After three years, the Spurs are once again an All-Star
San Antonio's river does not swim against the current, the glory of the Spurs, but Popovich still has not given up, under his insistence, a group of small roles in the league continue to grow, let us see the future of this team. Especially this season, with players such as DeRozan and Mills leaving the team, a group of young players have supported the Spurs' backbone. Among them, Dezhangtai Murray, who was ranked 29th, played an All-Star performance and was successfully selected as an All-Star.
The Spurs' last All-Star was DeMarcus Aldridge in 2019, and that was three years ago. So this time, with the Spurs at number twelve in the West, it's really not easy for Murray to be able to make the All-Star. Of course, this is related to Dream Green's injury, but it is still undeniable that this is a rare honor.
The three double kings, but not like Young Master Wei
When we talk about Murray, the first thing that comes to mind is the reverse leaderboard, and the second year is to enter the best defensive second team. After only 6 years in the NBA, Murray has long since shed these labels and become a qualified home star. So far this season, Murray has averaged 20.0 points, 8.4 rebounds and 9.3 assists per game, as well as only 2.4 turnovers. He is the fourth in the league in terms of assists per game, behind Paul Harden and Trae Young. In addition, Murray's average number of steals per game is the league's first 2.1.
Murray's stats are indeed speechless, and this season he has become the triple-double king of Spurs history, in other words, synonymous with all-around. This makes many fans think that Murray will become the next Westbrook, after all, when it comes to three-doubles, people will naturally think of Westbrook.
However, over the years, Murray did not become Westbrook, but under popovich's strict requirements, he had a taste of an old point guard like Paul.
Turnovers and shots, he's more like Chris Paul
Why is it an established point guard? Murray's average number of assists per game this season is very good, the number of steals is the first in the league, a player, assists and steals, then the number of mistakes will not be less, if there are fewer mistakes, then it means that he is a good point guard. Murray's use rate this season is 26.7%, ranking first among the Spurs, but looking at the league as a whole, this number is not high compared to those All-Stars, or home stars.
After the third year of his career, Westbrook's usage rate has been more than 30%, and at its peak, it has reached 41.7%, and even this season, in the los Angeles Lakers, the use rate is as high as 27.5%, higher than the Spurs' big boss Murray. Therefore, Murray is not similar to Wei Shao, Wei Shao's triple double, from the super high usage rate, this season's usage rate has declined, and the triple double is much less. As for Murray, he's more of a player like Chris Paul.
What kind of player is Paul? He doesn't need a high usage rate to deliver the league's number one assists. Paul's most used season so far was 27.5 percent in 2008-09, the same as Westbrook's season, but that season paul averaged 22.8 points, 5.5 rebounds, 11.0 assists, 2.8 steals, and only 3.0 turnovers. So it can be seen from here that Murray is indeed more like Chris Paul than Westbrook.
Of course, the reason why people are like Murray is not only because of the triple-double data, but also because of the poor mid-range shooting feel. Westbrook is not a good pitcher, and it is well known that Murray gives the impression that he is also unstable in shooting. However, both of them are very good at the impact of the basket, Wei Shao relies on speed and bounce, and Murray is tall and arm span, 1 meter 96 tall, but has a staggering 2 meters 11 arm span. Friends who have played 2K know that the longer the arm span is set, the worse the shooting stability.
Murray's shooting wasn't as consistent as Chris Paul's, but it wasn't as bad as Russell Westbrook's. This season's Murray, mid-range shooting is not bad, 3-10 feet from the field, shooting 41.9%, 10-16 feet 46.5%, 16 feet to three-point line is 44.0%. As for Russell Westbrook, we picked the best season of his career, the 2016-17 season, when Westbrook averaged 31.6 points, 10.7 rebounds and 10.4 assists per game, the best team, leading scorer + MVP, is it representative enough?
Unfortunately, Wei Shao's shooting rate that year still has a big gap with Murray. Shoot 30.5 percent from 3-10 feet, 43.4 percent from 10-16 feet, and 34.5 percent from 16 feet to the three-point line. But that was already the best season of Westbrook's career, combined shooting performance.
However, Murray's mid-range shooting rate is still far from a super point guard like Chris Paul, and over the years, Paul's two-pointers from close range and two-pointers from mid-range, as well as two-pointers from long range, are all about 50 percent.
Send away White and become the Spurs' star
Because of Murray's excellence, the Spurs also sent away Derek White, who is also the 29th pick, both offensive and defensive, and is the puzzle that any championship-winning team dreams of. But spurs sending White away also proves his choice is correct. After White left, Murray broke out completely, facing the Atlanta Hawks, he blasted 32 points, 10 rebounds, 15 assists and 4 steals, only 1 turnover, against the New Orleans Pelicans, he had 31 points, 7 rebounds, 12 assists and 2 steals, or 1 turnover.
Spurs fans may think of Derrick White from time to time, but they will certainly rejoice that Dejuntai Murray brings hope and future to the team.
Under Murray' leadership, the Spurs also won two straight games, just four games away from Popovich's record of the first win in history. Seeing this, you will definitely lament Popovich's ability to cultivate players. If it weren't for the Spurs, Murray might have been able to become a star player, but most likely headed westerly. However, at the Spurs, under popovich's teaching, Murray has a solid shooting basic skill, and the control of mistakes on the court has reached the standard of a super point guard. I believe that this all-star, for him, is just the beginning of a brilliant career.