Troy Murphy Anyone?

[portnoy1]

Murphy is not a 30 minute player anymore. Plus, if your the Spurs, why would you want to potentially mess up the chemistry of the team by bringing in a guy like Murphy, who would want more minutes than the Spurs Pop is willing to dish out?

If he is serious about winning then he would make adjustments. If your playing with HOF champion like Tim Duncan and you have never been to the playoffs during your whole ten year career Im sure you would make adjustments.

Now if your playing next to the likes of Andres biedrins, Roy Hibbert and Brook lopez on teams that lose 50 games a season, then your less likely to want to make sacrifices knowing that the team is gonna suck regardless of what you do.

[Warlord23]

Here's how I look at the Murphy situation. Pop is looking for a big man with 3 qualities to play alongside Duncan: defense, rebounding, reliable long-range jumpshot - basically a Robert Horry type skillset. Let's see how our current bigs not named Duncan stack up:

Blair: Defense Below Average, Rebounding Great, Jumpshot Poor
Bonner: Defense Below Average, Rebounding Poor, Jumpshot Great, including 3 pointers
Dice: Defense Very Good, Rebounding Average, Jumpshot Good, but mid-range only

Basically we have 3 big men who have different and complementary skill-sets but none of them is the total package. Will Murphy be a better bet than any of them?
Murphy: Defense Poor, Rebounding Very Good, Jumpshot Great, including 3 pointers

He fits the bill ideally on 2 out of 3 parameters, and is basically Bonner + rebounding. So while he should beat out Bonner, is he really the answer when matching up vs the Mavs or the Lakers in crunch time? Against the Mavs, he will match up with Dirk who will score all over him. I'd much rather prefer Dice in that role. Against the Lakers, he is a more intriguing match-up as he can keep us afloat on the boards and hit the 3. None of our other bigs is that great at 1-on-1 D on Gasol or Bynum anyway, so he can be more useful in that series than both Blair and Bonner.

The obvious downside is that he doesn't have the chemistry with our guys and more importantly, has zero playoff experience. There is a good chance that the stage might be too big for him - in which case we go back to Plan Ginger. Bottomline: he can help in some situations, and we aren't losing anything by having an extra option.

[jjktkk]

If he is serious about winning then he would make adjustments. If your playing with HOF champion like Tim Duncan and you have never been to the playoffs during your whole ten year career Im sure you would make adjustments.

Now if your playing next to the likes of Andres biedrins, Roy Hibbert and Brook lopez on teams that lose 50 games a season, then your less likely to want to make sacrifices knowing that the team is gonna suck regardless of what you do.

Aren't you kinda curious if Murphy was playing up to his normal standards, why he can't get any playing time for a borderline lottery team like the Nets?

[portnoy1]

Here's how I look at the Murphy situation. Pop is looking for a big man with 3 qualities to play alongside Duncan: defense, rebounding, reliable long-range jumpshot - basically a Robert Horry type skillset. Let's see how our current bigs not named Duncan stack up:

Blair: Defense Below Average, Rebounding Great, Jumpshot Poor
Bonner: Defense Below Average, Rebounding Poor, Jumpshot Great, including 3 pointers
Dice: Defense Very Good, Rebounding Average, Jumpshot Good, but mid-range only

Basically we have 3 big men who have different and complementary skill-sets but none of them is the total package. Will Murphy be a better bet than any of them?
Murphy: Defense Poor, Rebounding Very Good, Jumpshot Great, including 3 pointers

He fits the bill ideally on 2 out of 3 parameters, and is basically Bonner + rebounding. So while he should beat out Bonner, is he really the answer when matching up vs the Mavs or the Lakers in crunch time? Against the Mavs, he will match up with Dirk who will score all over him. I'd much rather prefer Dice in that role. Against the Lakers, he is a more intriguing match-up as he can keep us afloat on the boards and hit the 3. None of our other bigs is that great at 1-on-1 D on Gasol or Bynum anyway, so he can be more useful in that series than both Blair and Bonner.

The obvious downside is that he doesn't have the chemistry with our guys and more importantly, has zero playoff experience. There is a good chance that the stage might be too big for him - in which case we go back to Plan Ginger. Bottomline: he can help in some situations, and we aren't losing anything by having an extra option.

Murphy along with his rebounding also has height at 6-11. Since Splitter most likely will not get a run in the playoffs Murphy is our best bet in the size department as well.

[Cane]

Aren't you kinda curious if Murphy was playing up to his normal standards, why he can't get any playing time for a borderline lottery team like the Nets?

Especially since the Nets are run kinda like the Spurs now that Avery Johnson took 'em over. He's probably appalled by Murphy's below-average defensive efforts. That other ex-Spur turned head coach, Monty Williams, wouldn't play Marcus Thornton until he got up to speed defensively despite his instant-offense skills.

[Warlord23]

Murphy along with his rebounding also has height at 6-11. Since Splitter most likely will not get a run in the playoffs Murphy is our best bet in the size department as well.

Well size by itself doesn't help, it has to translate into something tangible - typically rebounding or defense. In Murphy's case it does help his rebounding, but doesn't seem to help his defense. If he was a slightly better defender this would be simple decision for Pop. Even without that, I'm in favor of picking him up to give us some more versatility.

[Mel_13]

For the pro-rated portion of the vet minimum as injury insurance, why not? If he does get bought out, I believe he'll be looking for a situation where he's much more likely to get regular minutes than with the Spurs. Orlando has to be a much more attractive destination for Murphy.

One other thing, the guy has only played one game since December and he was terrible when he was in the rotation early this season. We have no idea how close he is to game ready or if he'll ever be able to perform in a bench role. The evidence from this season doesn't support that notion.

[portnoy1]

Aren't you kinda curious if Murphy was playing up to his normal standards, why he can't get any playing time for a borderline lottery team like the Nets?

I hear two different things about that, 1 - he was pissed about the whole trade situation or 2 - avery said he wasnt playing D. I can see scenario 1 more than scenario 2 because murphy hasnt played much and they still rank 20th defensively anyway.

[SenorSpur]

Aren't you kinda curious if Murphy was playing up to his normal standards, why he can't get any playing time for a borderline lottery team like the Nets?

Supposedly Avery has gotten down on him because of his repeated defensive lapses.

As much as the Spurs could use his size and rebounding, I just don't see the point of adding yet another terrible defender to a team that is still trying to improve its overall defense. It makes absolutely no sense, which is probably why it will happen - assuming he gets bought out.

That said, there's no way in the Spurs should trade for this guy.

[SenorSpur]

For the pro-rated portion of the vet minimum as injury insurance, why not? If he does get bought out, I believe he'll be looking for a situation where he's much more likely to get regular minutes than with the Spurs. Orlando has to be a much more attractive destination for Murphy.

One other thing, the guy has only played one game since December and he was terrible when he was in the rotation early this season. We have no idea how close he is to game ready or if he'll ever be able to perform in a bench role. The evidence from this season doesn't support that notion.

Good point. How can the guy be in shape if he's only played sparingly the past few months?

[K-State Spur]

As much as the Spurs could use his size and rebounding

rebounding isn't an issue for this team.