Dejounte Murray is going after the Spurs and… Tony Parker

” He was a mentor to me. He taught me a lot. He said so Dejounte MurrayIn the summer of 2018 approx Tony Parker. The latter announced that he was permanently leaving his team a few days before this announcement. The signing of French for the Hornets sealed the transfer of power with Dejounte Murray as the Spurs’ starting point guard.

More than four years later, the current Hawks player’s performance has progressed well compared to his relationship with the former Spurs legend. It goes through the All the Smoke podcasthe remembers when he started to pass Tony Parker in the hierarchy.

” The first year goes by, I was thrown into the deep end during the playoffs against the Rockets (Editor’s note: then against the Warriors, in the 2017 conference finals, against whom he averaged 8 points). Then my second year, they see me coming back, getting stronger, getting better. This is the year I take Tony’s place “Drafted in 2016, Dejounte describes Murray (29th pick).

The two bandleaders are invited to Gregg Popovich’s office. And the coach announces to the veteran that he will no longer be number 1 in leadership. We imagine this meeting took place in January 2018, when Dejounte Murray was permanently established as the starter, a status TP still enjoyed in the early months of the 2017/18 season.

According to his successor, at the time of the announcement, ” Tony didn’t like it. I know he didn’t like it. Keep it to yourself brother. I will love you for it. I know he didn’t like it. Because if he liked, he would frame me as I should. He wouldn’t go to Charlotte. He would stay (in San Antonio). »

It is obvious that this situation played a role in the choice of the Frenchman to leave “Spurs”. ” In the end, I felt that the Hornets wanted me more. Spurs offered, but it was only for a year and my role was uncertain. I wanted a real challenge. I don’t want to be a coach ahead of time “, he said, also referring to his role as a mentor to Dejounte Murray and other young Texans.

“People don’t understand what I went through there.”

Aside from Tony Parker, Murray’s “sights” are also in the spotlight today… the Spurs franchise as a whole. The quarterback didn’t appreciate the way the Texans took advantage of the competition at his position at the start of the new season.

” They bring in an Argentinian playmaker (note: Nicolas Laprovittola, undocumented) One who is close to Manu (Ginobili) and who plays in front of me. It should be noted that I was already behind Tony and Patti (mills), but they played with my nerves “, the All-Star backs up with just 8 minutes of playing time that year, a handful less than Nicolas Laprovittola.

With such a rivalry set up, Dejounte Murray believes the Spurs have tried to see if they can ” Break. They want you to break yourself. This is too much. I don’t understand what they did to me. People don’t understand what I’m going through there. »

The 26-year-old recalls staying there for six years, including a gap year. And his personal environment could have an effect in the eyes of Spurs leaders. ” They drafted me, but they felt that stuff from the ghetto was going around me. I would be successful with this Articles about the 30-man group smoking and drinking, brawling, tarnishing their reputation for defending like Spurs. I think they thought so, but they never said it “Judge Dejounte Murray.

We recall that he repeatedly recalled his childhood on the streets of Seattle. “ If you think of the streets, a kid on the streets working for his gang, surrounded by drugs and doing whatever he had to do to make money, that’s what I was doing. “, he has delivered in the past, adding to this entourage: “This is my life: playing basketball […] and be sure of my brethren [en prison] wrongdoers eat well, live well and know someone is thinking of them. »

That’s why he’s determined to succeed in the big leagues. “ Because of what I had to go through. When (Spurs) saw that he (himself) it took a chance and he was at the fucking gym… They probably started kicking me out of the gym. When I said I had 24 hour access, I went every day. I knew I wasn’t playing, so I was like, “I’m lacing up my shoes, I’m going to the gym.” Every day. Of course, I started moving forward. »

To the point of earning his first All-Star selection last season with San Antonio. But not to the point of projecting himself with the Spurs opting to trade him to Atlanta last summer.