Keegan Murray takes critique in stride, appreciates support of Mike Brown

Each and every day we learn a little more about Kings head coach Mike Brown and his coaching style. From his boisterous scream during media day, to his showing off his socks in the middle of a press conference, Brown has kept the media on their toes.

On Saturday night, after a close loss to the Los Angeles Lakers, we saw a new side of Brown. During his opening remarks, Brown called out rookie Keegan Murray in a very specific way, which to be honest, was jarring.

“Keegan Murray plays 30 minutes and has zero rebounds,” Brown said. “Harrison Barnes, he’s got a load of a guy that he’s guarding, LeBron, and LeBron is out on the perimeter, so it’s a little tougher for him to get defensive rebounds, but we've got to get something from Keegan and we can’t have him on the floor for 30 minutes and get zero rebounds, especially down the stretch of a tough ball game.”

This isn’t the first time a head coach has singled out an individual for poor play in Sacramento. George Karl famously compared Derrick Williams to a Coke machine after the forward grabbed one rebound in 30 minutes of action.

I would like to tell you the exact date, but Williams, a solid 6-foot-8 forward with elite leaping ability, accomplished this feat on more than one occasion during the 2014-15 season. It’s a good thing Karl wasn’t looking at Williams’ assist totals, where the Former No. 2 overall pick also failed to register a single dime in 41 games that he saw action in that year.

Going public with a grievance about a player usually comes after multiple conversations behind the scenes. Maybe it was his team’s current fluctuating play or the fact that it was against the Lakers, one of Brown’s former teams, but frustrations boiled over.

On Thursday afternoon, Murray discussed his relationship with Brown, and his comments were intriguing.

“I signed up for it in college, playing for Fran (McCaffery), he’s always kinda tough on you, no matter what,” Murray said. “As a freshman, I kinda had that same experience that I have now.”

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