Darius Morris to Lakers
In this deal? Yes. You're right- less money on the front end. Higher potential gains in second deal, though. And first round deals are slotted and, generally, shitty. I believe Lebron was making something like $3.8m a year in salary his 3rd year. . . when he was NBA MVP.
i am a fan of the lakers now
I called him going to the Lakers 2 months ago when he entered the draft. He should be excited about having the chance to play in his hometown and with Kobe.
congrats
who does he have to beat to make the team?
Former Sparty Shannon Brown, perhaps.
or steve blake? but, blake is more of a shooter.
Brown isn't really a PG. He's played the "PG" role for them, but that was in the triangle when Jackson was coach, and it wasn't really his normal role. He's gotta beat out probably no one, really. I can envision them keeping Blake, Farmar, DMo, and Fisher on their roster. I also think that, frankly, if he can't beat out Blake and Farmar, he probably doesn't have much of a future in professional basketball in the U.S. Blake is not good; he played quite poorly last season. Farmar is athletic and fast, but that's about it. Darius is in a good spot here. He should shoot 1,000-1,500 NBA threes per day between now and whenever the NBA season starts. If he can be even serviceable from downtown, he could flourish for the Lakers. He can run the pick-and-roll, and if he can knock down open 3's, which he'd surely get on a team with Kobe and Gasol, he could really do well for himself this season.
I posted this above, but Blake did not fit well into the triangle offense. I would expect him to make at least a little bit more of an impact than he did last year.
Also Farmar is not on the team, so D Mo only has to beat out Blake, Fisher and maybe Brown.
Yeah- you make good points. I was way off on Farmar. My bad. As for Blake, I always felt like he was a pretty solid defender, but his offensive game was a little weak. And perhaps you're right- the triangle wasn't a good fit for him. Hell, it probably wouldn't be for Darius either, so at least in that regard it will be interesting to see how it plays out. If Mike Brown runs more of a typical NBA type offense (set plays, pick and roll-heavy), it likely plays to both Blake and Darius's strengths.
He'll be fighting Steve Blake for the backup PG and should be able to beat out Joe Smith or Theo Ratliff for a roster spot.
I wish nothing but the best for him. I wish he was getting coached up by Phil Jackson rather than Mike Brown, but oh well. He'll be mentored by Kobe and Fisher. That's gotta count for something.
Only on the court.
Congrats to Coach B for his first recruit getting drafted and to D Morris. Congrats guys!!
LA is signing or trading for a point guard when Fisher is done.
Why is that most of us knew he wasn't going to be a first-rounder but nobody around him seemed to know that? I'm not talking about the guy's agent. Beilein had to know. More impartial people around Morris had to know. I realize next year's draft will have more talent. But there's no question he should have stayed in school for another year. He needs more seasoning. Now he's put himself in a pretty dangerous position.
And I'm sure some jerk got in his ear (just like Manny) and told him what he wanted to hear instead of the truth.
I feel bad for him, but he watched this exact same thing happen to Manny and didn't learn from it, so it is really his own fault. I wish him well, but man he has put himself in a tough position.
"Didn't learn from it." What? Manny had a very successful rookie season. The race doesn't end on draft night. That's when it starts.
Harris' draft was a disaster. He was told he was a sure first rounder and then he fell into the 2nd.
The fact that he ended up with a gutted Cleveland team and managed to not only make the roster and contribute doesn't change the fact that declarling for the draft was a terrible decision and blew up in Manny's face., Lucky for him he was able to overcome the odds and actually contribute as a 2nd rounder. Many other second rounders end up in the D-League or as training camp practice players.
There seems to be a general misundestanding of the NBA draft on this board. Going in the 2nd round is pretty miuch never a good thing, but it's doubly bad when you have a young player that is developing and might have been able to improve their draft stock with more college. Anyone who thinks that going in the 2nd round to LA is somehow better than going to ANYONE in the 1st round is completely off their rocker.
Strongly disagree with your last sentence. I think anyone who thinks they'd rather go as, say, the last pick of the first round to the T-Wolves (if they'd traded for it) instead of going to the Lakers in the 2nd round, as a point guard, is hallucinating.
/matchinghyperbolewithhyperbole
Why is that most of us knew he wasn't going to be a first-rounder but nobody around him seemed to know that? I'm not talking about the guy's agent. Beilein had to know.
I suggest you listen to what John Beilein said on WTKA today (podcasts here). He certainly did not know that Morris wasn't going to be a first-rounder. NBA representatives had told him that Morris could go anywhere from around 17 to 50. I'm sure he told Morris that there was no guarantee that he'd be a first-rounder. Morris stayed in the draft, which was certainly a gamble--but it's his gamble, it's his life.
And even though he didn't end up being a first-rounder, being the first pick of the Lakers, who clearly coveted him, given that they had him at #19 on their draft board, seems like an ideal fallback position. According to this article, Mitch Kupchak, the Lakers' GM, thinks he has a good chance of making their roster:
"We think, we're hoping both of them can make the team," Kupchak said. "They both are talented enough to make the team."
Kupchak said the Lakers could have room on the roster for Morris and Goudelock because veterans Joe Smith and Theo Ratliff are not expected to return.
...while I think he would have had a superb season next year, I'm not sure that the draft result (2nd round) would have been any different given the projected talent in next year's draft. Better for him to be in a hometown situation with some good mentoring opportunities than be in Minnesota in the 2012 draft as either a mid 1st round or early 2nd round pick.
It's only "wrong" from the standpoint that he'd make more money in Minnesota. In all other aspects - including the chance to develop his game with veteran mentorship - playing for the Lakers is preferable.
But mid-round T-Wolves $3 mil guaranteed with another $1.6 3rd year option; 2nd round, under $800,000, nothing guaranteed, but at home with Kobe.
<br>
<br>Which would YOU choose?
And I would still pick LA. Did you see what happened to former Syracuse great Johny Flynn tonight? He got traded more than a dot.com stock. Granted, he's a millionaire (I think he got picked right after Rubio in '09 at the 5th or 6th spot) but he's out of the leage by next year. D-Mo may (may) get more of a career in the league by going to a good team.
We'll see what happens.
I completely agree that it's too soon to judge Morris's decision to go pro. The Lakers could be a perfect fit for him. It's clear they coveted him; there are reports that they had him ranked 19th on their draft board. It's unfortunate that the Lakers didn't have a late pick in the first round.
Around $9 mil. So at his current rate, Morris has to stick in the League 10-18 years to make that much, even if Flynn is immediately bounced.
<br>
<br>I hope you're not in finances.
I hope you're not in advising athletes. Or finance. Because if you were, you'd likely need to understand the regulatory structure of the regime under which your client was employed. The NBA minimum salary increases each year a guy is in the league for that guy, and that number increases (like compounding interest, in a way) each year as well. Further, if a guy is in the league "10-18 years," it means, practically, he's gotten numerous guaranteed deals in free agency and/or when the threat of free agency was looming and he re-signed. Show me a guy who's been in the NBA 10 years- the past 10 years, 10 full seasons- who's made only $9 mil. Or, even better, show me a guy who's been in the league since 1993 (18 years) who's made only $9 mil. You can't. And that doesn't even account for the rate of salary increases in the NBA, which has outstripped inflation by a nearly-quadratic factor.
Flynn will be in it for 30. Neither is going to happen. If you don't understand the ridiculousness of the theory $500,000 > than $9 mil, save your lectures, because you're clueless. (Which I should have gathered when you thought The idea of Flynn getting cut while Darius plays for over a decade was a serious possibility).
Re: lectures, you're the poster who came out with the "you're not in finance" line. Was just reciprocating. I also don't understand why you can't understand why people like me think your oversimplified "$500k < $9m" argument isn't taking into account all externalities and, frankly, doesn't accurately assess the expected future income.
Re: their # of years in the league, that number was used because it pointed out a flaw in your analysis: that there isn't an increasing minimum salary scale per year in the league, that that scale itself doesn't increase, and that any player who plays more than 3 seasons in the NBA plays only for the league minimum in each of his seasons.
And it's just argument for people who were saying "it wasn't a bad decision...see, he's going to make the first round everyone says!" to cover up how wrong they were, even as they still can't admit it. If you really want in depth analysis, check and see how many 2nd round picks stick in the League and get that second and future contracts that makes them big money vs. 1st round picks doing the same. Your hope and logic is based on a 2nd round pick having a better chance of making those future dollars because of who drafted him than the offset of being drafted much higher, but not by your "hometown team". Which the history of the NBA has shown, isn't hardly the case. (Any team that drafts him will think he's a "need". He's not a "best available talent" type. And teams value their first round picks much more than their second, which have less value than the cheerleaders pom-poms to most teams).
Yeah, maybe I'm nuts, but I think that if Morris spends 10-18 years in the NBA, he's gonna make more than $500K a year. Juwan Howard has probably made some good bank in the last 16 or so years in the league.
And could I borrow your crystal ball that tells you what the future rookie salary contracts are going to look like post-lockout? 'Cus I would love to use it for some bets I'm placing in Vegas next week.
Off the top of my head, I believe that Juwan Howard has made roughly $120,000,000.00 in his career.
Fact check: http://blacksportsonline.com/home/2010/07/the-top-25-nba-career-salaries-of-all-time/
Damn. $148m in career earnings going into this past season. I was off by a lot. But hell, what's $20m here and there for a guy like Juwan. The Fab Five have collectively made over $300m in the NBA, conservatively.
Most of that came from one contract, when there were no limits?
How is that relevant to the question of "how much Juwan Howard made in his NBA career?". And, for the record, over $40m was made from contracts other than the big contract you're referring to in the approximately 7 years he wasn't on that deal. Still averages well over $5m/year on the non-big deal (which coincided with his prime, mind you). So yeah, still, a shit-ton more than $800k a year that was thrown out there in the strawman argument from before. And that's mostly in 90's-early 00's dollars in a 90's-early 00's NBA with a 90's-early 00's salary cap.
To last in the NBA that long and make that much money? Hint: It wasn't the 2nd round.
Wall Street Journal article from about a month ago provided an estimate of the collective earnings of the Fab Five:
The four Fab Fivers who reached the NBA made a combined $431 million in salary, based on estimates and news reports—$526 million when adjusted for inflation.
For a decade, you're insane. The point was he'd have to work that long at what he's making to earn $9 dollars. Which won't happen.
No. What's insane is you using a word such as "insane" to describe us accurately pointing out the ludicrious logic you employed, turning that logic against you, and then you saying "nah nah nah, you're insane, because I KNOW DARIUS MORRIS'S FUTURE."
You simply can't logically make such a statement. You can, at the very best, look at average career outcomes for guys drafted around his slot, take the career earnings of that cohort, transpose it to account for adjustments in salaries/salary cap, and make some sort of argument regarding probabilities. But, then again, since we're dealing with a single person here, such an argument, though far more logical and rational than your subjective reasoning for which you have (still) yet to provide any basis other than "it's my opinion and some NBA draft 'gurus" agree and he was ONLY taken #41," would still be specious at best.
Or, put more simply: why on earth should any of us believe your subjective opinion more than our own, if we assume that we've all a.) watched every game of DMo's career that was televised (I have; I imagine you have to), and b.) have been watching NBA basketball consistently and regularly for the past 25 years? I'm not trying to predict the future; only you are doing that. I know the limitations of my own psychic abilities. You, too, should try it. The point is, you can't make the statements you're making about his future even remotely as definitively as you're attempting to.
The total history of the NBA and second round draft picks probability of success, just because "he played for my team!!!", and the other is going with the overwhelming evidence that history has provided. And saying he wasn't good enough for the first round was proven true. And those same flaws will probably preclude a long NBA career used as hyperbole that you were apparently confident enough in to take seriously. I mean, the amount of players who go 18 years in the League you can count on your hands....and amount of second rounders? Ha. The point was never that he'd earn 18 consecutive League minimum contracts. It was to point out how much less money he was making by not being a first round pick. And considering the original point had Flynn going from the lottery to being cut after his first contract, I thought just as ridiculous example would be taken as ridiculous. You can project numbers all over the place on what his second contract MIGHT be, but then you'd have to project what a 1st round pick's second contract would be, and how much more money it would likely be for...not to mention the greater money he's already banked.
Tweet from John Niyo:
Darius Morris on ESPN Radio after going #41 to Lakers said of teams that passed on him in 1st round: "They're gonna regret it."
And it doesn't sound like he regrets going pro. I wish him all the best of luck. Hope he proves all the naysayers wrong.
He may not play a lot right away, but my guess is that the Lakers will be very happy with what they have in the not-too-distant future.
I knew how this would play out. I said the whole year that D-Mo better not go to the draft, because he isn't THAT good. But what happens? After a ton of Michigan fans blow him all year, he gets a big head, and thinks he is 1st-round quality. On top of that, his brother really sells him hard on how he'll do really well in this year's draft.
He was in the Ross School, doing well both academically and on the court -- his stock was clearly rising. All he had to do was stick around one more year, and he'd get his BBA and probably be a 1st-round pick after proving that he can do it two years in a row (and Michigan would've been an even better team, thus raising the hype and exposure of Morris). Further, he would've had a great degree to fall back on if he didn't make it in the NBA (cmon, there are only 60 starting guards in the entire NBA, and we can all admit that a lot of them are better than D-Mo). Instead, he has to go and screw it up. I can see Manny Harris staying in the league for a long while, but I guess I'll see D-Mo at In 'n Out sooner rather than later.
One thing to factor in is all of the 1st round talent that did not go pro this year. This was a good year to be in the draft...I also don't agree with your take on Morris's NBA future at all. I think the guy will be doing well in the league ten years from now.
Okay, fine, let's assume that he wouldn't get drafted in the first round next year. He's either drafted in the second round (like he was this year) or goes undrafted. And he has a BBA from Ross.
Either way, the decision to stay in school weakly dominates going to the draft.
Michigan isn't going anywhere.