Clippers Count on a Merrier Murray

Lamond Murray is so unassuming on the basketball court that if you didn’t see him talk to a teammate, you might think he wasn’t even breathing.

Murray does his talking with his jump shot, which ranks among the smoothest in the NBA. Starting his fifth season, Murray has emerged as the go-to guy in the Clippers’ new offense under Coach Chris Ford. In two exhibition games against the Lakers last weekend, Murray led all scorers with 37 points.

“He’s become more and more aggressive and his teammates have become more respectful of his ability,” said Laker forward Rick Fox, who guarded Murray in the weekend games. “He has a quiet approach to his game. He’s not a very vocal person. His game speaks for itself.

“He’s always been known as a very good shooter. He’s 6-7 or 6-8 and he’s able to put the ball on the floor and get his shot off over anybody. That’s a strength for a scorer in this league.”

Ford intends to take advantage of all of Murray’s offensive strengths. Murray will start at small forward and will be the first option much of the time. He will move to shooting guard when Ford wants a bigger lineup.

For Murray, Ford’s arrival was just what the doctor ordered. Although he led the team in scoring at 15.4 points last season, some fans will be surprised if he finishes among the league’s top 10 scorers.

“I felt that last season people underestimated me, from what I had been through my first three years, and they’ve kind of taken me for granted like, ‘He’s a good player but . . . ,’ ” Murray said.

“I’m just trying to stay consistent now. Well-balanced. If my shot is not dropping, I’ll try to take it to the basket more. I want it so it’s just not one thing that people are worried about.”

Murray has played small forward for most of his career, but he’s getting used to the idea of being a shooting guard.

“I have no problems with it, as long as I’m taking care of the things I need to do on the floor,” he said. “In our offense, the [shooting guard] and [small forward] do the same thing. Defensively, we use a help side defense. So it really is not going to affect me because I won’t be isolated one on one on a [shooting guard]. There are a lot of big [shooting guards] in the league anyway.”

Murray had a solid rookie season after having been selected seventh overall by the Clippers in the 1994 draft. Then-coach Bill Fitch gave him plenty of playing time and he became the team’s second-leading scorer at 14.1 points, also averaging 4.4 rebounds and 1.6 assists.

He began his second season the same way and was the team’s leading scorer when he got flu around the Christmas season and missed some playing time. When he returned to full strength, he was on the bench.

For the next two seasons, Murray tried to adjust to his changing roles under Fitch. It seemed to him that when he just tried to fit in, he wasn’t scoring enough. And when he looked for his shot, he was playing too selfish.

“I almost got into a scuffle at a [home Clipper] game with this fan who was booing Lamond,” said Robert Murray, Lamond’s uncle and the father of Washington Wizard and former UCLA forward Tracy Murray.

“Lamond was busting his butt, trying to do what [Fitch] wanted him to do. It was so wrong. They just didn’t know what was going on.”

Murray tried to make the best of his situation and finished so strong last season that his stock has slowly crept within striking distance of fellow first-rounders in the 1994 draft, Glen Robinson, Jason Kidd, Grant Hill and Juwan Howard.

“I was ready to leave after my second year but nobody wanted to trade for me,” Murray said. “People wondered about me and said that my productivity wasn’t up to par to how much money [I was] making. So, no one wanted to trade for me, despite not knowing what circumstances I had been through.

“It was like I was stuck. I had to sit here and deal with what I thought was at the time, a personal vendetta against me [by Fitch].”

Nothing of the sort, said Fitch, who was fired at the end of last season.

“I’m sorry that he feels that way because there was never anything personal against him,” Fitch said.

“As a player, I always felt that he had the potential to become very good. He was one of the most talented players on the team.

“The thing is that I had him during the tough years. He was just coming out of college early and it is always tough for players early in their NBA careers.

“Lamond improved every year that he was with us. . . . His only [negative] is that he hasn’t been a consistent player. But the effort has always been there. He worked hard in practice and during the off-season.

“He’s matured as a person, which has helped him more than one might think. This is probably a critical year for him.”

Over the summer, Murray and his wife, Carmen, had a domestic dispute that resulted in a spousal abuse charge against him. Since then, they have sought help and Murray said that’s another reason he’s ready to have a big season.

“If I hadn’t gone through all of this, I wouldn’t know all of the ups and downs of the NBA,” he said. “I know now.”

The Clippers recently approached Murray about extending his contract before the league’s March deadline for those who will be free agents.

Murray, however, wants to concentrate on playing the lockout-shortened 50-game season, then will see what happens.

“I’ll look at a [contract extension] after the season is over but right now, I just want to finish out my five-year [commitment] to the Clippers and earn my paycheck,” he said.

He believes he will be justified, though, if he decides to test the market.

“It’s been tough just being associated with the Clippers,” he said. “People always have something negative to say. You try not to look at it as something negative about you. But, if you hear it so much, you start wondering if anyone will ever say anything positive about us. . . . The level of disrespect because you play for the Clippers gets to you sometimes.”

When it comes to rebuilding programs, however, Murray is experienced. At Kennedy High in Fremont, and then again at California, he helped turn things around, and he sees potential with the Clippers.

“The team really seems ready to turn it around and move in a positive direction,” he said. “We’re moving out of the Sports Arena into the Staples Center [next season]. We have a new coach. We have a No. 1 draft pick center [Michael Olowokandi]. We have the building blocks to build a new Clipper [identity]. And from what I understand, we’re even going to have new uniforms!

“We have a pretty good nucleus. It’s not just me. We have to somehow learn how to do what we can do on the game court.”

Clipper Notes

A crowd of 2,869 watched Michael Olowokandi play under NBA game conditions for the first time as he scored 11 points and grabbed 11 rebounds in a free intrasquad scrimmage Tuesday night at the Sports Arena. Lamond Murray’s 29 points led the White team to an 88-80 victory over the Blue team. Eric Piatkowski and Tyrone Nesby led the Blue team with 17 points each. . . . Rookie forward Brian Skinner will undergo an arthroscopic exam on his left knee today and is expected to be sidelined 2-3 weeks.