<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Rudeezy:</div><div class="quote_post">Murphy is an animal on the boards. He can get a lot of rebounds. I wouldn't want to trade him. He can stretch out the defense and can get to the win pretty well too.</div> Murphy's a good player. But wouldn't you rather have someone that can play in the post? Also his Defense is questionable. When Robinson leaves the warriors are going to get killed at the Pf spot. Short term I don't mind having him, I don't think he's long term piece for this team. I think warriors have to trade either Dunleavy or Murphy.
Well their aren't many PF's available that are any better than Murphy. I can't stop emphasizing the fact that Murphy posted a double double last year in the west in only his second season.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Gohn:</div><div class="quote_post">I like the Custodian also. He's been fairly consistent except for that one stretch when he couldn't shoot at all. I like his go all out approach to playing the game. The thing I notice about Murphy is he likes to shoot the ball a lot. It seems like he's padding his stats so he can get a big contract.</div> I doubt Murphy is padding his stats. Probably preparing himself for next season and try to keep himself consistent. He's a hella good jump shooter just like Brian Cardinal. Only difference i see in their shots is that Cardinal can bomb some 3's with good precision.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Rudeezy:</div><div class="quote_post">Well their aren't many PF's available that are any better than Murphy. I can't stop emphasizing the fact that Murphy posted a double double last year in the west in only his second season.</div> Yea, thats a good point. I didn't think about that. I hope he works on his defense this off season, then I think he has chance to be an elite PF.
Yes, if he is able to defend like Robinson than he will be a complete player. I agree with you in that he needs to develope some sort of inside game to go along with that shot.
I have total confidence in Murphy's ability to develop a post game this summer. Just look at what he's done with his jump shot. In his first two years, you'd look at him and say he had a nice jumper for a big man, but it wasn't anything special. This year he's had several games where he's been automatic from 22 feet in. Murphy's always said he's got an inside game, but he never showed it last year because Jamison and Damp were getting all the touches on the inside. This past offseason Musselman told him to concentrate on his outside game. I'm willing to bet that if Murphy puts in the same type of effort in developing a post game this offseason as he did developing his jumper last offseason, we'll see a player who is a better inside threat than Damp was this year. I actually went out on a limb last year on the ESPN message board and said Murphy had the tools to become a poor man's Dirk. While it was not warmly received, no one's been able to give me a reason why it couldn't happen. While he doesn't have the range on his jumper Dirk does, they're about the same inside the 3 point line. Dirk's a better ball handler, but Murphy has shown repeatedly that he can take his man off the dribble. I'll bet that after this offseason, Murphy will be a better post up scorer than Dirk. Neither are standout defenders. Dirk is probably a better passer, but Murphy isn't far behind. They both have about the same amount of athletic ability. What else is there? The best asset Murphy has is that he's willing and able to put in the offseason work necessary to improve. I'm not saying he'll ever be as good as Dirk, but he should be a "near all-star" version of Dirk. Call him Dirk-lite, sort of the way Andre Miller is Jason Kidd-lite.
^^Very good points. This is why I love Murphy so much. He is a gamer and you know he is going to give it his all. In the off season he worked on getting bigger and developing an outside shot. He obviously did. Now he can focus on that post up game. If he becomes like Rasheed Wallace and can go inside and out, he will be very dangerous.
I agree with some of your points wtwalker77, I can see Murphy Developing a post up game, but I think thats going to take a longer time to develop that. Look how long it took Foyle to develop some decent post moves that he could use. The thing with Murphy's jumper is he already had a decent one. So if he doesn't already have a little bit of a post game I think it will be hard to develop
The difference in Dirk and Murphy, one of the major differences I think is that Dirk can create his shot efficently, Murphy can't really do that, he usually gets an open jumpshots to take, I don't see him creating his own shot. Thats why I don't think Murphy could be like Dirk
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Gohn:</div><div class="quote_post">The difference in Dirk and Murphy, one of the major differences I think is that Dirk can create his shot efficently, Murphy can't really do that, he usually gets an open jumpshots to take, I don't see him creating his own shot. Thats why I don't think Murphy could be like Dirk</div> Murphy can spot up for the jumper, he can also take his man off the dribble if he's getting D'd up too close. The only thing Dirk can do right now that Murphy can't is to drive and pull up for the jump shot instead of going to the hole. That's not a big step to take in the skill department, especially if he gets moved to center and has a 7-footer guarding him. As for his post up game. He had one at Notre Dame, and says that he wanted to show it last year but couldn't since Damp and Jamison were getting all the touches. As a former center myself, I can tell you that post moves aren't something that you either have or you don't have. Its a matter of getting the correct footwork and being able to consistently make a 2-4 foot shot regardless of the amount of contact you get from a defender. Given Murphy's work ethic and the fact that he should have Pete Newell and possibly Clifford Ray at his disposal, there's no reason why Murphy can't develop an NBA quality post game in the next offseason. As for Foyle, he doesn't have the hands, coordination, or athletic ability Murphy has. That's why it is taking him longer to develop an offensive game. Again, I'm in no way saying that next year Murphy will be putting up 25/12 and be a perennial all-star from year 4 and beyond. I'm saying that I expect him to eventualyy be a 17/11 guy who can shoot the three, take his man off the dribble, and post up. Next year I'd like to see at least 15/10 out of him, scoring both inside and out, and with improved post defense. I can't think of a reason why all of that can't happen.
^Those are very good points, I guess I'm just not a fan Murphy. But he's better than anything else the warriors can get though in FA. I didn't know he had a post up game a Notre Dame, in that case, that will be interesting to see, how he develops his post game. I would have liked to see Murphy post up alittle in the games that he played this season.
I've always liked Murph and I thought he was the guy they were building around, since they drafted a clone of Jrich (with better defense) in Pietrus. It's too bad he wasn't healthy all year. BTW his low post game is probably already there. I mean he uses some of those moves to gain inside position to snag rebounds, so why couldn't he use some similar moves to isolate or create space between his defender for a close range shot. He's got the strength, some ballhandling, and he's not horrible as a passer (although there's probably some work to be done to be as good as Damp). I mean how many power forwards are there in the league that are as big as a center and can rebound and score? Not many. It's not his lowpost footwork or strength that I'm concerned about its his ability to anticipate and make up for his lack of speed/athleticism on defense. A power forward like Amare Stoudamire might be too quick and Murphy playing as a center would require him to be a defensive specialist as the "last line of defense". Anyway, I think he can improve easily. The guy has heart.
I'm with custodian, Murphy can take the ball on the block. He is best when he faces the basket. Even if he get the ball on the block he can still face up in the triple threat position where he can be equally effective.
You know what's interesting? The fact that Murph is a true power forward that can not only rebound the ball well he can hit those long range shots and make his free throws. There are not too many of those. Pat Garrity? Not a true power forward. Antoine Walker? Crappy free throw shooter and arguably not a true power forward in Western Conference terms. Robert Horry? Not a great rebounder. Well enough about Murph. The reason he ain't getting the spotlight this year was because of the injuries all season. He had like only 28 games this season, a couple which he had to leave early because he punctured his lung or sprained his ankle or dislocated his finger. Damn man.
Don't forget his new and improved first step, he can get to the rack at will. And what about his 3 pt shot. I have not seen it too many times this season but if its as good as it was being hyped last offseason he is going to be special breed of PF
Murphy's getting better handles but there were some times where he just lost the ball badly. BTW, there's speculation, the warriors management might not even sign either Jrich or Murphy because they want a crack at signing Yao. You realize if we ever did get Yao we'd need a good backup center who can play 30 minutes a night and an athletic rebounding/shotblocking defensive power forward to protect Yao from foul trouble when he's on the court (hopefully a forward who can drill some midrange shots to free up the paint too). Then we'd have to make sure our 2 and 1 guards are good defensive players who can really shoot the ball when they're isolated or when Yao draws a double team. I could see Murphy then becoming a great bench producer because he's a bit of a mismatch at 6'11 245 pounds, can rebound and score a lot. But if Murph is assigned to protect Yao from people going at it, he might get in foul trouble early because his shot block timing ain't that great.
