KU's Morris twins dream of double-dip in Draft's first round

CHICAGO -- It was their agent, and of course they would have the same agent, who decided twins Marcus and Markieff Morris should not work out together for NBA teams. They need to be evaluated separately, Tony Dutt encouraged, and that isn't always possible if basketball operations staffers are on the sidelines trying to rub the double vision from their eyes.

"When we're together," Marcus was saying at the recent pre-Draft combine, "it's almost like we're one."

Same school, Kansas. Same projected professional role, power forwards with the versatility to play some small forward. Tracking to the same general landing spot in the Draft, from late in the lottery to the teens, with Marcus regarded as a slightly better prospect and expected to be off the board before Markieff.

Marcus said he recently grew out his sideburns to advance the matching-set look. Just like they have the same 14 tattoos. And were connected all the way to Markieff wearing uniform No. 21 in college and Marcus No. 22. All part of the close relationship, and the fun.

But nothing -- nothing -- speaks to the desire to be joined than their plans for summer:

To end up on the same NBA team, whether on Draft night in Newark, N.J., close to their hometown of Philadelphia, or via a later trade.

It's a tremendous long shot, of course. But so are twins going together in the first round, and that's going to happen June 23, joining Robin and Brook Lopez in 2008 in the rarity.

"My agent definitely was talking about us playing on the same team," Markieff said. "It definitely is something we would want to do. We've been playing together for a long time. But we definitely can hold our own. If we split up, it would just be a new situation for both of us."

They would switch classes during middle school, Marcus taking a reading test, one of his better subjects, for his brother while Markieff faked out the teacher by taking a math exam for Marcus. Imagine the possibilities if they end up on the same team -- one gets in early foul trouble, a jersey change at halftime, and who's going to be checking DNA samples?

But it's probably not going to happen. Time to part.

"We're comfortable going different directions," Marcus said. "We want to play together at the end of the day. But we're very comfortable with him going his way and I'll go my way. It has to happen. We're young men and we're growing, so it has to happen once.

"That's my best friend, and we like to be twins. We don't want to look different. We want to look the same. That's why we're twins. That's why we have the same tattoos, get the same type of haircut, like the same food. It just happened that way. I don't know why. It just happened that way."

At the very least, they'll be joined in the first round on Draft night and maybe even the top half of the first round. It's almost like they're one.

Scott Howard-Cooper has covered the NBA since 1988. You can e-mail him here and follow him on twitter.

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