Markieff and Marcus Morris had tempers last season. (USATSI)
Markieff and Marcus Morris had tempers last season. (USATSI)

When you look back at the list of player technicals each year, there are always surprises. Most would probably not expect Steve Kerr and Derek Fisher to be near the top for the most technicals among coaches (along with Frank Vogel), but there they are. For players, you notice that DeMarcus Cousins finished with 15 after making a goal for only five, and that Russell Westbrook had a crazy amount, with 17 (two rescinded). 

One thing I definitely did not remember, however, was how many Phoenix Suns forward Markieff Morris and his brother, Marcus, picked up. Kieff was tied for the league lead with 15 after Westbrook's two rescinded techs. And his brother wasn't far behind with nine (one rescinded). In fact, check this out from Valley of the Suns in a great piece on reasonable goals for Phoenix next year (emphasis mine): 

Goal 2: Get out of the top 10 in technical fouls
This is actually a pretty big goal as far as I’m concerned. It’s hard to measure leadership in a tangible way, but one way the Suns’ immaturity did show itself last year was in the number of technical fouls the team picked up. The numbers are staggering.
Throughout the year, Markieff Morris, Marcus Morris, Eric Bledsoe and P.J. Tucker combined for 42 technical fouls. 27 of the 30 NBA teams had fewer than 42 technical fouls from their players; 16 of the 30 had 42 or fewer technical fouls from their entire team, counting coach and bench technical fouls.
And perhaps my favorite number: The Morris twins (alone) picked up more technical fouls than the Celtics, Spurs and Lakers, and picked up more player technical fouls than 17 of the 30 NBA teams.

Source: Phoenix Suns: 5 Short-Term Goals. 

Two guys more than 17 teams! 

Now that obviously won't repeat itself next season, due to Marcus having been traded (which he didn't take very well by the way). It's still a stunning number. How bad was it? There's a mixtape of Kieff's techs:

Most of this can be chalked up to a young player (he's still only 25), but it does paint a picture of some emotional volatility. There's no reason to believe the technical fouls issue holds any connection to his off-court aggravated assault charges for which there is a trial pending, but it does bear at least a passing mention. 

In large part, however, this is just a stunning piece of trivia. For a team that lost so many close games last year (22-25 in games inside five points in the final five minutes of regulation or overtime via NBA.com), those kinds of points are precious. It's definitely something for not only Morris, but the Suns as a whole to try and curtail next season.