Rookie Keegan Murray showing Sacramento Kings coach Mike Brown there is more to his game
Sacramento Kings coach Mike Brown is admittedly not always enamored with steals and blocked shots. Yes, he’s a defensive-minded head coach, but he’s leery of players being out of position to hunt defensive numbers that make stat sheets pop. Hunting steals and blocks can lead to easy baskets or unnecessary fouls.
“I’m not a huge steals guy when it comes to gambling,” Brown said at practice Monday in Oklahoma City. “I’m a positional steals guy.”
The context of Brown’s statement came when he was asked about rookie Keegan Murray’s recent play on the defensive end. Murray led Sacramento with three steals during Sunday’s 124-115 victory over the Thunder. One slowed OKC’s momentum in the third quarter, leading to an and-1 basket. Another came when he raked down on point guard Josh Giddey trying to post up Domantas Sabonis in the second quarter.
The defensive performance stood out, in part, because Murray made an important steal and went coast to coast for a dunk during the Kings’ comeback in the fourth quarter of a stirring double-overtime win two days earlier against the Los Angeles Clippers. He stole a pass going from Paul George to Russell Westbrook some 30 feet away from the basket. Brown called it one of Murray’s best plays of the season given the circumstances.
Brown elaborated on what he’s seeing from Murray that has impressed him, noting that many of his steals are not coming as a result of gambling.
“A lot of them have been positional steals,” Brown said while getting in a defensive stance, sticking his hand out, showing that Murray is feeling his defender while keeping an eye on the ball. “So if he does get beat, the guy’s got to run through his body, and he’s sticking his strong hand out in the passing lane and then getting a little deflection and then going to get the ball.
“Or he’s on the weak side, because somebody drove and beat their man and he’s going to help, and now we’re (playing zone) on the weak side and he’s reading the right pass. Those are positional steals that I’m in love with.”
Murray was also good on the offensive end Sunday, recording 20 points while making four 3-pointers with six rebounds, four coming on the offensive end. The No. 4 overall pick has made waves as a shooter, leading rookies with 144 made 3-pointers (Houston’s Jabari Smith Jr. is second with 89), but the rest of his game is continuing to evolve while the Kings remain optimistic about his potential as a long-term centerpiece.
Murray said he’s made a handful of plays on the defensive end that he likely wouldn’t have made earlier in his rookie season when he was still cutting his teeth in the NBA. He noted at Iowa he would take more chances, trying to shoot passing lanes and gamble, which Brown has tried coaching out of all of his players.
“A lot of (the steals recently) come just reading, knowing their play calls,” Murray said, “knowing where they’re going with the ball, knowing guys’ tendencies and things like that.”
On the offensive end, Murray is continuing to make strides beyond his 3-point shooting. His playmaking off the dribble has improved, along with aggression in attacking the basket. Murray has recently ditched the heavy wrap he wore on the injured thumb on his left, non-shooting hand. He’s appeared more comfortable going into traffic.
In three wins since the All-Star break, Murray has made 9 of 16 field-goal attempts (56%) from inside the arc. Murray shot just 47.8% on two-point shots over his first 43 games.
Brown has continued to harp on Murray’s dribbling both publicly and privately, trying to get more aggression from his soft-spoken rookie.
“I said, ‘I don’t know if you can dribble, you need to work on your dribbling,’” Brown said of a conversation he had with Murray. “I think he took offense to that, which I’m glad he did. He needs to, because he can dribble.”
Said Murray: “I feel like there’s a lot of elements to my game that I haven’t really shown. And I feel like he’s kind of poking at those different elements. ... I just know that I can get different shots at different levels. I know that I’m shooting the ball really well from the 3-point line this year, and I know that I can be a three-level scorer in this league.”
This story was originally published February 28, 2023 at 4:00 AM.
