Shoot, Adam, shoot!

Adam Morrison has heard it before. That’s what happens when you ring up an average 28.1 points as a college senior, leading all NCAA scorers at Gonzaga, and helping transform your team into a legitimate NCAA tournament contender. That’s what happens when an NBA team searching for an outside scoring punch makes you its first choice in the league’s college draft with the third overall pick.

And that’s why, today, Morrison is hearing the old refrain on a regular basis each time he pulls on his Bobcats jersey.

Shoot, Adam, shoot!

It comes from fans that are filling more and more Charlotte Bobcats Arena seats on a regular basis, no doubt anxious to see what the slender rookie with the long dark hair, pencil-thin mustache and knack for scoring is going to do next. There is an audible buzz in the building when the ball is in his hands.

It comes from teammates, who welcome his skills and are hoping he will help them finish games and escape the growing pains of a young franchise.

It comes from coaches, who recognize a new weapon when they see one and want to make sure he gets ample opportunity to make his presence felt on the court and scoreboard.

It even came not long ago from one of the owners, some guy named Michael Jordan, who couldn’t help but needle Morrison in good-natured fashion during a Bobcats practice.

“He was asking me if I could make a shot and giving me some grief,” the rookie said, laughing. “But he was encouraging, which is always positive. Everybody says when I’m open, shoot it. That should be the philosophy for everybody. If you have an open shot here, let it go.

“It’s tough if you’re not making shots. They’re telling you to shoot it, but you’ve got to get confidence up and you’ve got to get in rhythm.”

In recent weeks the confidence has been there and so has the rhythm. Now 13 games into the season Morrison is averaging 15.5 points, No. 1 among NBA rookies and No. 2 in Bobcats scoring. And he is a strong candidate – perhaps the favorite -- to become the league’s rookie of the month for November when that selection is announced late this week.

Morrison has started each of Charlotte’s past seven games and his numbers have climbed. In that span he is averaging 18.7 points, 43.6 percent shooting overall, 39.3 percent on three-point field goals, 3.9 rebounds and 2.1 assists in 41.7 minutes. He has scored 21 or more points in four of the seven games and has twice hit 27, his NBA high.

His points come in bunches – he my misfire on three or four consecutive shots, then make just as many in a row. He has scored on three-pointers deep on the wing and on running shots in the middle of the lane.

His recent success, especially on those nights when he has a fast start, has put him in more of a comfort zone.

“As a shooter it’s always good to get a couple to fall and get your confidence up, maybe get an easy shot or a layup or something. Because it’s tough to start off 0-4 or 0-5 and everybody in the (arena) is wanting you to hit that next shot. It kind of hurts your confidence a little bit. So I think it’s important for anybody to get a good look early.

“I feel a lot more comfortable now just because the shots are falling. I felt comfortable from the first summer league game. I know I can play in this league and hopefully I can succeed in this league if I do it the right way.

“I just tried to play myself through my struggles at the start of the year,” he added. “My coaches and my teammates have done a good job of sticking with me. They gave me a lot of slack as far as the offensive end goes, allowing me to make mistakes and still keeping me feeling positive. That shows how much this organization is a class act, how it’s growing and how much it wants to get better.”

General Manager & Head Coach Bernie Bickerstaff, at the helm each of the Bobcats three seasons, is a league veteran whose experience has helped him practice more patience in the building process than some younger coaches might have shown. And he is patient with Morrison, though he still believes the Bobcats are not taking full advantage of their new offensive threat.

“Adam is doing well,” Bickerstaff said. “But we’ve got to get him more than four shots in the second half (the number Morrison attempted in the final two quarters of last Friday’s loss at Detroit). He played 41 minutes and if he had more (shots) it could have made everything better for everybody…I mean, the kid comes down and makes the big three and I don’t know whether he gets another shot…

“What we (on the coaching staff) have to be alert for is to make the play calls if it’s not going in the direction of recognizing when he’s open. When you have him and Matt (Carroll) on the floor, that stretches defenses.”

Morrison may be more comfortable these days. But he is quick to say he has a long list of self-improvement goals.

“There are a lot of things I have to improve on next summer,” he said. “I’ve got to get better on down screens as far as positioning for the shot and having my feet ready…Ball handling…I’ve got to get in better shape, weight-wise. I think that’s something that every rookie will understand, with what you go through.

“There are a bunch of things I need to work on.”

Until the off-season comes there is little time for Morrison or any other player to do much on their own. The games, practices and flights come too quickly and the days flash by.

Still ahead is the infamous NBA wall that so many first-year players hit, the one that comes sometime in January or February when they’ve already played more games than in any college season but are only around the mid-point of the pro schedule.

“He’s a rookie,” Bickerstaff said of Morrison. “There are going to be some ups and some downs. It’s that simple.

“Four games in five nights. Back-to-back games. Just getting your routine down. There are those types of things he still has to get used to. But the guy is still a rookie who’s scoring 15 points a game.”

For now that’s a lot. And the cry continues.

Shoot, Adam, shoot!

Leonard Laye covered the NBA, ABA and college basketball for more than three decades for the Charlotte Observer and the old Charlotte News until his retirement from writing sports fulltime. He will write a regular column throughout the season for BobcatsBasketball.com for his second straight year.