Why Johnny Furphy needs to find lower lows to reach new heights

On the 20-year-old's propensity for making the play before 'The Play' and why reaching higher highs might require him to play lower than ever

By: Caitlin Cooper I @C2_Cooper

Before Tyrese Haliburton missed his second free throw against the Cleveland Cavaliers, secured the rebound, and retreated to the top of the key to drain a game-winning, step-back three with 1.1 seconds left, Andrew Nembhard forced a turnover at the other end of the floor, swimming in front of Ty Jerome for a clutch steal that ignited the fast-break for the Pacers without any opportunity for Cleveland to reinsert their key defenders. Likewise, before Haliburton drove right (without anyone even attempting to force him left!) and pulled up from 21 feet, sinking another game-winner with 0.3 seconds left in Oklahoma City, Nembhard stonewalled Shai Gilgeous-Alexander into a miss, allowing the Pacers to run the ball the other way without calling a timeout.

This is Summer League. Nothing is going to match the highs of those heroics, but there's been a similar "don't forget the stop that led to the shot" vibe every time Johnny Furphy has unleashed his latest dunk of the summer on the rim.

"I've always had it," Furphy answered during a mid-game sideline interview on Saturday against the Oklahoma City Thunder when NBA-TV's Dennis Scott asked him where his athleticism comes from as a shooter, as if his hops were somehow surprising.

Alas, NBA-TV must've missed his poster dunk over Goga Bitadze in the penultimate game of the regular season.

(sigh)

Anyway, in a sense, Furphy has been elevating in those highlight-worthy plays to reach old, rather than new, impressive heights.

Play of the Game - Elevating to old heights

And yet, it's that combination of athleticism that he's "always had," along with the defense and nose for the ball at the other end of the floor, providing the play before The Play, that at times makes him seem like he could be ready to compete for minutes sooner rather than later.

After all, before he went behind the back to his left for a two-handed slam...

… he went from containing a pick-and-pop in drop to walling up on the drive and pulling down the subsequent rebound.

And before he threw down this one-handed slam in transition off a touch pass...

… he was helping on a drive, recovering back out to the corner, buffering with his length to prevent the ball from ever touching the paint, and diving on the floor for the loose ball.

Oh, and before he pulled out the same behind-the-back maneuver to his left though traffic and cocked the ball way back as if to elicit ratcheting sounds from the vertebrae in his spine, he also made sure to remember the golden rule of "the basketball is the most important part of basketball" as he collected the rebound from Enrique Freeman's box-out.

The defense hasn't been perfect. He got caught on a few off-ball screens that made him late chasing Matas Buzelis into hand-offs and pick-and-rolls. There was some confusion involving him with coverages against stack action, and his closeout technique could use some refinement to avoid committing three-shot fouls; however, not unlike his athleticism that he's "always had," at least for those paying attention, he's also quietly been a 6-foot-9 forward who can play admirably in contain against guards and forwards alike. Put simply, the highs may not necessarily be new, but they're still as intriguing as ever.

Player of the Game: Finding and managing new lows

What is new, though, is how often he's looked to pressure the rim. As was laid out in my Summer League primer, Furphy only recorded 15 drives from above the break in over 350 minutes of action last season, as he wasn't always quick on the trigger with regard to shoot-or-drive decisions. Through three games in Las Vegas, he's accessed the paint more frequently in the half-court, but the path he takes to get there could still stand to be more straight and direct, without being as (well) straight up-and-down.

For example, this drive was destined to go nowhere in large part because of how it started. Rather than waiting on the screen, he attacks too early, taking a much wider angle to the rim that buys time for the screener defender to absorb the ball.

Of course, it also doesn't help that he took off way too far from the basket, but the part about taking a more circuitous route to the hoop has been somewhat of a common theme. Here, he never actually turns the corner, as his inside foot touches the right block after attempting to separate from the left wing.

Generally speaking, he tends to gather high and/or early and doesn't often bend lower than his defender, even when being guarded by someone his own size.

To be fair, as he's been trying to stretch his legs as a driver with more opportunity, the static spacing around him hasn't always afforded him maximum elbow room.

When his foot touches the paint, the player at the wing needs to cut to the basket immediately to collapse the weak-side zone and create a clearer passing angle.

That's too late, and there's been some similar occurrences with players not sliding into his his eyeline along the arc as he's pushing the ball downhill. That said, some of the lack of bend, as far as not quite finding and managing new lows, also applies to the defensive end, where his high, jumpy closeouts make it difficult for him to be a presence and infringe on the shooter's space without fouling.

Something has to give there. Chopping feet is an outdated technique at the NBA level, as it doesn't allow the player to cover as much ground and underestimates their ability to turn and pivot, but he still has to control when and where he's going to stop, if he isn't going to flyby or chase the player completely off the line -- the latter of which is more difficult to do when he isn't playing in a lower stance.

All of which is to say that, in a game that saw the Summer Pacers fall, 114-105, to the Summer Bulls, the most memorable play of the game, and probably even the entire summer slate, was Furphy's dunk, soaring to detonate at the rim over a very bemused and befuddled Noa Essengue. And yet, for Furphy to reach even higher highs, cracking the rotation for the Actual Pacers in the near-term future with the aspects of his athleticism and defense that he's "always had," he'll also need to show that he can manage finding lower lows.