MURPHY'S FLAWS Warriors' forward improving weaknesses Janny Hu, Chronicle Staff Writer Wednesday, December 21, 2005 * Printable Version * Email This Article Live Scores and Stats Baseball (AL/NL) NFL College Football Tennis Golf NHL NBA WNBA College Hoops (M) College Hoops (W) Soccer (M) Auto Racing Boxing Horse Racing Philadelphia -- Short of trading for a top-notch big man, the Warriors are what they are in the post: a collection of defensive specialists and apparent projects. Coach Mike Montgomery has slim pickings between Adonal Foyle, Andris Biedrins and rookies Ike Diogu and Chris Taft. Then there's Troy Murphy. The fifth-year forward is neither a staunch defender nor a wide-eyed rookie, but a work in progress all the same. Murphy is a big man by height and a shooter by trade, and fusing those into a more traditional power-forward package has been his focus this season. "Everybody knows what the weaknesses are with their game," Murphy said. "The hardest part isn't figuring how to do it, like working on post moves, but actually transforming the work that you've done into a game-like pressure situation, when they're going to come down to you and you need to score. "I had the same thing with shooting 3-pointers. I make a lot of 3s here, but there's a big difference between shooting 3-pointers here in practice and shooting them in a game." Against San Antonio last month, Murphy scored 27 points -- on 8-of-11 shooting from the field and 10-of-11 from the free-throw line -- while being guarded mainly by Tim Duncan. In Monday's loss to Boston, the Celtics took away his perimeter game and forced him inside. So Murphy attacked the basket, getting to the foul line 10 times and leading Golden State with 27 points and 12 rebounds. He has been one of the Warriors' most consistent players this season, averaging 16.5 points and almost nine rebounds per game. Still, critics pick at what he seemingly can't do. Can't defend, can't go inside. Can't do this, can't do that. Murphy began his response with solitary workouts in the offseason at the team's practice facility in Oakland. He would spin the ball to himself and work on post move after post move, always with the same routine. He stood with his feet perpendicular to the sideline and start with baby hook shots. He'd keep shooting until he made 20 in a row. Then he'd take a step back and repeat the drill, take another step back, repeat, and so on. Sometimes it took 15 minutes to hit everything. Other times, it took hours. Now, assistant coach John MacLeod, who coached Murphy his freshman year at Notre Dame, runs him through similar drills after home practices. Left hand first, then right hand, up to 30 extra minutes in all. "He's ... improved his outside jump shot," MacLeod said. "He's improved his free throws, and he's working on an inside game." Murphy's quest for a low-post success would seem to a worthwhile mission: The Warriors' interior game, or lack thereof, has been exploited by a 136-70 margin on this East Coast trip already, with games against Philadelphia tonight and Detroit on Friday still remaining. Murphy's reputation as a perimeter shooter might be the best indication of his potential inside. At 6-foot-11, he didn't have much range in college and rarely took 3-pointers until his junior season. Then-coach Matt Doherty ran the old North Carolina secondary break and made Murphy the designated trailer. Murphy would lag behind and pop 3s from the top of the key, where he remains most comfortable shooting. The same comfort level eludes Murphy in the post, but he's feeling more at ease as the season -- and his game -- progresses. It's a part of Murphy's offensive repertoire he hopes the Warriors can employ in the future. "Most NBA guys, they've probably been exposed to most everything," Montgomery said. "What they do well, they probably do well, and what they don't do well, it's just not something that's comfortable for them. "I think Troy would like to be a good low-post player and I think he's really made some strides. It's not necessarily natural for him, but I think it's something he can learn." http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?...SPGHKGBBHT1.DTL
Janny Hu is a good writer and a wise basketball observer. I have been talking about Murphy lately, with friends, and how he goes about his business on the court. Murphy has been energetic all season. His new inside outside game is a pleasure to watch. His improvement from last year is dramatic. I love the guy for showing up everynight. His agressive attacks on the basket have really helped the team. Thanks for posting this article bayareafan85.
I just think Murphy will be who he is right now. He just does not have a body to bang or make an impact from defense end in NBA level. That's something the management should have saw through when they signed 6 years 60 mils contract last year. At least, he has been consistant with what he is doing right now...
Murphy will be fine. He is what he is and that's pretty darn good. Look at PJ Brown, Udonis Haslem, those guys are effective 4s without being the traditional post up players. Murphy has improved every year and I appreciate what he brings. I am not disappointed that he will be around for the next 5 years.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Kwan1031:</div><div class="quote_post">I just think Murphy will be who he is right now. He just does not have a body to bang or make an impact from defense end in NBA level. That's something the management should have saw through when they signed 6 years 60 mils contract last year. At least, he has been consistant with what he is doing right now...</div> I think he is worth the contract they signed him to. It's the rest of the front court that has got to pick up the slack.
Murphy needs more help. The more we see of Biedrins and Diogu the better. Dunleavy is a huge disappointment, and Foyle is just proving over and over that he is to one-dimensional. The young kids are rough around the edges, but have more upside than Foyle. I would love to see a rotation of Murphy,Diogu, Biedrins, and Taft. A consistant rotation that would allow those guys to be consistant and comfortable with each other. It's time to sit Dun and Foyle and go with the youth movement. Let them earn their minutes back. It would be great if we could trade them for a bag of chips, but alas that's not even doable.
Yeah, I can live with Murphy's 10 mils per year. But the biggest problem is that our front court is flawed fundamentally. If we have a strong center, who can defend middle and post up, Murphy would be great fit in there. Murphy is exactly what Miami wanted from Walker. Heck, if we have Dampier, we probably would be in better shape than now. But, with Foyle, Murphy's weakness such as help defense and individual defense become problems. So... Can we replace Foyle? Finding a decent center is extremely hard in this league, and I don't think Biedrins is better fit than Foyle at this point, because if he is, he would have gotten tons of mins by now. So, we are forced to find a PF, who can defend the middle and bring individual defenses, because it's much easier for us to replace PF then center. And, sometimes, we can receive some help from SF, but all we can get from Dunleavy is occassional charge and nothing more. With our current situation, the situation seems hopeless...
Hey guys, Murphy is having a nice season offensively. A lot of people pointed to his FG% last season as a concern, but I knew it was due to the thumb injury and he's shooting nicely. He probably will be worth his contract in the end, if he continues to be a 3 pt threat. But his defensive liabilities will always be there, and this season, he's only an average rebounder compared to other PFs -- Jamison and Marion both have more rebs per game. Murph won't block you any shots either. He would be a perfect fit for a team with a big men with overall skills: Shaq, Camby, Wallace, etc...would would draw the defense into the paint.
Hey, what's up sjcecran. Good to see you! I also like Murphy's consistency, shooting skills and his toughness on the boards, but I tend to agree with some fans that Murphy doesn't do enough little things to make it easier on his teammates both offensively and defensively. Not only that, but we really need a conventional big man that can bang down low in our starting lineup and knows help defense and positioning. Many feel we might have that in Ike Diogu, but Murphy or Diogu aren't big enough to play center. Chances are we won't find a big scoring center that can also defend, so that makes it a choice between Murphy or Diogu or somebody else for future power forward. The league just doesn't have very many talented, dominant inside scoring players in the league. The few that are, can't play as centers all the time. So, as much as I like Murphy, I wonder if he'll develop the other part of the game like making the extra pass and playing enough defense to keep players from penetrating into the lane. An inside defense of Foyle and Murphy just makes it easier for the other team to score inside on a switch, especially because Murphy doesn't play help defense or alter shots at the net and Foyle helps too much on defense and he doesn't understand positioning. Foyle is also kind of soft for a starting big man. I think the most successful teams that are a lock for the playoffs have big men that can play both offensively and defensively. That's just my opinion though. St. Jean did a good job drafting Murphy considering there wasn't much left in terms of talented power forwards and centers by that time. I also have to admire that Murphy's added some ability to finish inside easier and has made the effort to get to the foul line. That definitely affects the game in a good way when one is willing to attack the basket in addition to shooting a solid step-back jumper. Still, I kind of wish he was more like a setup guy. Both he and Fisher just want to shoot like it's all about numbers. It's not good basketball if players are focussed on calling their own plays, when it's in the form of mostly long jumpers since they can't overpower, outjump or outquick anyone. We also really need to execute as a team with everyone moving rather than play one-on-one, overdribble, or shoot without passing the ball around. If Dunleavy wasn't so mediocre in terms of everything, he'd be the ideal example of a player that can share the ball and be where he's supposed to be off the ball without running a play set. I wonder if Murphy's style of perimeter game (jab step, pump fake, drive, step back jumper) and our lack of decent inside scorers hinders Dunleavy's game, but I think everyone is running out of excuses for why he can't hit the open shots or why he can't finish stronger inside. It could be that our team isn't the right fit for one another and that many players on the roster don't have a true role or aren't filling a role that well (like Foyle as a starting center with an offense that involves all five players as scorers or an open court offense that can't buckle down defensively or half court offense that can't score). If the Warriors are going to play with guys like Murphy and all his flaws and several other of our players with their flaws, we might as well go with what worked last year. Run before the defense sets in!!!! BTW great job in fantasyball! You're killing everyone!
