I've been saying for 2 years that Keegs is on a Jayson Tatum career trajectory. I'm not moving off it. Their first two seasons in the NBA have been almost identical statistically, not counting the team result oriented stats like Win Shares.
Keegan is reported to be price for Markkanen. As usual, Danny Ainge is trying to swindle someone. Markkanen only has one year left on his contract. Keegan has two left, at a far lower salary, then becomes a restricted free agent.
Too little.nice little move for Keegs. Keep growin’ young fella!
Big Keegan Murray fan here. But if he doesn't come out in year three as spectacular in ALL aspects of the game he may become trade bait. Given his contract situation and the fans/management expectations, he could become quite the resource for obtaining another All-Star level forward to go with DeRosan.
If Keegan is going to round out all aspects of his game, it should happen after his couple of years of experience exposing him to where he needs to go and what he needs to work on. Year three needs to be a break-out year that sends him to the All-Star game and keeps him on the Kings. Otherwise, folks will start talking about his ceiling again.
I'd prefer to root for him on the Kings rather than root for him as an opponent.
Yeah if the Kings made any mistakes in Keegan’s development last season it was allowing him to be their best defender for most of the season while also asking him to take an increased load on offense. That’s a tough ask for even the best players in the league (the Kawhis of the world can/know how to flip the switch or pace themselves). Keegan’s defensive effort was getting to the point that it was affecting how much strength he had in his legs on his shots. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that Keegan started playing better on offense the more we started using Keon in lineups and allowed Keegan to not have to guard the other team’s stud on every single possession.Adding DDR gives Keegan the chance to just be Keegan. Run off screens, shoot, and play defense. I would think that was part of the plan here. More like Keegan from year 1 but with the defense of year 2.
I re-watched a few Chicago games of the last season and noticed DeRozan runs PnR with Vucevic frequently. Although his PnR is not as smooth and fast as our guards do, it is pinpoint. Domas must be relieved having another playmaker who can take his scoring load as well.Hopefully with the addition of DeRozan, we can distribute the scoring load more evenly across the team. I’m mostly looking at Domas. Due to our own team needs, we sometimes treated him as the number two option on offense, but that’s not his game. Now DeRozan can take that role and hopefully Keegan can elevate himself to the third option and in time, the second option as DeRozan declines. This will relegate Domas to the 4th option which suits him perfectly. He might find himself with some easy buckets this season as DeRozan draws defenders away from the paint with his mid range game. Can’t wait to see it.
we sure this isn’t Keegan?
2023: Sets the benchmark for rookie 3pt shooting (206 3pm / 501 3pa = 41.1% )
2024: Elite defender, increases assists by 40% while dropping TO%, shoots 50% more free throws, bump in FT% from 76.5% to 83.1%
2025: ?