Adam Morrison

[pt.guard2]

Great game for Morrison and I believe he can grow and eventually become a star in this league.

However, I have to agree with what KG2422 (and others) have said on other threads with regard to comparisions to Larry Bird.

Larry Bird was a once in a lifetime player and his unique combination of shooting, passing, rebounding and even defensive skills.... not to mention intangibles like leadership, toughness and clutch shooting, etc....may never be seen again at the forward position.

 

[white is right]

Great game for Morrison and I believe he can grow and eventually become a star in this league.

However, I have to agree with what KG2422 (and others) have said on other threads with regard to comparisions to Larry Bird.

Larry Bird was a once in a lifetime player and his unique combination of shooting, passing, rebounding and even defensive skills.... not to mention intangibles like leadership, toughness and clutch shooting, etc....may never be seen again at the forward position.

Just the passing alone make Bird better than all of the great spot up shooters ie Reggie Miller. Also Bird like Jordan came up with the big plays to win games. Who can forget the steal that the Bird did to steal the series from the Pistons.

 

[ToughJ.Riggins]

Adam Morrison was the hardest working player in college ball last year. He improved dramaticly every year. Changing his shot which he molded after Larry Bird. I hope I don't offend anyone by saying this but truthfully as far as raw athleticism goes Morrison isn't a great physical athlete. He's not terribley physically limited though as some scouts try to paint him as. His top vertical is just 30.5 inches but it goes to show you that sports aren't about raw athleticism as much as they are about recognition and a good head for the game. Morrison may be unmatched in this area, he takes what defenses give him and works off the ball very well. He has a flawless shot with a high release and when he gets his shot off whether it's a floater in the lane or a jumpshot he always has a high percentage. Although he lacks speed he has good quickness and an uncanny ability to fake defenders. Morrison should be more "selfish" and keep shooting. As far as the Bird comparisons, I think Larry Bird was a better athlete physically than Morrison and Morrison still has a ways to go to catch Bird as he was in my opinion the smartest player to ever play the game! Edited by: ToughJ.Riggins

 

[jcolec02]

a 30 inch vertical is above average for sure...espicially for a guy his size...

 

[Jimmy Chitwood]

i'm sick and tired of hearing how Morrison isn't athletic. pictures speak louder than words.

Adam is currently atop the Rookie of the Year rankings. his FG% is going up as he figures out the NBA game. and for all us JJ Redick fans, there's a blurb on how unhappy the Orlando fans are that he hasn't been playing...

Half of the letters we have received in the Rookie Report Mailbox have been about J.J. Redick and the lack of playing time (to be specific, zero minutes and zero seconds in the first 13 games) he has gotten in Orlando. We have concluded that J.J.'s a pretty popular dude.

Well, rejoice Redick-heads. The man you worship has seen his first NBA action. It was just 3:27 of garbage time, but that will have to do for now. He made his first shot, picked up an assist on the next possession and a foul, rebound and turnover for good measure. He will celebrate by hitting the road for six games in 10 days, starting with a game in Utah Monday night.

 

[ToughJ.Riggins]

Here is a link to the NBA combine workout numbers. This is where I got the information on Morrison and Reddick.


http://draftexpress.com/viewarticle.php?a=1352

 

[ocaamikedm11]

If Morrison could somehow drag the Bobcats into the playoffs, it would go a long way in bringing some exposure to his success in the NBA. If this team is a story at the end of the year there is no doubt Morrison will be on the spotlight because he is the best and most marketable player on the team. He could very well avg. in the 22-25 points per game range, very impressive for a rookie.

 

[jcolec02]

chris quinn has a 37.5 inch verticle

 

[jared]

Is "no step vertical jump" the same thing football players do at the combine? If so I would have expected much higher verticals from basketball players. Mike Hass would be at just about the top of that list.

 

[white tornado]

The n.f.l. combine uses a no step vert. n.f.l players are much more exploive than n.b.a. players and have a higher vert and faster foot speed at much heaver weights. The average vert for the n.b.a is about the same as an O-lineman in the n.f.l.

 

[GreatLakeState]

From an interview with vertical jump guru Kelly Baggett ... a 5-9 guy who
dunks easily with a 42-inche vertical:

The average NBA prospect has an average one-step vertical jump of 28
-30 inches. In contrast, I have a list from last years NFL combine and the
average linebacker, at an average weight of 250 lbs, has a standing
vertical jump of 36+ inches! What do you think the biggest difference is
between the linebacker and the NBA prospect? Probably the fact that the
linebacker is as powerful as a stick of dynamite and at the backbone of
that power lies the strength of an ox - that strength is something the NBA
prospect simply doesn't have because he's never focused on it.

-The most explosive athletes are strong.

- The average high jumper at 6'4 165 lbs, even with legs as skinny and as
long as a waterhose, will still squat in the upper 300's.

- The average national-class olympic lifter has a vertical in the high 30's
and some 300 lb heavyweights even have VJs over 40 inches.

- A sprinter will VJ 40+ and squat 2.5 to 3 times their bodyweight easily.

- The average national class shotputter at 260 lbs + can broad jump 10
feet or more.

- Kobe Bryant routinely does squats with over 400 lbs + change.

 

[ToughJ.Riggins]

That is interesting stuff.I knew very little about comparing verticles in different sports. Another note, is how Marcus Williams of the Nets was such a high prospect when his verticle was so bad, and he is a PG the smallest position on the court. I guess he must be an amazing passer. Another note is white man Chase Budinger of Arizona the top SG prospect for the '07 draft (according to nbadraft.net) apparently has a vert of 40+ inches and he's 6'7 and can shoot! Edited by: ToughJ.Riggins

 

[GreatLakeState]

Unless you're Nate Robinson and want to win the dunk contest, not sure
how much vertical jump affects a point guard's game.

When I test my players, we always do standing vertical, as that's the
position you'll need in to really get up there quickly to rebound.

 

[jcolec02]

A.J. Hawk has a 40 inch vertical...and he is 246 pounds...

 

[Jimmy Chitwood]

regarding Chase Budinger... he was a phenomenal volleyball player, and would have been on the US National Team coming out of high school.

all the morons who claim that white men can't jump have obviously never seen a volleyball match. those dudes can really bounce.

 

[white lightning]

That is very true about Chase and many others.Chase has a 45 inch vertical.I am lucky enough to have the pleasure of seeing him play out here in AZ!This kid is a high flyer as Dick Vitale says.His head is up there around the rim on alot of his dunks.He makes the game look so easy.

I think that Volleyball Players are incredible athletes.They can probably outjump many basketball players.The beach guys are even more explosive as there are only two guys on a team,they cover more of the sand court,and have to jump out of the sand.Anyone who has ever tried even running in the sand can attest to how difficult it is.Now try jumping out of it.These guys are flat out amazing.

Whites are some of the greatest jumpers in the world.The media is so stupid.We are also by far the best overall athletes of anyone period!

 

[jared]

Good info guys, I never realized there was such a disparity. Kind of makes the whole "black people dominate basketball because they jump higher" argument fall on its head. Even offensive linemen sometimes clear 30". I wanna say Scott Fujita jumped about a 42" when he came out and Dustin Fox cleared around 43.5". Anyway, I'll keep an eye out for Chase too.

 

[Jimmy Chitwood]

the whole jumping thing is ridiculous. sure, there are plenty of black guys who can jump high, but there are lots of white guys who can soar, too.

i went to an all-white high school that had only 42 people in the graduating class. on our basketball team we had 4 guys who could dunk it, so if the myth were true then that would be extremely unusual don't you think?.

well, last year the same high school had six white guys who could punch it. pretty strange that this little old country school has such a unusual amount of physical talent, huh? that's because it's not unusual at all.

in fact, there was a guy who graduated with my brother who wasn't even on the team (he liked to smoke a lot of weed) who could dunk from the dotted line, and he was just 5'5"!

 

[Guest]

Alot of the mythos about Whites being bad dunkers probably relates more to the visuals of dunking than the mechanics of leaping. When I watch a game, it seems that alot of White ballers seem shy about dunking with the sort of vicious authority that's just more common among alot of the Black players. Brent Barry comes to mind.

I remember seeing Marko Milic live one time when he was playing for the Suns, and he was one of the rare White guys that really liked to "attack the rack"...and guys seemed to give him respect for his athleticism, even though he was no better a leaper than Barry. Even Rex Chapman always seemed pretty tame, and that guy was the lone White Freak athlete through much of the nineties.

Also, the limb-length thing plays into that...there are, of course, tonnes of 6'6" White kids with hops that have 78" wing-spans...out of a similar pool, you'd have a fair number of Black kids with wingpsans as much as 7-feet. So, naturally, any 6'6" Black 2-guard with a run-of-the-mill 36" vertical can really get dork Dick Vitale's panties wet with that little extra bit of arm.

I googled "chase budinger dunk contest" and this here is the first thing that comes up...of course...

The Real White Boy Who Can Dunk

......you guys got a long way to go in changing peoples' negative stereotyping.

 

[jaxvid]

Jerv's right. Too many white dudes are shy when going for the dunk. It's racial stereotyping that makes them that way. But I think it's changing. White kids are getting fired up.

Here's what happening IMHO, for many years white kids grew up playing ball in all white gyms. Those gyms are almost all gone now. The black population has grown and the number that play ball is huge. Every suburban gym and rural court is filled with 'em. That means white kids no longer grow up without a steady dose of black punk-ass gym behavior. They get aclimated to it at an early age and are learning to respond.

Soon whitey be givin' it back to da brutha's

 

[jcolec02]

check out this Adam Morrison dunk:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=LkLpNkP7UBw

 

[Skipperron]

I think the very fact that the black player is always showboating and trying to make a statement about how macho and mean they are and look has a lot to do with it. Their dunks are always extravagant and then the player stands and preens for the camera after their dunk. The white players just go up, dunk and run back down the floor. This makes it seem as if the white player didnt jump as high and somehow just did make the dunk.

 

[Jimmy Chitwood]

speaking of Milic, what happened to him? he NEVER got a shot at real minutes in the NBA and was never invited to participate in the NBA dunk contest, either, despite jumping OVER A CAR to win the European's version before crossing the pond. interesting, it is not?

that guy in your link Jerv is Henry Bekkering, a kid from Canada with incredible hops. he was the most physically gifted prospect to come out of the Great North in decades... but somehow he ended up playing at little Eastern Washington.

i never got to see him play live, but his numbers were incredible, even in the various all-star games where he played against future Division I players. to my knowledge, he is no longer enrolled at EWU and has returned to Canada.

his sister, Janelle, is on basketball scholarship at Gonzaga, where she is red-shirting due to a blown knee. rumor has it that at just 5-11 or 6-0 depending on who you ask, she can dunk as well.

 

[Guest]

Until about the late-90s, foreign-born players really had to go out of their way to impress prejudiced American-born NBA coaches...a guy like Milic, from what I remember, didn't really pick up English too quickly and wasn't exactly a fundamentals dynamo like, say, a Danilovic or Marciulionis or Petrovic. He got his shot at the big-stage based on his athleticism, and that was that.

As to dunk contests...you gotta keep in mind the role of a good agent soliciting on your behalf with that sort of thing. It's not like Milic was specifically over-looked because he was European...not hooking up one of the better agents (at that time) is surely a product of his obscure origins, of course.

That's not so much a racial profiling issue, as I see, just a product of a slightly biased, American free-market enterprise.Edited by: JerveyGotGypped

 

[ToughJ.Riggins]

I know this is an NBA forum but speaking of leaping ability comparing whites in the NBA and NFL to blacks Jared you're right that Dustin fox has a vert of 43.5 inches which is top 8 for the last 7 years, but so does Kasper. Thats why they're both on my screwed list. They were productive in college "and" athletic freaks and still got screwed. Kasper also supposedly has the NFL 3 cone drill record (and if Budinger played football a vert of 45 inches would put him tied for third on the NFL combine list for the last 7 years!) http://nfldraftscout.comEdited by: ToughJ.Riggins