For Pau Gasol, Carmelo Anthony and Deron Williams, it all worked out. That's a trifecta of future Hall of Famers.
For Adam Morrison? Well, being a No. 3 pick led to four forgettable seasons in the Association … and a series of workouts for the Celtics this week.
Since he was drafted third overall by the Charlotte Bobcats in 2006, handpicked out of a generally weak draft class to turn things around in the Queen City, Morrison has tried for four years to become a star in the NBA like so many of the upper-tier lottery picks before him.
And while you never want to use the "B" word with a guy who just turned 26 and still has plenty of potentially solid years ahead of him, Morrison so far appears to be a bust of a No. 3 pick.
The talent pool in the summer of '06 wasn't exactly overflowing with megastar guys, but Morrison was selected well ahead of a few young prospects — most notably Brandon Roy, Rudy Gay and the Celtics' own Rajon Rondo — who now look poised to be franchise players for the next decade. They've been on the rise for the last four seasons; Morrison has seen a steady decline in his stock since '06.
Morrison was a fringe starter his rookie season, enjoying a stint as the Bobcats' small forward for a disappointing team that won only 33 games and missed the playoffs. Morrison gradually fell out of favor with coach Bernie Bickerstaff that season as his defense slacked and his shooting numbers fell off, and by season's end he was little more than a bench role player.
In 2007-08, he tore his ACL in preseason and missed the entire year.
By the winter of '09, he had become an afterthought in the Bobcats' rotation, and before he knew it, he was trade bait. On Feb. 7, 2009, he landed in Los Angeles with the defending Western Conference champions. Four months later, he has a ring. Never mind that he played only 13 minutes the entire postseason.
Now a year later, Morrison has been to the top of the mountain twice. This is the world we live in, folks — Adam Morrison is 26 and he has two championship rings. Patrick Ewing, Charles Barkley, Karl Malone and John Stockton have a combined zero.
The Celtics, always suckers for a good championship pedigree, are rumored to be working with Morrison this week and possibly entertaining the notion of a training camp invite.
For the C's, the move couldn't hurt. They've been working all summer on adding bench swingmen that can hit jumpers — Von Wafer and Delonte West each fit that mold, and bringing in another outside marksman will add to the C's depth and give them more options in camp.
Morrison is by no means guaranteed to make the Celtics' roster for this season, even if the team does extend a training camp invite sometime in the next week. He's just another guy with an outside chance at catching on — just like Wafer, Tony Gaffney, Oliver Lafayette and a few other long-shot prospects. So sure. Why not give him a shot?
As for Morrison's side of things, this is where it gets puzzling. Why Boston?
The guy's already done the "small fish, big pond" thing before. He's already won two titles without having to lift a finger. But he doesn't want to watch from the bench as the prime years of his career slip away.
This is Morrison's chance to establish himself as more than a punch line, or an answer to an obscure NBA trivia question. If he wants to become a legit player, he'd better do it soon.
The Celtics aren't going to give him that chance.
The best-case scenario for Morrison in Boston is becoming the 12th man off Doc Rivers' bench, doing mop-up work in blowout victories while the C's superstar starters sit. The worst-case scenarios are the D-League, an unceremonious buyout, or simply never being offered a contract at all.
So what's in it for him? Not much, really.
We'll see — we may see Morrison in Celtics camp when the team shows up to Waltham at the end of this month. But it would be an odd destination for the 26-year-old small forward, and you have to wonder whether somewhere out there, he should be able to find something better.
