No More Excuses About Keegan Murray’s Development | Locked On Kings

No More Excuses About Keegan Murray’s Development | Locked On Kings

A new front office means a new set of circumstances for Keegan Murray. And it’s time for all of us to stop making excuses for him. I’ll explain right here on Locked on Kings. You are Locked on Kings, your daily Sacramento Kings podcast, part of the Locked On podcast network. Your team every day. And now, ladies and gentlemen, it is that time. Time for another episode of Locked on Kings. Hello and welcome into Locked on Kings, your podcast hub for Sacramento Kings coverage all off season long. Today’s episode is brought to you by Monarch Money. Take control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use code locked on NBA at monarchoney.com for 50% off of your first year. My name is Matt George. I have the privilege of being your host here. I’m a Sacramento sports anchor and reporter for ABC 10 News. And let me preface this uh this uh podcast and this conversation that we’re about to have with Keegan Murray with this. Keegan himself is not making the excuses. I don’t think Keegan Murray acknowledges any of the excuses being made about him or his development or who’s taking shots from him or why his three-point percentages have dropped. Keegan is not making any excuses himself. And I understand that the title of this podcast and coming into it might be misleading as if Keegan is the one that is complaining. That’s not the case. But really since the day that the Sacramento Kings went out and acquired Demar D Rozan a year ago, there’s been this conversation of Demar De Rozan’s presence hinders the development of Keegan Murray. Now with Zack Lavine here, Demar De Rozan and Zack Lavine take so many shots between the two of them. They’re taking away shots from Keegan Murray. It’s time for these excuses to come to an end. Keegan Murray is going into year four, but this is going to be a more unique and in many ways pressurefilled year for Keegan than I think he’s ever faced before. Now, Keegan faced a lot of pressure coming into the league. Not only were you a fourth overall pick, you were drafted to a Sacramento Kings team that right away was contending for a playoff spot, right? And you were very quickly inserted in as a starter on that playoff team. And Keegan embraced that challenge. His best season by far, if we’re talking offensively, was his rookie season. Over the last two seasons, he’s shown tremendous development in different areas, especially on the defensive end to arguably the best, most versatile defender on this Kings roster. The only one that can come close to that is Keon Ellis. He’s also developed, I think, as a rebounder, and he’s gotten better at attacking the rim aggressively. But still am am am am am am am am am am am am am am am am am am am am am am am am am am am am am am am am am am am am am am am am amidst those years of improvement and development, his three-point shooting percentages have dropped significantly. And he hasn’t quite become the shot creator and go-to scoring option that maybe the Kings had hoped when they drafted him with the fourth overall pick. this year. There there there’s two layers of pressure that Keegan is facing. Number one is his contract extension, right? His contract extension, I believe, I feel very confident is going to happen here in Sacramento. But the question is, what is the value of that contract? I mean, we saw what Jabari Smith Jr. got paid. It was lower than people expected. It was lower than I what I thought the perceived value was going to be of Keegan Murray. And Keegan’s probably looking around at the restricted free agent market because this is the end of Keegan’s rookie deal. He would go into restricted free agency. He’s probably looking at the restricted free agency market and going, “Man, there this market is not good.” So, there’s the pressure of not getting as much money as maybe him or his camp are looking for. There’s also the pressure of playing yourself into your value. So if you play well, your value increases. If you struggle, your value decreases. So there’s always that stress and that pressure. Although I don’t think it’s tremendous for Keegan because I do believe a deal will get done with Sacramento. An extension will happen here in Sacramento. But the other layer of pressure that’s significant that he’s never faced before, there are no ties to him with this new front office, right? Monty McNair and Wes Wilcox, but Monty McNair primarily like had an attachment to Keegan Murray. He drafted Keegan Murray. Monty McNair’s success was based upon the success of Keegan Murray as Keegan was the highest draft pick that Monty ever had in his time here in Sacramento. And while I think the pick was fantastic and I don’t go back on that at all with Jaden Ivy still being there and other players still being there, the Kings took a little bit of a risk with Keegan Murray at the fourth overall pick. So there was a mutual need for both sides for Keegan to work out and therefore whether you want to call it a longer leash or more leeway or whatever, right? Like Keegan didn’t have as much pressure on him to perform necessarily because he didn’t have to be concerned about the front office like moving on from him because they were kind of directly tied and invested with him. I’m not saying that Scott Perry in this new front office are not fans of Keegan Murray. In fact, I believe wholeheartedly that Scott Perry views Keegan Murray as part of the future plans here in Sacramento. But Perry’s success is not determined by Keegan Murray’s success, right? So that’s just a new level of pressure, a new situation, circumstance that Keegan Murray is facing this year. He’s still going to have a majority defensive role, right? Perry in one off season has not been able to address that gaping hole in terms of forward depth. Like Keegan is still going to be the guy that is responsible for guarding any top star on an opposing team. that’s between 66 and 69 610 and even at times jumping down to the guard position although Keon Ellis is there to take some of that pressure off him and who knows maybe Nick Clifford can come in right away and help alleviate some of that defensive pressure too but primarily Keegan is still going to have those intense defensive responsibilities so the the question is or where the excuses come into play and and and what we’re going to be looking at with this fourth year with Keegan is you have to find your shots amongst your teammates, right? Demar, Lavine, Domos, I’ll even put Monk and Keon in there. Like Malik Monk takes a decent amount of shots. He’s an offensive first guard. And then Keon Ellis established himself as a over 40% shooting catch-and shoot three-point threat who should get a lot of looks and I think will continue to get a lot of looks on the perimeter with how the Sacramento Kings are trying to play. Keegan Murray needs to find his shots amongst that group. Is it realistic to expect Keegan to all of a sudden jump up to 15, 16, 17 shots per game with those guys there? No, it’s not. But we’re putting to bed this narrative or these excuses of these guys are taking shots away from Keegan Murray. These guys are hindering the development of Keegan Murray. The dudes in year four, that stuff is done, right? The the the challenge is to Keegan directly. Are you going to be the elite two-way player that the Kings are hoping you can become, or are you not? Are you going to be able to hold it down on the defensive end and take on those primary defensive responsibilities that you are going to have until further notice? And even if the Kings went out and got depth at the forward position, Keegan would still be looked at as a primary defensive uh uh piece of this Kings roster. Are you able to hold down those responsibilities while also getting yours on the offensive end? Are you able to do that or are you not? Are you going to be a two-way player at a starting caliber player in this league who can impact winning and get the Sacramento Kings back to the playoffs? Not necessarily next season, but in the years to come, or are you not? And the thing with Keegan is, and I understand his personality, and I I I appreciate Keegan’s personality. I’ve gotten to know him on a fairly decent level over the the the three years that he’s been here. We all joke about Keegan never smiles and Keegan always has just kind of the dead pan like face, right? Keegan needs to be assertive. And I’ve talked about this for the three years that he’s been in the league. If you’re rolling early on, demand the basketball. Even with Demar De Rozan and Zack Lavine and Deamis Sabonis and all these guys on your team, if you’re cooking, if you want shots, go out and demand them. And I would hope that you would have the support of your teammates and the coaching staff to where, hey, if if Keegan Murray is making some demands and and and saying, give me the basketball, we’re gonna we’re going to listen to him. Now, we don’t have to give it to him every time. And I’m not saying Keegan needs to become a ballhog or anything like that, but even if Scott Perry likes Demard Roen, even if Scott Perry likes Zack Lavine, I think Scott views those two as temporary pieces on this roster and views Keegan as more of a long-term option. So act like it. Don’t wait your turn. Take your turn. That’s what I’m looking for from Keegan Murray this year. There aren’t going to be any excuses of it’s because of his teammates or it’s because of this circumstance or that circumstance that he’s shooting in the low to mid30s from three-point range or that his his points per game are back to around 12. Like I don’t care. This is year four and his age- wise he’s an old he came into the league as an older prospect. You’re entering your prime. Are you going to be that two-way threat or are you not? And I’m not asking or expecting Keegan to jump up to a top two or even top three score on this Kings roster, but are you going to be a nightly offensive threat instead of a once in a blue moon guy that could explode for 40 and have one hot quarter and then disappear for the rest of the game because whether it’s your fault or it’s not, your teammates aren’t getting you the ball. There’s no more excuses for Keegan Murray. He’s not making them. We need to stop making them, too. It’s about how he steps up in year four. I’m really curious to see what Keegan looks like come the start of next season. Today’s episode of the Lockdown Kings podcast is brought to you by Open Phone. If you’re running a business, you know that every missed call is money left on the table. Think about the last time that you had an urgent need, maybe for a plumber or a service provider. If the first person you called didn’t answer, did you wait for them to call back? No. You moved on. That’s why you need Open Phone. Open Phone is the number one business phone system built to streamline and scale your customer communications all from an app on your phone or on your computer. Open Phone lets you lets you manage business calls and texts from a single app. The shared inbox feature is a gamecher. Your entire team can jump into any conversation instantly without missing a beat. and their AI agent handles afterhour calls, answering common questions, and captures leads so you never miss a customer, no matter what time of day it is. Open Phone is offering Locked on Kings listeners 20% off of your first 6 months at openphone.com/lockton NBA. That’s opho ne.com/lockedonba. And if you have existing numbers with another service, Open Phone will port them over at no extra charge. Open phone, no missed calls, no missed customers. So, I was filling in on DLO and KC this week, DLO and KC on ESPN 1320, friends of the show. Fantastic radio show that they have here in Sacramento. And I was having a conversation with Kyle Madson, who’s one of the hosts of The Insiders on ESPN 1320 with James Ham. And we were talking about like the the backup point guard position and Devin Carter versus Malik Monk and and we uh we just started talking about like what the preferences are of the organization and who’s more likely to hold down that position right now. And it led to me um sharing something that I had heard about Malik and his openness to his role here in Sacramento under head coach Doug Christie that Will Z, another friend of the show, uh went and and wrote an article about for for Sports Illustrated. So, I thought I’d I’ I’d expand upon it a little bit. First, let’s start with Malik Monk’s situation. All signs as of now point to Malik staying in Sacramento, right? There’s no reason to believe that the pizza guy is going anywhere at this point in time. The Kings certainly looked and you’ve been we you’ve heard us heard us say uh over the course of this offseason, oh the value isn’t there, the market isn’t very good. And I think what we’ve learned at this point is that it’s not that the market is bad because of Malik. The market is just bad period. Right? This offseason has been one of the more underwhelming off seasons in terms of generic moves, although it’s had huge firework moments like the Desmond Bane deal or uh just recently Dame Lillard going back to Portland, right? So, there have been some some fireworks, but ultimately as a whole, the league is kind of in this scared money spot with the first and second apron system and the luxury tax and everything that the NBA recently implemented. So, it’s not so much, man, Malik Mar Malik Monk’s market is really, really bad because he’s got a reputation or he’s not a very good player or his contract’s terrible. No, it’s just the market in general is not very good. I believe, and this is not just my opinion, this is based off of conversations that I’ve had and things that we’ve talked about a lot here over locked on Kings over the past couple months. I believe if Scott Perry and the Sacramento Kings had their way, Malik Monk would not be on this roster. And it’s not because again, they don’t see any value in Malik, but they have a log jam at that position. And I don’t think Malik Monk fits the vision or long-term plan of Scott Perry going forward. And Malik Monk does, he is a good player. He does have value. So, it makes perfect sense if if you don’t feel that this guy is is going to be part of the long-term plan and you think you could try and get value for him right now when you have a bunch of other contracts on this roster that you can’t really move like Lavine and Sabonis and even D Rozan to some extent then it makes sense for the Kings to go out and shop Malik Monk. So I I people always attach kind of these emotions to rumors and if a player is put on the trading block it means there’s there like it’s the burn bridge is burned and there’s hatred between the sides of the front office and the player. That’s not the case. That’s not the case with Malik Monk. Of course Malik still wants to start. I’m not going any further in this conversation without making sure that’s understood. Malik Monk wants to start just as badly today as he did during the entire saga under Mike Brown before he finally got to start like midway through or a third of the way through last season. There were times where it worked really well, especially early on when he was starting next to De’aran Fox. It worked well. It looked good. But especially after Fox’s departure, Malik got opportunity to hold down that point guard spot. Could not do it. Hence the reason why the Kings went into the off seasonason saying we don’t have a point guard and they went out and got Dennis Shruder. Malik Mung definitely still wants to start. But what I said on the podcast or on the radio show that has been picked up by Will Z is this. I have been told from a few people that Malik and uh Doug Christie have a really good really solid relationship and Malik has told Doug or is willing to take on whatever role that Doug asks of him. Meaning, if Malik is going back to those six-man responsibilities that he was so good for two years, back-to-back seasons where I think both years he should have been the sixman of the year, it’s it’s a travesty. He didn’t win it at least once. If that’s the role he goes back to, even if it’s not the most ideal role for Malik Monk, he will do it and will embrace that role for Doug. I do not believe that Malik would pout or throw a fit or make sure everybody knows how unhappy he is. He never did that before for a coach that he had I won’t say issues with, but we know that Malik and and Mike Brown because of their personalities and their competitiveness. They both clashed from time to time, but he was still willing to do what was asked of him then. He and Doug Christie, Malik and Doug Christie have a good relationship. So, it makes perfect sense that he’s going to be willing to do it now. What I am curious about though is Malik was one of the champions of practices are too long under Mike Brown. We need shorter practices, things like that. Then the Kings basically never practiced period at the end of last season. That’s not 100% true or 100% fair. They still did practice time, but not nearly to the level of what they did under Mike Brown. And then there were feelings that well now we’re not practicing enough. So, knowing who Doug Christie is, knowing Scott Perry and what he wants to implement and the culture that he’s trying to build here, practice time, I think, is going to be important. And if you’re trying to establish a culture of hard-nosed defensive first, we’re we’re going to work hard, we’re going to outwork you, that has to begin in practice. And I’m not saying Malik isn’t willing to work hard, but is he willing to handle another maybe not as intense practice schedule as Mike Brown brought in? And Mike’s always had a reputation of being kind of a heavy practice coach. But is Monk willing to ramp up that practice time again? I guess we’ll wait and see. But again, I have been told that Malik is willing to embrace whatever role Doug Christie and the Sacramento Kings ask of him as long as he is still here. And I would expect that to continue to be some sort of off-the-ban role. Although maybe, just maybe, Keon Ellis is threatening Malik for that six-man role. And hey, maybe even Nick Clifford at some point could be a threat as the quoteunquote sixman of the Sacramento Kings. We’ll talk about Nick. We’ll talk about the Kings playing in the summer league playoffs tomorrow. Plus, there’s some rumors circulating about Ben Simmons to the Sacramento Kings. I’ll address those very briefly still to come here on Locked on Kings. Like I said at the top of the show, today’s episode of Locked On Kings is brought to you by Monarch Money. Ever wish managing your money felt easier? Well, with Monarch Money, it can be. Whether you’re growing your savings or planning a big purchase, Monarch puts you in the driver’s seat. It’s like having your own personal CFO giving you full visibility and control over your finances. Monarch Money is more than just a simple budgeting app. It’s a complete financial command center. You can track all of your accounts, investments, and spending in one place. So, in addition to managing your money, you’re also building wealth. There’s so many different tools and little um just features that Monarch Money has that are game changers from detailed tracking of your spending, where your money’s going, how much money is going to specific areas like stores that you like or your favorite coffee shop or or whatever. There’s categories that it’ll break it down into so you know always where your money is going and how much that of that money is going every single pay period, every single month. And it has everything in one app to make it easy to manage on a day-to-day basis. No more going through different apps and different spreadsheets and files on your computer or anything like that. It’s all one place at one time and it’s easy to manage multiple accounts if you have different accounts with your partner or whatever. Uh Monarch Money handles all of that. Take control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use code locked on NBA at monarchmoney.com for 50% off your first year. That’s monarchoney.com. code locked on NBA for half off your first year. It was close, but the Sacramento Kings made it into the summer league playoffs. They are the fourth seed out of four. The top four teams actually advance in the playoffs. I think the Timberwolves were the fifth seed. Sorry, they they were also undefeated, but they lost because of point differential. The Kings made it. And on Saturday, tomorrow at 1:00 inside the Thomas and Max Center on the campus of the University of Las Vegas, the Kings will take on the number one seed Toronto Raptors in the semifinals of the Summer League playoff. A winter take all game. The Kings win that, they will play the either the Thunder or is it the Pelicans? I honestly I don’t know the other team to be honest with you. Um the Kings will play or have a chance in the championship game after that. So, they’re two wins away from their third summer league title as a franchise. We want another banner. We want more rings. It’s exciting to be able to say that the Sacramento Kings are in the playoffs. We’re going to be watching Kings playoff basketball this weekend, people. Forget the context. That’s just fun to say. And you I don’t get to say that very often on Locked on Kings, so you’re damn right I’m going to say it. Uh, in addition to how cool that is, ESPN put out their rankings of rookies and their performances in summer league. Guess who was number one above of number two Cooper Flag? You guessed it, our boy the big purple dog Nick Clifford ranked the number one rookie in summer league. And I’m glad somebody at ESPN is paying attention because Nick has been fantastic. Again, there have been much better scoring performances from a number of different guys over the course of summer league, but Nick’s consistency, three 19 point games, one 17-point games, games with multiple steals, games with blocks, a 12 rebound game, a nine assist game. Nick is showing off the versatility. He is doing it all for an undefeated team in the summer league and he’s played every game so far. There’s no reason to believe he and Maxim Reno and Devin Carter and these guys are going to stop with the summer league playoffs beginning tomorrow. So, we get to see Nick Clifford in at least one more game in the summer league. I’m excited about that and I’m happy for him that he’s getting that recognition as the top rookie. He’s played so unbelievably well this summer, which I know has fired a lot of Kings fans up. There is a rumor circulating or should I say a report that came from Jake Fischer that the Sacramento Kings are interested in Ben Simmons or that Ben Simmons has become a name on their radar as they continue to look at the backup point guard position. Now, I’ll say this first and foremost. It makes complete sense that Scott Perry is still looking around because he probably doesn’t feel based off of Devin Carter’s performance and the the the the fit of Malik Monk long term that there there is a great backup point guard option on this roster right now. The Kings still have their uh mid-level exception. They retained it in the sign and trade of Dennis Shruder uh with the Detroit Pistons. That’s why they did that deal in the first place. So there is room and flexibility for there them to go out and get a veteran point guard. Ben Simmons is apparently one of the names on that list according to John uh to to Jake Fischer. Makes perfect sense that Ben Simmons would be a name on that list. I’m still digging and trying to find out and talking to people that I know about the circumstance and I have heard or I’m hearing that that’s not really a thing. I’m not saying Fiser is lying or making anything up. Of course not. He’s very well sourced and it wouldn’t surprise me at all if maybe this is Ben Simmons camp trying to to express that there’s interest out there for their guys to help them uh to help him find a team or get a contract or try and speed up the process somewhere else. And I’m not saying Ben Simmons is completely not on the Kings radar whatsoever, but from what I’m being told it it ain’t happening. It probably isn’t happening. If that ever changes and there’s any more information to that, uh, I will let you know. If I hear anything more, you of course can follow me on Twitter, Matt George Sack, but I haven’t heard a whole lot on the Ben Simmons side to make me think that it’s anywhere remotely close or that legitimate. And for me personally, this is just my opinion, like I’m good. Like the Sacramento Kings want to shoot threes. The Sacramento Kings are trying to build a culture. And Ben Simmons, like no. Like I I would way rather have Russell Westbrook over Ben Simmons if I have to choose between them. And to be honest with you, I’d way rather have Malik Monk than any of those guys. You’re probably going to have Malik anyway. You’re not really going to be able to move him. I know there’s questions about Malik Monk handling the point guard position, but he handled a lot of those secondary ball handler off the-bench responsibilities over the two years that he was really, really good here in Sacramento. I think if this is truly a gap year, which I believe it is, Malik can hold that job down and you can give looks to Devin Carter. You can give looks to Neat Clifford. You can try things out. Malik is not a bad option short term and he’s not going anywhere anyway. So, I I would just say don’t even worry about it. If you want to use that MLE, try and find some wing depth if it it’s even out there. Who knows? But I’m I’m just I’m good with Malik over Russ. I’m certainly way better with Malik Monk over Ben Simmons. And I’d way rather have Russell Westbrook over Ben Simmons. Again, that’s just me. But I would love to hear your thoughts on that. Your thoughts on the Kings in the summer league playoffs. Any predictions that you have for that? Your thoughts on what I had to say about Keegan Murray. What are your expectations for Keegan? Are you still feeling like there is an excuse there for Keegan or not? Hit me upsack on Twitter. Email me [email protected] or leave your thoughts in the YouTube comment section down below. I appreciate your support as always. Can’t wait to have you join me on the next episode of Locked On Kings. Until then, my name is Matt George. You’ve been listening to the Lockdown Kings podcast, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network.

Matt George discusses the excuses around Keegan Murray’s development and how his circumstances have changed for this coming season.

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No More Excuses About Keegan Murray’s Development
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