Trey Murphy III: The Frontcourt Shooter
Is Trey Murphy the real "fit-type" player for the Lakers?
A team need that needs to be addressed with the Lakers is shooting. The Lakers solved the first issue with trying to get open shots.
But during this post season, the Laker role players could not make them.
Alex Regla wrote an excellent piece about this being a problem all season.
Injuries were definitely an issue all season, and the way the Lakers play defense, takes a toll on player health. It’s sustainable for short periods of time, but not throughout an entire season. Unfortunately, the Lakers as a whole wasn’t healthy enough to access their true defensive talent like they showed in the playoffs last season.
But sometimes, you just need to see the ball go into the hoop.
This is where Trey Murphy III comes in.
Photo from the link provided here.
Trey Murphy III is a transfer player from Rice. During his year at Virginia, he added at least 20lbs. to his frame, and shot incredibly well across the board. Like Chris Duarte, he may be a bit of a late bloomer, but he’s recently just turned 21 years of age.
He also had quite a year in terms of shooting.
Size: Trey Murphy III measures at 6’7.5” w/o shoes, 7’ wingspan, with an 8’9".5” standing reach, at 206lbs. At the draft combine, he measured with 8.1% body fat and 8.5” x 9” hands, length by width.
Notes: He has made tremendous strides adding weight to his frame. He is currently wing-sized at the NBA level, and added bulk to his frame, still, would help him solidify his NBA position to his peers at the 3 or 4 slot.
Shooting Numbers: Link provided by Hoop Math. (This is where it’s FUN, AGAIN)
63.9% True shooting percentage
24.1% of his Field goal attempts are at the rim
69.6% Finishing ability at the rim
71.9% Assisted shots at the rim (some indication of off-ball ability)
22.3% of his Field goal attempts are 2-point range
48% 2-point field goal shooting
25% Assisted shots in 2-point range
62.8% of his Field goal attempts are 3-point shots
43.3% 3-point field goal shooting
.215 free throws attempted for every field goal attempt
92.7% free throw shooting
Notes: Like Chris Duarte, he had an outlier shooting year. He finished the season at Virginia with a 50/40/90 season. That’s elite, but in terms of projection, that is still high level guard-like shooting in a 6’7”+ frontcourt player. That is especially difficult, considering he averaged 4.8 shots behind the arc, but just 2.8 shots within 2-point range, all season. That’s tremendous 3-point volume.
Skillset: Catch. And. Shoot. One of the quickest releases in the entire draft. Trey Murphy III barely hops into a shot, and the shot appears to look like a fling because it is so quick. This one specific aspect should be NBA translatable, because it’s so difficult for NBA players to contest against that kind of shot release.
In terms of off ball ability, he draws gravity to the 3-point line and does a great job of catching his defender looking at the point of attack, and simply doing a back cut to the rim.
When attacking closeouts, he opts to go left. He uses two dribbles and bounces off of a 2-foot jump to finish with authority. He has flashed the ability to hit floaters as well as one-foot-jumping to extend towards the hoop. Still, he’s a straight line driver with four predictable shots along the way; catch-and-shoot 3, attack the closeout to get into a floater space, or step in for a two-foot jump dunk.
He’s not a playmaker, but a play finisher. There’s some discomfort with him taking pull-up 2-point jump shots when attacking a closeout.
While he’s a catch-and-shoot specialist, he really stands out defensively. He’s light on his feet and switched onto multiple positions along the perimeter defensively. He extends well to the shot release point of opponents. Although he’s a bit lightweight, he still uses his chest to alter opponents getting into their shots, and more importantly, keeps his hands up. Unfortunately, he doesn’t initiate contact defensively with his chest until the painted area. He spaces guards and wings alike along the perimeter and tries to win by footspeed first.
In screen and roll situations, when defending the point of attack, he tries to “get skinny” and avoid the contact of the pick. Sometimes he’ll be able to go over the top, but other times, he deadens the angle of the screen and it gives the effect of a brush screen instead.
Other advanced numbers via Sports Reference:
7.6% Total Rebound Percentage
8.2% Assist Rate
1.8% Steal Rate
1.8% Block Rate
8.3% Turnover Rate
18.4% Usage Rate
Notes: Fine steal and block rates. Low usage player. Lack of physicality reflects in his rebounding percentage and to a lesser extent assist rate. He doesn’t really punish defenses when he attacks closeouts, so the free throw rate is low, and he doesn’t draw the defensive attention that makes him a stronger drive threat and open up things for teammates, so the assist rate is low.
Would like to see with NBA development:
There’s the addition of strength which will obviously help, but just being more of a physical presence, whether it’s using his chest to cut off drivers defensively at the free throw line, boxing out or at least holding down an assignment in regards to defensive rebounding, being able to finish through contact, etc. Despite having good lateral agility, he defends perimeter players as if he was a slow-footed one. He’s not. But this is where the ability to absorb contact with the chest defensively will help against slashers, especially bigger wings.
Where does he fit?
For the Lakers, it’s very simple. The team needs guys that can hit shots, especially ones that can hit from 3-point range at the corners. He can absolutely do that. He doesn’t need a ton of usage to make himself an effective player and keep the engine running. He does just enough to keep defenses guessing in terms of off-ball play and getting top-locked defensively.
Ideally, if his frame could handle it, he would be a 240lb. power forward, handle switches well defensively, and still hit with the same kind of 3-point accuracy. A 3-and-D type with his kind of shot gravity at a frontcourt position would go very far in this league.