Keegan “KEEGAN MURRAY” Murray
- Thread starter Tetsujin
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I came away super impressed with how much he changed his game to fit with the Kings in his rookie year. Dude went from an on-ball offensive focal point of the offense, to one of the best off-ball spacers in the NBA with low USG. That's insane from a skill perspective and honestly from an ego perspective of a #4 pick. I don't know many guys in the top 5 that would be willing to not only accept being a 4th/5th option, but embrace it and be elite at it.
But it's exciting to see some of these college moves really transfer over this season. Just a much better comfort level on-ball scoring. And now he's an elite defender on top of it all. Because of his willingness to develop as an off-ball spacer too, that just adds another level to his ceiling in the NBA that nobody expected for him to be coming out of school.
Sky's the limit. There's a non-zero chance he's just Paul George 2.0, in which case we have to make sure we fully investigate that avenue before even considering moving on from him.
But it's exciting to see some of these college moves really transfer over this season. Just a much better comfort level on-ball scoring. And now he's an elite defender on top of it all. Because of his willingness to develop as an off-ball spacer too, that just adds another level to his ceiling in the NBA that nobody expected for him to be coming out of school.
Sky's the limit. There's a non-zero chance he's just Paul George 2.0, in which case we have to make sure we fully investigate that avenue before even considering moving on from him.
As it stands right now, my position is "we must NOT consider moving on from Keegan". Things can change, but this core is Fox, Domas, Keegan, and pieces that fit around it. Many of the current pieces fit very nicely (Malik, even more so) and we'd need a good reason to mess with them. We have an identity, we're cohesive as a team, we have the right coach, we're young with our best years ahead of us...why over-tinker?
closing the loop:
A is Colby Jones, B is Keon Ellis, C is OMax.
1 is Ivey, 2 is Keegan, 3 is Bagley, 4 is Richaun.
If you also add Vezenkov it's starting to feel like now that we have a coach and system in place, Monte's starting to show some results in the second round.
It's interesting that at this stage of the game Bagley seems to contribute more to winning basketball than Ivey does (on a 2 win terrible team the concept of win shares seems trivial). I thought drafting Ivey would have been a repeat of drafting Bagley all over again - not because drafting for fit, which was the argument against Keegan - but because it was committing the dual sin of de-valuing a known quantity in favor of "potential". I think it's fair to say that both known quantities have exceeded expectations, though obviously Keegan is very early in only the second year of his career. Still I don't think anyone expected this leap out of him besides maybe himself and his family.
A is Colby Jones, B is Keon Ellis, C is OMax.
1 is Ivey, 2 is Keegan, 3 is Bagley, 4 is Richaun.
If you also add Vezenkov it's starting to feel like now that we have a coach and system in place, Monte's starting to show some results in the second round.
It's interesting that at this stage of the game Bagley seems to contribute more to winning basketball than Ivey does (on a 2 win terrible team the concept of win shares seems trivial). I thought drafting Ivey would have been a repeat of drafting Bagley all over again - not because drafting for fit, which was the argument against Keegan - but because it was committing the dual sin of de-valuing a known quantity in favor of "potential". I think it's fair to say that both known quantities have exceeded expectations, though obviously Keegan is very early in only the second year of his career. Still I don't think anyone expected this leap out of him besides maybe himself and his family.
Yeah. That's part of the reason I get frustrated when people say we should trade for another offensive star... like why? We have the offensive focal points in place. Keegan is taking strides to being that third guy. Why not fully maximize a core around those guys to see how far they can take this thing?
The argument of "Well if Fox is off or not playing, what are we going to do?"... is just silly. Lose. Lose is what we're going to do. Take the best player off every good team in the NBA and they're going to lose or be first round playoff fodder if they are in a playoff series.
We're seeing it with Keon Ellis in a limited sample just how much infusing a quality defensive role player that doesn't disrupt the offensive flow does for us. And while Im very high on Keon's future, we're still not entirely sure he's a sure-fire NBA rotation player yet.
And as you said, the Kings somehow have landed a quality GM, a quality coach, 2 franchise cornerstones that are top 10 and top 15 NBA players and exciting ascending young player in Keegan Murray with potential to be that third guy. For the first time in 2 decades, we have real stability in this franchise. The worst thing we could possibly do is throw a massive wrench into that stability with a volatile star talent like a Lavine.
The argument of "Well if Fox is off or not playing, what are we going to do?"... is just silly. Lose. Lose is what we're going to do. Take the best player off every good team in the NBA and they're going to lose or be first round playoff fodder if they are in a playoff series.
We're seeing it with Keon Ellis in a limited sample just how much infusing a quality defensive role player that doesn't disrupt the offensive flow does for us. And while Im very high on Keon's future, we're still not entirely sure he's a sure-fire NBA rotation player yet.
And as you said, the Kings somehow have landed a quality GM, a quality coach, 2 franchise cornerstones that are top 10 and top 15 NBA players and exciting ascending young player in Keegan Murray with potential to be that third guy. For the first time in 2 decades, we have real stability in this franchise. The worst thing we could possibly do is throw a massive wrench into that stability with a volatile star talent like a Lavine.
Partially because you stunt the growth Monk and Keegan are currently going through as feature offensive options. And you all but assuredly can kiss Monk goodbye, as he's not going to reink with a $40mil starter in front of him. So basically you're shipping HB+Huerter+Monk for Lavine. That still worth?
Really? Well, at this rate he wouldn't do the same with Huerter in front of him either so what's the difference? If anything it's a safeguard in case he did leave. I doubt he will at this point, if he wants a starting role at some point I'm not sure Fox, LaVine, and Monk can't play some significant minutes together anyway. Certainly it's as likely as Fox, Monk, and Huerter starting. And I just don't see how it does anything to stunt either of those two. If anything, LaVine provides yet another creator to spoon feed Keegan on the perimeter making him more dangerous and keeping defenses farther off of him. If it doesn't work perfectly I'm sure Brown would figure it out.
Ok so everyone is familiar with my "20 points a game by the ASB" prediction. I do remember when I first called that, many thought it was ridiculous - "purple colored glasses", they said. "He won't be our third star next season!", they said.
Folks he's two months ahead of schedule. Keegan in December:
Folks he's two months ahead of schedule. Keegan in December:
