Where is Adam Morrison?

[pharelfor3]

At least he's getting paid this season. unlike many NBA guys

 

[arrjae2]

man, dude was money in college...

only time i saw him live, was when he hit a half court buzzer in toronto

 

[arrjae2]

man, dude was money in college...

only time i saw him live, was when he hit a half court buzzer in toronto

 

[dyyhard]

hope they grant this guy serbian citizenship so he can play in international/olympic competition.

 

[dyyhard]

hope they grant this guy serbian citizenship so he can play in international/olympic competition.

 

[benjamin stone]

This was the first game I remember seeing him play in.

He was real good in college, no doubting that. I didn't think he'd be a superstar or anything but...look at Reddick. Why couldn't he do something like that?

 

[benjamin stone]

This was the first game I remember seeing him play in.

He was real good in college, no doubting that. I didn't think he'd be a superstar or anything but...look at Reddick. Why couldn't he do something like that?

 

[pmatic]

And then there's Armstrong's summer league teammate. The one with the slithery, shoulder-length hair, who was first hyped, then mocked, and finally discarded by the league he always dreamed he'd one day reach.

I ask to talk to Adam Morrison before a game one afternoon, but he declines, preferring to do it afterward. We meet again the next night, as Morrison walks out of the locker room. His eyebrows are furrowed and his lips are stuck in a half-smile, but I can't tell if this is a look of distrust or if it's just Adam Morrison looking like Adam Morrison. "You know why I didn't want to talk to you before the game last night?" he says. "All of these are just so negative. It's 'How come your hair's so long?' and 'How come your career's been so ******?' I don't want to be thinking about all of that before I have to play."

Whatever his strategy, it works. Morrison is one of the stars of the summer league, averaging 20 points per game on 55 percent shooting, including 62 percent from 3. It's impressive, but still a far cry from what was once expected. At Gonzaga, he was legendary. A volume shooter with a mop top and a mustache, Morrison seemed like a gift from some sort of hipster god to basketball's young and white fans.

Charlotte drafted him third overall in 2006, and if you're reading this, you probably know the rest. He bombed. After a decent rookie season (12 points per game), he sat out the next year with a torn ACL. Charlotte traded him to the Lakers. In Los Angeles, he celebrated two titles from the end of the bench. The next season, Morrison entered training camp with the Wizards. He got cut. He disappeared.

So to recap: Adam Morrison wasn't as good at basketball as people who get paid to guess who will be good at basketball thought he would be. And because we've collectively decided that undeserved hype is akin to moral failure, Morrison is now guilty of one of the game's greatest sins. "Everyone knows I've taken a lot of flak," he says. "But I'm not a bad dude. I haven't stabbed anybody. I'm not on probation. I was drafted high, and I wasn't good enough to warrant that. I get it — I really do — but sometimes, it's just like, man, come on."

After he was cut by Washington, Morrison didn't touch a basketball for eight months. He didn't watch games until the playoffs rolled around the following spring. He caught up with old friends, spent time with his two daughters. "It was awesome," he says. "People think when you're not playing you've crawled into a hole or something, but I was just hanging out, getting away from everything." During that time, Morrison says he thought constantly about quitting the sport for good. He'd read the blog posts, heard the jokes. He knew he was a punch line. "Everyone was killing me after we won in L.A.," he says. "They were all saying, 'He got a ring and he doesn't deserve it. He should give it back.' That sort of thing. I hated that."

Morrison mockery hit late-night shortly after the Lakers won the 2010 title, when Jimmy Kimmel invited members of the team to his show. Kimmel played a Morrison highlight montage, showing him in street clothes, fist-pumping and high-fiving and bench-sitting his way to a title. After the clip was over, Kobe Bryant said, "First of all, let me just say that was funny as hell. But secondly, let me just say that that's a testament to our team, honestly, because Adam can really play. No, like, really. He can really, really go. And for him to take a step back and to do things like that really helped us get to that championship level."

After his hiatus, Morrison looked for opportunities overseas. In most of the top leagues, he couldn't even get a tryout. "Nobody wanted me," he says. Nobody except Red Star Belgrade. In Serbia. On his ride into the city from the airport, Morrison saw collapsed buildings that still hadn't been rebuilt since the 1999 NATO bombings. But the Serbian league allowed Morrison to recapture what he'd lost in the NBA. "I got to have the ball," he says. "I got to come off screens, run pick-and-rolls, play with the ball in my hands. Everyone knows that I'm not going to be effective if I'm standing in the corner. It was good to actually play that way."

He went from Serbia to Turkey, where he saw little action for Besiktas, one of the best teams in Europe. Though he insists the experience overseas was worthwhile, he has decided he won't do it again. He'll play in the NBA or he won't play at all. If no team signs him, he'll return to school, finish his degree, go into coaching, and spend time with family. So on this night, here he is, lighting up Vegas, taking one last chance.

On the court with the Clippers, Morrison has reclaimed his alpha role. He's shouting for the ball nearly every time down the floor. He gets jumpers off screens and off the dribble, tip-ins in the paint, and trips to the line. In a game against San Antonio, Morrison hits a shot and prompts guard Cory Joseph to explode. "Somebody guard him!" he screams as the Spurs head back on offense.

After we finish talking outside the locker room, Morrison shakes my hand and starts to walk away. He stops and turns. "Just don't kill me, man," he says. "I've gotten enough of that." He continues to the bus. Lakers coach Mike Brown passes and calls out, "Great game, Adam." Morrison says, "Thanks," and keeps walking.

Link

 

[blazers21ntnp]

Just posted that article in the NBA thread, then remembered I'd started this thread years ago.

Really good read, I'd like to see somebody take a chance on him.

 

[SORIANOTRON]

basketball jesus is immortal.

 

[dland24]

Saw him play at University of San Francisco and he dropped 40+ that night. What was even more impressive was his shooting before the game. I know a good shooter is a good shooter, and during warmups, there isnt anyone playing defense.....but Morrison missed ONE SHOT during the entire 20 or so minute warm up.

I'll never forget this night. I really thought he was going to be something special.

 

[willzway26]

He's too slow to play 3 and too small to play 4.  If he can't do anything else but score, and cant get his own shot off, why does anyone think he's gonna make it in the league?