<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Littel Vaughn remembers the first time he saw Flip Murray. It was on a playground court in North Philadelphia, and Murray was 15 or 16 years old. The kids called him Jordan partly because he wore Nike Air Jordan shoes. "And he walked with confidence," Vaughn said. He played with it, too. Murray always challenged the older guys. "Then he would hold his own," said Vaughn, 36, who has known the reserve Pistons guard for 13 years. "Flip didn't have the biggest name in the school side, but in the playgrounds, Flip Murray was Mr. Excitement." Though Murray went on to star in college the well-traveled, fifth-year NBA guard didn't follow the conventional path to where he is today. It took him three colleges in three states, several summer leagues and countless pickup games to fulfill his dream of playing in the NBA. "All that stuff prepared me for right now," Murray said. "The battles and stuff, going against the people back then, playing against guys in your hometown, it really prepared me for the situation I'm in now." Murray encountered adversity at an early age. During his senior year at Strawberry Mansion High in North Philadelphia, his grades slid, forcing him to sit out the first half of the season. He had drawn interest from the University of Massachusetts, but Murray had to consider other options because of low test scores. "He knew he had to go to a junior college, and he felt that was the best path he could take," said Gerald Hendricks, who coached Murray at Strawberry Mansion. "You always have that hope for every kid who's worked as hard as he had worked." Murray continued to work hard while some players he had played against in high school or summer leagues went to top Division I schools. Among them were his future Pistons teammate Richard Hamilton (Connecticut) and Milwaukee Bucks guard Lynn Greer (Temple). Murray says, "It was never discouraging. I played against all those guys. I went at all them guys. We had great battles. Even though they went Division I, I still knew I had a rough path to go, but I was still going to try to make it." So Murray found himself at Meridian (Miss.) Community College, where he starred for two years. He returned home and enrolled at Philadelphia Community College to earn more credits in hopes of making it to D-I. But it didn't happen. Murray played in leagues throughout the city until Vaughn arranged an audition, of sorts, with Shaw University coach Joel Hopkins and assistant coach Cleo Hill in the summer of 2000. Murray made an impression.</div> Source
Glad to see Murray play well in extended minutes. It's just too bad it won't be enough to cement himself as a fixture in the rotation when Billups and Hunter return to the lineup. Murray is just getting back to playing the way he did back in '03-'04 and when he is right there isn't a guard in the league that can stay in front of him or make the plays that he can make down the stretch of a game.
I like the way Flip is playing. Even with Billups back, Flip is showing he deserves some minutes even in the playoffs. He can also take some of Rip's time when he has a rest along with Chauncey's. There are minutes to be had.
