Ask five different people for an opinion on which player from tonight’s NBA Draft will have the best pro career, and you’re liable to get five different answers.
Washington guard Brandon Roy and Texas power forward LaMarcus Aldridge are the safest choices because they have games, physiques and mental makeups that make it easy to project NBA success from them. LSU’s Tyrus Thomas is the most athletic option.
Andrea Bargnani is the most intriguing pick because nobody outside of Europe has seen him play, the respect level for European players never has been higher, and the same can be said for big men blessed with soft shooting touches. UConn’s Rudy Gay also is an interesting case because all the parts seem to be there for stardom, but it just hasn’t happened yet.
My choice? None of the above. Give me Adam Morrison.
Go ahead, get it off your chest. Tell me all the reasons he’s too risky a pick. He has Type 1 diabetes, and the rigors of the NBA schedule will make that a bigger factor than ever. Others will claim he’s not “athletic” enough, which of course is a code word for he’s white. He’s on the thin side. His mustache is on the thinner side.
Here’s the problem with drafts that don’t have an obvious No. 1 pick: Teams tend to talk themselves into not picking players based on their potential for failure and choose among the players with the fewest weaknesses instead of the greatest potential strengths.
To watch Morrison play with such passion, such energy, such a relentless will to score, is to remember the days when a brash forward from a bygone era bossed his teammates into winning an NBA title. Morrison doesn’t pass the ball with the skill Rick Barry displayed, but he is a similarly creative scorer and relentless competitor.
There are safer picks than Morrison. Since when is the safe way the best way? The Toronto Raptors pick first tonight, barring a trade. That would be the same Raptors who chose Chris Bosh, a solid, better-than-average NBA player, and left Dwyane Wade for Pat Riley. Bosh fit smoothly into a category. His game and frame fit the NBA power-forward prototype. Was Wade an undersized shooting guard who hadn’t proven much as a shooter? He was a special player, and Riley was smart enough not to talk himself out of the pick.
The fact the top of the draft has no easy calls makes it worth watching. KU coach Bill Self said he’d watch some of it, but not all of it since none of his players is eligible. Asked to name his guess as to which player in the draft will have the best NBA career, Self offered a couple names.
“As far as the guy who might have most impact potentially, I would probably say Rudy Gay,” Self said. “He’s a long athlete with a prototypical NBA body. I would think if I was picking No. 1, based on how he torched us in Austin, I would pick (LaMarcus) Aldridge because of his upside.”
Aldridge does have the size, agility and shooting touch that make him tough to pass up. It would be easier to talk yourself out of gambling on Morrison than talking yourself out of Aldridge. Still, I’d take a chance on Morrison and immediately establish a no-facial-hair policy. Imagine the payday for the superstar out of Gonzaga on a razor endorsement deal.
