Not Expecting Kings Keegan Murray To Hit Another Level

Not Expecting Kings Keegan Murray To Hit Another Level

Jiffy Lube. We talked about Dennis Shruder and the the Kings coach who talked with Keith Smith about Dennis Shruder. Then there’s a front office executive talking about Keegan Murray’s possible extension. More or less said, “We’re really happy with Keegan. His role’s been all over the place, but we’re happy with his development, etc., etc.” Um, Keegan and his reps know how we feel about him. We’re hopeful that we can get something done that keeps him in Sacramento for a long time. Okay, great. I don’t hate anything there. He’s his role has changed. Apparently, they’re happy with his development. I I I think I’m done with the Keegan Murray development conversation. We know what he has to do. We know there might be things that that make that prohibitive with the style of player around him and that’s it. That’s I I don’t with with Keegan Murray. I like him as a player. But if everything we said last year is true and if what this executive is saying is true, he’s had a tough role every year as a rookie. We asked him to shoot a lot more. Last year he was often the fourth or fifth option. Guess what? He’s going to be the fourth or fifth option again. He is and probably again the year after that. Maybe third or fourth the year after that. Yeah. The problem is that I I just don’t think you have an ability to stop some of the players from being who they are. Yeah. Like Yeah. The the the idea here isn’t that you know like that Demar D Rozan is doing doing anything wrong. He’s doing exactly what you paid him to do. Yep. Thousand%. And so the problem is that if you want Keegan Murray to have more shots or to develop in a different way, then it’s a it’s upon the team. You know, sure he can shoot more. He can try to shoot more, but realistically it’s upon the team to to get a player that plays opposite him that is just a different style of player. Mh. And a player that shoots, you know, 10 to 12 times a game, not 17 times a game. and then another, you know, five trips to the free throw line. So, this is where when I say I’m sick of the Keegan Murray conversation, this is why. Yeah, because it can’t change. It’s not going to change. I like Keegan Murray, this is the role he’s going to be for me to get on the radio and go, he needs to shoot it this like he’ll do that a half a dozen times a year where he has a huge game and shoots it 20 plus times, 18 plus times, whatever it is. And outside of that, he’s going to be a tertiary 3&D role player. Yeah, that’s what I got. And I think that that this this front office executive kind of confirms that when he said he’s played a different role every year. Last year, he’s a fourth or fifth option. Like, cool. And he’s going to be in the same team. So, Geon Murray is an awesome 3 and D wing right now. Yeah, we were we were talking about Nick Clifford last night on the pod and it was uh Beat podcast. Yeah, it was a funny conversation because it’s like, well, you know, who’s going to be the backup four? If it’s not Isaac Jones, then who’s your backup four? If it’s not Dario Sarich, who’s your backup four? And um, you know, the point was made, well, you could try to use Nick Clifford, just go small and use him over there, too. And it’s like, well, that’s not really fair to take a young player and ask him to play a role that he’s not really comfortable with. It’s like, and my point was, uh, they’ve done that the last two seasons to Kee and Murray. Great point. Like, hey, just shut up and play the power. We’ve got no one else. No one else is coming in that door. Like, I think, and I know this is this is semantics and it’s separate from what you’re saying because you’re right. It hasn’t mattered to the Kings, but I also don’t think Nate Clifford can probably play the four. Oh, I agree. He’s 6’5 and a half, undersized. I mean, 67 would use close to 67 shoes. So, I’m with you. But it also might not matter. He might just be one of their five best dudes that they got to get on the court at certain points. Yeah, we we won’t know until we see him play. Um, but I also like look like everything we we think about Keegan Murray is going to be the exact same thing that that Nick Clifford is going to deal with in his rookie season. Like he is going to get minutes or not get minutes depending on what Demar De Rozan is doing in the game, whether he’s holding his own defensively, whether he’s uh whether he’s hitting his jump shot. Mhm. Like if Demar De Rozan is on fire, like Nick Clifford is going to play limited minutes. If Demar De Rozan isn’t on fire, um yeah, he’s not going to. And then when we get to the end of the game, we all know what’s going to happen. Last four minutes of the game, Demar D Rozan’s going to be in the game and N Clifford probably is not. Yep. And that’s just the reality of the situation until the situation changes. And uh yeah, you know, I’m with you, Kyle. Like there there isn’t a lot more discussion. And again, I people always saying, “Oh, you just like bury Demard Rosen.” It’s like, no, I’m just being honest. Like, yeah, this isn’t Do you want Demard Rosen to do something different? Well, if you’re the Kings, maybe. No, you brought him in here to do this. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. This is going to do. It’s not It’s not It’s not This is not I’m not This isn’t even about Demard Rosen. Yeah, I don’t want to. This is about the Kings have demon Sabonis. They have Zack Lavine. They have Dennis Shruder Malik Monk and Deard Rosen. All five of those guys probably not Dennis Shruder. Four of those guys outside of Shruder are going to probably take more shots than Keegan Murray. Yeah. I mean, and the fact is Shruder is going to be the guy with the ball in his hands. Yeah. So, he’s possible he’ll take more shots, too. So, this is not, like I said, it’s not even a Demar Rozan thing. It’s just that this is where Keegan Murray is. This is his role on the team. I’m not going to sit here and go, I need Keegan to do more cuz he’s not going to. It’s not It’s not him. It’s not any specific player on the roster. It’s just that’s where it is. And this front office executive who talked to Keith Smith confirms it. Yeah. Okay. As a fourth or fifth option for right now. Like I I don’t think that’s his ceiling. I just that’s just like who he is today. What do you guys think his ceiling is though? Like say things worked out. Keegan Murray, there was no Demar Rose in front of him. Like his ceiling. Yeah. What do you think he like if say he was able to get his shots, do we think he could be a 20 plus point per game player? Yeah. I think 18 to 20 is like wouldn’t be that difficult. No, I I I I am right there with you. In fact, if if he shoots the three at a better clip, he might get to 18 last year. So I I I’m well I mean he would have need he would have that too far. That was too much. Math wasn’t math in there. No, it it’s it’s we’ve we’ve heard this name before in relation to to Keegan. But if we’re talking ceiling ceiling, everything went right for him. you’re probably looking at somebody who is in the uh in not I I don’t think quite this caliber but in the realm of a Kawhi Leonard. Okay. Like a first or second option really awesome defender. I said I don’t think he he would have been Kawawaii specifically just because I think Kawhai was so uh great at his peak. Yeah. But I think that’s where you’re talking ceiling wise where he is that first or second option and he’s a lock down wing defender. I think like just right away the player that I I think he could be and like even be a better rebounding version of Cam Johnson like like Cam Johnson’s season this year where he averaged 18 and a 18.8 points 47.5% from the field 39% from three. That’s who I look at Keegan. And you know, the fact that Cam averaged 3.4 assists per game this year. Mhm. Um, for the first like five years of his career, he averaged around 1.3 assists per game. Mhm. So, it’s just a matter of like like the Keegan would be able to expand his role if if there was an ability to do that in Sacramento, but there isn’t. Yeah. Not right now. No. And the fact is probably not for a couple years. He’s going to be in a starting lineup and he’ll be the best defender by a long shot in the starting lineup and he’ll get used to defend the most difficult person on the on the court the entire time. That’s it. And then can you knock down some threes? Yeah. Do you have a three? Yeah. Yeah. An attack or close out. That’s it. I think the interesting thing is how much are you going to pay for that if you’re the Kings? Yes. That’s that is going to be the question. And you know, again, I think the Kings have limited his value slightly. They’ve knocked down his value by uh just like the opportunity that he’s had. Um but that doesn’t mean that his agent is going to be okay with that. I just got a text from Kenny Carowway about our conversation and I can’t wait for the handoff coming up at 115 in a half an hour. I got I got to I completely disagree completely in all caps. Oh yeah, he’s talking to you by the way. He’s talking to me. Yeah, he’s talking to you. Yeah, cuz I didn’t get that text. That’s crazy.

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