Wednesday, January 10, 2007

Fear not the moustache

Adam 'Moustache' Morrison entered the NBA to great fanfare; he was the next Larry Bird, the great white hope for a generation tuckered out from watching the Y,B,+F ride around in their Bentley coupes. Hell, he even entered it on a team in need of what he supposedly provided; a top-notch pure scorer unafraid to shoot early and often and unafraid to create his own shots. The Bobcats are not exactly laden down with an excess of star-quality talent for Moustache to take shots away from. I love them with all my heart, even included Gerald Wallace on my All-Lamar team over the summer.

But, Moustache has been something less than advertised. Rather than providing some steady production to the Bobcats' lineup, he provides only a willigness to take shots. For every performance in which he drops 30 like it's absolutely nothing, he's left standing in despair 2 others, wondering why his shots won't drop.
I have heralded him as the White Glenn Robinson, but he has done nothing but show flashes of the awesome streak-shooting that could turn this prophecy true. It could turn out that he is the White Antoine Walker, forever doomed to toss up lines of 8/20 and to look like an oversized (and desperately un-cute) infant.

Ironically, the Bobcats had the solution to their shooting woes in-pocket throughout the entire Morrison saga. Matt Carroll ain't no household name, but he does do what the Bobcats need the most: knock down wide open jump-shots when he is passed the rock. But, the main problem with Carroll is that he is not a star and never-ever-in-a-million-years will be a star. I assume with that assumption that whiteboys with a pretty good stroke from outside that look and play pretty much like a taller Steve Kerr will not suddenly become vogue.
Morrison has the potential, which I know is kind of a filthy word to certain old-guard broadcasters and coaches, to become a star in the league. A star completely opposite his defense-minded counterpart on their roster.

EDIT: As soon as I finished writing this, I saw that the Bobcats beat the Pistons (again), with Moustache contributing 16 from the bench on 6/15 shooting. He was what I thought he was I guess.

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