Mano-A-Mano, Volume I

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Question: Can La Salle’s Aaric Murray take his talents to the next level?

Sports Editors-elect Kevin Esteves and Brian Kotloff are the DP’s resident NBA junkies, so much of their attention during Penn’s game against La Salle was on Explorers center and potential 1^st-round pick Aaric Murray. Here’s their back-and-forth debate about whether the Philadelphia native has what it takes to make it in ‘The League.’

Brian Kotloff: Kevin, you think the New York Knicks are ready to become the next NBA dynasty (Wilson Chandler 4 MVP?), so I always take your hoops opinions with a grain of salt. As a Big 5 fan born and raised, I was overall not impressed with Murray. He clearly has tons of talent and his stats and physical abilities are impressive, but he has too many shortcomings to overcome to be the mid-to-late first-rounder ESPN currently projects him to be. The Big 5’s strengths — toughness, lock-down defense, heady play — are Murray’s weaknesses.

Kevin Esteves: Let’s be careful not to make generalized evaluations based on one game (see: my take on Jeremy Lin from last year), but your points are very well taken. When I first saw him, I saw the “NBA body” that scouts love to rave about, but I agree; there might be something missing above the shoulders. Time and time again, Penn’s big men, particularly Conor Turley and Fran Dougherty, got wide open layups in the early going with Murray nowhere to be found. A closer look revealed that he wasn’t rotating well (or rotating at all) on pick-and-rolls. The thing that stood out to me was that not only was Penn going at the heralded Murray, they were exposing him. He clearly has defensive potential (all are invitees to his block party), but the effort and desire didn’t seem to be there, at least not Wednesday night. But Brian, you’re more familiar with his play than I am (putting your Big 5 knowledge to the test) so was this just Murray not taking the Penn game seriously enough or a fundamental deficiency in his defensive I.Q.?

BK: Nice to know his body made an impression on you, Kev. To answer your question, though, all the signs are there for Murray to get the dreaded ‘headcase’ label. Full-game benching for ambiguous reasons? Check. La Salle coach John Giannini benched him for the Jan. 8 game against Richmond — the team’s second Atlantic 10 game of the season, no less — for “several things” that the coach said occurred even before the Explorers (and Murray’s) poor showing in their Jan. 5 A-10 opener. Does the player’s coach look like he’s lost many nights of sleep stressing out about the kid? Check. When asked why Murray is so passive on defense, Giannini shrugged, shook his head and could only muster an “I don’t know” that drew laughs from the media members. He seems as puzzled as anyone as to why an extremely athletic 6-foot-10, 250-pound center doesn’t dominate defensively (sure, he averages 2.3 blocks per game, but blocks can be very deceiving in assessing a player’s defensive abilities). Do you see the same thing I see, Emilio?

KE: Absolutely, I saw it. We both agreed after the game that if Murray truly wanted to dominate that game, he could have. EASILY. Put the heart of a guy like Zack Rosen, (or to get away from a Penn player, Kevin Garnett) and look out – although that’s probably true for most players. The point is, he’s got the size and physical abilities that precludes about 99% of the population (including me) from making it to the League, but you have to remember all the guys out there in the NCAA that are hungry. Murray wasn’t hungry against Penn, and that’s concerning because if you don’t come out hungry against the Quakers, you get beat on a few layups. But if you don’t come hungry at the next level, you will get absolutely embarrassed and benched (unless he’s on the Sixers). But this guy’s young, just a sophomore, so let’s see how this one pans out.

BK: Of course the fact that he’s young is extremely important; I’m just evaluating the current state of things. If you consider that he’s just 21 years old, you start to understand what NBA scouts see in the kid. He can drain the 18-foot jumper in his sleep, jump out of the gym and control the boards. Maybe his head isn’t screwed on straight right now, but 15 points and 8 rebounds per game without full mental focus is impressive. If Giannini can harness Murray’s talent and help him mature, he’ll be back on track to the first round of the draft. I see him as a potential J.J. Hickson clone (and actually Hickson posted similar numbers — 15, 8 and 1.5 blocks — during his freshman year at N.C. State) as at least an athletic, stretch-the-floor big man off an NBA bench. For Murray’s sake, I hope he doesn’t make a rash decision to enter the draft after this year and instead commits to improving in college. More than most pro prospects, he could really benefit from the experience.

KE: Agreed. It’s a different breed matching up against guys in the NBA. Murray sure is athletic, but he can’t rely on just that if he wants to succeed because in the NBA, everyone is an athletic freak (Ok, maybe not Timofey Mozgov). Guys like Amar’e Stoudemire came in the League just trying to dunk on everybody, but over the years, he’s become the star he is because of his great footwork and remarkably consistent jumper. Big guys like Murray would benefit from working on those fundamentals while still in college.

BK: You would end this debate with an Amar’e reference.

KE: Better than a Marreese Speights one.