Vegas: Morrison Looks to Bounce Back

[The Goods]

It has been a bumpy ride for Adam Morrison over the first few years of his NBA career…

 

After exploding onto the national scene as a collegiate star at Gonzaga (leading the nation in scoring at over 28 points per game as a junior), Morrison was selected third overall by the Charlotte Bobcats in the 2006 NBA draft. Morrison was the first Charlotte draft pick by then newly installed "Manager of Basketball Operations," Michael Jordan. (Morrison was selected ahead of future standouts such as Brandon Roy, Rudy Gay, and Ty Thomas.)

 

Morrison's professional career got off to a fine start, as he averaged 15.3 PPG over his first 15 contests. But, unfortunately, it was mostly downhill from there. Adam finished the season averaging 11.8 points per game, but ended the year shooting just 37.6% from the field.

 

Then as he was preparing to rebound with a solid sophomore campaign, Morrison blew out his knee in a preseason game, which would force him to miss the entire 2007-2008 season. Returning to action this past season, Morrison never seemed to find a comfort zone in new coach Larry Brown's system, as Adam couldn't find his stoke and struggled defensively. As a result, in February Jordan traded Morrison, along with guard Shannon Brown, to the Lakers in exchange for Vladimir Radmanovic.

 

For the Lakers it was more addition by subtraction as the main thrust of the trade was to rid themselves of Radmanovic's bloated contract and give those extra minutes to Trevor Ariza. In fact, Shannon Brown actually ended up having a greater impact with his new team than did Morrison, who played sparingly and saw action in only eight regular season games for L.A. From a top-3 overall pick to salary-cap filler, Morrison's stock had dipped precipitously in a short amount of time…

 

But Morrison is hoping to re-write his NBA story, and the first chapter begins this summer in Las Vegas. Adam is one of the few recognizable names on the Lakers summer league team, and he is hoping to stand out and prove he still belongs in this league.

 

On Friday in Las Vegas, Morrison talked about the difficult transition after the trade, in which he found himself tethered to the bench.

 

"It was tough in a sense because I'm used to playing, but coming over I understood that I probably wasn't going to play much this year," said Morrison. "They had Trevor (Ariza), they had Luke (Walton), obviously Kobe, Sasha (Vujacic), and they had the best record in the NBA. So I understood that I was coming over to get healthy, get right, and see what I could do next year. So it was tough, but it wasn't like 'Why am I not playing?' I understood why."

 

And Morrison also commented on the bittersweet emotions associated with being a championship team, but watching from the sidelines.

 

"Yeah, it is. It's nice to win, but its tough being a competitor and not really contributing. But I knew coming in that I probably wasn't going to play." Morrison continued, "But the guys on the team were always cool and always made me feel like I contributed in a way in practice and helping the team out, so that always make you feel better when the fellas let you know that you did something to help the team out."

 

But with just one (guaranteed) year remaining on his rookie contract (the Lakers can make him a qualifying offer for 2010-2011), it is clearly make or break time for Morrison. And Adam feels he is ready to show that he shouldn't be written off as a bust just yet.

 

When asked if he had been given a chance to prove himself as a pro, Morrison responded: "Somewhat, maybe a little in my rookie year, but after that I took a bad hop with the injury, but that happens. I'm just thankful to get with an organization that understood I had an injury and gave the time to get healthy last year and use this to try and make a comeback, I guess you could say."

 

And if his first game is any indication, Morrison looks like he is ready to return to his pre-injury form. In opening night action in Vegas, Morrison scored a game-high 24 points (on 9-17 shooting from the floor and 5-5 from the stripe) and chipped in five rebounds, as the Lakers defeated the Raptors. And, for much of the game, Morrison was matched up with highly touted rookie, DeMar DeRozan. Afterwards, Morrison told reporters that he wanted to take it to DeRozan right from the tip. "He's a rookie and I remember how I was playing against veteran guys or older guys so I just tried to go at him."

 

And for Adam, just being out there on the court and getting in some game situations is a valuable experience. "I haven't played in a while, that's why I love this summer league stuff because the runs are pretty good. And to learn 'the triangle' from the guard spot and the wings is helpful too," said Morrison.

 

Although the Lakers lost Ariza this offseason, they replaced him with Ron Artest, so L.A. still has plenty of depth at the wing positions. Thus, it will be difficult for Morrison to crack the rotation and find meaningful minutes. But Morrison has had to overcome plenty of obstacles already, and it appears he is ready for the challenge.

 

http://www.hoopsworld.com/Story.asp?story_id=13270

[The Artesticle]

Summer League superstars FTW!!!!!!