Will Keegan Murray be the Most Improved Player?

[Music] with the fourth pick in the 2022 NBA draft the Sacramento Kings select Keegan Murray from the University of Iowa uh let's get into a quick take Mike Brown is trading in that blue and gold for purple brown heading to Sacramento to coach the Kings and the steal they can tie it with a three Murray yes a merry miracle in the desert I got Keegan Murray because he's going to be on a playoff team the kings are going in the street all right have the best record of all them rookies so Keegan were Keegan Murray is going to be your Rookie of the Year Christmas Day against Luca in the Mavs and again the chair is light the beam about that throughout the year with the Sacramento Kings and here's Fox over to Murray for the record got it Murray emblazens himself into the history books nobody has made more three-pointers as a rookie than Keegan Murray Kevin the beam guy so he's happy all right take it back guys big timing steps they light the beam and they are loving the kings in Sacramento that 16-year drought is about to be over this is going to be a fun team to watch the Sacramento Kings are going to the playoffs [Applause] sure tonight [Applause] yeah I keep trying to tell people don't sleep on them the curse is going to end they're gonna make the playoffs starting to feel like 2006 up here in Sacramento again [Music] and we got a whistle after the left light the beam [Applause] this season has been more about the journey than it is anything else about setting a wayward franchise backup do you think that even though this is a tough day that you guys have accomplished a lot of what you guys set out to do this year yeah for sure you know I'm proud of this uh this team every one of us coaching staff organization everyone for what we did um but obviously it's things today because we did put ourselves in position where we could have kept kept moving and moving forward in the playoffs you know so you know we just got to use this as motivation you know to keep building the Sacramento Kings miraculously ended their 16-year playoff drought just last season after their run came to a historical end against the defending champions in the Golden State Warriors where Steph Curry put up 50 points in the game seven to eliminate them and Advance further into the playoffs the Kings headed into the offseason and the Kings led by Mike Brown former fifth overall picked Aaron Fox and more recent trade acquisition to Monte sabonis have continued to make moves throughout the off season but I think the biggest thing that we need to look at when it comes to this team is their former Rookie of last year Keegan Murray yo what's up everybody welcome back to another episode of NBA now today we are going to jump right into the things and today we're going to be talking about Keegan Murray man I think he has so much potential to really Elevate his game this next season uh he's a 6-8 Ford uh drafted out of Iowa he was the fourth overall pick last year and he really really surprised a lot of people um I was super high on him when he was playing in March Madness I really liked um just his versatility defensively as well his his big time shot making ability and um so that's really kind of what put me on Murray was when I started seeing him really kind of take over um in March Madness no I don't remember how far Iowa ended up going that year but I mean they he really kind of like I think stepped under the stage and I was like yeah this guy's gonna be a guy honestly he was drafted higher than I thought he was gonna go I figured that he would slide a little bit um and he would kind of be a steal as the likes of many recent um Sacramento Kings players have been um just you know Tyrese Halliburton he's a great example of that guy who um slid and you know now with the Pacers has blossomed into um an All-Star player and uh one of the better young guards in the league and so I thought Keegan would kind of slide as well and end up just being a good pick for where we went but the Kings they kind of saw that in that star potential in him and they they took the shot at uh a fourth overall and man it paid off he had such a good rookie season um he averaged 12 points four rebounds and one assist played 80 games so almost played the entire season shot 45 from the field and this is the big number 41 from three I mean this man he broke the three-point record for rookies um he was shooting 6.3 attempts a game at a 41 clip um which is phenomenal for a guy stepping in um as a rookie in I mean the NBA line is farther back than the NCAA line and so for him to jump in and immediately have that type of percentage and impact um was huge for this team and was a big reason why they ended their playoff drought um but it wasn't just right obviously this team has a lot of other players um that were able to step up we saw sabonis and fox really kind of bring that um dynamic duo that you know you need in today's game to make the playoffs especially to make a run um but that's not to discredit the likes of Harrison Barnes Malik Kevin herner Davion Mitchell and others who all played um definitely significant roles in getting this team where they were last year um but yeah like you know nothing should be taken away from Mike Brown who has been in the NBA coaching essentially since 1997. um he's had former head coaching opportunities and such um was with the Warriors for a long time from 2016 2017 until he just went to the Kings and man he made the most of his uh return to being a head coach propelling this team I think further than anybody thought that they would go right I think you know your highest analysts take on this team was maybe as a succeed maybe a playing team right this team didn't have high expectations coming into the year obviously being on a 16-game playoff drought there wasn't much hope that they could do a lot but they ended up finishing the season as the third seed having an incredible playoff series against the defending Champions winning 48 games and overall just took steps and strides in the direction that I don't think anybody could have predicted before the season even the most Die Hard Kings fans which I think just based off of this last year we know that there's Die Hard Kings fans um if you're able to be a fan of that Organization for how long that they haven't been able to be successful in the NBA uh I mean credit to you man you you deserve to get to watch how exciting that playoff series was and hopefully more to come right but I do want to Pivot back to Kia Murray um who actually just got to see his brother get drafted to the uh Trailblazers in this last draft so that's pretty cool um but yeah I mean this guy he's got a lot of potential man he's got a lot of potential if he can really develop um kind of more go get it shot potential there's no reason why he can't average 20 for this team like I said you have deer and fox and demata sabonis who deer in last year average 25 points and it's a bonus average 19. so there's no reason that he can't I mean Keegan can really be a third guy for them I could even see some bonuses points dropping down to say 18 or 17 he only averages 15 on his career um and even Fox are guessing a little bit back towards 20 because you know that year after the jump is always always so much harder for that team to um kind of take it to the next level when it comes to any young team um and I think you've seen that over the league over the last few years I mean I think that nuggets are a great example for that right we struggled getting into the playoffs all the way back um when Jimmy Butler was in Minnesota he eliminated us from the playoffs essentially in what would it would have been the first ever play in game uh because it was the last game of the season Jimmy Butler was back from injury the T wolves had slid um from a higher playoff seed and it was Timberwolves versus Nuggets in the final game of the season well the Nuggets lost but after that we finally got back into the playoffs but it took us so long until we found success um finally winning the championship this last season but I mean that's a perfect example of how how difficult it is to win immediately and even just win at all when it comes to the current NBA I mean we know how stacked the western conference is and this old thing continued to get more stacked um I mean even just look at the last like six to eight months we saw Kyrie Irving traded from the East to the West we saw Kevin Durant traded from the East to the West we see that James Harden will most likely be traded from the East to the West uh now all but Kyrie has played in the Western Conference out of those guys that have just listed prior but that's also being traded back into a very very tightly congested Western Conference um in which we saw you know last year there was points during the season where you know the difference between the two seed and what the 10 seed was like a one and a half game like it was literally tie Breakers that were putting you in the playoffs and putting you out of the playoffs um and Sacramento was able to kind of stand out and be towards the top of that um which a lot of credit to them but Keegan Murray um he actually won some of the MVP last year so he already had a phenomenal Summer League last year before going into his rookie season and for some reason the Sacramento Kings just decided to I don't know Screw over the rest of the NBA or say FU to the rest of the NBA whatever whatever way you want to look at it um and they put them out there to play a little bit in Vegas this year and man he was cooking dude he was cooking he averaged like 35 points per game um you shoot like 10 threes a game at like a 45 clip um he had a poster on the Warriors he I mean he looked miles and miles above the rest of the players out there and not like there weren't other second year players out there like there were other second year players out there uh it's not like he there weren't guys that could have been at his level but he just looked like he'd taken his game to a new level you know what I mean and so seeing him be able to have that confidence not only last year which translated into his rookie season but to even Elevate that in the uh this summer league I mean last summer league he averaged what 21 points per game I believe and then this year he averaged 35 so that's a huge jump um regardless of it just being suddenly great um and so maybe that you know kind of gives you a little bit of insight on the fact that he might be able to kind of translate that jump to the actual NBA court right because if he can like I said maybe 20 is a little bit of reach I mean that is an eight point increase um which I think he would probably need to really put himself in conversations for most improved player um but even on the Lesser side what's to say he can't average 18 get a couple more rebounds um I mean really his shooting I don't think is going to get much better split wise he only shot 76 from the free throw line so maybe that goes up a little bit uh and maybe his overall field goal percentage at 45 percent but I mean especially if he got to like a 50 40 even 80 right that would um be up some percentages across the board except for three point um and averages 18 points a game he's gonna be probably in that motion for player conversation I know it's really really hard for second year players to win most of her player um especially recently like it goes to Third Year guys all the time and uh what pisses me off a little bit is John Morant got most improved player and it was like we already knew like you never see a guy at that caliber get most improved player you know what I mean you think of like the CJs of the world where he goes from averaging like six to 20 points per game um what was that his third was his second or third year his third to fourth year whatever it was um where you know you'd seen flashes but you hadn't really seen him do it on a night to night basis throughout the whole season and then all of a sudden there he goes you know what I mean so you think his cases like that for most of her player typically uh guys that have shown flashes which I mean definitely fits Keegan um he has quite quite a bit of a role player last year so a little bit better than that but if he stepped into a you know borderline All-Star role I don't think he'd make the All-Star All-Star team necessarily um and I don't think he should have to win another Super player um but yeah that John Moran most improved player kind of pisses me off because it really kind of took away a little bit from the award um and it just seemed like voters wanted to give it to the biggest name guy that had a little bit of a jump right um which obviously this is a technician credit John Moran I mean he obviously improved and uh you know everything but I don't know I didn't really love that direction that some of the voters took the award and I think Keegan would be also a great way to kind of reel that back into hey this role player took a step and really became a major piece for this team in which we might not have considered him quite at that level the year before prior in his career right um I do think that second year bias is gonna make it very difficult for him which is why I say for him to win it he's probably gotta average 20 points per game [Music] um if he averages 20 on 50 40 90 he's definitely gonna get it I mean he'd have my vote um I would like to see him get closer to a double double I'd like his rebounding numbers to go up I know so bonus is a monster on the glass um he gave her just almost 13 rebounds per game last year so he's a monster on the glass but um the team is I think gonna be a little bit smaller this year right uh when we look at their off season they brought in Chris Duarte but they traded away Rashawn Holmes who I think is actually going to be very good for Dallas um honestly the situation just kind of dwindled away and uh him really just being a rim running big doesn't really fit what Mike Brown wants to do with um they're big so it makes sense that you know he moves on the kings move on um and hopefully he can succeed there with the Mavericks and then they also launched him as he metoo to the Phoenix Suns um and have not as for guys they haven't resigned uh Terence Davis Matthew PJ Dozier and uh nemanis Kita um but yeah so definitely some size that they're losing there which like I said they could be a little bit of a smaller team this year um I don't know a ton about their rookies they took Colby Jones with the 34th pick uh Jalen swap Slawson however you say his name with the 54th pick and then Sasha Cove with the 57th pick um so yeah I don't know what's up about their rookies um I think ringy and Chris Duarte will also be beneficial for this team he's kind of another you know shooter mold guy that can um catch fire kind of at the likes of uh I'm belief Monker Kevin herder that they already have on the roster right um maybe Davion Mitchell takes a little bit more of a step this year as well um but I think the big thing for this team I mean it's not like they're gonna have a top draft pick anymore right we we know that they can win games now um and so I think the big thing for this team is gonna be hey can you marry step up your top five pick for us we need you to turn into a star and I mean essentially B Sacramento's um big three I would say that in quotes um I don't know if these three guys are all at the level especially if Keegan takes this jump that I'm presuming right or uh projecting potentially um I don't know if those three guys are quite at the level that you'd call to pick three but it'd be a century Sacramento's big three um and I mean if he can take that leap they definitely can make a deep playoff run um it reminds me it kind of reminds me of when Atlanta a few years ago was able to make that deep Playoff round where they went to the Conference Finals um you've got you know deer and foxes you're Trey young right um I believe Atlanta still had capella yeah Atlanta had capella at that point where you know Monster defensively sabonis is more of the offensive counterpart to that I would say [Music] um at least you know I would say so bonuses offense is probably comparable to capela's defense and the right um scenario right and then Keegan Murray um kind of just be your third guy that lights up I mean you still have Kevin herder who goes from Atlanta to Sacramento which is kind of funny when you're looking at that comparison um but yeah I mean there's not a lot of other guys that you really see taking a step up enough to elevate this roster much more than where it was last season and like I said it's only gonna get more difficult because teams aren't going to look at them as a team that has a 16-year drought anymore they're going to look at them as a team that they need to show up for on a night-to-night basis right um you know aside from Trey Lyles this team is pretty decent right and I just like like I said Davion Mitchell yeah he might be able to add a little bit more to his game from what we've seen he hasn't shown a ton of um progression on a year-to-year basis yet um I think he's relatively been the same player that he was since he was drafted um which isn't bad I mean that's a serviceable backup point guard that is a heck of a Defender when you get him on um you know an apparent a premier ball handler in this league like he can lock down some of the top guys and really get in their face be a pesky Defender um akin to the likes of Patrick Beverly and such right um although I would say maybe I Mitchell's defense is much better than Patrick by release uh maybe Marcus Smart would have been a better comparison right but a smaller guard that can lock up not a ton of offense right um in his rookie year he averaged 11 points last year he only averaged five I played 75 games he's working here 80 games last year so he's been healthy um his minutes went down his percentages went up a little bit on uh much less shots um but yeah I mean I don't see him taking a large jump I don't think he's really shown that he'll take a large jump he was the older rookie when he was drafted uh but he's definitely still a good role player for him at this point Harrison Barnes has been the same player for the past like eight seasons I mean this guy has what you can go back to 2016. really I guess to his last week the Warriors last year with the Warriors he averaged 11 goes to Dallas averages um 19. damn I didn't realize he was only 24 when he went to Dallas wow uh but yeah 24 when he goes to Dallas averages 19. that was in 2016 2017 and essentially he's averaged about 15 or so since right so he's really been the same player since 2016-2017. um which isn't bad I mean he's a good role player um you know Draymond and such can make the jokes about we've seen we've seen the show before or whatever um that they made in the playoffs about him you know shooting and such but he's a good role player um we'll probably never live up to being a seven third world pick but yeah he's not gonna make a jump at 31 years old maybe Darren fox has another level that he can get to um it's definitely possible I think he's kind of right out of that tier one guard for me right if you're looking at two or one guards in the league um you know Luka doncic comes to mind Steph Curry comes to mind James Harden Damien Lillard while James Harden might be tier two now um we'll have to see how he bounces back this season last year was not as good as uh I wouldn't like to see out of him he definitely I think we've seen a little bit of slide for James Harden he's no longer that 37 point per game guy that spent them like 13 threes I'm like 40 and dropping 50 every night that he was with the Houston Rockets so he's no longer that so maybe James Harden isn't here white anymore but that's a little bit of a Tanger I didn't really need to go on but yeah I mean I just don't think the Aaron's quite at that level the Luca or staff or something like that right there's a possibility he could take that jump um right now I'd say he's closer to the level of a Jamal Murray um I would say they're very very close when it comes to how you would rank them um if it was a you know top point guard list or whatever top guard list however you want to put it so I mean he has the potential he's looking for the world pick he's probably the fastest player of the league extremely clutch I mean he got clutches to the year for a reason like this man was hitting game winner after game winner and um constantly showing up down the stretch I don't think sabonis has another level to reach he's 27 he'll be 28 uh or I guess he just turned 27 a couple months ago so he'll be 28 after this next season um I mean he upped it this year like I said his average his career average is 15 he averaged 19 this year but he's pretty much averaged 19 since 2019 2020 which was the first year he made the All-Star team with Indiana um he's third year in Indiana to be precise if anybody what an exact on where that was um and you weren't looking at Stats um but yeah I mean he played uh the second most games of his career this year at 79 only missed a couple games [Music] um played the most midi almost the second most minutes of his career uh this last season average second most points I mean really the thing is he's a monster on a glass right um and I mean he's getting he gets decent amount of offensive rebounds as well and then he's a good play maker especially in the system um I mean he averages almost a triple double maybe that's the step where he gets to being able to do triple double Keegan's able to average 20 if the Aaron can get a couple more out of him and just a little bit more of a step maybe that's enough to put this team in the Conference Finals I'm not sure um beyond that I don't know if this team will ever win a finals with this core uh but they are one of the most interesting uh offenses to watch in the entire you know Association and definitely um a team that's gonna be around they are not going anywhere I don't think uh so bonus I guess that's 27 here in Fox it's 25 about to be 26. um and then Keegan Murray um it was a little bit of an older rookie but you know he'll be 23 here actually in a few days um so the core is all relatively similar um I'd say they're going to be around this core at least of those three guys um you know whether it be other guys makes it now obviously we saw Harrison marks get an extension um David Mitchell's still young he's what 24 I think uh [Music] um so the core will be around I don't know how much how much success we can project for them um for the next five or six years but I would say this core is going to be around and making playoffs and in the plan um for the next five to six years and that's by far gonna be the best stretch of Sacramento basketball since they were competing in the Conference Finals for Shaquille O'Neal uh but with that said let me know what you guys think uh Keegan Murray's gonna be able to accomplish this season do you guys think that the Kings will ever win a championship with the score and how difficult do you think they're gonna find this next season um yeah I'd love to hear you guys opinions on my thoughts and um especially on this team I mean super super interesting team one of the best offenses in the league uh but yeah appreciate you guys watching make sure you guys drop a like subscribe for more this is Vietnam from my Vietnam and I will catch you all next time peace out guys

Channel: NBA Now

Views: 5,101

Keywords: NBA, NBA Now, Basketball, NBA Season, sacramento kings, keegan murray, sacramento, sacramento kings news, sacramento kings highlights, keegan murray kings, sacramento kings nba, kings sacramento, sacramento kings rumors, kings, sacramento kings offseason, sacramento kings news and rumors, sacramento kings trade rumors 2023, keegan murray highlights, sacramento kings mix, sacramento kings trade rumors, sacramento kings rumors and news, keegan murray interview, sabonis, de'aaron fox

Id: cmWnsVLpEP8

Length: 24min 23sec (1463 seconds)

Published: Sun Jul 23 2023