Troy Murphy came over to Indiana with Mike Dunleavy Jr. via the aforementioned January 2007 trade. He immediately showed his value as a 6-foot-11 stretch four that was also adept at crashing the boards (he wasn’t that bad of a playmaker either).
In a sense, Murphy’s skills would have translated nicely in today’s NBA. Of course, he would have also spent considerable stretches on the bench to keep opposing point guards from cooking him on every possession. Ask Ryan Anderson how good it is to be a knockdown shooter that plays matador defense.
That notwithstanding, Murphy made a great deal of money via his steady production from behind the arc and it was no different with the Pacers. In parts of four seasons in the Hoosier State, he shot 41.3 percent from downtown and made enough triples to rank eighth on the Pacers all-time 3-point field goals list.
Like Dunleavy, Murphy’s 3-point prowess wasn’t fully appreciated due to the Pacers’ lack of success during his time there. The team never made the playoffs, nor did they finish with a winning record at any point during Murphy’s time there.
Combine the lack of success with the team’s mid-market status, and fans simply didn’t get much of a chance to see Murphy play during what was the most productive stretch of his career.
Even though most of it happened in relative obscurity, Murphy will go down as one of the better 3-point shooters in Pacers franchise history. There may not be a lot of video evidence for this, but the record books will show it.