Murray, Warrick 'Phil-ing' in nicely for the Bulls

The two significant additions to the Bulls, Flip Murray and Hakim Warrick, are both Philadelphia natives.

What's interesting about Murray is he arrived in the NBA blanketed by obscurity. He played at Division II Shaw University in Raleigh, N.C., before hitting it big with the Seattle SuperSonics in the 2003-04 season.

Prior to college, though, Murray was renowned in his hometown as one of Philly's greatest street ball sensations.

"I knew about him," said Warrick, who is younger than Murray and from a different part of town. "He's a high school legend. I had a mixtape of highlights of him that I used to watch. It had music in the background and a couple of his highlights, just dunking and crossing people over."

Remember, this was in the primitive days of the late 1990s. Now, anyone can post a mixtape on YouTube. Back then, it had to be copied to DVD and distributed.

Warrick confirmed there were rap songs in Philadelphia created to celebrate Murray and his Strawberry Mansion High School teammate Kevin "Buzz" Forney, who went on to play at Duquesne.

A story in The Philadelphia Inquirer that looked back on Murray's high school years claimed the gym at Strawberry Mansion used to fill up during his intramural games.

Murray didn't fare as well in the classroom, which is why he ended up at a community college in Meridian, Miss., before attending Shaw. He took a year off in between because his mother needed help at home.

Plenty of street ball lingers in Murray's game. He had a memorable dunk against the Bulls a few years ago when he played for the Pistons. Kirk Hinrich tried to take a charge on the play, but acted as more of a high-jump bar. In his third game with the Bulls, Murray made all the highlight shows with his crossover and dunk over Wizards center JaVale McGee.

Warrick is too young to have played against Murray back then, but ex-Bull John Salmons is a North Philly contemporary.

"John Salmons, he knows about me," Murray said. "We had a couple battles coming up. That's my man."

Murray, 31, has been a seamless replacement for Salmons, scoring 16 points in each of the past two games. The 6-foot-3 guard specialized in bringing points off the bench as he moved from Milwaukee, Seattle, Detroit, Indiana, Atlanta, Charlotte and finally to the Bulls.

"I've been doing that my whole career, so it's very easy for me to fit right in," Murray said. "(The toughest part of changing teams is) just learning everything, learning the play sets. Everything else is just playing basketball. Everything else comes simple to me."

While Murray went to a Division II college, Warrick won a national championship at Syracuse. But Warrick believes they both bring the same characteristics to the Bulls.

"Gritty, tough, hard-nosed players; guys that have a lot of heart. That's what most Philly players are known for," Warrick said.

<p class="factboxheadblack">Bulls game day</p>

<p class="News">Bulls vs. Portland Trail Blazers at the United Center, 7 p.m. Friday</p>

<p class="News"><b>TV: </b>Comcast SportsNet</p>

<p class="News"><b>Radio:</b> WMVP 1000-AM</p>

<p class="News"><b>Update:</b> The Bulls are overdue for a good performance against Portland. They've lost five straight in the series and dropped the last three meetings by margins of 24, 14 and 42 points. When the Bulls lost at Portland (34-26) on Nov. 23, they were overwhelmed on the inside by Greg Oden and Joel Przybilla, but both Blazers centers have since been lost for the season. Veteran big man Marcus Camby, acquired from the Clippers, missed Wednesday's win at Toronto with a sprained ankle, but may return tonight. Guard Brandon Roy has missed 15 games this season while averaging 22.4 points.</p>

<p class="News"><b>Next:</b> Friday vs. Indiana Pacers at Conseco Fieldhouse, 6 p.m.</p>

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