Welcome Keegan Murray

[City of Trees]

Kings select Keegan Murray with the 4th pick.

[BoogieTime]

I’m here for it. Great prospect who wants to be here and fits the teams win now timeline. I think the team first looked for a trade bevy, but forced to pick at 4 brought in Domas front court partner in crime for awhile.

[blind prophet]

Keegan seems like a good guy. Seems on paper to fit a lot of needs.

[codydaze]

Very happy with the pick. Fit is perfect here and I had him as my bpa ahead of Ivey anyway.

[blind prophet]

Very happy with the pick. Fit is perfect here and I had him as my bpa ahead of Ivey anyway.

I'm hoping his 3 becomes deadly. Not necessarily Bjelica range, but it would be nice to open up the floor some for Fox/Sabonis. If he can do that could mean a ton for us right away.

[City of Trees]

McNair said the front office, scouts, and analytics teams were all in agreement that Keegan was BPA at #4. The pick was unanimous.

[OxAndFox]

I’m here for it. Great prospect who wants to be here and fits the teams win now timeline. I think the team first looked for a trade bevy, but forced to pick at 4 brought in Domas front court partner in crime for awhile.

I know you don't mean it like this, but Keegan also fits the future timeline regarding how much he can improve. I think some see a line like, fit the win now timeline and automatically think, low ceiling player.

Anyway, he is going to be a great talent for the Kings. Potentially a starting 4 next to Dom for what, 6 years at least?

[City of Trees]

Monte clearly irritated with the low ceiling label

[Twitter]

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[BoogieTime]

I’m here for it. Great prospect who wants to be here and fits the teams win now timeline. I think the team first looked for a trade bevy, but forced to pick at 4 brought in Domas front court partner in crime for awhile.

I know you don't mean it like this, but Keegan also fits the future timeline regarding how much he can improve. I think some see a line like, fit the win now timeline and automatically think, low ceiling player.

Anyway, he is going to be a great talent for the Kings. Potentially a starting 4 next to Dom for what, 6 years at least?

He has improved astronomically from just a year, his trajectory is on up

I don't see Jabari Smith as a better prospect. Keegan has already developed skills/BBIQ/floor game you only hope Jabari can other than shooting

[KF10]

I’m also happy with the Murray pick. Give him the starting 4 position and he will put up numbers.

[OxAndFox]

Monte clearly irritated with the low ceiling label

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Yeah, he isn't happy with that. He is typically completely composed with the longest non answer you can get, but I want him to spill the beans, F the NBA. LOL
I would love to be around Monte during this whole process. I think he has the knack as a talent evaluator (could be wrong) and now we just need to ride it out and see if he is a great team builder.
I don't think he puts a whole lot of weight into workouts/interviews etc (Is that a Morey taking the human element out trait??) and it's solely what you can do on the basketball court which is a great asset to have and is going to become more important as workouts become a thing of the past.

[Lost in LA]

As a 30+ year Kings fam, I think this one of our better picks. The 3 and 4 wing positions are very weak, and he could fill one of them. He seems to be able to defend also which will be a new skill for the team on the floor.

[Adg1987]

I am ready to see him space the floor for a us.
I like a lineup of fox/mitchell/murray/barnes/and Sabinas.

[City of Trees]

I'm disappointed they couldn't find a trade with Detroit but that is where my disappointment ends. Never had an issue with Murray I think he will become a good player for this team.

[Adg1987]

I'm disappointed they couldn't find a trade with Detroit but that is where my disappointment ends. Never had an issue with Murray I think he will become a good player for this team.

Yes, I definitely got on the Jaden Ivey hype train. I have been dead wrong before on my projections and right on others. I am hoping I was wrong. I never questioned if Murray could be a good players in the league, I was just not sure if he would be a star

[Adg1987]

It is crazy how many people are calling the Kings the losers of the draft

[CraftylikeaFox]

It is crazy how many people are calling the Kings the losers of the draft

The Kings have earned the media's (and other fanbases) skepticism. They've made so many bad mistakes over the years that any time they do anything that isn't the "consensus" they will get bashed. If the Spurs or Thunder had made this pick it wouldn't be as scrutinized because they have good track records in their favor. If the Kings want to get rid of this narrative they need to start winning. There's no way other way to get respect in this league.

[City of Trees]

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[shrink]

Congratulations! I’m sure people who only get their thinking done by the national media will bag on you for not jumping on Jaden Ivey, but I have watched almost every game Keegan Murray played, and I think you made the right pick. I thought I posted about it here last night, but I can’t find it, so I’ll give you a little inside view.

I see that someone pointed how high his upward trajectory was because he has improved so much in his last year. It’s actually his last two. Keegan was barely recruited, and the only reason Iowa Coach Fran McAffrey found out about him is that he played at the same high school as Jordan Bohannon, 15 minutes away. All the Bohannon brothers went on to play Big Ten basketball, and when Jordan told McAffrey that he thought Keegan could play, he drove over and offered him, and his identical twin brother, a scholarship.

Keegan greatly appreciated the opportunity, and put in a tremendous amount of work to justify Iowa taking a chance on him - something you will probably see in spades by SAC taking him fourth! Murray was given bit minutes to start the season, but he was starting by January. He worked harder than anyone on the court whenever he was out there, especially on defense. His role his first year was to support Luka Garza and Joe Weiskamp, and he did all their dirty work, playing defense, grabbing boards, making passes, scoring when needed, etc. He’s completely unselfish and team focused. it was clear to me by February that he had a shot at the NBA.

Last year, Murray rose to national prominence by leading the NCAA in scoring. Want to know the crazy part? McAffrey never ran any plays for him! With Garza and Weiskamp gone, Murray had the green light when he saw an opening, and he seemed to be able to create offense, inside and outside, whenever he wanted - and nothing ever looked difficult for him. His defense got even better, he’s a sneaky shot blocker, strong rebounder, etc. But the thing that stands out to me is that he always seems to make the right play. He isn’t flashy in his game but he’s extremely effective, and he is an incredibly quiet kid .. the only time he ever would talk was in practice when he’d be guarding his brother.

I’ve seen people want to label him an “elite role player,” and he has shown he is team-first and will play whatever role is asked, but this tag is such an underestimation of what he can be, or how high his ceiling can be. Quiet, team-oriented, tremendous worker, long swingman who defends .. I shouldn’t say it but he reminds me of a young Kawhi.

You guys got a winner. Congrats.

[LightTheBeam]

Congratulations! I’m sure people who only get their thinking done by the national media will bag on you for not jumping on Jaden Ivey, but I have watched almost every game Keegan Murray played, and I think you made the right pick. I thought I posted about it here last night, but I can’t find it, so I’ll give you a little inside view.

I see that someone pointed how high his upward trajectory was because he has improved so much in his last year. It’s actually his last two. Keegan was barely recruited, and the only reason Iowa Coach Fran McAffrey found out about him is that he played at the same high school as Jordan Bohannon, 15 minutes away. All the Bohannon brothers went on to play Big Ten basketball, and when Jordan told McAffrey that he thought Keegan could play, he drove over and offered him, and his identical twin brother, a scholarship.

Keegan greatly appreciated the opportunity, and put in a tremendous amount of work to justify Iowa taking a chance on him - something you will probably see in spades by SAC taking him fourth! Murray was given bit minutes to start the season, but he was starting by January. He worked harder than anyone on the court whenever he was out there, especially on defense. His role his first year was to support Luka Garza and Joe Weiskamp, and he did all their dirty work, playing defense, grabbing boards, making passes, scoring when needed, etc. He’s completely unselfish and team focused. it was clear to me by February that he had a shot at the NBA.

Last year, Murray rose to national prominence by leading the NCAA in scoring. Want to know the crazy part? McAffrey never ran any plays for him! With Garza and Weiskamp gone, Murray had the green light when he saw an opening, and he seemed to be able to create offense, inside and outside, whenever he wanted - and nothing ever looked difficult for him. His defense got even better, he’s a sneaky shot blocker, strong rebounder, etc. But the thing that stands out to me is that he always seems to make the right play. He isn’t flashy in his game but he’s extremely effective, and he is an incredibly quiet kid .. the only time he ever would talk was in practice when he’d be guarding his brother.

I’ve seen people want to label him an “elite role player,” and he has shown he is team-first and will play whatever role is asked, but this tag is such an underestimation of what he can be, or how high his ceiling can be. Quiet, team-oriented, tremendous worker, long swingman who defends .. I shouldn’t say it but he reminds me of a young Kawhi.

You guys got a winner. Congrats.

Thanks for the support and great write up!

I was initially very high on Murray. Down to the end I had said I wouldn't be upset with either player.

I think most Kings fans were upset that we couldn't capitalize on the Ivey hype and grab an additional asset from Detroit. But the truth of the matter could have been that Detroit actually loved Murray the same/more and weren't willing to pay anything to make that happen. In fact the day before the draft they traded Grant creating a Murray sized hole at the 4 spot. We will never know.

I likened it last night to what Orlando did with Paolo. I think they knew he was their guy, but Smith was being labeled the #1 guy by the media for awhile. So they leaked Jabari at #1 was pretty much a done deal all the way to a few minutes before the draft. IMO this was an attempt to get Houston to trade up for Jabari and snag a few assets in the process. When they realized that Houston was fine sitting back and grabbing Banchero, they ultimately just took their guy.

On the Kings end, we had multiple reports leading up to the draft suggesting "Vivek was enamored with Murray". That the team liked him so much they went as far as organizing a dinner between him, Fox, and Sabonis. To me they played their hand incorrectly. Even if Detroit fell in love with Ivey they probably had a good source that Kings were going Murray no need to trade up anyways. At this point we will never know, I would have just liked the Kings to have smokescreened that Ivey at 4 was a lock he was their guy, and it would cost if Detroit wanted him. Maybe Detroit still decides to take the leftovers between Murray/Ivey, but we could have tried.

This above plus selling the 2nds were the only real damper of the night. I think most Kings fans love Murray, think hes a great fit, and think hes got the ability to be an excellent player for a long long time. I'm excited for him, I'm just frustrated by the team playing checkers instead of chess.

Sorry for the rant!