COVID-19 delayed Keegan Murray‘s NBA debut, but the Kings rookie was on the court tonight, writes Jason Anderson of The Sacramento Bee. Murray had to sit out Wednesday’s season opener while recovering from the virus, but he was able to practice the past two days without any limitations.
“You can’t tell he had COVID,” De’Aaron Fox said. “Obviously, he’s still a rookie and he’s learning, but I think he’s excited and we’re excited to have him out there for a game that counts.”
Murray, the fourth pick in this year’s draft, raised expectations with a strong performance during Summer League and followed that by averaging 16.0 PPG while shooting 70.6% from the field and 70% from three-point range in two preseason games. He’s looking forward to performing for Sacramento fans after seeing the enthusiasm they brought to opening night.
“We have one of the best fan bases in the NBA,” Murray said. “So just being able to play in front of them and get a win — that’s my biggest goal — I think it will be really special once I’m able to get back on the floor.”
There’s more from the Pacific Division:
- The Warriors boast a deep and talented roster that will eventually lead to tough decisions for head coach Steve Kerr, writes Kendra Andrews of ESPN. Kerr used an 11-man rotation in the season opener, with nine players logging at least 15 minutes. “You have 11 guys that probably deserve the opportunity to play,” Stephen Curry said. “There’s going to be different lineups every night, especially early in the year. … We’re going to have to develop that chemistry as we go. You’re going to continue to try and experiment and give guys opportunities to go out and hoop.”
- Chris Paul‘s early-season scoring decline shouldn’t be a long-term concern for the Suns, according to Gerald Bourguet of PHNX Sports. Bourguet notes that Paul has been concentrating on getting his teammates involved in the offense, and he ranks second in the league with 21 assists. Bourguet states that the team’s more pressing issues are a lack of bench production and a wide difference in the number of free throws they’ve shot compared to opponents.
- Clippers owner Steve Ballmer unveiled his new streaming service tonight, per Andrew Greif of The Los Angeles Times. ClipperVision is available without a cable subscription and will show 74 of the team’s 82 games. Six live stream options are offered for each game, and one includes former NBA players providing guest commentary.
Warriors bench sucked against Denver. We’ll find out real fast who wants to play.
Warriors bench: minus 67.
Nuggets bench: plus 63
Looking over the bench somebody will be traded after this year. Could be even Poole. There are 3 more players that will be getting big contracts in the future. Moody, Kuminga, and Wiseman.
Nuggets playing their best and if not for Bruce Brown’s 20 pts on 80% shooting still would have lost.
Using +/- can be deceptive based on how your teammates play. Example:
Wiseman 11 pts on 80% shooting + 3-3 from the ft line with 5 rebs and an ast was -11
Moody with 3 pts on 20% shooting 1 reb 1 ast was +3
I think Sankara is high on Murray and also Mathurin with the Pacers. So far so good they both look great even though it’s super early. Especially Mathurin, he’s ready to roll right now.
I really liked Murray a lot. I had him top 3 I think on my big board, definitely not lower than 4, I’d have to check. Mathurin I thought was overrated, but I’m not surprised about his offense at all, and he has been able to take advantage of matchups mostly in his favor so far, and Indiana does have a lot of spacing and potential offensively, depending on what lineups they’ll use, which should also allow his skillset to be maximized for now. I do think it’s a little weird fit with him, Duarte and Hield though
Sac having one of the best fan bases in the NBA? LOL!
They’ve always been among the best in the NBA. How can you even dispute that? Get a clue
Chris Paul is getting older by the season. We can’t expect him to have great season after great season. He’s a top 5 Point Guard of All Time.
1. Magic Johnson
2. Stephen Curry
3. Isaiah Thomas
4. John Stockton
5. Chris Paul
How is Magic better than Curry? Insane take, he played in the early 80s when it was basically a rec league.
Keegan Murray is solid. He’s going to be one of the top 5 rookies this season.
1. Paolo Banchero
2. Jaden Ivey
3. Bennedict Mathurin
4. Keegan Murray
5. Jabari Smith Jr.
A’sfaninUK….9 to go
Yup!
Only person who stands in the way of GSW is Steve Kerr, who that loss against the Nuggets can 100% be pinned on, for doing the typical Kerr move of leaving a bad rotation out there to get cooked, he did it in the 2Q, check out the box score if you are really about this, and arent making this into some weird callout “make it about about a random poster” type post, which actually arent even allowed on this site in case you wanna check the rules :)
BTW its VERY WEIRD to care about ANONYMOUS posters comments on here. Like, you have no idea who I am, yet here I am, in your brain, living in your head, rent-free, yet you dont know what I even look like…maybe take a look in the mirror and reassess things…
Dude, chill. Your terrible takes don’t even validate you as a troll.
Stop blaming Kerr. He needs to find out what he has in the bench players so right now he is testing out the 2nd unit. I have no problem him using a lot of young players in the second unit. Nuggets shot the ball very well in that game is why they lost.
Kerr is not about winning every regular season game but preparing the team for the playoffs. The 2nd unit defense must pick it up but only way they can is by playing them in real games.
The warriors are going to lose somewhere around 25-30 games this season and that’s if the core stays healthy. Kerr is using the early season to play the whole roster with different combinations, as a good coach should do.
Regarding the Suns lack of FTs, Ayton isn’t going to get fouled if he’s constantly shooting fall-away jump shots. I’ll never understand why a guy with his physique just refuses to mix it up.
Donte D. straight up sucking in Kerr’s rotations so far = Kerr play him for entire quarters so GSW can lose by 5, COOL
Again, no one has explained to me why GSW signs so many SG’s but only puts a maximum of 2 PGs on the roster. Like what if Steph gets injured? Such a dumb move by Myers+Lacob that luckily worked out for them, but its so dangerous and stupid. Why do we even need another outside the org SG when we have Moses Moody?
Partially agree with you that they aren’t developing Moody as fast at that position as I thought they would. It’s also clear they need more help inside than what they have now, as none of these kids are ready yet to be an inside force for them, and that will really be a problem in the post season.
Who was an inside force for them in the playoffs last season that’s gone now? Seems like JaM Green is more of an inside presence that OPJ was.
Donte played 9:40 vs the Nuggets. He played 5:22 in the 2nd Q vs the Lakers, almost exactly the same as his 5:20 in the 2nd Q of this game.
Kerr played him 12 minutes in the 4th Q vs the Lakers (with a 20 pt lead), and 0 minutes in the 4th Q vs the Nuggets trying to come back from down 10.
Talking head Kendra says GSW’s depth means Kerr and his staff “are eventually going to face some difficult decisions.”
And then doesn’t support that ass ertion in any way whatsoever, quite the opposite in fact by weirdly referring to the (far lesser) depth in their 2014-15 season (since last season’s playoff rotation was much deeper, at least in terms of minutes for the 8-11 players).
Obviously for a team that uses pace like the Warriors do, having a deep rotation helps immeasurably.