Earlier this week, I think I spoke prematurely about Travis Outlaw emerging as the third option on offense for the Nets, when in reality, there’s another player who’s the definitive third amigo riding shotgun with Devin Harris and Brook Lopez. There wasn’t a lot of buzz about the acquisition of this player in the off-season, and the workings of his contract are still a bit murky. But his presence in this Nets lineup can no longer be ignored. That player is Tranthony Morrlaw.
The ability of Travis Outlaw and Anthony Morrow to never have a solid game simultaneously is uncanny. In fact, since the season began, there’s only been one game where neither player has reached double digits in scoring, the Halloween Massacre against the Miami Heat in Newark when Morrow topped the duo with 5 points. In every other game, the boxscore reads as if Morrow and Outlaw sat down in the locker room before hand and said: “Dude, I think I’m going to go for 20+ tonight?” “OK, good, because I’m only feeling like 4 points myself, so I won’t get in your way.”
With that said, when you combine the best efforts of Outlaw and Morrow, this Tranthony Morrlaw character is evolving into a heckuva offensive player for the Nets. When scrolling through the schedule, if you take the better game between Morrow and Outlaw, this hybrid player is averaging 18.5 points per game on 56 percent shooting and 53 percent from three point land. I think the Nets would be more than happy if either Outlaw or Morrow could put up that kind of point production over the long haul of the season. But it’s imperative that when one player is up, the other steps it up just a little bit more, because if you take the worse game between the two, Tranthony Morrlaw, or better yet, Anvis Outrrow is averaging 5 points per game on 24 percent shooting and 21 percent shooting from three. The Nets would be better off starting Stephen Graham if that’s all that Outrrow is going to be able to provide.
