morris and the Los Angeles Lakers defeated the Heat to win the championship in the 2020 NBA Finals. And Tucker was part of the Milwaukee Bucks team that swept the Heat in the first round of the 2021 playoffs on their way to winning an NBA title.
“As I was thinking about it, each one of those guys beat me in the playoffs the last three years, which was pretty incredible,” Butler said Monday during Media Day, seemingly realizing that fact just then.
But Morris, 32, and Tucker, 36, have something else in common: They were signed by the Heat as free agents this past offseason to fill a hole at power forward.
The Heat has been searching for a Jae Crowder replacement since he left to sign with the Phoenix Suns in 2020 free agency. Crowder excelled as the Heat’s starting power forward during Miami’s run to the 2020 NBA Finals in the Walt Disney World bubble.
However, both Morris and Tucker made it clear this week that they’re not looking to replicate the work of Crowder, who averaged 12 points while shooting 34.2 percent on threes, 5.6 rebounds and 1.9 assists during the Heat’s playoff run to the Finals and also impressed defensively as the primary defender on Bucks superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo and Lakers superstar LeBron James during that stretch.
“Jae was Jae,” Tucker said. “I mean, Jae did what he did here. I’m a different player. I’m not Jae. I’m not trying to fill what Jae did. I’m trying to create what I do and bring my uniqueness to this team and build that. I feel like we had another team when Jae was here and guys have grown. Tyler [Herro] has grown, Duncan [Robinson] has grown, and everybody that was here before. I feel like it’s just another team and we’re different people.”
Morris added: “I’m versatile. I can do a lot more than I’ve shown in my last couple years just because that hasn’t been my role.”
While Morris and Tucker are different players than Crowder, the expectation is they’ll be asked to play a very similar three-and-D role to the one Crowder thrived in with the Heat.
Playing with and complementing starting center Bam Adebayo will be an important part of Morris and Tucker’s job in the Heat’s frontcourt. Tucker is expected to begin the season as the starting power forward, with Morris playing off the bench.
“Me and Bam are going to be a duo, man,” Tucker said after the Heat’s first practice Tuesday. “I think me and him talked the most today, getting on the same page. ... Bam, his versatility with my versatility on the defensive end and on offense. Honestly, the way he can handle, the way he can bring it up, the way he can pass. I mean, he’s a problem. So now I get to do a little bit more. In the past, I’m just staying in the corner in Houston and a lot in Milwaukee, too. But here, there’s a lot of cutting and a lot of just playing.
“Nobody is like Bam. ... He’s a real center that isn’t a center. It’s crazy. He can guard bigs, guard guards, protect the rim, handle it, pass it. I don’t know any other centers that can do that. [Nikola] Jokic, obviously, but Bam is different.”
With Adebayo still scoring most of his points from inside the paint, Morris and Tucker will both be asked to space the floor with their three-point shooting.
Both Morris and Tucker have displayed the ability to make threes at an above-average rate during stretches. Morris shot an impressive 42 percent on 3.3 three-point attempts per game during the Lakers’ championship run in 2020, and Tucker has established himself as one of the best corner three-point shooters in the NBA as he led the league in corner threes made for three consecutive seasons from 2017-20.
But both are coming off subpar shooting seasons.
Morris shot 31.1 percent on threes with the Lakers last season after making 38.6 percent of his shots from deep in 2019-20. He’s a 34.1 percent three-point shooter during his 10 years in the league.
“I wouldn’t call it a bad shooting year, but just a lack of opportunities,” Morris said.
Tucker, a career 35.9 percent three-point shooter, made 33.6 percent of his threes last season. That’s his lowest mark since he shot 33 percent from deep in 2015-16.
“You get open shots. You let them fly,” Tucker said of the Heat’s offense. “They move the ball so well. The ball always finds open guys. That’s something you look forward to as a player.”
Three-point shooting will be an important part of Tucker’s and Morris’ role with the Heat at power forward, but so will defense.
With Adebayo’s elite switchability on defense, the Heat prefers to play a switch-heavy style. Morris (6-10, 245) and Tucker (6-5, 245) should fit into that type of scheme, with both players strong enough to guard up and hold their own at power forward while also having the ability to stay in front of some perimeter players.
Morris even said he’s comfortable playing as a center in smaller lineups. According to Basketball-Reference, Morris has played as a center for an estimated 22 percent of the possessions he has been on the court for during his NBA career and as a power forward for the other 78 percent.
When asked what Morris adds, Spoelstra pointed to “his versatility, his positional size at the four, five. His ability to score, be able to play off the ball.”
Spoelstra said that Tucker is “fierce, he’s tough, he’s edgy” and “just screams Miami Heat culture.”
“Both of them bring positional size, toughness, experience, spacing,” Spoelstra said. “They can also play inside. So all of it, at least on paper and what we studied, we think fits very well.”
With training camp underway and Monday’s preseason opener approaching, the Heat now can see how Morris and Tucker look in its system on the basketball court.
“We can space the floor, veteran leadership,” Tucker said of what he and Morris provide. “Just our veteran presence, our know how, championship experience. We’ve both been there and we know what it takes. These are the days, the dog days, the chipping away to get to that point. You don’t just get there. You don’t just wake up in June. It’s a process.”
