COMMENTARY – With the 47th pick in the 2012 NBA draft, the Utah Jazz selected Kevin Murphy from Tennessee Tech University. So who is Kevin Murphy?
Murphy is a 6-foot-7 shooting guard from Atlanta, Ga. He averaged 20.6 points per game his senior year. Murphy used his 6-7 frame to pull in 5.2 rebounds per game and dish out 2.3 assists for the Golden Eagles.
I believe Murphy will fill a huge need for the Jazz with his shooting ability. He shot an outstanding 41.6 percent from 3-point range last season. And while the NBA arc is a couple of feet further out, his numbers last season show he’s got range and can hit from anywhere.
Murphy will join Enes Kanter, Alec Burks, DeMarre Carroll, Blake Ahearn, and others in the Orlando Summer League in a few weeks.
Murphy can fill it up in a hurry. The 22-year old scored more than 30 points five times last year including a 50-point game against SIU Edwardsville. Let’s hope he can bring that to the Jazz this season.
He finished last season with 2,019 career points in 128 games overall at TTU en route to becoming just the 16th player in Ohio valley Conference history to score 2,000 career points. His top performances included four 30-plus point efforts and 11 20-plus point efforts.
The Jazz need a shooter, there’s no doubt about that. And this young guy from Atlanta can certainly shoot. Sounds like a match made in heaven.
Patrick Blake is a sports commentator and host of the Blake’s Take radio show. The opinions stated in this article are his and not representative of St. George News.
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Copyright 2012 St. George News.