On June 28th, 30 young men will be selected in the first round of the NBA draft.  All will have traveled diverse paths and all will have overcome adversity.  Some will come from inner city housing projects, others from far corners of the globe such as Italy or Senegal.  But perhaps no prospect will have overcome more than Adam Morrison, a third generation carnival worker from the Pacific Northwest.

Born and raised on the itinerant county fair circuit, Morrison never played a single game of high school basketball.  Instead, the lanky youth honed his incredible shooting skills through the Midway free throw game.  This explains why the brash youngster still yells phrases like "give me my teddy bear" or "daddy wants a new Bugs Bunny" after making extra challenging baskets in NCAA play.

Morrison burst on to the college basketball scene during the 2003-04 season, scoring in double digits at Madison Square Garden against Saint Joseph’s.  Morrison's sensational performance, along with his distinct rural heritage, prompted analyst Dick Vital to immeadiatly dub him "the Cotton Candy Dandy".

Fans quickly took notice, and Morrison has been a star on the college level ever since.  His statistical output increased every season, including a scoring average that climbed from 11.4 to 28.1 points per game throughout his three year college career. 

When asked if the high profile environment of the annual NCAA tournament made him nervous, Morrison quipped "Nope, I been ‘round flashing lights and thousands of people while wearing a sleeveless shirt purt' near my whole life". 

Morrison's ability to perform under pressure is not a surprise to those who knew him in his early years.  Uncle Skeeter Morrison reflects "One day der I says to Adam, go tighten that tension belt on the Scrambler while I have me a smoke.  Wouldn't ya know it when I come back he gots the Scrambler a scramblin, the Tilt-A-Whirl a whirlin, and ol' bumper car number 13 back in action for da first time in six years".

Morrison is almost as valuable in the eyes of NBA GM's too, especially after the recent discovery that he does not in fact have diabetes.  Scouts had long speculated that the condition might limit his potential as a high level professional athlete.  But his off the charts fluctuation in blood sugar levels has recently been attributed to his all funnel cake and sno-cone diet.     

Morrison's skills, along with his extraordinary story, have already been a source of jokes to his peers.  High flying Rodney Carney, the aforementioned Memphis star, laughed at the suggestion that he was not even the most well known "carney" in the draft.  Several other prospects enjoyed answering the question of whether their last name suggested anything about their style, with the noticeable exception of UConn forward Rudy Gay.     

In just under a week, one lucky NBA franchise is going to step right up (to the podium) and win a prize.  Though this time instead of simply shouting that phrase endlessly in to the sweltering summer air, one gangly carney from Washington state will, in fact, be that prize.