2k6-2k7 REPORT CARD: Troy Murphy

by Atma Brother ONE on Jul 26, 2007 3:53 PM PDT in Report Cards

When it comes to handing out Golden State Warriors report cards for the 2006-2007 NBA season the professors here at GSoM leave no stone unturned.

That means these fellas and their bad hairdos will be graded.

Back in January there was of course that trade that brought the artist formerly known as T-Double's five and a half year run in the Bay to an end:

But before that Troy Murphy was struggling big time in his 26 games with the Warriors this season. Was it the injuries? Was it being too slow and unathletic for Nellieball? Was it the understandable frustration of being a daily feature in the NBA's rumor mill for over a year? Who knows, but TMurph went from being a fairly solid starting power forward, albeit with some glaring holes in his game, to bench material pretty fast.

It was sad that Murph didn't pan out for the Warriors this season because if there was anyone who could seemingly utilize a perimeter oriented 4, it was Coach Don Nelson. Here's what Nellie had to say about Murph way back in September before the season began [Nelson ready to shake up the Warrior]:

"He's a skill player who rebounds. He'll achieve career highs for me -- 10 rebounds, 20 points. He's difficult to guard. I'll move him to center, and I don't know which centers can guard him. We've got to agree to it -- otherwise it won't work. If he says `I'm not a center,' like Chris Webber did, it won't work."

I interrupted Nelson, couldn't help myself.

"Can Murphy guard centers?"

"No," Nelson shot back. "He can't guard forwards, either. We'll give him help."

Well things didn't exactly go according to plan and Nellie benched Murph fairly quickly, opting to start the erratic Mickael Pietrus and journeyman Matt Barnes. Unfortunately, it didn't seem like Murphy took the benching as a challenge or source for motivation. Any hunger he demonstrated during his first two years in the league as a fiery up and comer had seemingly vanished. The man just seemed to want out and probably justifiably so.

TMurphy's grades and more after the jump.

full.getty-71797321rw004_warriors_lake_12_46_43_am.jpg
Um...

notice a trend here?

Adam Lauridsen (Fast Break)

Grade: D
Murph slides in a half-grade above Dunleavy because the odds were against him succeeding in Nellie's system. He's not fast enough or athletic enough to do the things Nellie-ball requires. That said, he still gets a D for playing with zero passion and tossing up awful jumper after awful jumper.

Fun Score: 1
Murph's hair: the opposite of Baron's beard in every way.

Atma Brother #1

Grade: F
At the beginning of the season I thought T-Double could sneak his way into a Western Conference All-Star spot as a backup center. Don't worry, I promise never to drink that cherry Kool-Aid flavor again when making preseason predictions for the Dubs. Murph never really fit into Nellieball because of his lack of speed and athleticism. His unfortunate early season injuries just made the situation worse. Troy didn't seem the least bit happy here towards the end and being Troy "Trade Rumor" Murphy for over a year seemed to really be taking its toll on him. Good luck to Murph in Indy. If he can upgrade his defense from being atrocious to just bad, he might be a decent starter in this league and return to being a double-double machine.

Fun Score: 0
That Phantom of the Oracle mask wasn't fun at all- it was scary as hell.

DJ Fuzzylogic

Grade: C
Ever since his first season where we thought he was one of the fiercest White guys in the NBA -- throwing and staring down Dale Davis (one of the scariest looking guys in the NBA) -- Murphy has oddly become afraid of contact whatsoever. Maybe that incident with Davis changed him forever. This past season was no different as Murphy hung out around the three point line more than ever and failed to grab more than 2 offensive rebounds a game. Not exactly what you expect from your biggest big man.

Fun Score: 2

Fantasy Junkie

Grade: D
I like Troy. He just didn't fit the system and it really affected his confidence. He never really pulled out of it in Indiana. Troy seems like a good guy, so I hope he finds a role on a contending team.

Fun Score: 4

Hash

Grade: C+
Hehehehehe. SEEEYALATAH!!

Fun Score: 2

Overall Grade: D+

Also see Troy Murphy's 2005-2006 GSoM Report Card (C+)

capt.e87c395be49e4a2bb1cc522df10f877b.jazz_warriors_basketball_cagn106.jpg
This might be the only time I've seen him move laterally on defense.

Unfortunately after the trade to Indy, Troy didn't fare that much better than he did with the Dubs earlier this year. Instead of returning back to his double-double ways he only played 28:11 minutes per game and his rebounding rate actually dropped slightly. He made some noticeable increases in the shooting department percentage-wise (40.9% 3pt up from 37.3% with the Dubs and 77.2% FT over 71.2%), but after this dismal past season he's become the recipient of one of the NBA's most awful contracts.

full-1.getty-71797321jj023_ca_los_angele_1_47_11_am.jpg
How can you sport this intimidating mask and still be so... so...
(Photo by Jed Jacobsohn/Getty Images)

Charmin SOFT?!

What do you think the future holds for Troy Murphy in the NBA? Will he ever return to his double-double form? Will the Warriors ever regret trading this jump-shooting power forward?

I'm putting my money on Troy pulling a Michael Jordan
and leaving hoops for a few years for the baseball diamond...
then returning to win 3 titles in a row!

2006-2007 GSoM Report Cards

0 recs | Comment 13 comments

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Comments

F

dude was baaaad. i thought he sucked last year too. anyway.. question for dj fuzzylogic... what exactly was the incident with Davis? i can't say i remember that one.

by Proof on Jul 26, 2007 4:09 PM PDT 0 recs

hahaha

weren't him and dunleavy on a list of the most worthless players in the league or something. that right there has to be an F

by Proof on Jul 26, 2007 4:54 PM PDT 0 recs

Davis and Murphy

As a rookie, Troy dunked over Dale D. They'd been mixing it up a bit earlier, resulting in double technicals. After the dunk, there was a cold staredown where Murphy looked like he was ready to kill Davis. Murphy picked up a second T at that point.

As a rookie, Murphy was looking like another Rasheed on the technical front. Later in his career, he seemed to lose that edge. I suspect that the ankle injury sapped him of much of his effectiveness and, in the process, his desire.

by jae on Jul 26, 2007 5:25 PM PDT 0 recs

i remember that

clear as day. he had a pretty vicious dunk over davis. the tech he got was pure bs, he didn't even say anything he just looked at him. i thought he was gonna be an extremely hard nosed player in the leauge. i guess he had one too many broken noses

by AJC3317 on Jul 27, 2007 12:26 AM PDT up 0 recs

a great dunk!

def. one of the better facial's in recent Warriors history. I thought he was gonna be the Warriors official tough guy after that. not that he wasn't "tough" in other ways (like taking shots to the nose) or that he completely lacked intensity... but wished he woulda been the Warriors version of Laimbeer or Rasheed.

by dj fuzzylogic on Jul 27, 2007 12:56 PM PDT up 0 recs

Right now

he's going to get a terrible grade in Indiana. First of all, he will get blamed for all of the LOSING they will be doing, since their team is screwed for the next 5 years. Furthermore, he's going to play with Jermaine O'Neal, which cannot bode well for anybodys rebounding stats. Lose-lose situation. Best case for him is JO gets injured, his stats go up, and he gets traded to a team where he can succeed.

Tony aka Drawlz600 is AWESOME!!!!

by Zorgon on Jul 26, 2007 5:35 PM PDT 0 recs

Agreed

Earlier on, he looked far more spry and aggressive. A couple injuries later, he became Raef Lafrenz without the blocked shots. As everyone else said, all the passion in his game vanished.

His defense was just horrible; he was 6'10, 6'11 and couldn't block shots, a maddening manifestation of his lack of mobility and athleticism.

For some reason he also lost the ability to shoot. Even with his defensive shortcomings, if he could have actually hit those jumpers, he would have remained useful. Instead, his J became highly erratic, which meant he was a liability on both ends of the court.

Sad, I liked young Murphy...

Questions? Complaints?

(AIM: JetForze; email: Jon.d.ma@gmail.com)

by OptionZero on Jul 26, 2007 5:37 PM PDT 0 recs

Proof

His defense was just horrible; he was 6'10, 6'11 and couldn't block shots, a maddening manifestation of his lack of mobility and athleticism.

This is all the reason that shows Adonal Foyle is Athletic as hell! Time to put him up as a starter, hell yes!

Tony aka Drawlz600 is AWESOME!!!!

by Zorgon on Jul 26, 2007 6:00 PM PDT up 0 recs

Hell ya!

Aluminum Foyle should be starting and getting close to 40 minutes a game, so he can put up 20/10 every night.

by Aluminum Foyle on Jul 28, 2007 1:08 PM PDT up 0 recs

do I dare say it

Murphy's game went south after the extension, pure and simple. We showed him da money and he showed us his ass.

I'll never forgive the guy for saying Warrior fans didn't know the difference between a basketball and a pumkin when defending his little sissy sister. He gets the same grade he give us: a big F for finger or worse.

You call me ancient, I say "oldguysrule"

by commish on Jul 26, 2007 8:25 PM PDT 0 recs

not quite

That's not really accurate. Murphy signed his contract extension after his third year, before his fourth. In his third year, he was hurt, only played in 28 games and didn't play that well when he was available. In year four, after the extension, he hit career highs in points and rebounds, averaging 15 and 11 while canning 40% from behind the arc. While it may have been a silent 15 and 11, I don't think there's really evidence that he tanked after the extension.

by jae on Jul 26, 2007 10:09 PM PDT up 0 recs

misfit

Tmurphy was a misfit for Nelson. Under Montgomery, during which he got his highest success, he was able to move in the half court, get shots and rebound at a double-double clip. Under Nelson he bottomed out under a system completely inappropriate for his skill set regardless of Nelson's preseason statements.

Nonetheless, he was attractive enough for Indy to trade for (who play a much more Monty-esque style) when they wanted to unload Jackson. I predict he'll have a better year next year with a training camp in Indy and playing alongside JO (if he isn't traded), but then again could it be worse?

Murphy allowed us to unload Dunleavy, and for that we could be grateful, unless of course you're one of those who feel Diogu was the "key" to that trade.

by hardcore on Jul 26, 2007 8:49 PM PDT 0 recs

New Warriors Fan

I know this is real late, but i've just recently found this site. And i've got to commend you Bay area fans on everything you guys did in the latter half of the season and for eliminating the Mavpricks. I'm from Houston and a member of clutchfans.com, I'm sure everyone in Houston enjoyed your playoff run.

Even though the Yi Jian Lian campaign has died down a lil, I've also been following Yi Jian Lian's progress. Even though he seems like an ideal fit for Nellieball as a perimeter 4, he honestly is a bit soft a la Mike Dunleavy. Like Yao, i don't think that aggressive factor will click until 4-5 years down the road. It would be best to let him develop somewhere else and make a strong effort to pursue him later.

best of luck with your continuing offseason, because we sure have been down in H-town.

-Johnny

by RocketsLover on Jul 26, 2007 9:24 PM PDT 0 recs