Erik Murphy: 6'10", PF, Florida:

[bajaden]

I took in the Florida/Wisconsin game on wednsday. Nice victory for Florida over Wisconsin in a game that I thought would be closer. Murphy, who attracted my attention last season, had a spectacular game, scoring 24 pts on 10 for 10 shooting from the floor, and 2 for 2 from the 3pt line. He added 8 rebounds, and area in which I thought he slipped last season, and 1 steal and 1 blocked shot.

Now I don't expect him to play like this everynight, but if he can come close, he's likely to be a first round pick come seasons end. The word opportunistic springs to mind when evaluating his play in wednsdays game. He just took what was there. Whether it was an open shot, or a rebound and a putback. I don't think he forced a single shot in the game, and he didn't hog the ball either.

He also played good defense. No, he didn't stop his man every time, but he did make his opponent take a hard shot. I think I said in my comments on Florida that he was an average athlete. Well, I'd like to amend that to, I think he's a better than average athlete.. He has decent lateral quickness, and good end to end footspeed. He won't win any 100 yrd dashes, but for a big man on a basketball court, he's fine, and most of all, he gives you the effort everytime.

He's a very smart player, who knows what his strengths are and sticks to them. Now if he can just get his rebound averages up to wednsdays level, he'll be someone to keep your eye on this season.

 

[tyreeeke]

I'm in Gainesville and i've seen Erik improve yearly, as most Billy Donovan coached players do. I remember seeing Chandler Parsons as a freshman thinking he wouldn't be a key contributor, now he's an underrated NBA stud that does it all. Same with Matt Bonner, I never thought he'd become the player he is. Erik has a chance, but I question his durability.

 

[bajaden]

I'm in Gainesville and i've seen Erik improve yearly, as most Billy Donovan coached players do. I remember seeing Chandler Parsons as a freshman thinking he wouldn't be a key contributor, now he's an underrated NBA stud that does it all. Same with Matt Bonner, I never thought he'd become the player he is. Erik has a chance, but I question his durability.

I guess we'll see as far as his durability goes. An NBA weight room will be good for him. Parsons is a player I also liked for the Kings in the second round. I had Parsons rated just ahead of Honeycutt, and we had our chance to draft him. I thought he was very underrated on the defensive side of the ball, as a lot of Billy Donovan players are. I think since he's been drafted, he's proved to be a very good defensive player. Personally, I would have taken him over Honeycutt, and if we had, our SF issues would be gone. Like a lot of Florida players, he's very skilled, which comes from good coaching.