I heard he had a pretty good game, with 9 pts and 13 boards. What type of shots was he taking though?
Must have been good ones. He was at 50% shooting with a made 3 pointer. He had 9 rebounds which is important. Robinson is not a rebounder and I think that's what has been killing the warriors the most is not securing the defensive rebound after the opposing team misses a shot.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting kobeonfire:</div><div class="quote_post">I heard he had a pretty good game, with 9 pts and 13 boards. What type of shots was he taking though?</div> Must have been good ones. Murphy was at 50% shooting with a made 3 pointer. He had 9 rebounds which is important. Robinson is not a rebounder and I think that's what has been killing the warriors the most is not securing the defensive rebound after the opposing team misses a shot.
Murphy had another good game tonight with 15 and 9, despite the Warriors' loss to NO. Safe to say that he's back.
I'm hoping Murphy can emulate a Tim Duncan type of game on defense because TD isn't the most athletic guy in the world but can block shots and has great fundamentals. Plus, TD's shoulders and arms look soft, but the guy is strong and I think Murphy is the same way. That's why they both snag a lot of rebounds. I'm already seeing Murphy get bigger every year, he's about as tall as Tim Duncan, probably weighs the same by now and he's tough and aggressive enough to average a double double like Duncan like he did last season when he was healthy. I don't see why he couldn't learn to time his blocks and commit himself to defense since the whole franchise's attitude on defense has changed over from last year. I've already seen Murphy block a shot a game and cause smaller power forwards to step away from the paint. If he can get real good at denying close range shots in the paint without drawing a foul, that'd be sweet.
I think Adonal can help him a lot in terms of teaching him better timing on defense. Murph also added another dimension to his game- the outside shot, so look for him to be a combo of Nowitzki/ Duncan, but not as good (right now- but wait a couple of years- I GUARANTEE that he will be better than at least one of them).
Yea Murph has looked sharper these past few games then when he first came back this year..Hopefully we can keep him healthy, cant wait to see where he'll be in a few years
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting kobeonfire:</div><div class="quote_post">I think Adonal can help him a lot in terms of teaching him better timing on defense. Murph also added another dimension to his game- the outside shot, so look for him to be a combo of Nowitzki/ Duncan, but not as good (right now- but wait a couple of years- I GUARANTEE that he will be better than at least one of them).</div> Woah, slow your roll. I am going to hold you to that. I doubt he will even be close to any one of those guys. We will be lucky if he is a Van Horn at his prime. But maybe a slightly better rebounder. I hope you are right.
a Van Horn?! Are you kidding me? He's already better than Keith IMO. He has a better inside game than Dirk, and has shown a few flashes of a better outside game than TD.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Warriorfansnc93:</div><div class="quote_post">Woah, slow your roll. I am going to hold you to that. I doubt he will even be close to any one of those guys. We will be lucky if he is a Van Horn at his prime. But maybe a slightly better rebounder. I hope you are right.</div> You're making it out like Murphy is some soft, white, fluffy pillow like Van Horn. Murphy's got strength and yes he is a big jump shooter, but he could develop more dimensions into his game as he grows even stronger. He's already shown his footwork/strength in getting positioning in rebounds, so why couldn't he use his footwork and strength in scoring down low? He also has blocked some shots and is very capable of swatting at least one per night, but you have to remember the whole team's attitude on defense was lackluster, nobody gave an effort on defense since defense doesn't show up on the stat sheet. That's what you get when you have Jamison as the star player and team captain. Now we have players like Cliff Robinson and Calbert Cheaney who have been well known to be good role models/mentors on becoming true professionals toward improving and that's why Mullin recommended those players to St. Jean because he knew and played with those guys back in his day. Let's just say I'm more positive about Murphy than I am with some other players on this team I'll tell you that. I will admit that he has to go in exchange for a more athletic, defensive power forward if we decide to keep Dunleavy as a secondary or primary scoring option, because we can't have more than one open wound on defense on the perimeter and the paint. Don't forget there can be only one guy who can shoot the ball at a time to score points on offense, but many who can be at fault on defense. God, I feel like sometimes this team is like a quilt made with so many different patches it just doesn't look right when sewn all together. This is probably why we never have a team in the truest essence, because nothing fits on the defensive end.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting kobeonfire:</div><div class="quote_post">a Van Horn?! Are you kidding me? He's already better than Keith IMO. He has a better inside game than Dirk, and has shown a few flashes of a better outside game than TD.</div> How do you figure? In his second season Van Horn averaged 21.8ppg 8.5rpg 1.5apg and 1.0bpg. That is about twice as many points and only about 1.5 fewer rebounds than Murphy last year. So please explain to me how Murphy better than Keith EVER was. Even in his worst years he still averaged. 14.8ppg and 6.8rpg.
"Open wound on defense"? Don't you think that he can show the improvement on defense that he has on the other aspects of his game? He can be a good low-post defender if he works on it, he already has teh strength to do it. If we had to choose between him and Dun, I'd let Dun go. Especially with the lack of good big men, I'd take a guy who averages a double-double.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting kobeonfire:</div><div class="quote_post">"Open wound on defense"? Don't you think that he can show the improvement on defense that he has on the other aspects of his game? He can be a good low-post defender if he works on it, he already has teh strength to do it. If we had to choose between him and Dun, I'd let Dun go. Especially with the lack of good big men, I'd take a guy who averages a double-double.</div> Not if you're counting the type of game that doesn't involve guarding "bangers", What about faster forwards that can handle the ball and create their own shot, perimeter shooting big men or simply power forwards that can dish off to their faster teammates driving toward a basket. He'd need some serious help defense. If we keep Murph, then Dunleavy has to go because I see him as being the weakest, slowest help defender in the paint and one that is the slowest to rotate over if someone else has to come in and cover a perimeter shooter who has been "freed up" on his teammate's penetration move. This is why you see so many uncontested 3 point shots by guards and small forwards out on the wing, it's because the team does a weak job rotating over. It's partly poor communication and also partly due to the fact the team can only move as fast as its slowest man and Jrich and Dunleavy both lack the lateral quickness they need to cover the ground on the perimeter. One of them has good foot speed but no side to side and the other has neither which means they'll get burned by players with quicker steps. The best they can do is shield someone off on the drive so the power forward and center has to be ready to contest, but the ballhandler can now dish off to the guy freed up on the perimeter or keep cycling the ball outside for the open shot. Now if you could get some outside guys that can cover a lot of ground, you'd be in good shape because you'd make fewer openings when one of their players tries to create.
Maybe we should be drafting for speed like the Raiders did a few years ago with their linebacking corps.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Warriorfansnc93:</div><div class="quote_post">How do you figure? In his second season Van Horn averaged 21.8ppg 8.5rpg 1.5apg and 1.0bpg. That is about twice as many points and only about 1.5 fewer rebounds than Murphy last year. So please explain to me how Murphy better than Keith EVER was. Even in his worst years he still averaged. 14.8ppg and 6.8rpg.</div> You're looking at stats now and that's not the way to compare two separate players with different positions and roles on their team. We've solely missed Troy Murphy's prescence in the paint and on rebounding all year long. There have been times where if someone had gotten that extra rebound it would have saved the game and prevented Musselman from going super small. BTW, I'm not saying that Van Horn is a bad player, I'm saying he's really soft on defense compared to Murphy. Murphy is not afraid to play physical, but he's too slow to really switch over on other players driving toward the basket. He just can't stay in front of them. Could he outscore Van Horn? I think he could, he just needs to get more touches on the ball and get good wide open looks like he did on his 7 of 8 shooting night. And since there is a debate who is the first in the order of scoring options, it makes it so there is less touches for Murphy compared to the amount of shots Van Horn will usually take as the top scoring option for his team. Murph was always the third/fourth scoring option on a Warriors team that liked to run a lot. It's really not fair to compare Van Horn to Murphy in terms of just those statsheet numbers on scoring and the types of roles they play on their team.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Warriorfansnc93:</div><div class="quote_post">Maybe we should be drafting for speed like the Raiders did a few years ago with their linebacking corps.</div> It's all about balance. Speed + Size + Smarts.
Dont you think that if Murphy was that good he would not be the 4th option on offense? Van Horn was the 1st or 2nd option because he was that good. Murphy averaged a double double, but that speaks more of his rebounding ability than his scoring ability. That is what makes averaging a double double hard, the rebounding, not the scoring. All someone has to do to get 10 points is hit 5 shots, get fouled 5 times and hit your free throws, or a combo of both. Rebounding is different, there are not ifs ands or buts. You gotta get 10 boards and that is easier said than done.
Murphy can't create his own shot that's why. But he is an efficient open jump shooter and is easy to forget about when he's on the perimeter. I know you want K-mart, but you need a guy like Jason Collins to hit the perimeter shots because K-mart is not a perimeter player. He tries to be but struggles.
I think a PF should be like a center and play mostly down low. Time to time they should be called on to shoot a 15 footer, but no more than that. PFs should be used in a high/low post game. SFs should be the ones that can shoot from 15-18 feet and be able to hit an occasional 3.
Murph could do that. He's got the muscle to do so and has been putting on pounds every year. He's been to big man camp to learn how to position himself for rebounds which has paid on in a double digit average for last season. I don't see why he couldn't use his footwork and strength to work down low like he does to box out defenders and get position on D. I know for certain that K-mart will definitely not play like a center. He's too small for the Western Conference. Murph's the perfect size though at a near 7 feet and he can go perimeter which means the traffic in the lane is easier for Speedy and Jrich to get through and it can also help create plays for Damp as well since the guy's driving are the guys creating openings for others. Now we just have to worry about perimeter D.
