Murray says Raps don’t know hoops
Glad to be a Net, veteran says in return to ACC Blasts GM for ‘giving up’ on team in Carter deal
Lamond Murray, who did so little in three seasons with the Raptors that they paid him handsomely to go away, is hardly wistful and sentimental about his return.
“ They don’t know basketball up there,” the current New Jersey Net told reporters yesterday. “ If you don’t know what you’re doing you keep on guessing every year and that’s all that’s going on, guessing every year.
“ So they do what they’ve got to do and I’m glad to be out of there.”
Murray, 31, was waived by the Raptors this summer and signed as a free agent by the Nets. He returns to the Air Canada Centre for an exhibition game tonight.
“ You see what’s already happening out there,” he said. “ They’re losing to teams they shouldn’t be losing to even if it is only pre- season.
“ It’s already started. ( I want to) just go up there, take care of business and get out of there.”
It’s not as if Murray ever leaves an organization on good terms, it seems. He was highly critical of the Cleveland Cavaliers before they dealt him to Toronto in 2002, going so far as to take out an ad in a newspaper to get his comments on the record. He missed his entire first season with the Raptors because of afoot injury and that might have been one of the highlights of his tenure here. He demanded a trade from Toronto two seasons ago, was suspended by the club for one game after an open conflict with thencoach Kevin O’Neill and spent most of last season going through the motions, playing when called upon but doing little in a limited role.
The Raptors, trying to
weed out locker room
problems, waived him
in August.
“ I tried to be as professional as I could,” he
said “ They just did
what they wanted to do. Like now, I’m trying not to get into this now and really air out how I really feel. ( I’ll) leave it alone and be professional. There was many a time I wanted to blow up.” One of them, apparently, was after the Raptors dealt Vince Carter to New Jersey last November. Murray said that was one of the more telling points in what he terms his disappointing time with an organization he has no respect for.
“ Nothing against the guys they brought over but to give up on a franchise guy what are you thinking?” he asked. “To do what they did, to go make that trade, they basically gave up on us.
“ There really was no reason for it. Like I said, they’re just guessing. ‘ Hey, let’s get rid of Vince, we’ll be better. ( Let’s) get rid of our talent, we’ll be better.’
“That’s how they think because it’s all about hard work. Hard work? Get some guys digging trenches if that’s what they want. It’s a talent- driven league.”