PHOENIX — The Phoenix Suns have only added two incoming free agents on standard contracts so far this offseason in Monte Morris and Mason Plumlee.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!Morris and Plumlee, although only signed to veteran-minimum deals, can immediately fill two of the biggest holes Phoenix had last season in a backup point guard and reliable backup center.
“I think Phoenix was the perfect spot for me as far as opportunity and just a chance to compete with a great team, great coach, and get a chance to win a championship,” Morris said in a Zoom media availability Tuesday.
The Suns did not use a backup point guard for the back half of the 2023-24 season, so Morris can immediately slot into a role the Suns missed. Jordan Goodwin held the backup 1 guard spot to start the year, but it did not end up materializing, as Goodwin was dealt away at the trade deadline.
Morris, who has seven years and 375 regular season games (166 starts) of NBA experience under his belt, was on the Minnesota Timberwolves team that swept the Suns in the first round last season. The 6-2 guard saw first hand that the Suns were missing a point guard and knows what he can bring to the table.
“Being a general, being a point guard, getting guys to spots and getting the ball to them where they need it to be productive,” Morris said. “I think that’s one of my biggest traits, as far as knowing how to adapt despite who I’m playing with the four guys out there. But I think it’s big for me to know their games, know their spots, and also know the type of person they is, so I can speak to them.”
As for Plumlee, the 34-year-old will look to be an upgrade of Drew Eubanks, who struggled mightily in his lone season with the Suns, posting a team-worst -106 plus/minus. Eubanks signed with the Utah Jazz this offseason.
“I had really good conversations with (coach Mike Budenholzer) and (general manager and president of basketball operations James Jones) and (CEO) Josh (Bartelstein) and then ultimately (owner) Mat (Ishbia),” Plumlee said at the team’s practice facility Monday. “They were very convincing, and this is a roster that I was excited to join.”
Plumlee, who is known to be a crafty playmaker at the 5 position, hangs his hat on his competitiveness.
“I think there’s so much talk about this skill, that skill, whatever, I see myself as a competitor first,” Plumlee said. “That’s something that I want to bring here.”
Helping out the Bench with Established Chemistry
Last season, the Suns’ bench was the worst in the NBA in terms of points per game at 26.6, as they struggled to find a consistent rotation due to injury problems all season.
The Suns are mostly running it back from last season and have six players under longterm contracts in Kevin Durant, Devin Booker, Bradley Beal, Grayson Allen, Jusuf Nurkić and Royce O’Neale who figure to be the top-six players in Phoenix’s rotation.
Barring injuries to these six, Plumlee and Morris will look to re-shape the notion of the Suns’ bench this upcoming season. Luckily for Phoenix fans, the two know each other pretty well and have experience with one another in helping out bench units, as they both played on the Denver Nuggets from 2017-20. The duo appeared in 177 games together and Denver had a 93-51 record in the regular season and went 16-17 in the playoffs in these games, per Pro Ballers.
“Me and Mason, we had a great run in Denver, threw him a lot, a lot of lobs,” Morris said. “He knows how to get me open. And I feel like we communicate with our eyes. We played together three years, and it was a high-level three years. He would hit me on a lot of backdoor cuts and things like that. But he’s a better person, also than a player, and I’m excited to get back out there with him.”
Coming off of an MCL injury that limited him last season, Plumlee probably won’t be getting up for many lobs this season. He still holds high regard for Morris, who agreed to a deal with Phoenix two days after Plumlee.
“Monte is such an underrated player. I have so much respect for him,” Plumlee said. “I’ve been in games where he’s hit big shots, he’s made big plays. I think the attraction to him at the outset of his career was how well he takes care of the ball. I know in college, he had one of the best assist-to-turnover ratios.
“He’s just a really smart player and someone that makes the game make sense for everybody that he’s playing with. I didn’t know that he was coming here, but I’m thrilled that he signed with the Suns.”
Get to know the #Suns newest free agency additions, Monte Morris and Mason Plumlee, from each other.
Morris and Plumlee played together on the #Nuggets from 2017-20 and our @brendan_mau asked them both about their relationship and how they can bolster Phoenix’s bench unit. pic.twitter.com/eaaHGAueu7
— Burn City Suns Talk ????️ (@BurnCitySuns) July 9, 2024
To Plumlee’s point, Morris had a 4.65 career assist-to-turnover ratio (min. 400 assists) across four seasons at Iowa State from 2013-17, a Division I record that is considered one of the toughest to beat.
This has carried over to the NBA as well as Morris has a career 5.04 assist-to-turnover ratio, which ranks as the second-best mark in NBA history among all players to record at least 1,000 career assists.
“My mom would always be on me about taking care of the basketball,” Morris said. “She would say, ‘Don’t let them steal my purse from me.’ So I kind of treat the ball like my mama’s purse. I try to just keep everything in tap with that.
“I’m going out there just to play basketball. I’ve been doing this since I was like four years old, so just loving the game. It kind of just comes second nature to me as far as trying to protect the basketball. I’m not trying to not make turnovers. I’m just just trying to play within myself and try to play chess, not checkers.”
Touched on this a little bit in today's Monte Morris article, but his PNR chemistry with Mason Plumlee from their time in Denver was impressive and should help the Suns' second unit. If you've got 2 minutes to spare, these are just some of their best connections: pic.twitter.com/tvRF9gNz6q
— Gerald Bourguet (@GeraldBourguet) July 10, 2024
Another Suns’ player Morris has chemistry with is Beal, as the two played together on the Washington Wizards in the 2022-23 season, where Morris started all but one of his 62 games played, primarily serving as Beal’s backcourt mate.
“We only had one year in D.C., but I think we definitely grew, especially when we were both able to be out there and play,” Morris said. “I think the sky’s the limit. I feel like we already built a little chemistry in D.C., so he knows my game, I’m very familiar with his. So it should be a smooth transition.”
A Clean Bill of Health
Another thing that Morris and Plumlee share in common entering this season is that both are coming off of injury-riddled seasons last year.
Morris started the 2023-24 season with the Detroit Pistons, but only played in seven games due to a quad injury. He then was traded to an established Timberwolves team where he had a tough time carving out a role for himself. He appeared in 27 regular season games with Minnesota and averaged 5.0 points and 2.1 assists in 14.4 minutes per game for the entire season across Minnesota and Detroit.
“With me not having the year I wanted to, despite injury and those things, just having that hunger back, and just that drive to just show the league that I’m still that same player,” Morris said. “The injuries last year was a fluke, but I think it was a blessing in disguise for me to have this opportunity (with Phoenix) and be around a great group of guys and a great organization.”
Plumlee had a tough time finding himself after suffering his MCL sprain last season, as he averaged a career-low 5.3 points on 56.9% shooting to go along with 5.1 rebounds and 1.2 assists in 14.7 minutes across 46 games (11 starts) for the Los Angeles Clippers. However, Plumlee has been overall been a very durable center over the years, only playing under 60 games one other time than last season, and that was in the shortened 2020-21 season, when he played 56 of the 72 possible games.
“It feels great to be healthy (again),” Plumlee said. “I look at every season as a fresh start. Just excited to be here. I’m thrilled to be here this year and and looking forward to getting to work.”
The Attraction of the Suns’ Roster
Plumlee will have a chance to play with star power all around him in Durant, Booker and Beal him after having Kawhi Leonard, Paul George and James Harden as teammates last season. He called it a “privilege in these more recent years of my career to play with some really good wing players” and explained why the Suns’ roster stuck out to him.
“(There’s) just a lot of talent,” Plumlee said. “Guys who have who’ve won big, and guys who are in their prime. I think that was really attractive to me.”
With the Suns ranking 25th in the NBA in turnovers per game last season, Morris will look to be a stabilizing force next to Phoenix’s stars.
“I feel like I’ve always had a feel, always took care of the basketball, played with some good players throughout my career,” Morris said. “But these players right here is Hall-of-Fame players, and I’m just excited to share the court with those guys and have some good moments and make history.”
Suns officially announce signings of Mason Plumlee, Monte Morris
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Brendan Mau is a senior writer covering the Phoenix Suns and more for Burn City Sports. You can follow him on X via @Brendan_Mau
