Rethinking the draft: Murray vs Jones

[SAGirl]

He was my guy. I thought he had enough flaws that he could have been realistically available at 29 and he was. Very early mock drafts had him in the 20-40 range... basically a risky kind of gamble scouts couldn't peg.

I liked him for the same reasons Spurs did apparently: amazing size and length for a PG position. PG of his generation are going to be tall with similar size, the Mudiay, Dangelo, Payton, Exum all athletic around 6'4"-6'5". He could match with the very young PG of his age. That was mega important for me. I almost would have taken him just on that and the fact he was 19, so young still. At the same time he rose in the mocks late bc this draft class was weak on guards. He was still younger than most PG this draft and had the ideal size. I thought some team would take a gamble earlier than our pick just on that.

The other thing I liked was just how crafty he was with his handles and he's got decent athleticism for the league, but I would lie if I didn't tell you what I liked the most were his youth and size, length.

The more I looked at him though, some things made me think he wasn't a "Spursy" pick. He had a reputation for being an inefficient chucker, bad shooter, forced over bad shots at times. Seemed very Russel Westbrooky in his decision making, the TO, but then more than anything, he wasn't a disciplined defender. Like not at all. I hope he fixes that and we don't have ourselves a Kevin Martin type. He had all the tools to be absolutely awesome defensively, but he wasn't bc he coasted at times and was unaware of things off the ball. Major red flag. So, a guy who goes for flair solo and who was coasting on defense, whose team didn't make the NCAA tournament despite having two draft picks in the first round, his big man partner going in the lottery... I don't know the closer the draft got, the more I thought the Spurs wouldn't be after him. There were more spursy guys ready to play like Malcolm Brogdon.

So for all my championing his case earlier, I was kind of surprised the Spurs picked him, but when he was picked I still thought he had talent you couldn't pass up. Like RC said, his youth, the ability to learn and grow, the ideal tools he has to play PG.. and when you consider our need... glad they took the risk. High risk but high reward type pick. Could end up being a real all-star in 5 years if he works hard on his game, his shot, etc. Or he could bust, but at 29 one can't complain at the odds he could be a difference maker in the future. He can't be compared at his age with guys like Valentine who are 22. He might far surpass him, or he might not. Glad they took the gamble though.

I didn't pay attention to the bigs in this draft so yea Murray was my pick.

[RuffnReadyOzStyle]

Top stuff GSH and SAGirl, thanks for the detail.

Snaq - yeah, Valentine and Bembry look like perfect fits for the Spurs. Maybe one day.

[Ed Helicopter Jones]

It's a good question and interesting alternative scenario, Ruff. Murray has tremendous talent that jumps out and grabs your attention. I'm not sure the turnovers can be reined-in but that will be up to the player development staff and Dejounte's ability to grow and learn. I'm intrigued to see how his future plays out. He's a head-turner.

Also, we don't have much of a view behind the curtain to see what the Spurs FO has brewing in free agency and trade scenarios. I still remember Sam Presti with the Spurs working a 3-way trade with Sac and Indy where Danny Ferry signed up for his final year, was traded (Spurs received Hedo Turkoglu and Mercer) and then retired 2 months later before the season started and became a front office guy. That could happen with Timmy if he wants to retire. Now, the Turkoglu experiment didn't quite work out but it was initially exciting and was a really smart trade. Who knows? This may end up being a pretty nice offseason when all is said and done. 'Hope so!

I could see something similar occurring this year as a real possibility.

Drafting a center is usually more of a gamble that late in the first round. I believe Murray was the right choice. I think we'll see some roster shake-up coming via trades over the coming weeks, hopefully with a more proven commodity in the middle as a result than we could have achieved by trying to fill that need through a draft pick.