JimmyFromNz wrote:
I appreciate this Murray evaluation piece for everyone else here heavily leveraged in wanting to support whatever side of a Lebron-Jokic argument they're on, that's clear. However as someone who doesn't care about that side debate, I do agree with Peregine on the murray evaluation in isolation.
The bolded is a very low bar to hold someone to. Yes he is not being ignored, yes he is being guarded like an elite shooter on close outs (note not in the same way an elite scorer would - he doesn't penetrate to an elite level and he doesn't put pressure on the rim through contact of foul drawing), but thats the territory you operate in at an 'all star' level, and the results have frankly been underwhelming.
I wouldn't agree he's outplayed Jokic at all, at any point. Has he hit incredible scoring streaks in the past, thanks largely to unsustainable shooting spurges fed by the underlying benefit of playing off Jokic, yes absolutely. The focus on 'tough shots' I understand, but at some point that needs to be balanced is it actually a 'good shot' compared to the alternate. Many of those 'tough shots' become bad shots. Sure that point tends to get lost amongst the glory of a midrange fadeaway over Anthony Davis to win a playoff game (ignoring the 18 prior missed shots), and I'm sure it will continue to be the next time he does it.
I'd suggest the fixation is not on scoring, rather than everything he doesn't do when he's not scoring, presence isn't simply enough from someone being touted as a perennial allstar snub and all nba level player. Personally I think those issues were well articulated in the above post, which have been long term criticisms of him coming and going, but also timely this playoffs series.
It can be funny to see some reach this far to prop up a player just to take down his teammate several pegs.
I think the seductive thing about a guy like Murray is that he can look like Curry when he's on with the off-the-dribble shot-making. But he's never had Curry's shooting consistency. And even beyond just shooting, he doesn't get to the rim like Curry, doesn't see the floor like him nor does he have the motor like Curry to constantly stress defenses when he doesn't have the ball. So when his shot is off, he's really not adding much on either end of the floor. And in even worse situations like these playoffs, he can be a decisive net negative because he has the Kobe-mentality of shooting himself out of slumps.
The conventional thought is that Murray/Jokic is the best duo in the league when I'd argue it's not even the best duo on this team which IMO is AG/Jokic.
