Adam Morrison can answer the questions until his voice is strained, but he still will have skeptics who doubt his tall, slender body can handle the grind of an NBA season while he’s fighting diabetes.
The Gonzaga junior, a likely top-five pick in the June 28 NBA draft, is tired of dispelling misconceptions about Type 1 diabetes. He was diagnosed with the disease at 13.
The myth is “your body won’t be able to hold up,” he said last weekend at the NBA’s predraft camp in Lake Buena Vista, Fla.
The reality is “every doctor says you can live a normal life with diabetes,” he said. “I’ve never heard one say you can’t. As long as you take care of yourself, you can live a normal life.”
The 6-foot-8-inch small forward led the NCAA in scoring last season at 28.1 points per game and has an incredible resume when it comes to offensive skills.
Monday, he will show off his arsenal at the Berto Center for Bulls general manager John Paxson and coach Scott Skiles. The Bulls own the No. 2 pick behind the Toronto Raptors in the June 28 draft.
Morrison’s longest college season consisted of 33 games, which raises questions about whether he can he balance an 82-game NBA season–plus exhibitions and possibly the playoffs–with a disease that requires constant monitoring and is debilitating for some.
There isn’t a doubt in Morrison’s mind he can do it. Ron Santo, a longtime Cubs broadcaster and a diabetic, won five Gold Gloves with the club in the 1960s and ’70s. Hall of Fame hockey player Bobby Clarke and Olympic gold medal swimmer Gary Hall Jr. made it to the top of their sports in spite of the disease.
When it comes to NBA role models, Morrison can look up to Chris Dudley, a Type 1 diabetic who played in the NBA for 16 years.
Dudley, a 6-11 center, played for five NBA teams and retired from the Portland Trail Blazers in 2003.
“You can do whatever you want to do with the provision you take care of yourself,” Dudley said Friday in a telephone interview. “I don’t want to make it sound easy. It’s not easy. But it can be dealt with, and you can do athletics. Adam has the right personality to take care of it.”
Morrison is not shy about his illness. He is comfortable checking his blood sugar during games. At times Morrison must inject himself with insulin if he needs to lower his blood sugar level; other times he must eat or drink something sweet to raise it.
Type 1 diabetics do not produce insulin, a hormone that helps the body process sugars.
Discipline is vital to combat diabetes.
Dudley, 41, would test his blood sugar up to 14 times a day. To date, he estimates he has injected himself with insulin more than 45,000 times since he was diagnosed at 16. Dudley still adheres to a strict diet with careful planning of meals.
Morrison follows a similar regimen.
“People ask me how I’m going to do it at the next level,” Morrison said. “I’m not going to do anything different. I’m going to do what I did at the college level and take care of myself, stay on top of things.”
Said Dudley: “If I were a general manager, I’d have more hesitation with a player who lets his body go in the off-season. Adam’s not that kind of person.”
Dudley was able to lay low with his illness because he was a journeyman. The Cavaliers drafted him in the fourth round in 1987 and, from a financial standpoint, he posed little risk to the organization.
By the time he was in a big contract year, Dudley had demonstrated his body could handle the rigors of the NBA.
“I was a late-round pick out of Yale,” Dudley said. “I wasn’t on the cover of Sports Illustrated [like Morrison].”
The team that invests in Morrison will have millions of dollars at stake. To ease concerns from general managers and medical personnel, Morrison’s Chicago-based agent, Mark Bartelstein, has been proactive in educating NBA teams.
Bartelstein said he sent teams a report from Morrison’s doctor outlining details about the condition.
“I think the information we’ve presented to the teams has made it a non-issue,” Bartelstein said.
He will know for sure on draft day. Almost immediately thereafter, Morrison might be expected to become a spokesperson for diabetes awareness. Dudley said he has advised Morrison to take things slowly.
Dudley went public with his illness after securing a long-term deal. Since then he has dedicated countless hours and dollars to charitable causes for diabetes. He runs a basketball camp for diabetic children and has testified as an advocate for stem-cell research in front of a Senate committee.
“I told Adam, `You’re at a point where you’re trying to establish yourself in the league,'” Dudley said. “`Be the best basketball player you can be.’ By doing that, it’s a huge benefit.”
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mxgarcia@tribune.com
