Adam Morrison

Also GOAT Yao, gamble your hearts out fellas.

I think this shows just how important drafting is to a team's success. The Thunder (previously the Sonics) and the Hornets (previously the Bobcats) were both 30-win lottery teams in the mid-to-late 2000's and got a similar set of draft picks. But the Thunder ended up with Durant, Westbrook and Harden and the Hornets got two guys who were out of the NBA before their 27th birthday and a 3rd string center.

There's also a lot of luck involved in the NBA Draft though as well. The Hornets managed to land Kemba Walker with a number 9 pick in the same time period, and kept together a very fringe playoff team for a couple years. So it's amazing how swingy the draft can be and how much it effects team's fates.

Back when Dudley was a player for the Wizards in 2014-2015, he did an interview with a local radio program called The Fan Monday and was asked about the dirtiest teammate he’s had.

“Adam Morrison,” Dudley called out, naming a teammate from the 2008-09 Charlotte Bobcats. “Remember Adam Morrison? He never took showers, he did the chewing tobacco that he spit all the time, and he wore the same three polos the whole year. This is a guy who made a lot of money, too, at that time. He was the face of diabetes, he was doing everything, he was on the cover of college games, he was [everywhere], and he was by far the worst and [most] disgusting.”

He continued by mentioning how Morrison was forced to take a shower by Gerald Wallace because of how bad it got

“He was playing when I was there, that’s the thing, he was playing,” Dudley said. “He then tore his ACL, that’s when he didn’t play, but he was playing when I was there. He was playing like 30 minutes a game. Gerald Wallace had to force him to take a shower one time. Had to force him. Imagine that. Imagine forcing a grown man to take a shower. He should be ashamed of himself.”

Link:

Big Cat is the guest on the most recent episode of Adam Morrison’s (Gonzaga BBall) podcast called “The Perimeter with Adam Morrison.” Thought I’d share in case any PMT fans want to check it out.

Adam Morrison was discussed on today’s pod as an all-time hard-to-evaluate guy.

As a person with T1 Diabetes myself, I think he and Jay Cutler (and Jordan Morris and more) get dragged a ton and the issues of being a pro athlete (and a person) with diabetes aren’t discussed enough. I get it if they don’t want to be inspirations — I hide my disease from all but a few people because I don’t want special treatment or to discuss something that’s pretty traumatic to me.

It’s hard to come up with an analogy for what T1 is like. Imagine your car’s gas gauge doesn’t work, your gas tank has an unpredictable leak, and (bear with me) sometimes your gas tank fills itself up randomly. Sometimes you’re driving along and all of a sudden, empty tank. Sometimes you look in the back seat and are surprised to see ankle deep gas because the tank is too full.

When a T1 person’s gas tank is empty, it’s beyond the worst sports-induced bonk you ever had. It’s so bad you can pass out, be completely unresponsive, slur your words, and end up in the hospital and maybe even die. When our tank is too full, our arteries and nerves are being damaged and we can end up blind or needing an amputation decades downtown the road. You can get out and check the tank as often as you want, but you have to stop the car and get out to do it (this is the equivalent of the finger stick blood glucose test. Fortunately there are now (very expensive) constant monitors that let me monitor my blood sugar from my phone using a sensor stuck into my stomach).

Yes, living with T1 today is “better” than it ever has been but it’s still very challenging for average people — let alone pro athletes. I can’t even imagine it, even with access to amazing medical care.

Sometimes I have days without enough energy to get up and go to work in my office job. Other days I am able to go out and run ultramarathons. Yeah, it’s hard to evaluate how I’m going to feel. Managing T1 is a 100% full-time job with both immediate and lifelong consequences if I get it wrong.

Adam Morris and Jay Cutler should be seen as amazing stories, not the butt of jokes.