With all of the Amar'e Stoudemire, Jermaine O'Neal, Shawn Marion, John Salmons, Brad Miller, Josh Howard, even Vince Carter rumors circulating around the NBA, it was a very random Adam Morrison and Shannon Brown to the Lakers for Vladimir Radmanovic trade that begins the deadline month of February.

Who knows what kind of player Morrison may end up developing into for the Lakers, but it was clear that their selection of the former Gonzaga star with the third overall pick in 2006 was a move that the Bobcats had to rid themselves of.

The 2006 class has been far from spectacular, but passing on Brandon Roy has been a clear mistake for Charlotte.  He would have made Raymond Felton much better because of how skilled he is with the ball in his hands and they each would have been able to effectively play the combo guard.  They also would have been able to use their TPE and lottery pick in 2007 for a big instead of Jason Richardson, or they could have taken Brook Lopez instead of D.J. Augustin, though that is something you don't have to blame passing on Roy for.

Morrison tore his ACL just prior to the 2007-08 season, which caused him to miss all 82 games.  That injury came on the heels of a rookie season in which he shot just 37.6% from the floor and 33.7% from beyond the arc.

This season he never came close to winning over Larry Brown and shot 36.0% from the floor and again 33.7% beyond the arc.

There is little evidence to suggest Morrison will develop into a solid rotation player at the NBA level, but strange things could potentially happen to a player who was as talented as he was in college when playing with guys of Kobe Bryant, Pau Gasol and Lamar Odom's caliber.

But this is clearly a salary dump for the Lakers with a small potential for upside.

Morrison will make $5.26 million next season before becoming a restricted free agent in 2010, while Radmanovic is due $6.47 million next season and has an early termination option for $6.88 million the next year.  Radmanovic was a spare part that had his minutes reduced recently and the Lakers will have a little bit more flexibility in regards to the luxury tax to potentially re-sign Odom and Trevor Ariza this summer.

For the Bobcats, Larry Brown clearly didn't like Morrison or Shannon Brown and Radmanovic at least is going to be able to spread the floor with his outside shooting, something Morrison wasn't doing whatsoever.  The extra money they are taking on for the additional season of Radmanovic clearly is a better use of money than the remainder of Morrison's salary this year and next.

Grade for Lakers: B+

Grade for Bobcats: B