From Chris McCosky’s blog:
By the way, what’s the over-under on how many points Flip Murray puts on the Pistons Saturday. From what I am hearing, he will be in uniform for the Clips.
I’m going with zero — it seems Murray has reversed course and is now expected to stay in the Central Division. From the Indy Star:
Guard Flip Murray, who was waived by the Detroit Pistons last week, is expected to sign with the Pacers today.
Murray will likely team with Travis Diener to fill the void left by Jamaal Tinsley’s ongoing knee problem. Tinsley, who hasn’t played since Feb. 5, said before Friday’s victory over the Raptors that he doesn’t know when he’ll be back in the lineup.
Who knew he was in such high demand?
I hope it works out for him. I hated the man when he stepped on the court for us and disrupted the offense with his insatiable hunger for driving to the hoop and getting smoked but by all acounts, he was a good guy and a professional and even when unhappily playing Tic-Tac-Toe with Lindsey on the bench, he did not ruin the chemistry of the team. Hopefully in Indy, he can take advantage of a team in shambles and emerge as a viable role player or something.
Godspeed, Ronald Murray.
Flip was definitely too much of a one-on-one player for Detroit, but I’m still puzzled why they didn’t try to TRADE him for SOMETHING. Even if you don’t want to fill up a roster space or spend more on the salary cap, couldn’t we have even gotten a second round pick for him? He had some good games with Detroit, and when he’s “on,” he can score.
He didn’t play at all for a very long time. He is good but not so good that you cannot take a chance and get him for free instead of giving up a draft choice.
Toleo Joe: Everyone in the league knew if Detroit wouldn’t be able to trade Flip Murray away, it was a lock we’d waive him. Why give up picks or players if you can be patient and get him for nothing?
Really Pacers? I start to come around on your organization and then you go and do something like this. You hire Jim O’Brien; I approve. You give Kareem Rush another chance in the NBA; I approve. You start to give Travis Diener significant minutes; I approve because he puts up a pair 10/1 and a 9/0 assist/turnover games in February. How do you reward Travis Diener for this phenomenal accomplishment? You give him a huge vote of confidence by signing Flip Murray. Awesome. Jackasses.
LawyerBoy: You’re a Kareem Rush fan? Every time I happen to flip to a Pacers game I see Kareen jack up endless 3’s, missing them all. Kind of like when I used to catch a second of a Raptors game and I’d see Matt Bonner hit a 3 during his 2 minutes of court time.
Garrett: Kareem Rush is shooting 41.3% from the field (41% from beyond the arc) this year. He’s gotta be making some of his shots. Yes, I’m a fan of Kareem Rush. I don’t like how he was abruptly cut by the Bobcats in 2006 by Bernie Bickerstaff and had to play overseas last year, so I think that makes him somewhat of a sympathetic figure to me. However, I don’t look at Kareem Rush the way I looked at, say, Hedo Turkoglu in years previous where I used to say “That guy is sick, when is he ever gonna bust out and just clown teams?” I look at Kareem Rush and say, beautiful jumper (albeit streaky in efficiency), and a nice NBA player. He’s nothing special, but he’s definitely median NBA talent level and I just have a soft spot for him.
LawyerBoy: I will accept that.
Flip did all right for the Pacers yesterday. Played solid, but didn’t play with as much energy as I would have expected for a guy needing to grab a job. But the Bucks are so bad that it’s hard to tell his real impact. Is there a team that gives less effort defensively than Milwaukee?