ijohnb

April 26th, 2013 at 9:56 AM ^

a really ideal opportunity and I have to say that i am surprised that LA has not at least tried him in longer streches already.  I think Darius could do some good things on the pick and roll with Dwight and Gasol.  Their offense is utterly lacking both direction and coherence without the Mamba, and it could at least bring some stability and understanding of what they at least trying to run.  Particularly in this series as they 1) need to find a way to push the tempo and the Butterfly can do that if not that much else, and 2) find a way to nuetralize Parker and Darius could probably get at least a couple of post looks over Parker and maybe create his own shot if he gets a step off a high screen.  I see this as kind of an "Ah Ha" moment for the Lakers if they just go with it.

gwkrlghl

April 25th, 2013 at 8:09 PM ^

so here's my vow. If Sportscenter can make it 24 hrs without talking about the Lakers and/or Kobe during basketball season, I will eat my hat. (I'm not too worried)

bronxblue

April 25th, 2013 at 8:57 PM ^

Good luck to Morris.  Loved him at UM, but not a good sign for the Lakers to be trotting him out as a starter down 2-0.  But they have been shreded defensively, so hopefully Morris's age and athleticism at least helps.

kehnonymous

April 26th, 2013 at 10:59 AM ^

It's actually not all that surprising that Morris had been stapled to the bench.  Mike D'Antoni is infamous for a tight rotation of 8 guys.  There was even one game this season (on a back-to-back, no less!) where he only played 7 guys because of an injury.  That was a head-scratchingly odd decision to me, at least, but it's how he rolls.

And, let's not kid ourselves, Morris was mostly playing earlier this season only because both Steve Nash AND Steve Blake were injured and did not consistently distinguish himself when he was on the court.  He's only seeing the floor now because the first four guards on the roster are injured and of those four, I think only a clearly hobbled Nash might play. 

Steve Blake(!) has frankly been the only thing keeping us respectable in the absence of Kobe so Darius has some big shoes to fill.  He can approximate Blake's surprisingly decent defense but is going to have to borrow THJ's NBA Jam cheat code to even keep L.A. in the game. 

Darius may not ever get a better opportunity to make a case for staying in the league.  It goes without saying that I'm hoping for the best - for both his sake and the Lakers'   To be perfectly honest, though - it may actually be for the best if he does *not* play especially well because in this Kafkaesque clusterfuck of a Laker season, a run of inspired play is almost a certain harbinger of a long-term injury and missed playing time. :p

Mr. Yost

April 26th, 2013 at 11:21 AM ^

Is it bad that Trey Burke totally affects my perception of Darius Morris?

I remember when he left being like "OMG!!!!!" ...now I'm just like "oh...cool."