What Will They Do? (#12 Troy Murphy)

[count55]

This is going to be the twelfth in our series of projections and discussions about all of our players this year. Essentially, we'll go through all 15 Pacers (I'm excluding Droopy) and talk about our expectations. Each poster will cut and paste form below and fill it out, adding their reasoning at the bottom. The reasoning is the most important, as it will help the conversation.

The first five guys will go up today, and they will be the fringe players. Then will come the rotational players, then we'll get to our key players. If you're looking to do a little research on the guys, I'd suggest BBR as the best statistical site.

So, here we start with:

Troy Murphy

Games Played:
Games Lost To Injury:
DNP-CD's:
Minutes per Game:
Points per Game:
Rebounds per Game:
Assists per Game:
FG%:
3FG%:
FT%:
Other Key Stats (can be Steals, Blocks, TO's, A/TO ratio, etc.)

Reasoning/Synopsis: Describe why you think this player will provide these numbers. What will his role be? What's his best-case? What's his worst-case?

Lets get started.

[count55]

Games Played: 75
Games Lost To Injury: 7
DNP-CD's: 0
Minutes per Game: 32
Points per Game: 14.3
Rebounds per Game: 7.3
Assists per Game: 1.6
FG%: 45%
3FG%: 38%
FT%: 78%
Other Key Stats: None of any import

I am projecting T-Murda to claim the starting PF slot and continue his performance from Post All-Star break last year. He truly flourished in the absence of JO, and I expect it to continue. He, like Foster, can play alongside all of the other big guys, and he may see some limited minutes at the 5. He will still be a defensive liability, but I expect his numbers to jump for the full season. If he performs well, it's not out of the realm of possibility that he'll flirt with a double-double, though I don't project it here.

[Bucky O'Hare]

Games Played: 70
Games Lost To Injury: 12
DNP-CD's: 0
Minutes per Game: 31
Points per Game: 14.5
Rebounds per Game: 9.7
Assists per Game: 2.1
FG%: 44%
3FG%: 40%
FT%: 78%
Other Key Stats (can be Steals, Blocks, TO's, A/TO ratio, etc.)

Murphy's a much better player than people give him credit for. His only real weakness is defense, which, granted, is a big weakness, but it doesn't prevent him from being a very usable player. Like I've mentioned before, three times in his career he's been a full-time, 30+ mpg starter, and all three times he's averaged a double-double and finished in the top-7 in the league in rebounding. There's no reason to believe he couldn't do the same this year if given the minutes.

[freeman]

Games Played: 72
Games Lost To Injury: 10
DNP-CD's: 0
Minutes per Game: 32
Points per Game: 14.0
Rebounds per Game: 9.0
Assists per Game: 2.5
FG%: 46%
3FG%: 40%
FT%: 80%
Steals per Game: 0.6
Blocks per Game: 0.5

Murphy's obviously gonna get a better playing time than last year's. And the starting pf spot is all his'. Though we might see some games with Granger on the 4 with either Shawne, Brandon, or Dunleavy ath the 3 and 2. His numbers should obviously go up with increased minutes. He's still lacking a post-up game though. Hope he can develop that over the training camp.