The Kansas Jayhawks signed small forward Johnny Furphy, the team announced Thursday. Here’s what you need to know:
- The 6-foot-8 incoming freshman joins Kansas from Melbourne, Australia.
- Furphy, out of the Centre of Excellence (CoE) in Australia, reclassified for the 2023 class after garnering attention at the NBA Academy games in the U.S. in early July.
- Furphy averaged 14.3 points and 5.6 rebounds in 12 games this year with CoE, shooting 39.3 percent from 3-point range.
The Athletic’s instant analysis:
How did Furphy end up at Kansas?
Furphy is the player I’ve been asked most about by college coaches over the last month. A 6-foot-7 playmaker from Australia, Furphy grew up in Melbourne and developed enough to where he was selected to go play at the Centre of Excellence, which doubles as the NBA Academy.
He’s gotten much better over the course of the past year, but was not really on the radar of blue-bloods until July, when he was arguably the most impressive player at the NBA Academy games in Atlanta. Interest in Furphy skyrocketed from that point forward.
At the time, he was considered a Class of 2024 recruit, but he’ll turn 19 years old in December and started the process of considering a reclassification after hearing from an immense number of college coaches throughout the month. He then went to Las Vegas and backed up the impressive performances he showcased in Atlanta, and the race was officially on.
Furphy and his family went through a fairly exhaustive process, doing Zoom interviews with a number of college coaches. Throughout the process Duke, North Carolina, Gonzaga, Connecticut, and many others expressed varying degrees of interest, showcasing just how impressive Furphy was in his breakout summer.
However, Kansas was among the first schools to truly prioritize Furphy, and was always considered among the potential leaders in the clubhouse. The Jayhawks closed the deal on Wednesday night with Furphy committing. — Vecenie
How good is Furphy?
Multiple NBA scouts who attended the Academy games in Atlanta told The Athletic that Furphy should be considered equivalent to a top-50 recruit in the 2023 recruiting class. He’s currently not ranked by recruiting services due to the rapid nature of his rise, but Kansas fans should anticipate him having something like a high four-star rating.
Those same NBA scouts mentioned Furphy absolutely has potential to be a draft pick, but to not necessarily expect him as a one-and-done style prospect. — Vecenie
What does Furphy’s game look like?
Furphy is a 6-foot-7 guard/wing who has terrific dribble, pass and shooting skills, the things that every college coach and NBA scout are looking for around the country. He has great touch and can knock down shots on the move at a real level, despite a bit of a low release point that will need to be heightened over the course of his career.
In transition, he’s a downhill attacker who plays with real aggression and tries to get all the way to the rim, where he can throw down some really fun dunks if he has a head of stream. Just don’t quite expect those things in the halfcourt quite yet, as his first step needs a bit of work, as does his overall handle tightness.
But in general, what Kansas is getting is a big guard with a really creative mindset who is all about making the right play, be it as an attacker for himself or as a passer and playmaker. Self will have his work cut out for him on defense, as Furphy, like many Australian players, has a tendency to be a bit upright and can get blown by more often than you’d like to see. But Kansas’ offense and the importance Self places on defense is a perfect place for Furphy to develop over the next couple of years.
It’s hard to imagine the Jayhawks finding a better way to utilize an open scholarship this late in the process than bringing in Furphy. — Vecenie
Will Furphy play much this year?
I’m a little skeptical on this front. The Jayhawks should enter the season as the No. 1 team in the country largely because of how deep they are across the perimeter. The starting point guard will be Dajuan Harris, and then the team also has combo guard Arterio Morris and Elmarko Jackson. Jackson is a potential one-and-done guard, and Morris was a former five-star recruit who transferred in from Texas.
Then on the wing, the team retained Kevin McCullar after he pulled his name out of the draft, and also brought in sharpshooter Nick Timberlake from Towson. All five of those players deserve 20-plus minutes per night, and it’s reasonable to expect that Harris and McCullar play 30-plus given that both did just that last season.
The team also brought in Hunter Dickinson at center, which means K.J. Adams will likely move to play the power forward position more often this season as opposed to the center that he played for 27 minutes per night last year. Frankly, there just aren’t a ton of minutes to go around for Furphy, and that’s okay.
As a reclassifying player, allowing him to practice against these elite players daily will make him better, and it’s possible that he could earn some time for a team that could prove to need an influx of skill by the time February rolls around. The best expectation here is to expect limited minutes and to be pleasantly surprised if he earns them, before a breakout 2024-25 season after a number of these players matriculate through the roster. — Vecenie
What they’re saying
“Johnny is a youngster that we saw in person for the first time at the NBA Academy Development camp in Atlanta during the July period, and then we saw him multiple times the next week in Las Vegas,” Kansas coach Bill Self said in a statement. “He is one of the most gifted, skilled young kids in the 2023 class and certainly as gifted and skilled as any player remaining that we could recruit.
“He’s been well trained at the Center of Excellence in Australia. He’s well beyond his years from his feel and basketball IQ standpoint. The platform at the NBA Global Academy has allowed him to be seen and recruited at this level. We are very excited about him and think his future is very bright.”
(Photo: Ed Zurga / Getty Images)
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