Trey Murphy made enormous strides during the second half of his rookie NBA season, including shooting 44 percent from three-point range after the All-Star break. The 22-year-old again expects to look like a different player in his second campaign – literally.
“My body is probably what people will see the biggest change in,” said Murphy, who added muscle this summer, bulking up from 201 to 214 pounds. “Me being able to absorb contact (from defenders), being able to put contact on people. Being able to play physical.”
While the North Carolina native believes he’ll be tougher to stop in 2022-23 based on adding extra layers to his game (he also grew an inch), Murphy’s bread-and-butter remains his lethal long-distance shooting ability. That’s been on full display in preseason, with him going 13/22 from three-point range, highlighted by a seven-trey, 27-point outing in San Antonio.
“That’s what he’s capable of doing,” Pelicans head coach Willie Green said, after the Rice and Virginia product got on a roll against the Spurs. “He’s 6-10, he can move, he can guard. When he’s shooting the ball the way he’s capable of, it just breaks the game open for you.”
“When you’ve got a shooter like that, and also the athlete he is, that’s hard to guard,” forward Zion Williamson said. “Especially when (defenses) are so locked in to my drive, or locking in on (Brandon Ingram) or CJ (McCollum). When you’ve got a deadeye shooter like that, it’s a great threat to have.”
While struggling to find consistency, Murphy was out of Green’s rotation for early chunks of his rookie season, but like his team overall, kept working to improve and eventually generated better results. His patience was rewarded in April, when Murphy scored one of the biggest hoops of New Orleans’ season, a friendly-bounce three in clutch time to help beat the Clippers in a win-or-go-home, Western Conference play-in game.
“It makes all of those times that were a struggle that much sweeter,” Murphy said of dealing with adversity individually as a rookie. “I’m super thankful. It’s a testament to no matter what goes on, you have to stay even (keeled) and continue to work every single day. Eventually that storm is going to stop.”
Along with the development of fellow second-year pros Herb Jones and Jose Alvarado, Murphy’s progress could be one of the biggest X-factors that determine how dangerous the Pelicans are in the West this season. Murphy sees a roster just as hungry as it was last season, when New Orleans defied the odds by reaching the playoffs after a 1-12 start.
“We have a lot to prove,” he said. “I feel like people thought we were just content making the playoffs and leaving after the first round, but we definitely wanted to win that series (vs. top-seeded Phoenix) and are coming back for more. Everyone’s really excited to get this thing started.”