Shaw's Flip Murray now a Piston
Former Shaw University guard and CIAA Player of the Year Ronald "Flip" Murray, a free agent who played for Seattle and Cleveland this season, has agreed to terms with the Detroit Pistons on a two-year $3.6 million contract.
Murray, the NCAA Div. II player of the year during his
senior year at Shaw (2002), finished out this season as a combo guard for
the Cleveland Cavaliers after a trade from Seattle. He averaged
11.2 points for the year. The Cavs were 18-7 with Murray in the
starting lineup after he was acquired when starting
off-guard Larry Hughes went down with an injury. Murray averaged 13.8 points for the Cavs.
Detroit had been looking for a combo guard who could penetrate to the basket and produce instant offense off the bench and Murray appears to be a perfect fit. Murray made a name for himself two years ago in Seattle when he was inserted into the starting lineup on opening night after Ray Allen suffered an injury and scored 20 or more points in 10 of his first 11 games.
Last week, Murray decided to accept Detroit's two-year offer.
"We really feel like Flip is going to be able to step in and give us depth, scoring and toughness," said Pistons' General Manager Joe Dumars. "We think Flip is going to continue to get better as a player for us."
"Flip really helped us win games when we needed to," Cleveland general manager Danny Ferry said after last season.
Even more perfect for the Pistons was the price at which they got him. The Pistons originally offered the majority of their mid-level exception to Murray, but Murray hesitated to take it, hoping to get a more lucrative deal elsewhere.
In the meantime, the Pistons found out that they were losing Ben Wallace and made Nazr Mohammed an offer. When Mohammed accepted, Murray was left without a big suitor.
In the end, the Pistons were able to fill both their needs — adding a center to replace Wallace and adding some scoring punch to their backcourt.
While no one is pretending that the Pistons are going to be better without Wallace, they are adding some depth to what once was a paper thin rotation.
Murray was not the only former black college player making headlines in the NBA, nor was he the only one involved with the Pistons.
- Former Virginia Union center and CIAA standout, Ben Wallace, a four-time NBA defensive player of the year with Detroit, accepted a four-year $60 million free agent contract to join the Chicago Bulls. Wallace averaged 7.3 points and 11.3 rebounds per game for the Pistons.
- Former Jackson State guard and SWAC standout Lindsey Hunter inked a two-year $4.5 million contract to remain with the Pistons. Hunter averaged 2.9 points per game last season but was valuable as a back-up point guard and on-ball defender.
- Former Hampton guard Devin Green, who made the Los Angeles Lakers squad as an undrafted free agent last year, averaged 9.0 points and 4.0 rebounds for the Lakers' squad in the Long Beach Summer Pro League.
- Former Prairie View center Roderick Riley, playing for Cleveland in the Toshiba Las Vegas Summer League averaged just four minutes per game over five games. The 6-11 pivot man scored just one point.
- Former Virginia Union standout Wayne Wallace, like his uncle Ben a former center for the Panthers, and former University of the District of Columbia guard Rasheim Wright, saw limited playing time with Detroit in the Vegas Summer League. Wright averaged 7.8 minutes over the Pistons' four games while Wallace logged just 2.7 (min.) per game. Wright had a total of seven points while Wallace did not score.
- Former North Carolina Central guard David Young, playing for New Jersey in the Orlando Summer League averaged about 10 minutes per game and scored at a 2.8 ppg. clip.
© 2006 Azeez Communications, Inc.