Free-agent forward and Philadelphia native Markieff Morris hinted at having interest in joining the Sixers.

Morris’ desire to join the Sixers was discovered through a back-and-forth conversation he had with a Twitter user on Thursday.

Markieff Morris is the twin brother of Marcus Morris, both have made a living at being versatile and tough forwards in the modern NBA. In Markieff’s case, he’s a 10-year veteran having played for six different teams. It certainly appears he would like his seventh destination to be Philadelphia.

According to Jason Dumas of Kron4 News, UFA forward Markieff Morris is aiming to sign with a contender this coming season and have a role. His actions would undoubtedly reflect that, as his most recent team was the Miami Heat. Morris is 32 years old and would be competing for the backup four-spot and maybe even some small-ball five on the Sixers.

As much as I’ve always wanted a Morris twin on the Sixers, it feels like the team would be better off further developing Paul Reed and Charles Bassey. However, Markieff does bring that toughness that Embiid was clamoring for. Of course, this situation depends on what the Sixers roster looks like come training camp.

It’s a fair question to ask if you rather have Georges Niang or Markieff Morris coming off the bench as both guys fit into that backup power forward role. However, Niang is the much better shooter, while Morris has the better all-around game and toughness. In addition, Niang is a career 40% three-point shooter, while Morris only has a 34% career average.

Can you sacrifice the three-point shooting for the better overall impact on the game Markieff Morris has? Morris has a career average of 11 PPG, while Niang’s is only six. On top of that, he averages over three more rebounds per game than Niang in his career, which is something that haunted the Sixers all last season; most notably in the playoffs. These may not seem like drastic differences, but trust me, they are. These are the game’s marginal aspects that differentiate the contenders and the pretenders in the NBA.

A combination of Tucker, House, Melton, and potentially Markieff Morris would be an annoying bunch to play against. But it would be an even more fun group to root for as a Sixers fan. Just think, the Sixers could go from one of the more soft teams in the NBA to one of the toughest. That sounds like Sixers basketball to me. I feel like ever since the Sixers have been in contention, we’ve never known what their identity is.

If the Sixers decide to sign Markieff Morris, it would only further be adapting the new toughness mentality the Sixers are looking for. The Sixers tried the whole bully-ball thing with Al Horford and Josh Richardson, which was ironic because it felt like they were the ones getting bullied. Or was it the Sixers fans who had to watch that garbage every night? Regardless, it feels natural and authentic this time.

Mandatory Credit: Michael Reaves | Getty Images