New Sports Illustrated

[MissouriValleyUnite]

Adam Morrison was mentally fragile and was never going to live up.

Good point. I still have a vivid recollection of Morrison down on his knees slapping both hands on the floor after Gonzaga blew a double digit lead to UCLA, even while Gonzaga still had the last shot to win it -- a shot Morrison would likely take.

[glm38]

Adam Morrison was mentally fragile and was never going to live up.

Doug wants to be great and I think he'll have a better NBA career than a lot of people think.

Adam was/is also a type one diabetic. Type one diabetics can be very good athletes but you have to wonder if that didn't possibly affect his career somewhat? NBA basketball is about as strenuous a sport as there is. I would imagine managing his condition over a full 82 game season would be very challenging. Even exhausting. One of my son's is a type one diabetic so I know quite a bit about the challenges of managing that condition.

I admire him for making the NBA. I'm only aware of one other type 1 that ever played in the NBA.

[Wufan]

Adam Morrison was mentally fragile and was never going to live up.

Doug wants to be great and I think he'll have a better NBA career than a lot of people think.

Adam was/is also a type one diabetic. Type one diabetics can be very good athletes but you have to wonder if that didn't possibly affect his career somewhat? NBA basketball is about as strenuous a sport as there is. I would imagine managing his condition over a full 82 game season would be very challenging. Even exhausting. One of my son's is a type one diabetic so I know quite a bit about the challenges of managing that condition.

I admire him for making the NBA. I'm only aware of one other type 1 that ever played in the NBA.

Absolutely! This shouldn't be overlooked. I'm interested to see what McDermott is able to do and not do at the NBA level.

[glm38]

Yes I'm interested to see how McD does at the next level too. I remember several Shox fans proclaiming last year that Early would be a much better NBA player than Doug. I know it's not a contest ( and I hope they both make it big) but that just makes the whole thing more interesting.

[Bluejay09Bear06]

But let's calm down on the comparisons to Larry Bird. Bird carried his team to the championship game. McDermott has been unable to carry his team to a Sweet 16. If he takes them to a title game this year, by all means, compare away.

Bird's S.I. cover is from November 1977, before Bird had even taken Indiana St to the NCAA Tournament, much less the national championship game.

[rlh04d]

But let's calm down on the comparisons to Larry Bird. Bird carried his team to the championship game. McDermott has been unable to carry his team to a Sweet 16. If he takes them to a title game this year, by all means, compare away.

Bird's S.I. cover is from November 1977, before Bird had even taken Indiana St to the NCAA Tournament, much less the national championship game.

I'm not saying McDermott doesn't deserve a SI cover. Obviously he does.

When the Bird cover was is irrelevant. The intended comparison between the two is obvious. And when you're comparing a guy to Bird, the comparison is including Bird's tourney and NBA success.

If you can't get to the Sweet 16, you shouldn't be compared to Bird, even if you're only looking at their college careers. Bird's college career is defined by the near perfect season, NCAA run, and matchup with Magic.