Landon Buford
Atlanta Hawks guard DeJounte Murray is a Seattle Washington, native. The All-Star guard went to Rainer Beach High School, were he made a name for himself, where ON3.com ranked in the top 50 and 17th at the point guard position heading into the University of Washington in the class of 2015.
The now Atlanta Hawks guard grew watching the Seattle Supersonics during the Ray Allen and Rashaad Lewis era. On Wednesday night before the Hawks took on the Dallas Mavericks, he shared his favorite memory of watching the Sonics growing up.
“Man, watching Ray Allen,” said Murray.
He was later asked if it was Allen’s workout because he was known for his intense workout regimes.
“Nah, not workout. It was not that far. Honestly, I’ve only been to two Sonics’ games in my life: The Boys and Girls Club. I was in the nosebleeds, I couldn’t pay attention to the games, but I just watched FSN and watching Ray Allen play. What he was able to do at that time in his career, which was scoring the ball at a high level.”
Speaking of Murray, he was also a recent guest on the All the Smoke podcast, Murray described in detail his journey with the Spurs, including when he became the keeper of the starting point in San Antonio.
“I started growing, first year goes by, thrown into the fire in the playoffs versus the Rockets. Then my second year, they see I come back, obviously getting stronger, better. That was the year I took the job from Tony,” Murray said. “[Gregg Popovich] brought us into the office, he told Tony. Tony ain’t like it…I know he didn’t like it, because if he liked it, he would’ve mentored me the way he should have. He wouldn’t have went to Charlotte, he would’ve stayed right there.”
“I know the type of person Tony is. Great player, gonna go down in the Hall of Fame, but he’s very selfish,” Jackson said. “He’s been selfish, we would’ve had more championships and more success if it wasn’t for him being so selfish…He’s one of the most selfish players I’ve ever played with.”
Series co-host Stephen Jackson followed Murray’s comments in describing Parker as one of the most selfish players he has ever played with.
“I know the type of person Tony is. Great player, gonna go down in the Hall of Fame, but he’s very selfish,” Jackson said. “He’s been selfish, we would’ve had more championships and more success if it wasn’t for him being so selfish…He’s one of the most selfish players I’ve ever played with.”
