Title: JAMAL MURRAY’S NBA UPSIDE IS TIED TO HIS LONG-TERM POSITION
Date: January 14, 2016
Original Source: Vice
Synopsis: In my latest for Vice Canada, I broke down the play of Kentucky guard and Canadian prospect Jamal Murray, who could be a top-five draft pick in June.
Two years ago, Andrew Wiggins became the second consecutive Canadian drafted No. 1 overall and led an historic class of four Canadian draft picks, three of them first-rounders. While Trey Lyles found himself in the lottery a season ago, it’s the Kitchener, Ontario, product that followed him at Kentucky who was expected to continue the country’s momentum atop the NBA Draft.
Jamal Murray entered the season as a top-five prospect, having reclassified to the Class of 2016 on short notice to give head coach John Calipari’s program a late and much-needed boost. Sixteen games into his freshman season, Murray’s performed mostly well—averaging 17.6 points, 4.3 rebounds, and 2.6 assists with a 55.4 true-shooting percentage and 26.9-percent usage rate—as other elite Wildcats recruits have struggled. The heavy load speaks to Murray being the team’s most important offensive player, even if he shares the reigns.
Concerns about his ultimate NBA upside, however, and the strong performances of other top names have him sliding down draft boards. ESPN’s Chad Ford dropped him from fifth to eighth, while Murray fell two two spots to ninth in Draft Express’ mock draft last week. Sam Vecenie of CBS Sports remains the most optimistic, handing Murray a No. 5 ranking, but even that serves to highlight that he’s settled firmly in the draft’s second tier, battling for position behind Ben Simmons, Brandon Ingram, Dragan Bender, and perhaps Henry Ellenson
Continue reading at Vice.
Blake Murphy Sports Writing 