By Stefan Swiat, Suns.com
Posted: June 24, 2011
After having both of her twin sons get drafted in the lottery of the 2011 NBA Draft last night, Angel Morris flew to Phoenix to see her son, Markieff, get introduced to the media by the Suns front office. Suns.com caught up with Angel to learn a little bit more about Markieff off the court.
Suns.com: When the twins were growing up, did you ever think that both of your sons would be drafted into the NBA?
Angel: No, I never thought that this day was going to happen. But since it did, I’m happy and I’m excited and I want to thank God for letting it happen. It couldn’t happen to two more humble kids in the whole wide world.
Suns.com: Where does that humility come from?
Angel: Family. Not just me, but my parents, my brothers, cousins, teachers, coaches and just family in general.
Suns.com: When did you know that they were going to be NBA players?
Angel: I guess at the end of this past year. I didn’t think they were going to go this year. I thought that they were going to go back to school for another year, but they made the decision and it turned out to be a good decision.
Suns.com: What’s the difference between Markieff and Marcus on a personal level? How is Markieff different from his brother?
Angel: Markieff wants to give you the world on a silver platter. You have to stop him at a certain point and say, “No, you can’t feed the whole wide world.” Marcus is more business-oriented. He’s a good guy, would like to give you the whole world too, but knows at a point that he has to stop.
Suns.com: So how did you decide to come to Phoenix for Markieff’s press conference instead of going to Marcus’ in Houston? Or are you also going to Houston later today?
Angel: No, I’m not going to Houston later on. It was a coin toss. Markieff was heads.
Suns.com: There was a story that mentioned that you lost your home in a fire when the twins were growing up? Is that true?
Angel: We lost our home when they were in the 10th grade to a fire. It was an electrical fire. I wasn’t angry about the fire because nobody got hurt. I think you can regroup materialistic things and get them back. I just miss baby pictures and stuff like that. I’m just happy that my family wasn’t there.
Suns.com: Do you think that changed them in a positive way?
Angel: It changed all of us in a good way. Sometimes you see fires on TV or in movies, but we never really thought that was going to happen to us. When it does, you just get a taste of how it is. Imagine walking out of your house and putting on the same clothes that you had on the next day because you don’t have any more clothes.
Suns.com: Do you think that’s where their humility might come from?
Angel: Absolutely.
Suns.com: The twins talked last night about how you were the influence behind making them basketball players? How did that happen?
Angel: It happened through being a single parent and finding someplace for my children to be off the street. You can work better knowing that they’re in a program and not just running around. They had mentors that made sure their homework was done while they were at school and then they did whatever sport there was afterwards. I think that all single parents should do that. Look for some type of program for their children to go into. Because there’s a bunch of AAU teams and everybody wants to be basketball stars, football stars or rap stars. There’s something out there in every city
Suns.com: Was it true that you stopped them from playing football and pushed them towards basketball?
Angel: They played little league football and when they got to high school, they wanted to play football some more and I said, “You can’t play football and basketball. You’re little too tall to play football anyway.” That’s how we got to basketball.
Suns.com: Why did you say they can’t play both?
Angel: Because I was afraid that football was going to break some bones.
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