I know it seems like I'm crushing Murray, but a lot of that is people getting their panties in a wad and trying to take issue with my post and/or defend him and then me having to answer that.
If you think I'm an irrational Murray hater, go back to his draft night and the days immediately after. I thought he was great value where we got him. I saw him as a fundamentally-sound if athletically-limited player who would be pretty much plug and play because of his background and college experience.
During summer league, I posted something that this team would take a big step forward if Murray came back and was able to shoot maybe 33% from 3 and make a few more layups this year. I actually got heat for posting that I thought he was an overlooked player that could have a big impact on the team.
When Murray played well early in the season, I posted that I was thrilled about the development.
However, he's reverted to his norm since then. His numbers are amazingly consistent over all three of his years. I mean, it's uncanny. His stats are so similar in all three of his seasons. Even his minutes aren't that different.
But he still rushes his shot whether he has a defender in the vicinity or not. His shooting form is very unorthodox and the ball doesn't come close to going in so it's not a thing that he does because he's comfortable with it and good at it. He still dribbles around without purpose and doesn't even look at the basket, which is bad because the one area where he's clearly gotten better is going to the basket with authority on occasion and dunking quickly with two hands. If he doesn't dunk, though, he too often just throws something soft up.
He's not a shut-down defender. He can dribble the ball into the front court but he can't initiate the offense or act as a facilitator. He's not a guy who has great instincts moving without the ball and cuts for easy flushes. He's not a shooter. He's not a guy that draws fouls, gets to the line and gets a few points there. He's not a garbage scorer. He's not a pick-and-roll player in either role. He's not an energy guy. He's very low key. He looks very uncomfortable with the basketball. He gives you versatility in that he does a little bit of a lot of things, but it's hard to say he's average at any of them.
Can anyone say that's an unfair evaluation of his game?
I don't want to keep evaluating him because it comes off as bashing, more so because one poster in particular and a couple of others occasionally feel the need to stick up for him. I want Murray to succeed, because the fewer pieces we need to complete this puzzle, the better, but, being objective, I have to look at the facts that he's a 25-year-old who came from a basketball family and played several years at a top college program, his progress is stagnant, he doesn't appear to have fun out there and he still doesn't have an identity as a player. There aren't many examples of players with his numbers and that kind of background that have turned into solid rotation players for good teams. I'm just calling it as it is.
