Adam Morrison, what can we expect?

[semi-sentient]

he'll turn into what vlad should have turned into.

James Posey?

Tayshaun Prince?

Shane Battier?

What should Vlad have turned into?

You're setting yourself up for serious disappointment here.

[Joe Kleazy]

As some have hinted to we have to remember that morrison was a winner up until he arrived in Charlotte. The guy has also been through the normal rookie year mistakes and is just coming off and injury, so realisticly he hasn't had an oppourtunity to get comfortable and into a groove. Coming here nobody will expect anything from him and winning if extremely contagious.

We have seen a new side of Ariza during his time here whereas he wasn't spoken about throughout the league as he is now. This gives me confidence that morrison can at least use his best attribute to fit well.......Shooting. Our offense will make up for the lack of skills he has and magnify his strengths.

Then like others have said if things dont work out we still havent done much to throw us off our rhythm.

[Jajwanda]

If he turns into anything good it's a plus. At the worst he's an expiring contract that can really bring in a good SF.

[Dexmor]

I hate homerism. Ammo is absolutely terrible. He is not an nba talent. He isn't even a pure shooter and wasn't in college he was a scorer in college.
He is a huge target anytime he is on the floor because he can't guard anybody.

He was dealt for salary cap reasons. The deal is Shannon Brown for Radman. Ammo will be out of the league soon.
I used to say Kwame was the worst player in the league. I was dead wrong. Ammo is.
I watch Bobcats game so I am not being a ignorant hopeful homer like some here but the trade was for Shannon Brown.
The good news is Shannon Brown is basically Eddie House but athletic. I know that from watching Bobcats games as well.
Just do yourselves a favor and forget he was drafted 3rd.

[Sedale Threatt]

Getting rid of Sun in addition to Radmanovic would have been the proverbial cherry on top.

Sun's roster spot helps paying the luxury tax for this team. Let's keep him around during these uncertain economical times.

I thought about this as I was hitting enter. I'd have to see some data as to how much Sun's presence has helped in terms of establishing a fan base in China. "Little Flying Warrior" probably has more of an affect on that than he does.

[SteveMorrison15]

The good news is Shannon Brown is basically Eddie House but athletic. I know that from watching Bobcats games as well.
Just do yourselves a favor and forget he was drafted 3rd.

WHAT? check your eyes bro.

Eddie House is a DEADLY 3pt Assassin.

Shannon Brown is a blind cat. All that agility and great leaping ability, but doesn't know where to go. He get's scared by loud noises on offense basically. Horrible comparison.

Now Shanown is a shorter Trevor Ariza when he first got to LA. SCARY athletic. Huge potential. No one has seen it because he's been on more teams than Moochie Norris. Great pick-up for LA. Trevor and Shannon running the break is cool to think about.

[SteveMorrison15]

Now Ammo.

His rookie year he played for Bernie Bickerstaff
The next year he played for Sam Vincent and did well in preseason before getting crossed by Walton.
LB's system he didn't do much.

3 different coaches, 3 different styles.

I watched a lot of his pro games. But to give you a honest straight-up assessment wouldn't be possible. He hasn't done enough yet in his 100+ plus game career.

He's labeled a scorer. Anyone who says he's a spot up shooter doesn't know his game. He can create his own shot. He may not be a 30+ scorer in this league but he can get solid points off the bench.

People on the Charlotte board predicted that he wouldn't do well in Larry's system and they were right. But they like his chances with Phil. So it's a better looking horizon with the Lakers. Remember Trevor before he got to LA? Now look at him. This could really work out

we'll see...

[Dr Aki]

looks like luke has some competition

ive maintained that the lakers needed a second guy who could create his own shot

maybe this time next year, we may see a true 5-headed dragon attack with a optimised triangle instead of having luke or ariza's inabilty to shoot consistently

[Erik Eleven]

looks like luke has some competition

ive maintained that the lakers needed a second guy who could create his own shot

maybe this time next year, we may see a true 5-headed dragon attack with a optimised triangle instead of having luke or ariza's inabilty to shoot consistently

Wouldn't that be something truly special? I mean, Morrison can still break out. He was a dominant offensive player in college despite his lack of athleticism. The triangle is just what he needs to translate that ability to the NBA game. If he gets to remain a Laker, I bet he's our starting SF a year from now.

[KobeFan]

He has a deadly shot, but a lack of all around game seriously limits his upside. The Lakers' are loaded with efficient scorers, already; it's going to be tough for him to find his niche on this team. If the Lakers are lucky he provides similar productivity to what Vladimir did, 15 MPG with an above average 3 point percentage--but given the evidence up to this point, I seriously would think twice before putting money on it.

[doc.end]

Hi Steve, does the new avater mean your days on Bobcats' board are (completely) over?

[SteveMorrison15]

Hi Steve, does the new avater mean your days on Bobcats' board are (completely) over?

I don't think that'll be the case. I am still a bobcat fan. The avatar is in support of my favorite player and his new team.

But what does one do when your favorite player leaves a team you like?

[semi-sentient]

What can we expect?

Well, Radmanovic had a better game in his debut with the Bobcats than Morrison had in 44 games.

Let that marinate for a bit.

[Erik Eleven]

^ How was his defense? To Larry Brown's liking? To me, it's really of no consequence what he does on another team, unless he's our opponent. I couldn't care any less about how many shots he might make from here on out.

Let's see what Morrison and Brown can do as a Laker. If they're not traded before getting PT, that is. We didn't need him to beat Boston or Cleveland anyways. I think that's what made them pull the trigger on this deal — Radman DNP, both games.

One other good thing is that the triangle offense resembles some of the stuff they ran in Gonzaga's offense. Turiaf seemed to grasp our offense right away. A player like Morrison (athletically challenged by NBA standards) is the kind of player that can still flourish within the tri. He doesn't need much space to score and he has the mindset and skill of a true assassin.

Lakers basically dumped salary, enabled themselves to possibly extend both Ariza and Odom, got rid of a discipline disturbance, lost nothing of dire value, and gave themselves a chance to strike jackpot with two young potential stars that each have a legit shot at breaking out. Nothing is wrong with this situation.

If MJ and LB are happy, too; even better. I doubt they will be in the long run, though.

[daddyfivestar]

Ammo has 1 year to show what he can do - try to find his game from Gonzaga. Not just outside shots, he had a superb dribble pull-up mid range game as well which was necessary because by his Soph year teams knew he could bomb and played him tight. He also could go strong, but that was against lesser talent and that is the part of his game that may never recover in the pros. The athleticism is too much in the paint. If he hasn't shown what is needed, he can be moved along as a nice expiring next Feb to a 2010 team.

[semi-sentient]

^ How was his defense? To Larry Brown's liking? To me, it's really of no consequence what he does on another team, unless he's our opponent. I couldn't care any less about how many shots he might make from here on out.

From reading the Cats game thread last night, they were impressed with how well he closed out on shooters and his overall activity on defense, which is not surprising because he does do those things from time to time (at least early this season he did).

As for everything else, I wish I could say that I had some kind of confidence that Morrison was going to contribute, but everything I've read from Bobcats fans leads me to believe that he wouldn't even make the cut in the WNBA. I haven't watched him play much, so that's really all I can go by. The fact that they were so excited about how Radman performed says a lot about how little Morrison contributed, but yeah, maybe things will be different in the tri. I'm certainly not counting on it though.

Didn't he blow out his ACL against us? I seem to have this faint memory of Morrison torching us and then getting injured. Maybe that was someone else.

[mlayer]

I'm surprised at the number of posters who believe that Luke is simply Phil's boy, implying that the starting SF spot is locked in. For the rest of this season, yes. After that, it's up in the air. Luke is going to turn 30 next season, has already reached his physical peak, and should decline throughout the rest of his contract. He deserves credit for having worked on his game to the point of becoming a real rotation player. I was at the 2003 draft when his name was called and never did I think that would happen despite his basketball IQ.

Morrison will be 25 in July. Like Luke his game is not built on athleticism, but Ammo has several years of fresh legs left before his skills start to erode. Morrison's never going to shut anyone down, we know that. All that Phil/Kurt can ask is for him to be aware and make the right decisions in the team concept, which Luke after several years has been able to do this season. Ammo's still a smart player who's far more skilled than Walton. Morrison has a midrange game. He can drive and hit a pull-up jumper. He can hit shots with a guy in his face - see BOS@CHA in early January for proof. Luke can do none of those things. Luke's a much better passer who knows the triangle as well as anyone on the team.

In the end, it may be up to Ariza. Will he feel comfortable enough to start next season? If he does and runs 28-30 mpg, the other two will be fighting for scraps. If Ariza doesn't start, or the minutes are split evenly, Ammo will have a decent chance to beat out Luke for the other SF spot.

[BigSlam]

A player like Morrison (athletically challenged by NBA standards) is the kind of player that can still flourish within the tri. He doesn't need much space to score and he has the mindset and skill of a true assassin.

Hope you guys don't mind me chiming in?

Just wanted to say that the two things wrong with this assessment is that Ammo actually needs a lot of space to operate and the other is that he is far from a true assassin.

One of the things I think he really struggles with is the 24 sec shot clock in the NBA. At Gonzaga he had extra time on the shot clock to execute, which meant he could try and score but if that failed, he could kick it back out, reset, and go at it again. He could do that 3 or 4 times in 1 offensive set until be found what he needed.

Because of the shortened shot clock in the NBA and because he's so slow, the D in the NBA can play up in his grill and there is nothing he can do about it. He can't kick it out, get it back and go at it from another angle, he doesn't have the handles to create antyhing for himself quickly. He's basically a one and done on offense - which doesn't play to his strengths. He's MUCH better when he is trying to score on the move using little floaters and one handers.

One of the really sad things about watching Ammo was how much he regressed. The kid is out and out scared to shoot the ball. It didn't make any sense because he was given ample opportunity to succeed in Charlotte. The coaches and the FO all thought highly of him. They said that during practice he looked great (although he was often 1st off the court after practice rather than putting in extra work on his game), but on the big stage during a game, he'd freeze. He was totally and utterly gun shy passing up open shot after open shot. Larry was begging him to shoot and he wouldn't.

I do think the triangle will be good for him though. He's a smart player with a great understanding of angles etc so I think that playing in a system like that will help him and will cover a lot of his weaknesses.

[TonyMontana]

A player like Morrison (athletically challenged by NBA standards) is the kind of player that can still flourish within the tri. He doesn't need much space to score and he has the mindset and skill of a true assassin.

Hope you guys don't mind me chiming in?

Just wanted to say that the two things wrong with this assessment is that Ammo actually needs a lot of space to operate and the other is that he is far from a true assassin.

One of the things I think he really struggles with is the 24 sec shot clock in the NBA. At Gonzaga he had extra time on the shot clock to execute, which meant he could try and score but if that failed, he could kick it back out, reset, and go at it again. He could do that 3 or 4 times in 1 offensive set until be found what he needed.

Because of the shortened shot clock in the NBA and because he's so slow, the D in the NBA can play up in his grill and there is nothing he can do about it. He can't kick it out, get it back and go at it from another angle, he doesn't have the handles to create antyhing for himself quickly. He's basically a one and done on offense - which doesn't play to his strengths. He's MUCH better when he is trying to score on the move using little floaters and one handers.

One of the really sad things about watching Ammo was how much he regressed. The kid is out and out scared to shoot the ball. It didn't make any sense because he was given ample opportunity to succeed in Charlotte. The coaches and the FO all thought highly of him. They said that during practice he looked great (although he was often 1st off the court after practice rather than putting in extra work on his game), but on the big stage during a game, he'd freeze. He was totally and utterly gun shy passing up open shot after open shot. Larry was begging him to shoot and he wouldn't.

I do think the triangle will be good for him though. He's a smart player with a great understanding of angles etc so I think that playing in a system like that will help him and will cover a lot of his weaknesses.

Good to know, thanks Slam.

[Sedale Threatt]

Just wanted to say that the two things wrong with this assessment is that Ammo actually needs a lot of space to operate and the other is that he is far from a true assassin.

One of the things I think he really struggles with is the 24 sec shot clock in the NBA. At Gonzaga he had extra time on the shot clock to execute, which meant he could try and score but if that failed, he could kick it back out, reset, and go at it again. He could do that 3 or 4 times in 1 offensive set until be found what he needed.

Because of the shortened shot clock in the NBA and because he's so slow, the D in the NBA can play up in his grill and there is nothing he can do about it. He can't kick it out, get it back and go at it from another angle, he doesn't have the handles to create antyhing for himself quickly. He's basically a one and done on offense - which doesn't play to his strengths. He's MUCH better when he is trying to score on the move using little floaters and one handers.

That's what I remember about him in college -- he wasn't so much of a shooter as he was a scorer.

J.J. Reddick was a shooter. Morrison, on the other hand, was a master at hitting all kinds of leaners and floaters and runners. He could definitely hit from the outside if necessary, but he more of a below-the-rim playground player than anything. It was almost all improv.

I don't know, he just doesn't seem like a winner to me. Granted, his isn't the first soul to ever be crushed by Larry Brown, who could probably go through 100 players a season if it was feasible. But you have to at least have some level of confidence to be a good pro, and it doesn't seem like Adam has any. You get that sense even in the way he carries himself, all slouchy and hunched over.

Frankly, I'm not even going to spend much time worrying about him developing because that's not why he was brought here. Besides, even if he did suddenly rediscover himself, I highly doubt we're going to have the resources to bring him back if we wanted to. We've got an absolutely massive tax bill looming, and that's before dealing with Lamar and/or Ariza.

Maybe he'll develop to the point of giving us some trade value, but in terms of him actually playing a role for the Lakers, I just don't see it. Even less with Brown, who's going to sit on the bench for the rest of the year before being discarded during the summer.