Overview
After averaging just 13.7 minutes per game through Kansas’s first 15 contests this season, injuries and a need for more shooting yielded an opportunity for Furphy to step into a starter’s workload, and the freshman capitalized. He proceeded to average 11.8 points, 6.8 rebounds, 1.6 assists and 1.1 steals while knocking down 35.4 percent of 4.4 three-point attempts per game in 32.7 minutes of action across the Jayhawks’ final 18 games of the season.
Analysis
Overall, three-point attempts accounted for 61.2 percent of his shots, but Furphy was excellent in a limited sample at the rim as well, knocking down 74.2 percent of 66 attempts around the basket — ranking in the 96th percentile nationwide. The Melbourne, Australia native isn’t shifty, so he relies on off-ball movement to create some of his advantages getting downhill, but his nearly 6-foot-7 size and smooth finishing with both hands helps offset his lack of pop athletically. Murphy knocked down 36.4 percent of 118 catch-and-shoot threes, although he has yet to display any success as a movement shooter.
Projection
The limited nature of Furphy’s self-creation caps his upside at this juncture, as 70.0 percent of his twos and 97.1 percent of his threes were assisted by teammates. This aligns with the lack of athletic advantage creation and 4-for-27 shooting in the midrange. Still, pedigree shooting in a 6-foot-7 frame is a commodity, with Trey Murphy and Sam Hauser representing examples. Hauser is the better comparison given Murphy’s track record as a versatile defender and above-the-rim athlete, but Furphy becoming a team defender in the same vein as Hauser is a fair trajectory.
— Profile by RotoWire