Ex-UCI Athlete Puts a New Spin on Murphy’s Law : Basketball: Tod Murphy has seen things go wrong in his career. But even when they do, he finds a way to take advantage.

Tod Murphy blew out his knee during his second game of pro basketball in Italy, lost his starting job when he tore up an ankle and wrenched his back during his second season with the Minnesota Timberwolves and suffered a season-ending hamstring injury on his first day of practice with the Houston Rockets last year.

“I’ve lived a charmed life,” he says.

The thing is, he’s not being sarcastic.

Awash in a sea of massive egos and excuses, Murphy is the rare professional athlete who has never lost his perspective.

The Houston Rockets paid him $500,000 last season. He never played a minute because of the slow-to-heal hamstring and the fact the streaking Rockets didn’t want to mess with team chemistry when he was finally fit. Sure, Murphy wished he could have played a part in his team’s success, but pulling down a half-million for being a suit-and-tie cheerleader beats the heck out of most alternatives short of winning the lottery.

He owns a sea-breeze-swept home in the hills above the UC Irvine campus, where he holds the career scoring record with 1,778 points and is second on the all-time rebounding list with 837. He stays in shape at a posh health club nearby. And even now--on the verge of settling for half of last year’s salary to play in Italy or Spain--you won’t hear Murphy talk about what might have been.

What was is good enough.

“Two years ago, my last year in Minnesota when I wasn’t playing very much, people would ask me why I always had my hand over my mouth during games,” Murphy said. “We’d sit at the end of the bench and make fun of everything, in the game and up in the crowd, and you didn’t want to be seen laughing.

“You know, you’re supposed to be mentally into every game, but, heck, I was enjoying life so much. Of course I would rather have been out there playing, but still, I was in the NBA. When I played in the (Continental Basketball Assn.) and in Spain after college, I never ever thought I’d make it to the NBA.

“So it had hit me, ‘Murph, you’re the luckiest guy on earth.’ And I came into each game with that attitude, to just enjoy being part of an NBA team, the atmosphere, the players. I mean how many people can honestly say that they have fulfilled their wildest lifetime dream? It’s the greatest job in the world and don’t ever let anybody tell you different.”

This guy has more positive spin than a Jim Courier forehand. He describes his knee injury in Italy as “a great situation for me.”

At the time, however, even he had trouble finding the bright side.

“Right after I left UCI, I went to Italy to play for a team in Naples, but I got hurt in my second game. One doctor there said it was just a strain, but then another said it needed surgery, so I got on a plane home.

“I had to change planes in New York and I was such a dumb rookie that I didn’t ask if there was a shuttle or even where the gate was. I could walk on it, so I just took off. Like an idiot, I’m hobbling through JFK with 70 pounds of bags for three-quarters of a mile. I was in some serious pain by the time I got to the gate.

“Looking back, though, it was a blessing in disguise. I was only 210 pounds then and NBA teams wanted me as a small forward, but I had played power forward and center my whole career at Irvine. After I hurt my knee, I ended up gaining about 30 pounds. All I could do was lift weights. After I burned off the fat, I was still 230 and had turned into a true power forward rather than a ‘tweener.’ ”

After rehabilitating his knee, Murphy played in the L.A. summer league and was approached by Bill Musselman, then coach of the CBA’s Albany (N.Y.) Patroons. When a tryout with the Clippers led nowhere, Murphy decided to shuffle off to Albany.

The Patroons went 48-6 and Murphy was the league’s Most Valuable Player.

“We played in a little, tiny armory with portable stands that seated about 3,000,” Murphy said, “but we’d get 5,000 with people standing 20 deep. It was unbelievable. And the place wasn’t even heated. Sometimes, you could see your breath.”

It was a bizarre year of emotional ups and downs for Murphy. He would average 30 minutes of playing time for two weeks, then play just a minute or two for a couple of games.

“I was constantly wondering, ‘What the heck is this guy doing to me?’ ” he said, “but it was good for me in that it made me mentally tougher. And then when three guys got called up to the NBA right before the playoffs, I was playing 48 minutes every game and ended up MVP.”

Murphy made a decision that year that stalled his NBA career on a short-term basis, but ultimately paved the way for a three-season run with Minnesota.

“I had already played one game with the Clippers that year and that one game was a turning point for me,” he said. “It totally changed my whole NBA career because late that year Golden State called me and wanted to bring me up for the last 10 games of the year.

“I would have gone immediately if I hadn’t already played that one game. To play in the NBA was my lifetime dream and I couldn’t have passed it up. But we were right in the middle of the playoffs and I wanted to win the championship so badly that I thought, ‘Well, you’ve got your game in; you can always tell your kids that you played in the NBA.’ So I stayed and I think that loyalty came full circle two years later when I tried out in Minnesota and Coach Musselman gave me a great shot to prove myself and make the team.”

He not only made the roster, but earned a starting spot and the job of trying to stop the opponent’s premier front-line player. One night it was Charles Barkley, the next, Karl Malone, then Akeem Olajuwon, and then David Robinson . . .

Murphy did his best to slow his opponent--stop was not a realistic goal--and managed to average eight points, eight rebounds and 30 minutes of playing time. But he always knew it wouldn’t last.

“I realized that I was kind of a transition player,” he said, “in that I was a guy who was solid enough that they could start to build a foundation in Minnesota, but I knew in my heart I wasn’t going to be an NBA starter for my whole career.”

He wasn’t going to relinquish his spot without a fight, however, but yet another injury settled the issue. He started the first few games for the Timberwolves in 1991, and then injured his ankle.

A sore back and some admittedly horrible shooting put him on the end of the bench and eventually he was cut. Then came a workout with Houston and a fat, little free-agent contract.

“That was a nightmare, 10 minutes into my first practice, doing a layup drill, I hyper-extended my knee and pulled my hamstring right behind my knee,” he said. “I kept thinking, ‘Two weeks and I’ll be back.’ But I’d start running and, boom , the knee would hyper-extend and I’d re-injure the hamstring. It happened four times.

“I was finally ready for the last two months of season, but I was the odd man out by then. It was one of the most difficult things I’ve ever been through. I didn’t feel like I was part of the team and I didn’t feel like I was earning the money. Sure, I can think of a lot of worse situations, but it doesn’t feel good.”

The Rockets decided against bringing Murphy back this year and tryouts with the Clippers and Charlotte Hornets failed to earn him an invitation to an NBA camp.

“Tod played as well as any big man in the Utah summer league, so we’re certainly not in a panic,” said Warren Lagarie, Murphy’s agent. “NBA camps have just opened (Friday) and a lot of times people are analyzing their club on paper, but there’s a stretch from paper to product. And then there are injuries to be considered.

“There are very few, if any, Tod Murphys out there, in terms of experience and abilities. Soon as a club realizes they don’t have the rebounding they think they do . . .

“Plus, the offers from Europe will be coming in next week and we’ll have to consider those. But, in any case, Tod will land on his feet.”

And you won’t hear a discouraging word about European basketball from Murphy.

“I’m prepared for the possibility of playing overseas,” he said. “I’m not going to go to an NBA team on a make-good contract when I can go over there and make $200,000, which includes a free house and a free car.”

Murphy smiled. Another adventure. Maybe another injury, too, but he’s not one to hold back. It is, after all, a wonderful life.

“I’ve had some bad luck with injuries, but I’ve seen the world, made friends all over this country and I consider myself one very, very, very lucky human being.”