More on Morrison
A few more topics addressed by Adam Morrison that weren't included in Sunday's article.
Read on.
Morrison on ….
His interests: “I’m kind of a regular guy, I enjoy playing golf, going to the lake. I love to stay around the game (of basketball).”
What he wants to impart to the players: “I can relate a little bit, being new out of the game and I understand where they’re coming from. I think I can provide a player’s mentality from a coaches’ perspective. I’m not saying if you didn’t play you can’t coach or vice versa, but I think some of the these younger guys will feel comfortable coming up to me and saying, ‘OK, what should I have done in this situation as a player, instead of what would the coach want me to say’, that type of thing. But I’m just the low guy on the totem pole and I’m just getting my feet wet.”
Being back in class: “I don’t mind school. I always went to class. I don’t mind doing the work, it wasn’t a drag. My parent taught me school is an important thing in of my life.”
What GU means to him: “It means everything. Being from Spokane, I think it was myself, (Sean) Mallon and then a few years later David (Stockton). Hardly any kids from Spokane have played here but being from here and seeing the program from its infancy, 1995, 1998, then it blew up, it means a lot.”
On turning the page from pro career to coaching: “People say, Do you miss it?' I miss the locker room and that type of stuff. Right now I get an opportunity to teach these young kids how to become better men and better players. It’s my turn to give back to the game. It gave a lot to me.”
On whether it's liberating in a sense to end to pro career: “That was part of the decision. My situation is different. People are like, ‘Why don’t you play overseas?’ We’ll I’m diabetic so I have to make sure my food is right. I have two little kids so am I going to miss their school. It’s not, ‘Can’t you just go play and it’ll be fine.’ There’s more to it. So I thought if I get into coaching early and enjoy it maybe I can be a head coach in eight years and I’ll be 36, 37.
“It is liberating in a sense that I don’t forget what kind of high school career, college career I had and I had some good moments in the NBA. Two championship rings, got to play with the best player in the world (Kobe Bryant). There are a lot of good things people always forget. I remember.”
On advice he’s received from his dad, John, a former college coach: “He’s very excited. He always tells me to write everything down. He tells me stories of when he was a new coach, write it down good or bad. He’s excited because that’s what he did for a living.”
On growth of the program: “I tell (the players) they have no clue. We used to take commercial (flights), now they’re flying charter. Just look at the university, the new student center, all the new dorms. It used to be the admin building, the cog and the gym and the dorms. Now’s it big-time, rightfully so, the program has grown that much.”
On the 2013-14 Zags: “I think we’ll be pretty good. Obviously it’s one of those in-between years that GU always has. There’s always a great team, last year was a great team, there’s question marks but they’re good question marks for the guys that have done well but they have to go from here to here (gestures that players have to go to a higher level).
“It was like after my freshman year to my sophomore year with myself, Ronny, Derek was an unknown, Sean an unknown and we ended up having a great team. It was one of those where people thought, ‘You might win 18 games, you might win 25 games.’ I’m looking forward to seeing how they develop. We’re going to be talented, but nobody really knows. We don’t have two pros anymore (in Olynyk and Harris).”
