Johnny Furphy had the unfortunate experience of sitting in the green room during the first day of the draft and not getting selected. The Pacers nabbed the former Kansas forward early in the second round. He came to the Summer League team ready to go.
“It’s something I’d been working for my whole life,” Furphy told Dustin Dopirak of the Indianapolis Star. “It was just a massive relief. It was great to have my family there to share those moments with them. It was a dream come true. It’s pretty surreal, it’s just slowly settling in now that this is reality. It’s exciting.”
We have more from the Central Division:
- The Pacers drafted Jarace Walker last year as a power forward. With Pascal Siakam re-signing with the club, Walker will get extended minutes at small forward during Summer League play. He’ll also get opportunities to handle the ball, according to Dopirak. “I feel like playing the three, I’m bigger and longer. I’m usually stronger so I’m probably going to have a smaller, quicker matchup,” he said. “Being able to move my feet, stay in front of those matchups and keep them from going downhill. That’s always been kind of my strong suit almost, my defensive versatility being able to guard multiple positions. It will be a challenge, but nothing I haven’t done for.”
- The Bulls and Kings worked out a three-team deal in which DeMar DeRozan will head to Sacramento in a sign-and-trade. Chicago attempted to trade another starter to the Kings before the DeRozan deal materialized, according to K.C. Johnson of NBC Sports Chicago. The two teams held trade talks centered on Zach LaVine. The Bulls will continue their efforts to trade LaVine and they now have two second-round picks coming in the DeRozan deal to help facilitate a potential trade.
- So far, Trajan Langdon has shown patience in his first year as the Pistons’ president of basketball operations and that’s a good thing, James Edwards III of The Athletic opines. Langdon has brought in veterans on short-team contracts with proven shooting ability to help out Cade Cunningham. He’s also got more cap space available to acquire other players in salary dumps with assets attached, as he did with Dallas in the Tim Hardaway Jr. trade.
- In a similar piece, Shawn Windsor of the Detroit Free Press asserts that the moves Langdon and his front office staff have made gives the Pistons some semblance of a modern NBA roster. Doubling last season’s 14-win total isn’t out of the question with the veterans they’ve added to help balance the roster, Windsor adds.