Keegan Murray

Tetsujin said:
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One of my big question marks was going to be if Murray could be a full time SF (already felt comfortable he could be a full time PF). I was very impressed with the way he defended one of the best SFs in the league last night…as a rookie…in his first NBA game…in the 4th quarter…with the game on the line.

I’m not ready to say he can play both SF and PF full time yet but last night was a step closer to answering that question.
 
twslam07 said:
One of my big question marks was going to be if Murray could be a full time SF (already felt comfortable he could be a full time PF). I was very impressed with the way he defended one of the best SFs in the league last night…as a rookie…in his first NBA game…in the 4th quarter…with the game on the line.

I’m not ready to say he can play both SF and PF full time yet but last night was a step closer to answering that question.
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He seems like a prototype good shooting combo forward. In Brown's system not even sure that it matters whether he plays 3 or 4. He's a forward. I was not expecting him to match up on a hot Paul George in his first game. Thought they would start him, before giving that type of assignment. Either way, his defense looked solid
 
ShastaKingsFan said:
He seems like a prototype good shooting combo forward. In Brown's system not even sure that it matters whether he plays 3 or 4. He's a forward. I was not expecting him to match up on a hot Paul George in his first game. Thought they would start him, before giving that type of assignment. Either way, his defense looked solid
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Whether he plays the 3 or 4 is dependent on who he can defend (not what he plays offensively). If Murray can play either SF or PF full time, it gives us a lot more flexibility and options from a roster construction perspective.

For instance, if he can defend SFs full time, it could allow us to go sign someone like PJ Washington to be our long term PF. And if Murray’s shot blocking abilities transfer over from college, that gives us two decent rim protectors on the court with Sabonis (Murray and Washington) helping mitigate his weakness while at the same time not sacrificing our defense and shooting at the SF and PF spot.

I’ve said this on the forum before but if you’re trying to maximize a team that has Sabonis on it, you ideally have both a SF and PF who can defend, protect the rim, and space the floor. It’s easier to find that type of player at PF and much more difficult to find it at SF. Murray may possibly be that rare SF but I need to see more.
 
twslam07 said:
Whether he plays the 3 or 4 is dependent on who he can defend (not what he plays offensively). If Murray can play either SF or PF full time, it gives us a lot more flexibility and options from a roster construction perspective.

For instance, if he can defend SFs full time, it could allow us to go sign someone like PJ Washington to be our long term PF. And if Murray’s shot blocking abilities transfer over from college, that gives us two decent rim protectors on the court with Sabonis (Murray and Washington) helping mitigate his weakness while at the same time not sacrificing our defense and shooting at the SF and PF spot.

I’ve said this on the forum before but if you’re trying to maximize a team that has Sabonis on it, you ideally have both a SF and PF who can defend, protect the rim, and space the floor. It’s easier to find that type of player at PF and much more difficult to find it at SF. Murray may possibly be that rare SF but I need to see more.
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Based on what we saw against George, he's capable of guarding any forward, outside of maybe the most powerful ones at this point.
 
I think the sooner that Brown puts Murray into the starting lineup, the better. The Kings can become an offensive juggernaut with Murray in the starting unit. Murray is a good defender too. With Murray, the Kings would have 4 players capable of putting up 20 pts per game in Fox, Sabonis, Huerter and Murray.

IMHO, the key to this Kings team reaching their full potential is to start Murray. The other forward spot can be decided between Barnes and KZ. If Brown has the guts to do it, I would start Murray and KZ for defensive balance and bring Barnes off the bench as a 6th man.
 
ShastaKingsFan said:
Based on what we saw against George, he's capable of guarding any forward, outside of maybe the most powerful ones at this point.
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The only issue so far has been pick and roll. Brown did start to go more towards switch D and if they play legit size at SF/PF then it should be finally something the Kings can pull off.
 
ockingsfan said:
I think the sooner that Brown puts Murray into the starting lineup, the better. The Kings can become an offensive juggernaut with Murray in the starting unit. Murray is a good defender too. With Murray, the Kings would have 4 players capable of putting up 20 pts per game in Fox, Sabonis, Huerter and Murray.

IMHO, the key to this Kings team reaching their full potential is to start Murray. The other forward spot can be decided between Barnes and KZ. If Brown has the guts to do it, I would start Murray and KZ for defensive balance and bring Barnes off the bench as a 6th man.
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It's waaaay too early but glancing at the 5 man stats, the best unit so far in terms of net rating with anything more than 0 minutes played is Fox/Huerter/Barnes/Murray/Sabonis. KZ in for Barnes is looking good too. That's a good sign.
 
ockingsfan said:
I think the sooner that Brown puts Murray into the starting lineup, the better. The Kings can become an offensive juggernaut with Murray in the starting unit. Murray is a good defender too. With Murray, the Kings would have 4 players capable of putting up 20 pts per game in Fox, Sabonis, Huerter and Murray.

IMHO, the key to this Kings team reaching their full potential is to start Murray. The other forward spot can be decided between Barnes and KZ. If Brown has the guts to do it, I would start Murray and KZ for defensive balance and bring Barnes off the bench as a 6th man.
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I'd like to see this. I think Barnes could be a go-to scorer against most bench forwards in the league... by virtue of being simply better. As a starter, he's often relegated to scoring opportunistically.
 
I was concerned at the beginning of the season whether Murray could adequately guard at the periphery. I'm not concerned now. This pablum that he is slow of foot put forth by announcers that need to have something to say is just not true. Another example was last night at the end of the game when Wiggins, one of the more athletic 3s in the league went at him with a dribble drive and Murray ended up blocking his shot. That just doesn't happen if some guy is slow of foot. Wiggins was the #1 pick in the draft and a key element in the Warriors' championship because he is an athletically elite forward in this league. Nobody is going to be able to keep up with him and block his shot on a dribble drive who is slow of foot.
 
Kingster said:
I was concerned at the beginning of the season whether Murray could adequately guard at the periphery. I'm not concerned now. This pablum that he is slow of foot put forth by announcers that need to have something to say is just not true. Another example was last night at the end of the game when Wiggins, one of the more athletic 3s in the league went at him with a dribble drive and Murray ended up blocking his shot. That just doesn't happen if some guy is slow of foot. Wiggins was the #1 pick in the draft and a key element in the Warriors' championship because he is an athletically elite forward in this league. Nobody is going to be able to keep up with him and block his shot on a dribble drive who is slow of foot.
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Yeah he had a couple of really nice defensive plays last night. Was impressive. He's still getting lost on defense a bit but he's a rookie so that's to be expected.
 
Kingster said:
I was concerned at the beginning of the season whether Murray could adequately guard at the periphery. I'm not concerned now. This pablum that he is slow of foot put forth by announcers that need to have something to say is just not true. Another example was last night at the end of the game when Wiggins, one of the more athletic 3s in the league went at him with a dribble drive and Murray ended up blocking his shot. That just doesn't happen if some guy is slow of foot. Wiggins was the #1 pick in the draft and a key element in the Warriors' championship because he is an athletically elite forward in this league. Nobody is going to be able to keep up with him and block his shot on a dribble drive who is slow of foot.
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Yeah, you can just tell Keegan knows how to play and how to move. Very little wasted movement, finds a way to be in the right spots. He's had several really good impactful defensive plays these first 2 games. There's a drastic difference watching him as a rookie on both ends compared to someone like Ben Mac, with all the athletic gifts in the world, running around like a chicken with his head cut off for 5 years before he figured out how to be a role player.
 
The_Jamal said:
Yeah, you can just tell Keegan knows how to play and how to move. Very little wasted movement, finds a way to be in the right spots. He's had several really good impactful defensive plays these first 2 games. There's a drastic difference watching him as a rookie on both ends compared to someone like Ben Mac, with all the athletic gifts in the world, running around like a chicken with his head cut off for 5 years before he figured out how to be a role player.
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It reminds me of defensive backs in football. The guys who are incredibly fast with no instincts and anticipation are not as good as the less speedy DBs who can anticipate where the ball is going.
 
The_Jamal said:
Yeah, you can just tell Keegan knows how to play and how to move. Very little wasted movement, finds a way to be in the right spots. He's had several really good impactful defensive plays these first 2 games. There's a drastic difference watching him as a rookie on both ends compared to someone like Ben Mac, with all the athletic gifts in the world, running around like a chicken with his head cut off for 5 years before he figured out how to be a role player.
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It's the same story on both sides of the ball with Murray. He is already a good shooter and his accuracy is increased by the fact that he has little if any wasted movement, and rarely takes an off-balance shot. Put him in the Starting lineup and put Okpala on the bench! Okpala has not shown that he can guard without fouling.
 
Everyone slept on this guy! Not one person, with possible exception of someone in Kings scouting, realized how good of a shooter Murray is. How did this happen?! Nobody knew?! He is lighting it up out there! Great shot mechanics and great at making sure he has his balance before he shoots. Best shooting power-forward in the league? :eek:
 
Chupacabra said:
Everyone slept on this guy! Not one person, with possible exception of someone in Kings scouting, realized how good of a shooter Murray is. How did this happen?! Nobody knew?! He is lighting it up out there! Great shot mechanics and great at making sure he has his balance before he shoots. Best shooting power-forward in the league? :eek:
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Other teams knew, like San Antonio. They were trying to move up to 4 to get him. Thankfully McNair isn't Vlade
 
iowamcnabb said:
He could end up the most impactful rookie but it’s hard to imagine him winning over Banchero. Orlando has already handed him the keys.
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My initial expectation was we'd keep him around 25-28 minutes and he wouldn't have a chance to compete with the Banchero workload, but I think I'm throwing that out after 2 games. Especially if HB doesn't snap out of his funk, we already need him for every minute he can handle. 33-35 seems very likely as a floor. I mean, Brown played him 38 on the 2nd night of a B-B.... I think he's already earned that trust.
 
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