Iowa’s Murray to the Pistons at 5 would be life coming full circle

(Editor’s be aware: With the Pistons holding the No. 5 decide within the June 23 draft, Pistons.com immediately continues its sequence of previews of potential targets with the built-in assumption that the consensus top-three prospects – Chet Holmgren, Jabari Smith and Paolo Banchero – will likely be off the board. In the present day: Iowa’s Keegan Murray.)

Thirty years in the past, Michigan despatched its Mr. Basketball, Kenyon Murray of Battle Creek Central, off to Iowa the place he would begin 95 video games over a four-year faculty profession that was marked by versatility and dependability. He nonetheless ranks 23^rd in profession steals within the Massive Ten.

Thirty years later, perhaps it’s time Iowa repays its debt to Michigan by way of the Detroit Pistons.

Murray took to Iowa so nicely, he by no means left. He settled in Cedar Rapids and began a household that included twin boys born in 2000, Keegan and Kris. They had been good basketball gamers, predictably sufficient, however as they had been closing out their careers at Prairie Excessive in 2019, faculty recruiters had been scant. Betting on themselves, they as an alternative selected a yr of prep faculty.

After one season at DME Sports activities Academy in Daytona Seaside, Fla., dad’s alma mater got here calling with scholarship provides in hand for the twins. On an upperclass-dominated workforce in 2020-21 – anchored by two NBA gamers, future Piston Luka Garza and San Antonio’s Joe Wieskamp – there wasn’t room for each brothers in Iowa’s rotation as freshmen and Keegan obtained the higher hand.

As a sophomore, he returned as the point of interest of Iowa’s offense and took the job at a full dash, remodeling himself into a primary workforce All-American with averages of 23.5 factors and eight.7 rebounds a recreation to place himself firmly within the combine to be a top-five draft decide. Right here’s a take a look at Murray as a possible match for the Pistons with the No. 5 decide:

FIRST-ROUND CANDIDATE: KEEGAN MURRAY

ID CARD: 6-foot-8 ahead, 21 years outdated, Iowa

DRAFT RANGE: Ranked 5^th by The Athletic, 6^th by The Ringer, 7^th by Bleacher Report, 5^th by ESPN.com, 6^th by SI.com

SCOUTS LOVE: Murray has the looks of a ready-made NBA participant who scored in each conceivable method as an Iowa sophomore. Murray was particularly proficient in transition, serving as a one-man quick break usually at Iowa by grabbing defensive rebounds and slaloming his means downcourt to the basket towards backpedaling defenses. His footwork within the submit or mid-range space is refined as he pins gamers on his hip and makes use of dips and pivots to create area to get off a shot. Murray reveals a terrific really feel for the sport evident in his well timed slicing. Murray shot 39.8 p.c from the 3-point line on comparatively excessive quantity (4.7 per recreation, 30 p.c of his photographs) as an Iowa sophomore, bettering from 29.6 p.c as a comparatively unheralded freshman.

Sporting a utilization charge of 29.7 p.c, Murray’s turnover charge was a minuscule 5.7 p.c. Murray additionally passes the take a look at on the defensive finish, the place the superior numbers appreciated him and he averaged 1.9 blocks and 1.3 steals per recreation. He’s obtained the scale and the seems of a participant who brings worthwhile defensive versatility to have the ability to swap up and down lineups and be plugged in as a small-ball heart as he will get in control.

SCOUTS WONDER: The dimensions of essentially the most persistent pink flag with Murray is dependent upon your tastes. He’ll be 22 in August after taking a prep yr out of highschool and the final two at Iowa. Murray hit a progress spurt late in his highschool days and says he’s nonetheless hitting his peak bodily. The age query results in issues about how a lot room for enchancment Murray has left and colours the year-over-year leap at Iowa and the dominance he displayed as a sophomore. There isn’t a lot else to nitpick. Murray had a comparatively low help charge of 10.1 p.c. Whereas he’s a fluid athlete, he isn’t an explosive one and that causes some concern about his means to proceed scoring successfully from mid-range and in. And the 73.2 p.c foul capturing may trigger doubts about his 3-point capturing holding up within the NBA.

NUMBER TO NOTE: 134.6 – That was Murray’s offensive score as an Iowa sophomore. Examine that to the offensive score for the three gamers thought of the extremely possible 1-2-3 picks in Jabari Smith (116.5), Chet Holmgren (127.0) and Paolo Banchero (113.8).

MONEY QUOTE: “You’ve obtained to present Keegan Murray credit score. He was unbelievable. About nearly as good as any participant on this league I’ve seen shortly. You begin speaking about gamers of the yr, you begin speaking about coach of the yr, I feel it would reside in Iowa Metropolis right here.” – Michigan State coach Tom Izzo in February after Murray scored 28 factors whereas taking 15 photographs to guide Iowa previous his Spartans

PISTONS FIT: After being bereft of dimension on the wings when Troy Weaver inherited the Pistons roster two years in the past, he’s achieved an admirable job in signing Jerami Grant and drafting Saddiq Bey, Cade Cunningham and Isaiah Livers to present the Pistons 4 within the 6-foot-7 to 6-foot-8 vary who provide offensive and defensive versatility. Murray would add to the combination and provides the Pistons the flexibleness, maybe, to deal from energy sooner or later to deal with different issues. Murray’s transition means will translate nicely to the NBA and his 3-point menace and skill off the dribble and to attain in any respect three ranges would complement Cunningham’s playmaking and IQ nicely.

BOTTOM LINE: The skepticism scouts maintain for older faculty gamers who present the kind of one-year productiveness spike that Murray made in 2021-22 for Iowa isn’t baseless, however the context issues. Murray’s late progress spurt and standing as a middling recruit means he was taking part in catch-up together with his age group for the final two or three years and solely now has he tailored to his dimension and formed his talent set. He wasn’t a child who was taking part in nationally aggressive AAU basketball as a 14-year-old and solely began flexing his muscle tissue as soon as he obtained into video games towards youthful gamers. There’s no cause to suppose this specific participant has maxed out his potential simply because some 21-going-on-22-year-olds possible have achieved so to a major diploma. The breadth of Murray’s recreation at each ends give him a better-than-average probability to have an early affect in his NBA profession, however there’s ample logic to the idea that Murray can have the identical room for progress in his early NBA years as, say, Saddiq Bey, about 16 months older than Murray, has proven since coming to the Pistons within the 2020 draft.