NBA Free Agency 2014 Rumors: Toure' Murry by the numbers

The Utah Jazz have two 'real' point guards on the roster right now in second year player Trey Burke and rookie Dante Exum. While we hope for the best for both, it's clear that no team is foolish enough to go into the season with just two point guards on the roster. Depending on if we are filling out the minimum 13 man roster, or using the full 15, I think it's necessary to add at least one more point guard to this crew -- if for no other reason than the be used as insurance during the season if one or more of our prime time guys are having a bad game.

Aaron Falk (@TribJazz), a beat writer for the Salt Like Tribune, has revealed that the Utah Jazz may be interested in former New York Knicks rookie Toure' Murry . Murry, little used, is currently also being courted by the Knicks, Toronto Raptors, Los Angeles Clippers, and Miami Heat. All of those teams, save for the Knicks, are playoff teams. It may be easier to join a team to sit on the bench if you are at least winning. The Jazz cannot offer him a lot of money, or a huge role, and will probably win fewer than 35 games this upcoming season. But by watching him play Murry does make sense for Utah, even if Utah does not make immediate sense for Murry.

What's to like about Toure'?

• Size, he's a legit 6'5, a big guard who can see the floor well, and find open men
• Size, he's big enough to swing over to SG if you need (not unlike what the Jazz had last season with Diante Garrett)
• NCAA averages of 11.1 ppg, 4.5 rpg, 3.1 apg, 1.3 spg, in 28.8 mpg and 139 games
• NBA PER 36 minute averages of 13.5 ppg, 4.2 rpg, 4.7 apg, 1.8 spg
• Three point shooting, he made threes in college (0.8 per game, 30.5%), made threes in the NBA-DL (0.6 per game, 35.1%), and made threes in the NBA (0.1 per game, 41.7%). Sure, he didn't play much or shoot much -- but when he did he made them
• Though, this is a small sample size from SynergySports, but he was a Top 100 player on offense in both isolation settings (#60), or as the ball handler in the pick and roll (#89)
• He is a player who understands the mechanics of the pick and roll and doesn't rush when executing one
• He does not over-dribble
• Has a cool name
• I will probably end up calling him Tora Bora at some point
• STEALS!

Concerns:

• Adequate NBA players routinely destroy the NBA-DL, Murry did not (in two seasons, 2012-13, and 2013-14). He did have averages of 8.4 ppg, 2.6 rpg, 2.8 apg, and 1.6 spg -- but for a point guard you really want to see more, his AST% was only 16.5%, and his TOV% was 20.6%. Not ideal
• Free throw shooting -- he was a respectable 76.5% from the FT line in college, but in the NBA-DL that dropped down to 68.1%, and further down to 59.0% at the NBA stage
• Experience -- he played in mostly garbage time with the Knicks, and only in 51 games. He does not fit the criteria for being that steadying influence to temper the two young point guards Trey Burke and Dante Exum with. He did play 373 minutes, which is fewer than Rudy Gobert played last year
• He has played on summer league teams for the Los Angeles Lakers, Houston Rockets, and New York Knicks -- and in that time has averaged 5.3 ppg (.396 / .333 / .615), 2.7 rpg, 1.8 apg, and 0.9 spg in 15.4 mpg. Is this better or worse than what we saw from our PGs?
• He has not proven to be a good defender at the NBA level. Have our other PGs done that yet? No. But in terms of skills, he is not bringing something new to the table. There are no real defenders at the PG spot unless you count Alec Burks. And he's not really a point guard. He was ranked #356 in the NBA in defense by SynergySports
• He was particularly poor on defending spot up shooters, which looks bad because he, himself, was not a good spot up shooter
• Probably going to want to wear a head band (I'm not really against that, myself)

IF the Jazz also get Chauncey Billups I'm fine with this : )

But more seriously, Murry is a young guard who is only going to get better. He did have a better NBA AST% (21.5) than NBA TOV% (18.9%), and though he played fewer than 400 minutes was still able to accumulate a PER of 11.1. He is way better than John Lucas III. He's also younger, and plays with some level of swagger.