Is it time for Sacramento Kings to worry about Keegan Murray?

Is it time for Sacramento Kings to worry about Keegan Murray?

Can we talk about Keegan Murray real quick sure and of course we’ll have all the latest NFL breaking news for you as well I’m a little concerned I’m not panicking I’m not panicking about Keegan Murray I’m not making definitive statements about what he is or what he will be or what he can

Be but we have to lay this out and and follow the the logic we talked about a couple weeks ago how everything and Mike Brown said as much everything moving forward for the Kings is about Keegan Murray’s development not just for this year not just because he he can contribute this

Year but next year and Beyond so much of the the Kings eggs not all the eggs but a lot of their eggs are in the Keegan Murray becomes an All-Star caliber player bucket basket we said that everything moving forward has to be about his development

You got to make the playoffs for for the draft pick stuff I okay you have to make the playoffs but also you need to make sure that Keegan Murray is coming along Keegan Murray in his last five games yesterday against the Rockets three for

11 he went 0 for five from three h 13 points six boards no assists in his last five games he’s shooting 36.9% from three on about nine attempts a game excuse me yeah nine attempts a game he’s four of 22 from three that’s 18.2% perfect from the free throw line

13 for 13 he’s averaging 12.2 points 4.6 rebounds and 1.6 assists which are almost identical to his rookie year numbers and I I don’t know the if we’re going to sit here and be like hey everything is about Keegan moving forward and the production since then is

Bad I have a hard time being like hey this is all fine this is all great this is all part of the the process is going exactly how they wanted it to go I can’t get there I’m starting to get worried okay so worried I I’m not gonna

Get worried because this is how I look at his second season okay I think that there was an idea that he was gonna become a 20 point per game guy this year or 18 point per game guy this year and I I’m someone who thought that he would

Take this leap even in the second half of the season I thought okay sure same um I did forget about one thing that I I do believe that is impacting this and it’s not only that dear Fox is trying to become an all-nba player again and the D

Sabonis is is again like becoming more and more of a presence offensively but it’s the fact that Malik monk is in the final year of his of of a contract and is not only fighting to be sixthman of the year which he’s now the odds on favor to be a minus

240 but he’s a guy who’s going out there each and every night and becoming this this third score MH that the Kings maybe didn’t know that they had I mean they knew they had it you got to remember like for as good as Malik monk was last

Year and we all think you know just how amazing he was last year his stats weren’t like astronomical he averaged 13.5 points per game when you take a leap from 13.5 to 15.7 and from 3.9 assists to 5.3 per game mhm and I I’m guaranteeing his usage has has

Skyrocketed no Malik Malik’s got it and so part of the reason I bring this up actually his his usage is the same as it was last year 25.8 25.6 but when you see a player take this type of leap it you can’t have everybody taking a leap right when you see fox go

From 25 to 27 points a game when you see domas go from 18.6 to 20.1 like these are all incremental jumps right so that’s one thing the second thing I’m going to say is that when Keegan Murray decided to take a leap as a Defender and become this all

World Defender which we’re watching like the maturation of a player all sudden becomes he’s not kawh Leonard but he’s probably like if if the voters were really looking he’s probably second Team all NBA Defender yeah probably it’s just been very very good on that end yeah

He’s just on a really bad defensive team so you’re probably not going to give it to him right so my point is that that we didn’t expect Keegan to become the king’s best defensive player this this season that’s fair yeah maybe not ever and then all of a sudden he is

And so how much energy is he expending on that end of the court all of a sudden defending whether it’s kaai or Paul George or name or again Steph Curry like he’s defending everybody on every team MH and so I I want to say like hey you

Know we expected more from you and here this five game sample is you’re not as strong as we thought you would be you’re you’re shooting 18% from three and all that but he needs to take the step physically this next off season where he’s now ready to be a two-way player

For for 36 minutes a game he took the step to be a great defender and and he’s gotten better offensively but that step to become a great defender all of a sudden came with this oh now you’re our only Defender you’re our Defender our guy sure and I don’t think that

Physically like you can keep up in gear two taking that type of leap if you’re just a Defender sure if you’re just a thr and D guy okay but when you’re asking him to do as much as he’s being asked to do he can level up but in

Leveling up he’s got this problem that like you’re only so physically prepared to take that next step and I think this off seon is going to be another one where he’s just really really focused on becoming better and becoming that that next level guy but there was never a

Point in the year there’s never been a point in this season where we’ve been like hey wow ke um Keegan’s really made this this jump this year and now all of a sudden we’re starting to see him run out of gas a little bit like this is this is a

This is a year-long problem oh no I totally agree and that’s where I I I get I I I buy into what you’re saying a little bit because I mean we talked about it after the uh there was a game against the Warriors where he did not shoot it well

At all we’re like yeah but he played great defense and maybe it’s you know about figuring it out how to how to do that on both ends how to expand that expand that energy on both ends to me that’s like that’s growth that can happen through the course of this season

And that the bigger the bigger concern for me like okay the numbers are down it’s the he’s just it’s like the the nine field goal attempts for a player who is supposedly supposed to be this huge piece for the Kings moving forward Mike Brown said it like that wasn’t just

Us talking oh no Mike Brown Mike Brown has said like this is the guy moving forward if we are going to be a contender it has to be with with Keegan Murray in tow and and playing really really well and playing at a high level and the production since then has

Been bad and that’s where if that’s what it’s about okay so Keegan is not the kind of guy who’s gonna go out and be like hey give me the ball I’m shooting it 20 times tonight that’s just not his demeanor that’s not his nature and

That’s okay but how is it that you have this piece and again this is less about Keegan and more about the Kings overall how do you have this piece who is this vital to your success now and in the future shooting at nine times a game across five

Games that we talked we you and I talked about how big this is like hey drop some plays for him get him 15 16 shots a game get him putting shots on because he is he’s shooting it 12 times a game this year as compared to 10 last year so

You’re getting two more shots a game I want to see 15 16 a game down the stretch and that number is going backwards he hasn’t taken more than 11 shots in a game in a week and a half two weeks what day is it almost two weeks 10 days I get

What you’re I get your point I do um I just don’t think that they’re there’s like a straight line that we we follow to his development why I want there to be one we want there to be one I know I know everyone wants her but I I would

Also I’ll bring it back to a point that I’ve made a couple of times like people want to talk about the limitations of deont sabonis as a as a player right whether it’s like he can’t he’s not a shot blocker uh he’s not you know he’s not a knockdown three-pointer

Or he’s not shooting enough threes right sequan park to the Eagles o dang dude oh a threeyear 37.75 million deal that could be worth up to 47 excuse me Tom peliso I believe NOP Mike girl po who had this first in Rapaport Adam schfer Adam schfer add it first wow and

The Patriots are signing former Commander running back Antonio Gibson I like Antonio Gibson I like Gibby too as a big Antonio Gibson guy to Memphis Yeah Yeah three and 37.75 for saquin worth up to 46.7 okay so a shade Under 12 a year that’s that’s

In no hang on I’m sorry a shade under 13 a year wow okay 26 fully guaranteed let me get back to back to the point back to Keegan with Keegan and I’ll I’ll be quick with this no it’s fine I don’t need to Deep dive on Sequon Barkley’s yeah meaning for the

Eagles we have all offseason Keegan Murray sabonis has limitations right we always talk about this the answer is to is not to like send sabonis in during the offseason to have like arm extensions installed in his arms like that’s not humanly possible but also that’s not the answer the answer is to

Find the right player to play alongside him it’s it’s very simple so if you want this is how I would bring this back to to Keegan if you want Keegan to be more offensive then go get him a better Defender to to pair with him go get him

Another 6’8 6′ n seven foot2 7 foot3 wingspan super athlete that is a three and D guy that concentrates on that end of the floor so then that way as opposed to every single minute of the game Keegan Murray being on the best offensive player on the opposition maybe

There’s some half the game where he can be on the second best and you can give him that break and let him be the offensive player by by changing the structure of of your rotation and and some of the the key pieces you can elevate a guy by having someone else

Take on some of what he does and allow him to be more of what you want him to be sure and I think that that’s just like the roster construction of this specific team is off and we’ve known it all year long doubt we felt it all year

Long no doubt it won’t be the same next year and if it is then like so I’ll go back to Jerry Reynolds like the the Jerry ISM if you think you have a fiveyear plan in the NBA you have no plan at all sure CU you won’t be there

To see year five you won’t be there to see year three right that’s not the way it goes right and that makes sense I guess and maybe this is me me way oversimplifying it but to to me then again and if Keegan Murray is is this important which I I believe he Is what they’re getting for his defensive effort over this stretch is the 28th ranked defensive rating in the NBA since the All-Star break oh yeah so you’re getting this awesome defense that is translating to nothing while also not getting him developmental reps on the offensive end it’s they you’re standing in

Mud and to me if I’m Mike Brown or if I’m the king’s front office or the coaching staff or whoever it is that makes these decisions I’m sure it’s a it’s a Col itive yeah Brain Trust it’s like dude get Keegan off of the best player

Then get get let him let him play offensively I get that but at the same time if you do that you do you have a worse defensive rating no but you still have to worry about wins and losses and and it’s not just that Keegan is your best defender hean being your best

Defender gives you the best chance to win okay so it can’t just be about like you know if if Keegan from here on out the rest of the season is just a three and D guy that’s okay it’s not perfect okay but then you address that in the

Offseason by going out and getting the right guys to enhance who he is sure got me I guess then we need to then we need to redo and recalibrate our conversation about Keegan Murray’s importance the rest of the way and his development etc etc okay

I me because I was I was under the impression when when we talked about that that we were talking about man we need to get this guy some shots and ensure that he is developing on the offensive end because that is going to be a huge piece of what he does for them

Moving forward now maybe that’s just wrong maybe they’re going no it’s gonna be dearen it’s gonna be Malik those are going to be the go-to guys in crunch time domas is going to continue to be the Hub he’s never going to be the the

Shoot it 18 to 20 times a game guy he’s not going to average 25 or 26 okay that’s fine and now Keegan they’re realizing that hey he is going to be a three and D player where okay there’s going to be nights where they’re missing

A player and he needs to do a little more offensively but for the most part he’s going to be a three and D guy behind uh Malik Monk and behind dearn Fox and behind and behind Deus sabonis three and away for the handoff DLo and Casey coming up at noon I’m worried

About Keegan Murray oh hang on hang on hang on I suck at this go ahead worried in what way like what you mean I’m worried that offensively he is not developing the way that they need him to that’s fair thank you that’s fair I mean he’s James called me stupid for it

Stupid I said it three times I said stupid stupid stupid yeah no that’s he didn’t say that that I I don’t he’s got to be better he’s got to be better I mean it’s it just is what it is can he be better I guess that’s the

Question we’re all trying to figure out right now yeah but what he’s uh given this team in the last couple weeks um as they’re trying to make a stretch run and and and get into the playoffs it hasn’t been good enough he’s got to be better I

I expect them so so I guess maybe to answer your question about or maybe it wasn’t even a question but just a statement about being concerned about him I I’m I’m more expecting more and saying that he should be better cuz I’m not necessarily worried about him I

Think he does have everything that’s needed to be what the Kings need and what they’re looking for and he’s he’s got to execute I expect him to execute you better do you buy the idea that he’s struggling offensively because of the effort he’s exerting defensively no why

Not if that if that’s if that’s the case um then then he’s not what everybody’s saying is I don’t know we’re talking that’s where my that’s where my worry is like if if he if that’s the case then he’s not I mean we no no I I don’t I don’t

Buy that because we’re not even asking you to do what dearon does and play defense good point we’re we’re not asking you to average 25 we’re asking you to give me a solid 15 to 17 a night and play defense yeah but we’re talking year seven dearen Fox and we’re talking

Year two Keegan Murray like there’s a buildup up to a player where they have to they have to learn what it is to be consistent as a scorer I mean look at Fox’s ele uh like like Evolution he goes from 12 points to 17 to 20 and then 23

And then 25 and then back to 23 and then all of a sudden 25 and 27 like there is like a a natural progression of a player where they don’t just go into the off season and they work on something like oh I’m going to be a better three-point

Shooter they go into the offseason they get bigger they get stronger they get in better shape they understand what the rigors of of 82 games looks like and I think we saw Keegan learn what 82 games looks like as a catch and shoot three-point shooter this year he’s

Seeing what 82 games looks like as an elite Defender and an offensive weapon and I I just think that the progression and getting prepared for that 82 games is different

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