The Process Ft Trey Murphy III

Ethen Meyers • August 8, 2022

Sure There is Bigger News

        I woke up today and saw the news of Cale Gundy resigning, and didn't have a clue who he was prior to the headlines. My day continued into the Dejounte Murray and Paolo Banchero beef that only gets weirder. Then, the unfortunate news of Jameis Winston tweaking his ankle in 7 on 7 drills which appears and is hopefully nothing. Finally it was all capped all of that off with the fact that Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson nearly instantly had the answer of "Megan Thee Stallion" to a question of "What celebrity would you want to be the pet of?" and Kevin Hart seemingly like he has heard that before:

I know The Rock said don't ask, and honestly if you need to then maybe just forget it happened at all.  None of that stopped my desire to write about our Pelican daily content provided Trey "Trigga" Murphy.

Rookie Year, Rookie Mistakes?

        Obviously, the coaching staff saw something in Trey that they weren't quite ready to force him to work through mistakes despite allowing Herb Jones to start. I don't know how often to happens, but a 2nd round pick starting over a 1st round pick in the same draft class their rookie year likely isn't something you see happening every year. We saw glimpses of Trey here and there but it seemed his ability to carve out consistent minutes was an uphill battle and we never saw the other side of the hill he was climbing. Despite this, he still won the admiration of many even making sure a creator and fan got credit where it was due:

        I can't think off the top of my head anything Trey did wrong yet still we saw plenty of Garret Temple minutes instead of him. We even saw the coaching staff move Jaxson Hayes to a 4 and get starting minutes when it was clear Jax was not perfect and hit or miss if he showed up to play consistently. All of this, inconsistent playing time, and Trey still came out and shot like he was drafted to do leading all rookies in 3pt percentage. The best part of it all? None of this deterred Trey, and if you have seen Summer League or even the cell phone footage in games during his down time it is evident, Trigga is not playing around any more.

New Year, New Player

        Coming out of college being touted as a "bigtime shooter" but severely lacking in awareness to rebound effectively despite his size. Lacks the ability to find teammates, lacks good positioning on defense, and lacks a ball handling skill set. There seemed to be only one thing Trey could offer, shooting, but if you watched Summer League he came to be better and clearly worked on all the things he "lacked". One of the biggest things I saw repeated on a few draft profiles was Trey himself didn't quite understand what he was capable of and lacked confidence. I think this was the only rookie mistake the coaching staff was not willing to let him work through. Based on what we have seen since then, Trey has been a gym rat and looks more comfortable and capable in his frame that offers more agility than most guys who are 6'10 and in the NBA. Check out a few quick clips from the summer:

All Part of The Process

        Despite not playing as much as I think a lot of fans wanted, I still think the coaching staff made the right decision limiting Trey's minutes early on. Battling a demon like confidence in one self is something that can take a toll on a player even if they have been playing in the NBA for more than just their rookie year. Guys come back from injury and their confidence in their body or even if they will still play at the same level is something we have seen before. Trey battled and persevered through everything he "lacked" and is ready to come back and put the league on notice and remind everyone of something he realized, he was drafted in the first round for a reason. Watching Summer Trigga I can't help but think of the Kanye sample from his song "Stronger":


Work it, make it, do it
Makes us harder, better, faster, stronger


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Pelicans @ Nuggets Takeaways

By Chrissy Smith • October 30, 2025
Team Stats (Pelicans at Nuggets) Final Score: 88-122 Rebounds: 36-57 Assists: 17-40 Steals: 9-5 Blocks: 3-5 Turnovers: 12-14 Stat Leaders Scoring Leaders: Jeremiah Fears, 21; Nikola Jokić, 21 Rebound Leaders: Trey Murphy III, 7; Nikola Jokić, 12 Assist Leaders: Jeremiah Fears, 6; Nikola Jokić, 10 My Player of the Game: Jeremiah Fears Chrissy's Key Takeaways * The starters for this game were Fears, Murphy III, Jones, Zion, and Deandre Jordan. So that was different, and it didn't work at all. * With most of the third quarter over, Zion had five total points in the game. He finished with 11. * The Nuggets went on a 32-4 run in the third quarter. The Pelicans came out very slow to start off the third. * New Orleans went 7-of-33 from the three-point line. * Nikola Jokić had a triple-double. The Pelicans had no answer for him all night. * Do the Pelicans know that the season has started because the majority of the guys out there look like they still think they're playing Summer League. * The problem with this team isn't the talent because they have that. So what's the problem? Coaching, effort, etc.? This has to be fixed ASAP. Follow @TheKneaux on X, and follow me there too, @SportsChrissy.

Celtics @ Pelicans Takeaways

By Chrissy Smith • October 28, 2025
Team Stats (Celtics at Pelicans) Final Score: 122-90 Rebounds: 54-35 Assists: 25-17 Steals: 5-7 Blocks: 7-0 Turnovers: 11-13 Stat Leaders Scoring Leaders: Anfernee Simons, 25; Jordan Poole, 22 Rebound Leaders: Neemias Queta, 11; Yves Miss, 7 Assist Leaders: Payton Prichard, 8; Trey Murphy, III, 5 My Player of the Game: Jordan Poole Chrissy's Key Takeaways * The first two losses of the season were tough but at least the team looked good. In this game, no one looked fired up to compete except Jordan Poole and Jose Alvarado. * Zion did not play because he's been spending all offseason getting in shape just so he could rest after two games. Makes no sense to me. * Trey Murphy and Herb Jones need to find their spark and stride. These guys have been putting in a ton of work in the offseason but it isn't showing right now. * Willie Green has got to be on a short leash because this 0-3 start feels like the team is just picking up where they left off except this time they're healthy and have all the momentum in the world. * The next three games for the Pelicans will be on the road against Denver, Clippers, and Thunder . Follow @TheKneaux on X, and follow me there too, @SportsChrissy.
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