Is it possible the Atlanta Hawks are expecting too much from Dejounte Murray? Put a different way, is Murray the kind of player that he has been billed as? Surely he earned his All-Star selection and led the NBA in steals per game last season, the latter of which is part of our area of focus.
But what about the rest of his defense, namely, when he is on the ball? It is possible that asking him to cover up for the defensive deficiencies of Trae Young is a step too far, even with all of the traits he possesses.
Wingspan, ball skills, and tenacity all go in the “pros” column for Murray defensively.
There are some things, though, that leaves some doubt he will be all he has been cracked up to be – through no fault of his own – that could be a topic for the regular season.
Dejounte Murray’s on-ball defense comes into question during deep analysis
Those buzz words above are tossed around quite a bit when discussing what makes a good defender. And, as stated, Murray possesses all of them. But, during his deep-dive film study, NBA.com’s John Schumann explained that the one-time All-Star’s reputation might not match the version we see on the floor next season.
“Murray is not the best one-on-one defender,” begins Schumann. “Among 207 players who’ve defended at least 250 isolations over the last three seasons, he ranks just 168th in points per chance allowed (1.02), according to Second Spectrum tracking.”
If the raw numbers were not concerning enough, Schumann gets specific on what plagues Murray most.
“He’ll bite on pump fakes and sometimes get caught standing up…Murray can also be a little too thirsty for steals, and his gambles can put his team’s defense at a disadvantage.”
Murray’s gambling stands out the most from Schumann’s assessment.
That was a point of contention with former Hawks wing Cam Reddish whom the Hawks shipped to the New York Knicks. Murray’s offensive contributions – including rebounding – are far more consistent than Reddish’s. However, his passing lane defense is exponentially better than his on or off-ball defense.
Former Hawks guard Delon Wright – now with the Washington Wizards – recorded a higher D-LEBRON rating than Murray last season but a far worse O-LEBRON rating.
“Murray will help the Hawks defensively, but he probably can’t make them a better-than-average defensive team by himself. There will also need to be some improvement from within.”
To that point, the Hawks’ new expected starting five’s D-LEBRON rating projects to be less than 5.0% better than last year’s group with Kevin Huerter in Murray’s place. Their O-LEBRON rating projects to be less than %6.0 better.
This is why some feel the Hawks have another move up their sleeves. And why the team made an overture to the Brooklyn Nets for Kevin Durant.
They should certainly be better with Murray in the fold.
Schumann points out all of the positive ways that Murray will help the Hawks next season. But he also highlights something that is going largely unnoticed in the excitement over the possibilities of what this group can be.
Still, what they will be cannot be determined in late August. And the excitement over the team is warranted even with the question marks.