He is 25 -- not that young in a developmental sense. In fact that's about the fuzzy cutoff age where guys just are who they are. Nor didd he make any real advances in his game in Yr 2. Per minute it was same ole.
And he will NEVER, and I do mean NEVER, have it as easy as he has had it the last two years under Nellieball. We all make fun of Nellie, and for good reason. But his entire system is designed around making things absolutley as easy as he can on the Anthony Morrows of the world on offense. Its all open court, shoot whenever the rock hits your hands, run to your favorite spots every time, and don't worry about what that may do to the transition defense, because we ain't playing any. Nellie still has a job for a reason. For all the silliness, he runs the preeminent little man offense in the enitre NBA, and one that routinely makes scrubs look like stars.
Morrow will always be able to shoot. That alone should guarantee him a long term spot in the NBA, and if he came cheap and without expectations would make using a roster spot for him reasonable. But he's 25, playing for an ideal coach for his offense, and didn't improve much from yr 1 to yr 2. Protesting that "oh, well he's athletic and so he should be able to do this", or "oh, he just wasn't given an opportunity to do that" would be a lot more comforting if we weren't talking about having to throw yet another long term cap clogging MLE at the guy to get him away for Golden State, and then just crossing our fingers that he was the first SG in history that Nellie was actually holding back (if he were a PF, sure, but a Nellie SG?).
So you're acknowledging that he was in a system that demanded little else of him other than to do what he was already good at (shooting with no conscience), that insisted that he doesn't have to play defense, that basically encouraged basketball IQ of the lowest form with no emphasis on protecting possessions or the basket...and you're surprised that he hasn't developed into a better basketball player??
Making it easy on a young player is the equivalent of sending a child to a run-down, low-performing school to be taught by unqualified and indifferent teachers (sound like someone?). Growing in a toxic environment like that, where bad habits go unchecked (or are even encouraged) will absolutely stack the odds against you learning what it takes to succeed while you're there.
And yes, 25 is still young -- sure, if a player's been in the league for around 4 or 5 years, history is likely to prove that he will be what he's shown himself to be -- but obviously his developmental track is going to be different since he just completed his 2nd year. There is no magical developmental wall that pops up on your 25th birthday to prevent you from adding to your skillset as a basketball player. Otherwise we could safely say LeBron (turning 26) will never become a good low post player or a midrange jumpshooter. Both skills that he will need to develop as his career progresses. Let's be clear though: that was not a direct Morrow to LeBron comparison. It's about the work you put in. If Morrow told himself that he's done improving his game after his second year, then I wouldn't want much to do with him.
I am by no means saying Nellie is the sole reason that Morrow hasn't improved much. As I said in my first post, he has a long way to go to prove he is more than just a shooter in this league. If he can get out of Golden State, the onus is on him to flesh out his game. My main point was that his short career has existed in a screwed up system that encourages bad habits and sloppy basketball. I am not intending to completely excuse said habits -- I simply believe that it's not too late at all to break them.
Hardly anyone said we should throw the full MLE at him (aside from Purple Reign). Yeah, the contracts that have been thrown out the past couple of days have been insane, but let's see what he gets offered on the open market before we decry his potential signing as a clog of any sort. Mike Miller is more polished, more skilled and a far more established player, and he was offered just the MLE by the Lakers the other day. So there is reason to hope that Morrow might be had for a cheaper price, which is the only circumstance in which I'd want him. At no point did I or anyone else (again, aside from PR) say he was an MLE talent. We were simply discussing the player, not the price. If he's expecting that much of a commitment, then I'll be the first to ask us to move on.
And Nellie still has his job for a reason alright -- the reason just has nothing to do with the mess that he throws onto the court every night. That reason is an incompetent and uninterested ownership and management that is focused more on managing costs and placating their over-the-hill coach because they're paying him too much to fire him and hire someone who gives a damn about his players. The fact that he still has so much sway and backing in the front office is ridiculous. Putting together 29 and 26 win seasons while visibly ruining young prospects with his "preeminent" approach is hardly the reason he's still on those sidelines.