Many a season before Kevin Love was lauded for his ground-bound, boxscore-filling effectiveness, Troy Murphy toiled in relative anonymity for the 36-win 2008-9 Pacers. Unfortunately for Love, there seem to be similarities between his Wolves and Murphy's Pacers, as his team has spent most of the season in the NBA "dead zone" - too good to earn a high lottery pick, not good enough for the playoffs - that the Pacers finished in 5 years ago.
That said, Love himself is having an amazing year, resulting in a well-deserved starting spot for the West in this year's All-Star Game. He's also on track to join Murphy as the only 2 players to average 10 rebounds and make 2 3's per game for an entire season, a testament to his mastery of two usually exclusive skills: rebounding and long range shooting.
If Love can continue his incredible routine of posting 25 and 13 a night, and his cursed team can get some luck, we'll probably see him in the playoffs come May. Murphy and his Pacers never got over that hump, and he had stops in Toronto, New Jersey, Boston, Los Angeles and Dallas before being released at the end of 2013. He remains unsigned.
Baseline Leaner would like to recognize Troy "The Pelican" Murphy for setting new standards for "stretch 4's," standards that Love has met (and exceeded) in becoming the new prototype for big men with range. We're also anxious to see if the Wolves can build a winning team on this rare skillset, something Murphy's couldn't do
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