He's struggling. But players go on streaks. A week ago, most here were ready to drive HB to the glue factory. Murray is learning, adjusting to the pace of the NBA, playing alongside of young vets who look really assertive on offence right now, and also handling new defensive responsibilities. I somewhat agree that there could be value in letting him come off the bench and play with a little less pressure. But then we seem to have the unprecedented luxury of being able to give him reps with the starting line-up and be competitive regardless of the nature of his production.
Keegan Murray
- Thread starter Tetsujin
- Start date
I would just stand pat and do nothing unless we go on a long losing streak... why try to fix something that ain't broke? We just won 7 straight before losing tonight. As bad as Murray has looked on offense recently, it's not like we have anyone marginally better to replace him. He's still a rookie and there is a learning curve. He'll just have to figure it out eventually.
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I'm sure he is. That's a lot for anyone to handle, much less a 22 year old kid trying to find his way as pro NBA player. And he was health protocols that first game of the year, so he may be recovering from Covid too? Not sure if that was ever released the reason he missed that game.
Like I know his dad was supposed to go with him to the Florida swing, but obviously had to stay with his grandma. So probably just all kinds of things he's going through currently.
Like I know his dad was supposed to go with him to the Florida swing, but obviously had to stay with his grandma. So probably just all kinds of things he's going through currently.
Yeah I agree... After seeing a consensus #1 pick like Markelle Fultz completely derail his career due to his mental struggles, we have to be careful with Keegan if his poor play is the result of mental issues.
With Keegan, we're not just talking missed shots, but everything else too. He went from looking like a very good NBA starter, to looking like Papagiannis in the SL.
If it's not mental-related issues, I think you've got to send him down to Stockton to at least get his shooting back. The game looks like it moves too fast for him. His handles haven't really improved much since Iowa. It could give him time to work on the other parts of his game as well.
With Keegan, we're not just talking missed shots, but everything else too. He went from looking like a very good NBA starter, to looking like Papagiannis in the SL.
If it's not mental-related issues, I think you've got to send him down to Stockton to at least get his shooting back. The game looks like it moves too fast for him. His handles haven't really improved much since Iowa. It could give him time to work on the other parts of his game as well.
Im not sure G League is the answer
Our starting line up has struggled on offense with Keegan starting, but coming off the bench against 2nd string defenders might help him get his confidence back
Depending on the matchups :
against Smaller teams:
Fox, Monk,Hueter,Barnes,Sabonis - Small Ball
Mitchell,TD,Murray,Lyles,Metu
Monk has been on fire give him more minutes
against Bigger teams:
Fox,Huerter,Barnes, Lyles, Sabonis - Big lineup
Mitchell,TD,Monk,Murray,Metu -
Our starting line up has struggled on offense with Keegan starting, but coming off the bench against 2nd string defenders might help him get his confidence back
Depending on the matchups :
against Smaller teams:
Fox, Monk,Hueter,Barnes,Sabonis - Small Ball
Mitchell,TD,Murray,Lyles,Metu
Monk has been on fire give him more minutes
against Bigger teams:
Fox,Huerter,Barnes, Lyles, Sabonis - Big lineup
Mitchell,TD,Monk,Murray,Metu -
I rewatched parts of several of his first 5 games. He didn’t look a lot different really. Moments of big impact on defense, rookie defensive lapses and a bunch of threes. The difference largely is he was making them. I do think his aggression has gone down but that can be explained. They just have to start falling
Yeah. I'm never a big fan of G -league for high picks. The competition isn't good enough to help him get up to NBA standards, if that's the issue. It's more for end of bench players to make sure they keep in game shape, etc. Sending him to G-League would be an instant confidence killer.
Once a couple of shots fall, he'll be fine.
Once a couple of shots fall, he'll be fine.
I think his confidence has already taken a pretty serious hit. He has 8 games in his last 10 where he shot 25 percent or less from three. I agree that when they fall that will change but the question is when. I think he needs a couple games where he take 8 or 9 threes. Right now he is taking about 4 on average. You miss the first two and confidence goes down. It’s not really a competition or teams game planning for him thing, he is just flat out missing good looks.
Agreed. It was the same thing w/Barnes earlier in the year. Though a rookie, he's hardly an unknown commodity. I'd keep him starting and play him a bit less while he's cold, which is already happening. Right now, Lyles is certainly a better option, or playing 3 of Fox/Monk/Davion/Huerter at a time. Running a couple plays to get him some midrange looks or into the lane to go to the line. But I wouldn't send him to the bench, much less to G-League.
I think he'll be fine. But, as is, needs to be less one dimensional. Teams are jumping out at him, because they don't fear his ability to drive and score or drive and create. Long term, Kings got a 4/3 version of Barnes. No need to be alarmed though I did find the Duncan-esq, preseason receipts seeking rather amusing.
He just needs to keep shooting and be more aggressive going to the hoop. Look for contact; don't try to avoid it by driving and tossing the ball up for a shot. Go through the defender and attempt to slam the ball. It also would help if the team got back to moving, cutting and passing so that he could do what he does best - shoot off the catch.
It’s really something to look at his October numbers compared to November. 49.3% FG to 32.6%, 39.5% from 3 to 26.4%, 36 minutes dropped to 26.
The big thing I’m seeing with him is that he’s getting good looks and open 3’s and his shot just stopped falling. 11 games in November and he only had 2 good shooting nights. If he can reliably be a 40% 3 point shooter that goes a long way towards building a lethal offense. Hopefully he’s just in a slump and can bounce back soon
https://www.espn.com/nba/player/gamelog/_/id/4594327/keegan-murray
The big thing I’m seeing with him is that he’s getting good looks and open 3’s and his shot just stopped falling. 11 games in November and he only had 2 good shooting nights. If he can reliably be a 40% 3 point shooter that goes a long way towards building a lethal offense. Hopefully he’s just in a slump and can bounce back soon
https://www.espn.com/nba/player/gamelog/_/id/4594327/keegan-murray
With a slower first step and at 22-23 way less off the ball playmaking abilities. Which for a star wing is a death sentence, not terrible for a stretch 4 though. I do think Murray will be a much better post player than Barnes is and will settle down on his finesse finishing over defenders. I'm glad they are starting to get him back down on the block after completely ignoring it from summer league to now.
The thing to start considering is whether or not Brown knows how to use both Barnes AND Keegan. Early in the season you could clearly see Barnes' role kind of shifting over to Keegan and Keegan did well. Barnes was trash and was taking shots that he obviously didn't find comfortable and even open shots when you're a rhythm player can be uncomfortable depending on the timing of them. Lately they've gone back to Barnes. He's getting a lot more action and touches. Murray has seen his shot attempts drop and his minutes dip. Barnes hasn't seen his shot attempts really go up but but that's because he can get to the line. Murray can't. Even when Murray gets fouled he's getting rookie treatment from the refs. I would love to see Brown run more 2 man game in pick and pop with Fox/Davion and Murray. Those shots would be far less complicated than some of these dribble hand off screen plays. As the season has continued on, there was no way the Kings would keep hitting those shots at the clip they were.
Not that worried about his shooting. Majority of the shots he is missing were shots he made in summer league, preseason, and the early regular season. It will come around. He's just pressing too much and rushing his shots at the moment. I think ball handling is the bigger concern. Whenever I see Murray dribble I just have a sense that he'll either turn it over.. he just doesn't look comfortable at all.
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All this Babying a professional athlete is getting on my nerves. None of this was said about any other rookie we have ever drafted. EVER!
Hes 22 freakin years old man. I had a whole family by then. Give me a break man. He needs to play better. He had no driving skills what so ever, his defense has been sub par and it shouldn't be. His shots, witch are wide open btw ain't falling. A slump is one thing, it happens but all this baby crap needs to stop. He's not a teenager He's a grown man
Hes 22 freakin years old man. I had a whole family by then. Give me a break man. He needs to play better. He had no driving skills what so ever, his defense has been sub par and it shouldn't be. His shots, witch are wide open btw ain't falling. A slump is one thing, it happens but all this baby crap needs to stop. He's not a teenager He's a grown man
If he takes 9 3s right now we lose, the way he's playing. I'm not worried about his shooting it will come. I'm worried about everything else. I've never seen someone drive to the rack so soft. His dribbling skills are very suspect, we knew this but it's worse than I thought. His defense has been suspect. I wasn't worried because we are winning, if we want to continue to win we need th old Murray back. Especially with every other top 7 rookie Ballin out right now I'm starting to feel cheated!
Thank you. These guys on the post act like he's a freakin middle school prep student. Kids like 1 year younger than the guy responsible for digging us out of this crap hole and he gets no breaks. If fox was shooting this trash while contributing absolutely nothing anywhere else, there would be riots for his head. We picked him to play now not on potential. I'd potential was the play here we should have drafted sharpe
comparing Murray to other rookies wouldn’t be fair at this point. Their roles are entirely different than Keegan’s. His defense at times is pretty outstanding at times and he has shown flashes of being a plus on that side. However he still gets schooled his fair share like most rookies do. He definitely doesn’t have a plus handle but that really isn’t his game. Durant mentioned MPJ in size and shooting ability.
I just think it’s hard to get out of a slump taking 4-8 shots. He will snap out of it I just hope it happens soon for his sake.
I just think it’s hard to get out of a slump taking 4-8 shots. He will snap out of it I just hope it happens soon for his sake.
He for sure got hacked on the low block the other day. Also, the other game it took 2-3 attempts at the rim after being fouled on the first try down low to get the call. On his drives, yeah, he's be telegraphing but on his low block attempts he's been getting little to no respect. And on the defensive end of the floor he's gotten called when he's had his arms straight up as can be on help and got whistled.
I believe his struggles started about the same time he got put into the starting lineup as well. Call it what you want. If he's that distraught he should sit out. Otherwise he's got a game to play. My sympathy goes out to him it really does.
Isaiah Thomas lost. His sister in a brutal murder and proceeded to have one of the greatest games in history. Everyone handles adversity different and I get it. But it's been 10 games. Play and be good or sit and dont
People use sports as a excape from things. When your on the court you forget about your pains. That's the beauty of sports. If you are thinking about your grandma 10 games in while playing basketball, your going to have a hard time surviving in this league. I don't think at this point that that's his problem. He's just slumping
Isaiah Thomas lost. His sister in a brutal murder and proceeded to have one of the greatest games in history. Everyone handles adversity different and I get it. But it's been 10 games. Play and be good or sit and dont
People use sports as a excape from things. When your on the court you forget about your pains. That's the beauty of sports. If you are thinking about your grandma 10 games in while playing basketball, your going to have a hard time surviving in this league. I don't think at this point that that's his problem. He's just slumping
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I agree, but I believe that event sparked the slump. He shot well in the first half of that Charlotte game and then when he came out for the second half he started missing a bunch of shots. I didn’t think that’s a coincidence. Unfortunately with shooting, mental stuff, including subconscious, can really have a major impact. He has had probably 15 threes rattle in and out, he is just off of his rhythm a bit. And unfortunately with shooting it’s hard to get it right everytime no matter how much you try. There is a reason that only a handful of NBA players out of hundreds hit 90 percent of their free throws.