Charlotte Bobcats reserve forward Adam Morrison's knee puts his season in jeopardy

[sunsfn]

Charlotte Bobcats reserve forward Adam Morrison's knee puts his season in jeopardy
October 21, 2007
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Charlotte Bobcats reserve forward Adam Morrison is likely done for the season after an MRI exam on Sunday revealed a torn ligament in his left knee.
The injury occurred with about 5 1/2 minutes left in the third quarter of Saturday night's 113-93 loss to the Los Angeles Lakers. Morrison was attempting to defend Luke Walton on a drive to the basket and crumpled to the floor in severe pain while clutching his left knee.
"Our medical staff has had a chance to review the MRI, and they're saying right now they believe there is some sort of tear," coach Sam Vincent said Sunday, about an hour before the Bobcats took on Phoenix in the second day of the annual Staples Center shootout.
"Until they get in there and do whatever they do, who knows? But they are saying there's a good chance he will be out for the year. So I'm not counting on him playing," Vincent added.
Morrison, the third overall pick in the 2006 NBA draft, was the top scorer in college basketball two seasons ago with Gonzaga -- averaging 28.1 points. As an NBA rookie, he averaged 11.8 points in 78 games. He was expected to play a significant role in a smaller lineup Vincent was going to employ once the season began. As one of the first two players off the bench, Morrison was expected to play about 20-25 minutes a game and contribute 14-16 points.
"I talked to him before the coaches and players meeting this morning when he had just gotten back from taking the MRI, and he pretty much knew the results," Vincent said. "He's obviously down."
Morrison remained at the team's hotel Sunday. He will fly back to Charlotte with his teammates on Monday and be re-examined by team physician Dr. Glenn Perry. A date for surgery will be determined once the swelling in Morrison's knee subsides.
"It's disappointing with Adam going down -- especially because he's been putting so much effort in during the summer, trying to pick up our system and improve his defense," said Vincent, who will distribute Morrison's minutes among Derek Anderson, Walter Hermann and Matt Carroll.
Morrison is being paid nearly $3.25 million this season after making $3 last season under terms of the NBA's rookie pay scale. The team has the option to renew the contract in years three and four of the deal.





http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slug=ap-bobcats-morrison&prov=ap&type=lgns

 

[abomb]

Great, now who is going to overdribble and jack up 20 footers?

 

[dreamcastrocks]

Great, now who is going to overdribble and jack up 20 footers?

Duh, they just traded for Jason Richardson.

 

[SactownSunsFan]

^ Maybe they could trade for Antoine Walker???

 

[HooverDam]

This can only help the Bobcats, the sooner Morrison is out of the league, the better off Charlotte is. He's terrible, and I doubt he'll improve due to his complete lack of athleticism.

 

[Sunsman44]

^ Maybe they could trade for Antoine Walker???

Walker is indeed a pretty bad player, however, I am always intrigued as to how he'd perform under a D'Antoni system. He'd be the perfect power forward off the bench. A 3-point bomber much like Tim Thomas. Got size and height. And putting on a Suns uniform always seems to make guys perform better...

 

[Black Jesus]

they could probably use Quentin Richardson

 

[ShuHanGuanYu]

I would never go for Q, just because of his contract. 8+ million is a scary thought. But his confidence would help the team if he stayed healthy and get his shot going.

 

[YouJustGotSUNSD]

Great, now who is going to overdribble and jack up 20 footers?

I rofl'ed

With May AND Morrison out, Herrmann will get MIP

 

[dodie53]

herrman will get major minutes..

i hope for the bobcats' sake that J-rich doesn't get injured too..

 

[Hugh D'Man]

Too bad for Morrison...now the BCats have full justification for letting him go. Maybe he would/will adapt to the big leagues...but he appears to have all the markings of that good college player who's game just isn't athletic enough for the pros. Next in line...JJ Reddick.... Does anyone remember Bobby Hurley ?

 

[mjb21aztd]

never like to see a player get thats to bad for Morrrison hope he can recover and help the bobcats in the future

 

[dodie53]

bobby hurley?
grant hill's former Duke teammate

 

[fordronken]

You know you suck on defense when you can take yourself out for the season trying to guard Luke Walton.

 

[abomb]

^ Maybe they could trade for Antoine Walker???

One of my favorite all-time NBA stories;

A reporter asked Walker why he shot so many three pointers and he responded, "Because there isnt a four pointer.".

 

[Mulli]

Too bad for Morrison...now the BCats have full justification for letting him go. Maybe he would/will adapt to the big leagues...but he appears to have all the markings of that good college player who's game just isn't athletic enough for the pros. Next in line...JJ Reddick.... Does anyone remember Bobby Hurley ?

Didn't Morrison have decent stats last year? Not great, but decent?

 

[scoutmasterdave]

Didn't Morrison have decent stats last year? Not great, but decent?

Not really - dude shot 37% from the field for the season.

 

[Mulli]

Not really - dude shot 37% from the field for the season.

oh. But other than that?

 

[Errntknght]

Morrison got lots of minutes but I don't see one impressive stat - he's below average for shooting guards on everything except for TO's 2.1/40 min vs the average of 2.3/40.

 

[MonkeyMan22]

I went to the Suns Bobcats game last year and comments from bobcats fans sitting near me weren't too complimentary of Morrison. I do hope that he recovers though.

MM

 

[Hugh D'Man]

Walker is indeed a pretty bad player, however, I am always intrigued as to how he'd perform under a D'Antoni system. He'd be the perfect power forward off the bench. A 3-point bomber much like Tim Thomas. Got size and height. And putting on a Suns uniform always seems to make guys perform better...

interesting point

 

[HooverDam]

Didn't Morrison have decent stats last year? Not great, but decent?

No, here's a bit from Hollinger:

2006-07 season: Because he was getting a lot of minutes, and nobody really watches the Bobcats anyway, people presumed he was doing sort of OK. Some of the writers fell for it too, naming him second-team All-Rookie. But holy moly was he awful, and if he doesn't improve fast he's going to go down as one of the great draft busts in history.

For starters, he is quite likely the least athletic perimeter player to enter the league in the past 20 years. Among the league's 63 small forwards, Morrison ranked 58th in rebound rate, 61st in blocks per minute, and 62nd in steals per minute.

That might have been tolerable if he'd made some shots, but even in his advertised specialty of shooting Morrison proved woefully deficient -- and was poor in every aspect:

-- He wasn't good on 3s, making only 33.7 percent.

-- Though midrange jump shooting was supposed to be his strength, he was dreadful on long 2s, hitting 35.2 percent.

-- On his rare forays to the rim, he was one of the game's worst finishers -- he tied for sixth from the bottom with a 44.5 percent shooting mark on shots in the immediate basket area. (And he was half a foot taller than the five guys below him.)

-- Even the charity stripe proved unkind, as he hit just 71.0 percent. Not that he get there often -- he was 54th among small forwards in free-throw attempts per field-goal attempt.

One point of interest is that Morrison played markedly better on the road, perhaps because Charlotte fans kept yelling Shooooooot when he caught the ball, especially early in the season, and it seemed to throw him off.

Somehow, I doubt he'll be hearing that this year. Morrison's 45.0 true shooting percentage was the second-worst among small forwards. That he averaged double figures anyway was testament to the minutes Charlotte kept giving him and the fact he never stopped shooting. But he had a horrible, horrible season, and anyone who says differently just wasn't paying attention.

Scouting report: Wait, there's more. Morrison might have been the worst one-on-one defender in the game, standing far too upright with his hands at his sides while scorers zoomed past him. So bad was it that as soon as he entered one game against Washington, the Wizards immediately called an isolation for DeShawn Stevenson -- probably the only time they called that play all season -- to attack Morrison on a post-up. Though Stevenson is four inches shorter, he scored easily.

Offensively, Morrison forced too many long jumpers but has the tools to perform better. He's good at shooting runners going to his right and, as his college performances indicated, he's capable of shooting much better from outside.

Part of the problem is that he took so many bad shots -- Morrison's usage rate was well over the league average even though he couldn't make anything, with a contested fadeaway going to his right seeming to be his favorite option.

For now, Morrison needs to content himself with being a spot-up guy instead of going one-on-one so much. If he could get open without the ball more often it also would help -- he doesn't seem comfortable catching off a pin-down and firing.

2007-08 outlook: Last year was so brutal that the expectations for Morrison need some serious revision. Charlotte cost itself several games by giving him so many minutes last year; even a "replacement-level" player would have been a huge improvement.

One has to think he'll be better in his second go-round, but the Bobcats have a real shot at the playoffs this year and can't afford to be wasting 30 minutes a game seeing if he can get things figured out. If he can back up at one of the forward spots for 10 minutes a night and hit a few jump shots, that'd be a nice start.

As far as living up to being the No. 3 overall selection in the draft? I think we can already put that idea in the trash bin.

Now he's got a bad injury, the Bobcats would be smart not to pick up his team option (which I think comes up next year).

Adam Morrison is an OK guy as like the 9th or 10th guy on a team, asking him to do anything more than look goofy and grow a 12 year old boys mustache is asking a bit much of him though.

 

[PoolBoy]

no way morrison is going anywhere, they love him in charlotte.

 

[HooverDam]

no way morrison is going anywhere, they love him in charlotte.

Who's they? The 15 fans who are just laughing because he looks silly running up and down the court? I'm not saying he's going to be traded, I'm saying, after next year (or maybe its this year) he has a team option, and Charlotte would be wise not to pick it up. You can find a dozen players better than him for the same or less price, he doesn't do anything well.

 

[Hugh D'Man]

I saw 2 BCat games last yr...he clearly was the least athletic guy on the court. He could not separate himself from any defender nor stay with anyone. And HDam is right...most of the fans around me felt he is a BeeYouEssTee. He went from AMMO to NOMO. He might stay in the league as a 10-11-12 guy, but should just go to europe if he wants to continue hooping for cash.

That said, watch him be the next Pike for us.