Troy Murphy is an inside/outside threat as a forward/center in the NBA.
Not only can he bring in 10 rebounds a game, he also has the outside shooting ability to hit three-pointers.
Murphy joined the NBA as the 14th overall selection of the 2001 draft. The Warriors watched as teams with earlier picks ended up with Eddy Curry, Kedrick Brown and Sagana Diop and were happy to be able to draft the Notre Dame star. His college stats were an indication of what he could do in the NBA, rebound the ball and score when needed to.
His Notre Dame career averages were 21.4 points, 9.8 rebounds and 1.3 blocks. As the big-man on the Notre Dame team, Murphy worked inside a lot on offense. When he got to the NBA he also was able to show his outside shot.
Murphy exploded in his fourth NBA season when it came to three-pointers. After hitting a combined 11 shots in his first three years, Murphy shot 59 for 148 on three-pointers. He did that while also averaging nearly 11 rebounds.
When he was a Warrior, Murphy was part of a very exciting group that would finish off games. The Warriors would go small, moving Murphy to center and surrounding him with Antawn Jamison, Jason Richardson, Gilbert Arenas and Earl Boykins. It was a quick group who could all score, and they all had three-point range too.
Golden State ended up seeing players leave via free agency and also made some trades that left them out of contention. To change things even more, the Warriors decided to send Murphy along with Mike Dunleavy and Keith McLeod to Indiana for Al Harrington, Stephen Jackson, Sarunas Jasikevicius, and Josh Powell.
The Pacers were happy to find a new home for Jackson and put Murphy and Dunleavy into their starting lineup.
With Indiana, Murphy often got a double-double and shot the ball well. 40% from three-point range, 46% field goal percentage and around 80% free throw percentage were his usual numbers.
The Pacers had been looking for a young point guard for a long time and to get Darren Collison they needed to send out Troy Murphy. Murphy’s contract only had that season to run so that made him a valuable trade asset.
Murphy went to New Jersey, Collison and James Posey were traded to Indiana, Houston picked up Courtney Lee and New Orleans added Trevor Ariza. The problem for Murphy was that New Jersey were a rebuilding team, with Kris Humphries at power forward as well as high draft choice Derrick Favors. New Jersey didn’t play Murphy, he saw limited action in only 18 games.
Teams were still interested in Murphy’s expiring contract, and if Carmelo Anthony had wanted to go to New Jersey Murphy would have been part of the package sent to Denver. That didn’t happen so Murphy was traded to the Warriors, along with a 2012 second-round draft pick.
The Nets received Brandan Wright and Dan Gadzuric. It wasn’t a case of Murphy going from one bad team to another bad team, the Warriors were happy to take the extra draft pick and then released Murphy which allowed him to sign with a contender and be eligible for the playoffs. The Heat and other top teams all wanted him but Murphy decided to join the Boston Celtics. There he provides backup minutes behind their veterans at power forward and center.
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