Murray showed he can score when it counts Nov. 11 against Minnesota, as he hit the game-winner. David Sherman/NBAE/Getty Images

That included Sonics GM Rick Sund, who told SUPERSONICS.COM even after Murray had spent two months with the Sonics, “I don’t know him. I told that to Ronald in his exit interview. I’m going to have to see him this summer in the summer league, because I don’t know him.”

Since only the most intrepid fans with an NBA League Pass subscription could have caught many of the 42 minutes Murray played with the Bucks, or even the 20 he played in Seattle, analysts had to resort to comparisons to explain Murray’s game.

When asked himself to make that comparison shortly after arriving in Seattle, Murray threw out some big names, notably Payton himself. At the time, it looked like youthful exuberance. Now, it appears prescient.

Following Murray’s strong summer-league performance, the name Vinnie Johnson, a former Sonics draft pick, was invoked by Sund to describe Murray’s prodigious talent.

“In some ways he’s like Vinnie Johnson when Vinnie played the point, where he can pretty much go where he wants to go with the ball and score,” Sund said after Murray averaged 22.9 points per game to lead the Sonics in Southern California Summer Pro League action.

By the opening stages of this season, when Murray had replaced an injured Allen in the starting lineup and dropped a pair of 20-point games on the Los Angeles Clippers in Japan to lead the Sonics to a sweep, the comparisons had grown. Sonics Coach Nate McMillan invoked the name of Sam Cassell, the point guard Murray backed up in Milwaukee.

Center Jerome James made the leap to one of the guards Johnson played behind in Detroit, six-time All-Star Joe Dumars.

“He's Joe Dumars all over again,” James said after Murray scored a career-high 29 points last night to beat the Minnesota Timberwolves and hit the game-winning shot. “And he's strong. He's not going to back down.”

For yet another comparison, some writers have reached across sports and pulled out the names Lou Gehrig and Wally Pipp. Pipp (which rhymes with Flip), as you may recall, was the starting first baseman for the Yankees before suffering an injury which allowed Gehrig to take over the position. Then Gehrig didn’t relinquish it for the next 2,130 games.

After all, perhaps the person Murray has done the best impression of in Allen’s absence is Allen. Through five games, Murray’s averages of 24.6 points, 5.2 rebounds and 4.8 assists per game are certainly reminiscent of Allen’s line with the Sonics last season: 24.5 points, 5.6 rebounds and 5.9 assists per game. Murray has done it while shooting better (51.1% from the field) and averaging less turnovers (1.6 topg)

By this point, however, playing the comparison game seems foolish. Murray is not the next, or the new anyone: he’s the first Flip Murray. And that might be a lot more unique than anyone would think. If Murray can keep up his performance over a full season – a lot to ask, considering the Sonics have only played five games – he may become basically the first of his kind.

According to research by John Hollinger of CNNSI.com, only one player in NBA history has ever played less than 500 minutes during his rookie season and averaged 20 points per game in year two: John Block, who led the expansion San Diego Rockets in 1967-68 with 20.3 points per game. That, however, was for a 15-67 team that finished eight games back in the standings of their expansion brethren, the Sonics. Never has a player on a successful team – which the Sonics currently are, after a surprising 4-1 start – come out of nowhere in his second season quite like Murray.

There certainly were signs that Murray could play, notably his summer-league performance, first with Milwaukee and then with the Sonics. Murray impressed the Bucks enough that they gave him a three-year contract as a second-round pick, a rare move intended to ensure Milwaukee had the right to match any and all offers when Murray became a free agent. (The alternative, a two-year deal, has led to situations like Gilbert Arenas’ last summer, where the Warriors could not make Arenas a competitive offer and lost their second-round find to the Washington Wizards.) Right now, the Sonics are thanking Milwaukee for that move, meaning they have Murray under contract at a bargain price for another season after this.

Still, Murray is already looking like one of the biggest surprises in Sonics history. Forget Most Improved Player this year; Murray might be the Most Improved Player of the decade, if not longer.

There’s no more need to compare Murray to anyone else. Now it’s time to start wondering how other players stack up to him.