Darius Morris gets Contract with Lakers
Darius Morris is now officially a Laker, he signed a contract, Actual terms (length, money, etc) weren't released though
http://www.nba.com/lakers/news/111209_lakers_signdraftpicks.html
Good for him, being a 2nd round pick, a contract wasn't guaranteed, hopefully he gets some playing time this year
December 11th, 2011 at 3:55 PM ^
Good for him. It's not standard practice to guarantee the contracts of second rounders, but hopefully that is the case.
December 11th, 2011 at 3:57 PM ^
I still wish he had stayed - he would have been an asset this year. However, I wish him nothing but luck and I will definitely tune into a few Lakers games this year in hopes of seeing him play a bit.
December 11th, 2011 at 4:00 PM ^
I hope Morris sends Stern a Christmas card this year.
December 11th, 2011 at 7:42 PM ^
Really? You crack me up bro.
December 11th, 2011 at 4:06 PM ^
Yeah, I'm hoping between Fisher's age taking the little quickness he did have, and Blake's status as the perfect back-up, I think Morris will get on the court and have a chance to prove himself
December 11th, 2011 at 6:40 PM ^
I would not be surprised at all to see Darius get a lot more minutes than Steve Blake this year. Blake was awful last year -- he had a PER of 7.50, which is close to worst-in-the-league bad.
From John Hollinger:
"While he made a respectable 37.8 percent on 3s, he shot so infrequently that he averaged just 8.1 points per 40 minutes, the second-worst mark among point guards. Even worse, he shot an unfathomably bad 28.8 percent on 2-point shots (Let me repeat that: 28.8 percent. 2-point shots), and drew 30 free throw attempts the entire season to rank dead last among point guards in free throw attempts per field goal attempt.
As a result of all this, he had the fourth-worst PER among point guards. Forget about starting, he'll have to show significant progress just to be an acceptable backup."
December 11th, 2011 at 8:18 PM ^
Eh, PER isn't really useful in Blake's case. Blake is usually pretty efficient (his oRtg tends to be above the league average), which is all you really care about in a role player. He doesn't take a lot of shots because he isn't asked to.
That said, Blake wasn't up to his normal standards efficiency wise last year, so it wouldn't be surprising to see his playing time reduced.
December 11th, 2011 at 8:58 PM ^
Yeah, that's a good point. But as Kobe gets into his mid thirties [shit, I'm old], the Lakers are going to need to get a little more creation out of other spots, point guard included. Blake doesn't turn the ball over, and he's a warm body on defense, but what his PER shows is that he's one of the worst point guards in the league at actually producing offense. This is something that I think Darius can come in and do a lot better (albeit with more bone-headed rookie plays mixed in).
December 11th, 2011 at 4:21 PM ^
Let's hope Stern allows the contract to go through.
December 11th, 2011 at 4:33 PM ^
I'm glad to see his gamble paid off and he isn't having to learn Greek, Lithuanian, or Hebrew as a second language.
December 11th, 2011 at 4:40 PM ^
As someone in the Chris Paul trade thread said, Darius told CP3 to GTFO his court.
Now I'll have a reason to not completely hate the Lakers
December 11th, 2011 at 4:47 PM ^
Haha, exactly...I can't completely hate them now
December 11th, 2011 at 6:02 PM ^
miss having him run our offence this year. He should have stayed. Goodluck to him thoe!
December 11th, 2011 at 8:39 PM ^
He wasted a year with the lock out. He should have been playing right now and then left after this year... What a waste
December 12th, 2011 at 12:42 AM ^
Love to see my favorite nba team draft from my favorite college team :).
December 12th, 2011 at 10:58 AM ^
i'm glad he is gone..He is a quitter..