Kevin Murphy D-League Update

Murphy has now played 11 games with the Reno Bighorns, he's started 9 of those games...here's his stat line...

per game:

27 minutes, 12 points, 2.4 reb, 1.7 ast, .7 stl, 2.2 TO, on 43/31/85 shooting.


I got a sneaky feeling that Murphy isn't going to make it in the NBA, maybe I'm wrong, but it just feels like there are a lot of guys out there that can do what he does and more.

TheMagnus wrote:

Murphy has now played 11 games with the Reno Bighorns, he's started 9 of those games...here's his stat line...

per game:

27 minutes, 12 points, 2.4 reb, 1.7 ast, .7 stl, 2.2 TO, on 43/31/85 shooting.


I got a sneaky feeling that Murphy isn't going to make it in the NBA, maybe I'm wrong, but it just feels like there are a lot of guys out there that can do what he does and more.

You may be right, but honestly, if Randy Foye, despite all his shortcomings (defense, passing, size, speed) can be a boarderline starter, then I think there is still hope for Murphy. He has a good stroke. Probably just depends on if he can adjust his game to being a spot up shooter. He also may just need the right environment. On a run & gun team, or a team like the Spurs, where all he has to do is find an open spot on the court, he may be able to make it. Maybe.

zero24gravity wrote:

You may be right, but honestly, if Randy Foye, despite all his shortcomings (defense, passing, size, speed) can be a boarderline starter, then I think there is still hope for Murphy. He has a good stroke. Probably just depends on if he can adjust his game to being a spot up shooter. He also may just need the right environment. On a run & gun team, or a team like the Spurs, where all he has to do is find an open spot on the court, he may be able to make it. Maybe.

Well you might be right, but there is one critical difference that separates guys like Foye and guys like Murphy, sadly it has nothing to do with ability or value on the court.

Foye was drafted #7, Muphy was drafted #47. Foye had a guaranteed contract, Murphy does not.

The NBA is perpetually guilty of the Sunk Cost Fallacy when it comes to young players, and it often overvalues experience. The higher you are drafted, the more chances you will get to prove yourself, and the more opportunities you will get to learn and grow in the NBA, which then makes you a veteran with experience. The Jazz are better with the sunk cost part than most, but worse with the experience part, and I guarantee you that if Foye hadn't been a top 10 pick to a terrible Minnesota team he'd be in the D-League or Europe right now. There's litterally hundreds of guys that can do what he does, but he had the fortune of getting drafted high and playing 3 years as a starter on a horrible team, making him an experienced veteran and giving him value beyond what little he produced on the court.

TheMagnus wrote:

Murphy has now played 11 games with the Reno Bighorns, he's started 9 of those games...here's his stat line...

per game:

27 minutes, 12 points, 2.4 reb, 1.7 ast, .7 stl, 2.2 TO, on 43/31/85 shooting.


I got a sneaky feeling that Murphy isn't going to make it in the NBA, maybe I'm wrong, but it just feels like there are a lot of guys out there that can do what he does and more.

Sadly, I think you are right though it is premature to completely write him off (which you aren't). If his shooting percentage doesn't come up on the long ball he probably isn't going to make it. My guess, though, is that even if the Jazz let him go other teams will give him a look in training camp simply because, while picked at number 47, it was KOC who picked him. Kind of the Maynor/Stevens thing.

TheMagnus wrote:

zero24gravity wrote:

You may be right, but honestly, if Randy Foye, despite all his shortcomings (defense, passing, size, speed) can be a boarderline starter, then I think there is still hope for Murphy. He has a good stroke. Probably just depends on if he can adjust his game to being a spot up shooter. He also may just need the right environment. On a run & gun team, or a team like the Spurs, where all he has to do is find an open spot on the court, he may be able to make it. Maybe.

Well you might be right, but there is one critical difference that separates guys like Foye and guys like Murphy, sadly it has nothing to do with ability or value on the court.

Foye was drafted #7, Muphy was drafted #47. Foye had a guaranteed contract, Murphy does not.

The NBA is perpetually guilty of the Sunk Cost Fallacy when it comes to young players, and it often overvalues experience. The higher you are drafted, the more chances you will get to prove yourself, and the more opportunities you will get to learn and grow in the NBA, which then makes you a veteran with experience. The Jazz are better with the sunk cost part than most, but worse with the experience part, and I guarantee you that if Foye hadn't been a top 10 pick to a terrible Minnesota team he'd be in the D-League or Europe right now. There's litterally hundreds of guys that can do what he does, but he had the fortune of getting drafted high and playing 3 years as a starter on a horrible team, making him an experienced veteran and giving him value beyond what little he produced on the court.

I see where you're coming from & don't disagree, I was just trying to throw the other side of the argument out there.

Not sure it's time to write him off, but it's not looking like he will amount to much more than a nice shooter off the bench, at best. Like I said before, he (much like many non-star types) need to be put in the right situation to succeed. If they aren't put in that right situation then, as you said about Foye, he will end up "in the D-League or Europe".