Saturday, September 5, 2009

Morrow is a no-name no more

When the NBA released its pre-draft media guide last season, the league included bios on 124 prospects - more than twice the number of players who would be selected. Anthony Morrow's name was nowhere to be found on the list.
Morrow had played his way to Mr. Basketball honors at a North Carolina high school and had played his way into the Georgia Tech record books. Still, he was granted pre-draft workouts by only three teams and watched draft day pass without hearing his name mentioned.
"There was definitely a frustration period, because being drafted is a moment every basketball player dreams of," Morrow said. "When they didn't call my name, I just tried to convince myself that that wasn't the end."
Far from it.
Morrow seized an opportunity to play with the Warriors in summer leagues, averaging more than 18 points a game. He turned an NBA contract into a reality with a solid training camp. And he proceeded to lead the league in three-point accuracy.
"You start out wanting to be the best on your high school team, then you want to be the best in the city and then you want to be the best in the state," said Morrow, who scored 17 points in the Warriors' 97-69 win over Detroit on Monday. "It never ends. You just keep pushing at every level."
When Morrow arrived last week in Las Vegas, cameras followed, reporters' tape recorders were pointed in his direction and wannabe NBA players flocked his way seeking advice. He has become the league's poster boy of how an obscure player can turn a chance into a career.
Morrow was in the starting lineup Monday after sitting out the first two games with a left ankle sprain. During his down time, he explained each step in the process of his rise, readily admitting that the first step was the fortune of being tabbed by Golden State.
The Warriors have a history of finding productive players from off the beaten path. Kelenna Azubuike and C.J. Watson went the NBA Development League route, Matt Barnes was traded twice and cut six times before helping the Warriors' playoff team in 2007 and Brian Cardinal played in the Spanish league before becoming a finalist for the league's Most Improved Player with Golden State.
The Warriors have been credited for their ability to tab undiscovered talent and to develop players with glitches into their unique system. Ryan Blake, the assistant director of NBA scouting, knows there is more to it.
"There are so many players in golf, tennis, basketball, and there's such a fine line between a pro player and someone who doesn't make it," Blake said. "You've got to give credit to Golden State in finding guys with the character to push themselves further, to get better and to get stronger."
It's not that Morrow was a totally obscure college player. He finished his Georgia Tech days with the school's best career free-throw percentage and ranked among the top 20 in career scoring. His time there, however, was blemished in NBA execs' eyes by a stress fracture in his lower back and the discontinuity of playing with four point guards.
"What the NBA didn't see was that, as a freshman, he was the only who could keep up with the workouts of Jarrett Jack and Will Bynum," Georgia Tech coach Paul Hewitt said. "That should have been a tip-off that Anthony was going to be an NBA player."
That remained a question at this time last year. Believing he might not get an NBA chance, Morrow was set to play for a team in the Ukraine. Even after scorching the summer-league nets - making 16 of his first 19 three-point attempts - Morrow would send text messages questioning whether he would get a contract.
"I told him that every time he was on the court, 'You are filling out your application,' " mother Angela Morrow said. " 'Every time you get the ball, you're at your interview.' "
He aced the interview process.
Three months later, Morrow was so far down in the Warriors' rotation that he sat in street clothes behind the bench. Six weeks later, he was scoring 37 points against the Clippers in his first NBA start.
"He left me a message after that game, and all he said was, 'Coach, I had a pretty good game,' " said Jerry Faulkner, Morrow's high school coach at Charlotte Latin. "One problem with the NBA is that sometimes they measure things like height instead of heart. He won't settle for 'pretty good.' "
Morrow says going undrafted acts as constant motivation.
"Oh yeah, that chip will always be there."

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