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After averaging 15.7 factors per sport final season, San Antonio Spurs guard Dejounte Murray could possibly be in for an additional profession 12 months. With a number of of the Spurs’ most dependable scorers now gone, he seems to be the most probably to guide the Spurs in scoring. That mentioned, he’ll have to enhance upon an space that has been a weak point so far in his profession to additional elevate his sport.
That weak point, in fact, is Murray’s lack of ability to get to the free-throw line. For somebody who virtually lives within the paint the place contact is extra more likely to happen, he has a surprisingly low free throw charge. In spite of everything, practically half of his profession shot makes an attempt have come from inside 10 ft of the basket.
Nonetheless, Murray’s profession free throw charge is simply 2.6 makes an attempt per 36 minutes. Worse but, he solely averaged two free throw makes an attempt per sport final season. Luckily, that leaves lots of built-in room for enchancment.
San Antonio ranked twelfth in free throw makes an attempt and tenth in share final season, with former Spur DeMar DeRozan accounting for practically one-third of these makes an attempt. With DeRozan now with the Chicago Bulls, the Spurs will likely be with out their main free-throw shooter from final season and will endure in consequence.
Murray, who’s more likely to have the ball in his arms far more subsequent season, seems to be the most probably candidate to select up the slack. In any other case, the crew may see a good additional drop of their offensive ranking, which was already ranked twenty first. San Antonio wasn’t precisely dominant on offense, largely because of the lack of out of doors taking pictures. That mentioned, they have been satisfactory resulting from not often turning the ball over and by attending to the road.
Attending to the road extra includes studying to promote contact, which can not come naturally to Murray, although it is one thing that he can study. Subsequently he’d be sensible to review the likes of James Harden, Kawhi Leonard, and Chris Paul. All of those guys are masters at drawing contact and attending to the road, and loads might be discovered from emulating part of their sport.
Whereas Spurs followers probably aren’t thrilled by the concept of Murray adapting elements of Harden, Leonard, and Paul’s sport, I really feel that it may assist him elevate to a different stage. He has already labored on bettering his playmaking and jump shot and has seen constructive ends in each. Subsequently, he is already confirmed that he is a fast learner and may be capable to incorporate a few of their strikes to get to the road extra.
As an illustration, Murray may lean into his defender throughout drives to attempt to provoke contact. Additionally, he may attempt using extra pump fakes whereas within the paint to attract his defender within the air, then leaning in to attract contact. On the perimeter, he may take a web page out of Paul’s ebook through the use of rip-through strikes.
Whereas the NBA has begun to crack down on the transfer, it is nonetheless an efficient approach of drawing fouls and will assist the Spurs get into the bonus faster. One other technique includes him stopping abruptly after dribbling round a display screen and forcing his defender to run into him from behind whereas he places up a shot.
As a Spur, Leonard was additionally a low-volume free throw shooter over his first three seasons earlier than drastically bettering. He did so through the use of the aforementioned strikes to extend his variety of free-throw makes an attempt to 7.2 per sport throughout the ’16-’17 season. Murray probably will not be capable to match Leonard’s spectacular quantity of makes an attempt subsequent season. Nonetheless, he can nonetheless see an enormous enchancment by additionally using these strikes and setting a extra life like aim of 5 free throws makes an attempt per sport.
Subsequent. Predicting the Spurs’ 3 largest rivals in 2021-22. darkish
In spite of everything, 9 point-guards averaged at the very least 5 free-throw makes an attempt final season, with all however certainly one of them additionally averaging at the very least 20 factors per sport. In the end, I really feel that Murray has a very good likelihood of averaging over 20 factors per sport subsequent season. This assuming that he raises each his common variety of shot makes an attempt and, particularly, his free throw makes an attempt. Have been he to take action, he may propel himself up the list of best point guards, significantly when factoring in his defensive capability.
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