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OP has put in solid work all season.
https://www.spurstalk.com/dejounte-m...antonio-spurs/
The gist: Murray's hard work has paid off, his shooting has improved from all ranges.
OP has put in solid work all season.
True. His shooting form looked improved in preseason but he was still hesitant about perimeter shooting at the start of the season. He was sent to the bench and he learned: take the shots the game gives to you.
He's taking the TP jump shoot from the elbow in p&r and the corner three but also some other 3pt shots as he gains confidence.
Good to see progress in Murray, hopefully this helps him to relax and focus on the court so he makes better decission and not so many unforced errors. Anyway, the area where we need DeJounte to get better more inmediately is the defense. I still expect Murray to solidify his 1on1 defense and get better avoiding contact in screens and completing correctly the p&r cover: he must chase his man putting pressure on his back whilst trying to recover position in front of him and then, if he couldn't recover, stick to the rolling man, deny pocket pass to him and front him in case they try to post up in the missmatch.
So many times DJ gambles or jumps in 1on1 situations when he doesn't need it. He's long enough to stay on the ground avoiding fouling. In the p&r, he's easily picked by the screener and he is too slow recovering position. In these situations, he doesn't execute well either, getting caught in no one's land so offense plays 2 on 1 against the other Spurs defender.
Derrick White is better sliding between the two p&r players and recovering, but he's soft and gets scored in the face usually even having won the defensive space. White goes behind the screen too often when he shouldn't, probably because of lack of focus, allowing his man to shoot pull up threes when he shouldn't. Both players aren't conscious enough of the strenghts of the player they are guarding every time, they must improve that. Every possesion they must know if they can go behind or not depending on the player shooting.
In Spurs defensive system, the big calls the p&r cover every time and too often you can hear even on tv how our PGs aren't doing what Aldrdge or Poetl are saying. That's specially bad when they are supossed to be the tachtical minds on the court, the extensions of the coaching staff.
I've been saying it all season long. Number one reason for this season results is the bad play of our point guards. I like them both in the team but they need to improve NOW.
I'll have to read the article when I get home later, looking forward to this one. Murray seems like he's gonna be a more aggressive scorer than White when he gets more and more comfortable shooting the ball.
Good article, and dead on. Improvements like that don't happen by chance, and he's clearly put in the work. The big iprovement at the FT line is especially revealing.
It's hard to get too excited when his volume is still so low. Some of that is confidence, but I think a big part of that is legs. It's hard coming back from an injury like that. He's shown enough that I think he can still live up to the potential most of us thought he had.
Thanks for taking the time.
Murray has all the tools and the drive. He just needs the smarts now. His ability to run the offense still has a lot to improve on. He needs to up his attempts on 3 pointers to about 4 a game. This will open up the lane for his improved finishing ability. I’m excited about his future but I wasn’t going to start judging him til February tbh.
Spurs look better when guys like DJ and LMA are shooting 3s. Imagine that?
Thanks for the write up.
It just shows he was really putting the work in over the summer and it just wasn’t all that IG Baller some of you guys were talking about. I want him to start getting more minutes out there. Pop said they were going to ramp his minutes up but he’s still only averaging 23 MPG, I know he was on a cap in the beginning but even from December 1st to now he’s still only averaging 25 MPG.
I don’t think it’s because of the injury either it’s because Pop is so bent on his current rotations. If he cuts Marcos minutes to 0 and Forbes to at least 5-10 min, because let’s be realistic he’s not going to completely take Forbes out of the rotation. Those minutes can be evenly distributed to DJ, White, and LWIV. No reason why 3 months into the season White and Murray are averaging 23 MPG.
You should take a look at the MPG rankings in the NBA and look at all the players averaging more than 23 MPG that’s not better than these two, it’s pretty disgusting tbh. But I guess that’s what happens when you give players that are rotation minutes.
I wouldn't expect DJ's mpg to ramp up beyond 25 until the ASB. Same for White, who's been nursing a few injuries here and there on top of his plantar fasciitis recurring issue. The one best poised to take those minutes at the 2 is Lonnie; if Pop is so -bent on playing White-DJ as exclusively PGs, he could iron out the rotations starting DJ and Lonnie, and have White lead the bench unit with alternates of Patty and (less of) Forbes. We'll see how he adjusts but he seems to have struck gold the last few games with the rotations (or at least he thinks so) so I wouldn't expect heavy changes.
Also, that IB talk during the summer was ridiculous, and even if DJ doesn't ever get to all-star level shooting/playing, it was still a re ed take. One more to the pile.
Murray and White should play more minutes, but coach Pop has to play them together to do so and unfortunately he thinks playing them together "hasn't worked out" for those 4 minutes total. Maybe he'll try it more often with Murray's 3-point shooting improving
I think Pop has scared himself silly that if he plays Murray and White together he won't have a point guard for the bench.
well if he plays them both 30 minutes one of them would be on the court all the time, so that doesn't make sense. It's more like his pets have to play the 3rd highest minutes on the team
So many excuses for Pop this season on why he hasn't gone with a simple, no-brainer lineup like Murray + White.
He's gone with lineups that feature neither White/Murray plenty of times this season so I doubt he's scared of not having a PG on the floor.
He simply wants his Pets out there no matter what. Plain and simple.
Clifford's notes. Murray is dumb and has no bbiq. He does have good genetics for a basketball player or a Victoria secret models. He's a ty pg because he cant dribble pass or make plays.
I concur
Disagree, Dejounte has a good BBIQ which allows him to read plays and be a great defender. Bryn Forbes doesn't have a (BB)IQ. What Dejounte struggles with is running an offense and getting players into offensive sets, which is quite a different thing. He's got to tighten up his handles but he's very good on the fastbreak and open court, and generally when he's not tasked with PG duties and can feed off DeMar or (in their 4m shared together) White's playmaking. He should be played as a SG with White as 1 to truly bring out his potential, though I guess Pop isn't yet convinced with his shooting consistency to play him as starting SG, or is too stuck on PGMurray, or has gone senile, whichever option you fancy.
Murray can't become some sort of Chris Paul. It won't happen and, most importantly, it's not necessary. DeJounte has a lot of potential and I believe he can become a good point guard. The most important things a true point guard needs aren't coachable, they're related to the personality. DJ has strong character, he's team-first oriented, he wants to learn and it seems he prefers winning than stats. He has great phisycal tools and we're observing skills developement. And BBIQ wise... he's not Brynn Forbes, the kid is smart, he just doesn't know stuff.
You can't practice enough to become a basketball genious but as a point guard, you can learn a system and how to run your team, reducing mistakes, understanding your limitations (working on them during the summer) and putting your teammates in the best positions.
Yesterday DJ played very well, probably one of the more solid games I've watched him play. I think he has found the balanced point between activation and calm on the court that helps him to read situations and make better decissions. From day one, I've always defended the idea of giving the keys of the team to Murray as starting PG, he struggled in november-december but he might be over the hump now.
White always looked like a second unit leader and 6th man to me. I believe that's the perfect role for him in this team.
Walker is a starter if not something else...
If these three play well regularly, the defense will be better and we have a good team again.
Murray has made progress already and I expect him to get even better during the season. All he needs to understand is when to shoot, when to drive and when to pass it. He's definitely getting there and his shot has improved a lot. His court awareness and decision making will only get better. As far as handles and all that, he can work on that in the offseason, but you can't deny this kids potential.
Literallly could not agree more with everything you said. 1000% agree White looks perfect for that Manu role with Lonnie starting at the 2 next to Murray. This probably won't happen until Derozan is gone tho.
Appreciate your bball takes, keep posting
It was nice to see him mixes his shots. He started with attacking the rim with that high bank layup, and some perimeter shots off the dribble. He needs lower his dribble when he make those spin moves, like Demar, and protect the ball better. They look like he's gonna get picked and swing the momentum to the opponent.
So glad he has worked hard and improved his shooting I still think on offense he is a SG not a PG but glad they had him playing PG to improve his handles. This summer just keep putting in the grind add a little weight keep working on handles, finishing, and 3 ball and he is good to go.
For a guy whose played 32 NBA regular season games in the last 21 months, he's definitely trending in the right direction. He's still figuring things out and what works for him and what doesn't. There's a lot of moving parts, especially running the PG position. Once he finds that happy medium with calling his own number and setting up his teammates he's going to be good. Come spring time I think he's going to be balling.
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