Adam Morrison: not the biggest bust of all time?

In the space of twelve months, Adam Morrison went from Bird-esque small-school-scoring-machine-with bad-hair-and-worse-moustache, to the bust of all busts, a bricklaying, slow-footed white-guy whose putrescent on-court presence cost the Bobcats not just a blown lottery pick but any chance at the 07 Playoffs. Morrison was no longer diabetic hero, but idiotic smoker; no longer sporting leviathan, but special-needs student; no longer a beacon of Bulldog pride, but the kind of weenie who'd prefer to sit in his room playing Halo. Loser.

In the hyper-saturated, hyper-critical, hyper-swift modern age, Morrison wasn't even afforded what had came to so many before him: rookie struggles. For, struggle he did: 11.8 PPG, 3.0 RPG, 2.1 APG, 1.7 TO, 37.6 FG%, and 33.7 3PT% in 30 minutes a night. Statistically proving defense wasn't his specialty, he had just 28 steals and 6 blocks on the entire season.

With Jason Richardson coming to town, and Matt Carroll and Gerald Wallace freshly inked to the 'Cats' first-ever even-halfway-large contracts, Morrison was, surely, bound for the end of the bench; if not just possible trade fodder (I'm sure Michael Jordan was calling Larry Bird, wondering if he'd like the Moz to team with Foster, Murphy, Dunleavy, Diener and the gang). Yet, over the course of five preseason games, it looks as if Sam Vincent could have a role carved out for Morrison: off-the-bench offence. In 26 MPG, Morrison's exhibition nights've added up to 13.2 PPG, at 48.0 FG%, with 4/11 threes (or: 36.3%).

The rest of his line is still for-shit: 2.0 RPG, 1.2 APG, 1.4 TO; and the increasing output in productivity could easily be explained away as the product of one hot night (his 9/14, 20-point turn versus the Hawks), or even simply dismissed with the old standby 'it's just the preseason'.

Yet, the tiny sparks of life in Morrison's once-pronounced-dead career are enough to suggest that the lesson here should be: don't quite write the guy off after one wildly-inconsistent, massively-disappointing rookie campaign. Let's save that 'til the end of this season.