Toure’ Murry Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Sixers Officially Announce Nick Nurse’s Coaching Staff

September 5th, 2023 at 12:51pm CST by Luke Adams

The Sixers have officially announced the assistant coaches that will work under new head coach Nick Nurse in 2023/24, issuing a press release with the details.

Here are the Sixers assistants, several of which were previously reported:

Bryan Gates, a veteran assistant who appeared likely to leave the Suns for the Mavericks before deciding to join the 76ers instead.
Bobby Jackson, a former NBA guard who has been the head coach of the Stockton Kings in the G League for the last two years.
Rico Hines, who was an assistant under Nurse in Toronto last season. He also previously worked for the Kings and Warriors.
Matt Brase, a former assistant for the Rockets and Trail Blazers who was the head coach for Pallacanestro Varese in Italy last season.
Doug West, a former NBA player who previously coached at Villanova.
Coby Karl, the son of former NBA head coach George Karl. He previously coached the Sixers’ G League affiliate, the Delaware Blue Coats.
Mike Longabardi, a veteran NBA assistant who was most recently an assistant for the Hawks. He’ll also be the head coach of the Delaware Blue Coats.

In addition to those assistants, Nurse will also be flanked by assistant coach/head video coordinator John Corbacio and player development assistants Fabulous Flournoy and Jason Love.

TJ DiLeo, Reggie Redding, and former NBA players Terrel Harris and Toure’ Murry will be associate player development coaches in Philadelphia.

“Assembling a great staff with a rich collection of experience was paramount on my to-do list this summer,” Nurse said in a statement. “I’m proud to have built many relationships in our league that have led me to feel as confident as I am in every member of this group. I can’t wait to get to work as we embark on our journey toward an NBA title.”

Eastern Notes: Simmons, Porzingis, Hawks, Fernando, Sixers

June 29th, 2023 at 9:30pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

Nets guard Ben Simmons will not partake in this year’s World Cup, Basketball Australia has announced in an official statement (Twitter link).

According to Basketball Australia, Brooklyn and Simmons have opted to withhold the former No. 1 overall pick so that he can continue to rehabilitate his ailing back ahead of the 2023/24 NBA season. Net Income of Nets Daily writes that the club is hopeful Simmons will be recovered by the start of September, just in time for training camp.

The former All-Star appeared in just 42 games for Brooklyn in 2022/23 after returning from back surgery, averaging 6.9 PPG, 6.3 RPG, 6.1 APG, 1.3 SPG and 0.6 BPG in 26.3 MPG.

There’s more out of the Eastern Conference:

New Celtics big man Kristaps Porzingis is excited about his new opportunity to play for a perennial Eastern Conference contender, writes Tim Bontemps of ESPN. Porzingis explained his decision to opt into his $36MM option for next season, which helped enable his trade from the Wizards. “[It was] an opportunity to play for a really good team already and be able to add to that,” Porzingis said. “And hopefully to help these guys, make their life easier, and being on a high-level organization like Boston, historic franchise, iconic franchise, it made it extremely easy for me to make that decision.”
The Hawks have made some changes to their front office personnel, Atlanta has announced in a press release. Longtime league agent Chris Emens is joining the team as an executive advisor. The Hawks are also adding Blake Johnson as the club’s director of player engagement. Atlanta also revealed that a variety of executives have been promoted to new positions: vice president of player personnel Dotun Akinwale Jr.; senior vice president of salary cap administration Michelle Leftwich; vice president of basketball operations Grant Liffmann; senior vice president of team operations Dan Martinez; vice president of player personnel and basketball intelligence Tori Miller; principal advisor to the governor Nick Ressler; and vice president of cap strategy/player personnel Ryan Silverstein.
The Hawks have pushed back reserve center Bruno Fernando‘s salary guarantee deadline from June 29 to July 10, reports Lauren L. Williams of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (via Twitter). Upon being shipped to Atlanta in February from Houston, the 6’9″ big man appeared in just eight contests for the team, averaging 3.4 PPG and 1.9 RPG in 5.1 MPG. Fernando will receive his full $2.58MM salary for 2023/24 if he remains under contract through July 10.
Assistant coaches Fabulous Flournoy and Toure’ Murry are joining new Sixers head coach Nick Nurse‘s bench, a team source has informed Noah Levick of NBC Sports Philadelphia. The addition of another assistant, Doug West, had previously been reported.

Former NBA Guard Toure’ Murry Announces Retirement

September 6th, 2022 at 11:29am CST by Luke Adams

Former Wichita State standout Toure’ Murry has announced his retirement as a professional basketball player, according to Ian Begley of SNY.tv (Twitter link). Begley passes along a statement from Murry in which he makes his decision official.

“In bitter-sweetness, today I am announcing my retirement from basketball,” Murry wrote. “You never know when the ball will stop bouncing. The ball has officially stopped for me. I appreciate the game for opening unimaginable doors.”

After winning an NIT championship with the Shockers in 2011, Murry went undrafted in 2012 and began his career in the G League before eventually earning an NBA call-up. He appeared in 51 games for the Knicks during the 2013/14 season and played in five more contests for Utah and Washington the following year. In his 56 total NBA appearances, the combo guard averaged 2.6 points, 0.9 assists, and 0.8 rebounds in 7.0 minutes per contest.

Murry spent the next several years playing in the G League and in various leagues around the world, spending time in Turkey, Germany, Greece, Bosnia, Italy, Portugal, Sweden, Kuwait, and Ukraine up until 2022.

According to Begley, Murry – who is still just 32 years old – is hoping to transition into coaching at the college or pro level.

Toure' Murry

And-Ones: Boylen, Buyout Market, I. Cousins, Murry

March 3rd, 2022 at 9:58am CST by Luke Adams

Jim Boylen‘s stint as the Bulls’ head coach was short-lived and ultimately unsuccessful, as he led the team to a record of just 39-84 (.317) from 2018-20. After his tumultuous tenure in Chicago, Boylen was extremely appreciative to get the chance to coach Team USA’s qualifying team for the 2023 World Cup, as he tells Joe Vardon of The Athletic.

“This opportunity, you kind of get your sea legs back. I got my voice back,” Boylen said. “It was a godsend to come and do this, and also, this is the biggest challenge I’ve ever had.”

Boylen has led Team USA to a 3-1 record in the qualifiers to date, picking up wins in February over Puerto Rico and Mexico. There are four more qualifying windows to come, with the next one scheduled for June.

Here are a few more odds and ends from around the basketball world:

When many of the top players available on the 2021 buyout market joined the Nets or Lakers, some league observers and fans pushed for changes that would prevent big-market teams from scooping up veteran talent essentially for free. However, ESPN’s Bobby Marks (video link) argues within a recap of 2022’s relatively quiet buyout market that the impact of buyout signings is generally overstated — none of last year’s moves were difference-makers and it’s unlikely that any of this year’s will be either, says Marks.
Former Oklahoma guard Isaiah Cousins has signed an NBA G League contract and is joining the Maine Celtics, according to our JD Shaw (Twitter link). Cousins was a second-round pick in the 2016 draft, but has yet to appear in a regular season NBA game, having spent most of his professional career in Europe.
One of the former NBA players who had been playing in Ukraine this season, Toure’ Murry spoke to Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today about his stressful experience leaving the country following Russia’s invasion last month. “There was risk of going to the Poland border and getting sent back. There were no guarantees. So we took a leap of faith going through Romania,” said Murray, explaining that he was eventually able to get a train to Bucharest, a flight to Amsterdam, and then a flight home to Houston. “It worked out in terms of getting across the border. But going through the situation, we had no idea if we would get out.”

Toure’ Murry, Ryan Hollins Sign Overseas Deals

December 5th, 2016 at 9:35pm CST by Arthur Hill

Two NBA veterans have reached agreements to play basketball overseas.

Guard Toure’ Murry has signed with the Yesilgiresun club in Turkey, reports Emiliano Carchia of Sportando. The 27-year-old guard was waived by the Timberwolves during the preseason. Murry started his career with the Knicks after going undrafted in 2013. He wasn’t re-signed after playing 51 games as a rookie, and had brief stints with the Jazz and Wizards the following season. Murry is averaging 2.6 points per night in 56 NBA games.

Ryan Hollins has signed with CB Gran Canaria in Spain, according to Carchia. The 32-year-old center played for nine organizations in a 10-year NBA career. His last team was the Grizzlies, who waived him just before the end of last season. Hollins appeared in 518 NBA games with career averages of 3.7 points and 2.2 rebounds.

Wolves Waive Rasual Butler, Toure’ Murry

October 22nd, 2016 at 1:50pm CST by Eddie Scarito

1:50pm: The Wolves confirmed the moves via press release.

1:18pm: The Timberwolves intend to waive Rasual Butler and Toure’ Murry, Chris Haynes of ESPN.com reports. The moves won’t result in any salary remaining on the team’s books, as both player’s deals were non guaranteed. Minnesota’s roster will stand at 15 players once the players are officially released.

Butler, 37, appeared in 46 games last season for the Spurs, and wasn’t a big part of the team’s rotation, averaging just 2.7 PPG and 1.2 RPG in 9.4 minutes per contest. For his career, Butler has played in more than 850 total contests (regular season and postseason), averaging 7.5 PPG and 2.4 RPG with a .362 3PT% during regular-season play.

Murry, 26, appeared in 51 games for the Knicks during the 2013/14 season, but has only played in five NBA regular season games since then, enjoying brief stints in Utah and Washington. His career averages are 2.6 points, 0.8 rebounds and 0.9 assists in 7.0 minutes per outing to accompany a slash line of .433/.417/.610.

2016 NBA D-League Expansion Draft Results

August 24th, 2016 at 1:57pm CST by Luke Adams

The NBA D-League conducted its expansion draft today, allowing the league’s three new teams to add the rights to 12 players apiece. The league’s previously-existing 19 teams had been permitted to retain the rights to 10 players each, leaving the rest of their players unprotected and free to be drafted, as Chris Reichert of UpsideMotor.com explained earlier today.

As we noted on Tuesday, the D-League’s three new franchises this year are affiliates for the Nets (Long Island Nets), Hornets (Greensboro Swarm), and Bulls (Windy City Bulls).

The players those three teams added today won’t necessarily play for them this season — in fact, it’s somewhat rare for expansion draftees to suit up for their new clubs, as D-League Digest tweets. Many of those players will try to catch on with an NBA team or will end up playing overseas. Still, the expansion draft gives the D-League’s new teams some assets as they start to build their rosters for the coming season.

Per Reichert, here are the results of today’s expansion draft. The player’s former D-League team is noted in parentheses, and picks are ordered by round. The teams will hold their players’ rights for the next two seasons:

Long Island Nets (Twitter link)

Gary Forbes (Grand Rapids Drive)
Carrick Felix (Santa Cruz Warriors)
Jamaal Franklin (Los Angeles D-Fenders)
Akil Mitchell (Rio Grande Valley Vipers)
Peyton Siva (Delaware 87ers)
Alex Kirk (Canton Charge)
Austin Freeman (Westchester Knicks)
Kendall Gray (Iowa Energy)
Lazar Hayward (Los Angeles D-Fenders)
Dwayne Polee Jr. (Reno Bighorns)
Matt Bouldin (Fort Wayne Mad Ants)
Lewis Jackson (Salt Lake City Stars)

Greensboro Swarm (Twitter link)

Josh Davis (Austin Spurs)
Abdul Gaddy (Maine Red Claws)
Tony Bishop (Rio Grande Valley Vipers)
Scotty Hopson (Sioux Falls Skyforce)
Toure’ Murry (Sioux Falls Skyforce)
Rodney Williams (Oklahoma City Blue)
Josh Huestis (Oklahoma City Blue)
Ralston Turner (Grand Rapids Drive)
Keanau Post (Raptors 905)
Damien Wilkins (Iowa Energy)
Kris Joseph (Westchester Knicks)
Dee Bost (Raptors 905)

Windy City Bulls (Twitter link)

Wesley Saunders (Austin Spurs)
Kiwi Gardner (Santa Cruz Warriors)
Ralph Sampson III (Maine Red Claws)
Booker Woodfox (Texas Legends)
Jerel McNeal (Northern Arizona Suns)
Akeem Richmond (Reno Bighorns)
Casey Prather (Northern Arizona Suns)
Jon Octeus (Canton Charge)
Justin Dentmon (Texas Legends)
Jamal Jones (Delaware 87ers)
Xavier Thames (Fort Wayne Mad Ants)
Ian Chiles (Salt Lake City Stars)

Timberwolves Sign Toure’ Murry, John Lucas III

August 24th, 2016 at 10:36am CST by Luke Adams

The Timberwolves have added a pair of players to their offseason roster, according to Marc Stein of ESPN.com, who reports (via Twitter) that the team has signed guards Toure’ Murry and John Lucas III. While RealGM’s transactions log lists Murry’s deal as official, it’s not clear if Lucas’ signing has also been formalized.

Murry, 26, appeared in 51 games for the Knicks during the 2013/14 season, but has only played in five NBA games since then, enjoying brief stints in Utah and Washington. Lucas has a more extensive NBA resume, having played in 237 regular season contests with the Rockets, Bulls, Raptors, Jazz, and Pistons. The 33-year-old averaged 4.8 PPG and 1.5 APG in those games, shooting 34.5% on three-pointers.

According to Stein, both Murry and Lucas will be given the opportunity to compete for a roster spot in Minnesota this fall. However, for that to happen, the Wolves would need to either trade or cut a player with a guaranteed salary. Currently, the club has 15 players on guaranteed contracts, including Ricky Rubio, Kris Dunn, and Tyus Jones at point guard, and Zach LaVine, Shabazz Muhammad, and Brandon Rush at the two.

One other scenario that could open up a roster spot in Minnesota would be a retirement decision from Kevin Garnett. For now, Garnett – who has one year remaining on his contract – hasn’t made a call one way or the other on his future.

New York Notes: King, Westphal, Murry

January 10th, 2016 at 5:46pm CST by Will Joseph

Former Nets GM Billy King was reassigned today and part of his new role will include advising ownership in the search for his own successor, Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports reports. The situation is quite odd, considering King was pushed out of the job by owner Mikhail Prokhorov, Wojnarowski writes. It’s not unusual for an exiting executive to help in the search for a replacement, however. As Wojnarowski points out, former Nets GM Rod Thorn had played a part in hiring King upon Thorn’s departure from the Nets in 2010, but the difference in that example is that Thorn had resigned from his position and was not forced out, Wojnarowski adds.

Here’s more news from a busy day out of the Big Apple:

Respected and longtime coach Paul Westphal will no longer serve as an assistant coach for the Nets in the wake of Lionel Hollins‘ firing earlier today, Westphal’s wife, Cindy, writes on Facebook (h/t Anthony Puccio of NetsDaily). After parts of 10 seasons as a head coach, Westphal had no desire to coach again until Hollins approached him to be his top guy with the Nets, Mike Mazzeo of ESPN.com wrote in 2014. Westphal’s loyalty to Hollins was too strong to allow him to stay with Brooklyn, Puccio writes.
The Knicks, who have reportedly been shopping for backcourt help, scouted shooting guard Toure’ Murry at the D-League Showcase event in Santa Cruz, Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News tweets. Of course, it’s important to note that nearly every team is scouting someone at the event and that does not necessarily mean a deal is imminent, as Chris Reichert of Upside & Motor tweets. Murry is averaging 14.5 points, 5.6 rebounds and 6.6 assists per game with the Texas Legends, the Mavs’ D-League affiliate. Murry, whom the Jazz mulled signing in December, played in 51 games with the Knicks in 2013/14, his rookie season.
It likely doesn’t matter whom the Nets hire as their next head coach because the organization is still paying for mistakes made in the early days of moving to Brooklyn, Tim Bontemps of the Washington Post opines. The Nets’ history of acquiring flashy names such as Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Joe Johnson has had long-term consequences, Bontemps adds. There is no one in the organization that is capable of stepping into the general manager’s job at the moment, according to Bontemps.

Jazz Mull Signing Toure’ Murry

December 12th, 2015 at 9:18am CST by Eddie Scarito

The Jazz are considering signing combo guard Toure’ Murry, Jody Genessy of The Deseret Times reports (Twitter link). Utah isn’t the only team considering signing Murry, Mike Fisher of DallasBasketball.com tweets, though the names of the potentially interested clubs were not relayed.

Murry currently plays in the D-League for the Texas Legends, the Mavericks’ affiliate. In eight appearances this season for the Legends, Murry is averaging 14.3 points, 6.6 rebounds and 6.3 assists in 33.7 minutes per contest. The Wizards waived the 26-year-old during the preseason. He made five appearances for Washington while on a pair of 10-day contracts last season. Murry’s career numbers through 56 regular season NBA games are 2.6 points, 0.8 rebounds and 0.9 assists to go with a slash line of .433/.417/.610.

Utah currently has the regular season maximum of 15 players on its roster, meaning the team would have to make a corresponding move in order to add Murry. Both Elijah Millsap and Chris Johnson possess non-guaranteed deals, making either a prime candidate to be released, though that is merely my speculation. Both of their deals will become fully guaranteed if they remain on Utah’s roster past January 10th, which is the leaguewide contract guarantee date.