Markieff Morris Explains Anti-Derrick Williams Comments In A Weird Way

You may remember how Kansas big man Markieff Morris had some harsh words for top prospect Derrick Williams in an interview at the draft combine in late May. In case you forgot, he basically said Williams wasn't actually that good.

"I didn't think he was as good as advertised," Morris said. "He got the benefit of the calls from the ref and we had to guard him different. He definitely had a good game against us, because we couldn't guard him how we wanted to guard him, and that's what happened."

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"It's still surprises me [that he's a top-two pick]. What he did to Duke, he wouldn't do that to me or my brother [Marcus]. I'm dead serious. He wouldn't. At all. He's good. But if we was to work out, I would go at him and I would be able to stop him more than people would expect, you know what I mean."

Naturally, those comments came back to Morris during his interview session before the 2011 NBA Draft. Here's his clarification, which doesn't exactly line up to his original comments.

"When I said that about D-Will, I didn't mean it like that. I was comparing him to all the other No. 1 picks, like LeBron and Kobe and types like that. I didn't mean it like he wasn't good at all. He's just not those guys."

He prefaced the statement by saying he and his brother Marcus "talk how we feel," and that's about the only way I can explain that clarification. Logically, it doesn't line up with the original statement in any way. There was no reference to LeBron James or Kobe Bryant (a No. 13 pick, by the way) in his original statement. Instead, there was a comparison to Markieff Morris. It's pretty absurd for Morris to suggest his words got lost in translation.

Morris said he's seen Williams a couple times since saying that, but didn't elaborate further. It wouldn't surprise me if those interactions were pretty awkward.