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SALT LAKE CITY -- With the 47th pick in the 2012 draft the Utah Jazz picked Kevin Murphy, a guard from Tennessee Tech, now who exactly is that?
Murphy is a 6-7 shooting guard who averaged 20.6 points per game his senior year and earned All-Ohio Valley Conference first-team honors in 2011 and 2012. He is the second all-time leading scorer at Tennessee Tech with 2,019 points in his career.
Related:
Jazz take Tennessee Tech guard Murphy with 47th pick
The Utah Jazz selected Tennessee Tech guard Kevin Murphy on Thursday night with the 47th overall pick in the NBA draft.He averaged 5.2 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game his senior year in 34.5 minutes per game. He has a career-high of 50 points in one game against SIU-Edwardsville his senior year. He finished 10th nationally in scoring on the season.
For Jazz fans looking for shooting Murphy is a 44 percent shooter from the field with a 42 percent from beyond the arc his senior year. His shooting weakness comes from the free-throw line where he is 73 percent in his career.
| Position | Guard |
| Height | 6'6" |
| Weight | 185 lbs |
| Birthplace | Fairburn, GA |
| Previous School | Tennessee Tech |
| Games | 32 |
| Points/Game (PPG) | 21.1 |
| Rebounds/Game (RPG) | 5.3 |
| Steals | 28 |
| Blocks (BLK) | 7 |
| Assists/Game (APG) | 2.3 |
He spoke about improving every year in a specific area of his game. He has a goal for this year to "become an all-around player." He has a slight frame being only 185, but has strength enough to create his own shot.
Murphy, Tyrone Corbin and Kevin O' Connor all said that he has a skill, and that is shooting. O' Connor mentioned that late in the draft you look for a particular skill and that is the skill he provides.
"I don't want to be good, I want to be a great shooter," Murphy said.
Both Corbin and O' Connor talked specifically about his ability to come off screens and stop and shoot the ball.
While his skill is shooting the Jazz didn't pick him alone for that. He said that on the phone call with the front office he was expected to "help the team win" he said. Along with his more than 2,00 points in his career he amassed 535 rebounds and 248 assists.
Against his best competition of last year, top-15 Murray State, he averaged 25.3 points per game and 4 rebounds per game in three games.
I don't want to be good, I want to be a great shooter.
–Jazz guard Kevin Murphy
Murphy said that he knows about Millsap and is a fan of his, also adding that hearing stories of late-picks making it in the NBA is encouraging.
He is originally from the Atlanta area and knows about Derrick Favors, also from the area, but other than that he doesn't know much about the Jazz, and especially Utah.
"It's up there in the mountains somewhere," Murphy said.
He is the 5th pick for the Jazz as the 47th pick, the previous picks were Paul Millsap, Mo Williams, Jamal Sampson and Jamie Watson.
He is the first pick of the night for the Jazz who didn't make a move to go higher in the draft. They lost their first pick to the Timberwolves in the Al Jefferson trade, and the Warriors kept their pick from the Deron Williams trade by drafting top-7.
On a personal note he is married and has a baby on the way in October.
