Three key areas of improvement for Denver Nuggets rising star Jamal Murray

Finishing through contact

Jamal Murray had an excellent 2018-19 season, as he performed quite well while taking on a much larger role in the offense. That being said, it wasn’t all great for Murray in his first season with a usage rate above 23 percent.

In the 2018-19 season Murray’s effective field goal percentage dipped to 50.2 percent, down percent from 52.9 percent the previous season. A reason for this was Murray’s high percentage of midrange attempts, combined with his decreased attempts at the rim and from the 3-point line. Murray got to the rim less and saw his free throw volume dip, likely as a result of increased defensive attention.

One of the first steps to Murray becoming a bonafide superstar is becoming an elite finisher at the basket. He made strides last season as he shot better at the rim in the postseason than in the regular season, showing the ability to make things happen in the paint when the stakes are high.

Murray has a 39.5-inch max vertical leap, something you wouldn’t guess based off of his playing style. Despite being a very skilled guard with a variety of scoop shots, Murray will absolutely dunk on you if given a runway to the basket, as the Trail Blazers found out in his 34-point, Game 4 explosion.

In the Nuggets Game 7 loss to Portland in the Western Conference Semifinals, Murray had a poor shooting night (4/18 FG) but still managed to score 17 points with the help of free throws, going 9/9 from the charity stripe. Murray couldn’t finish around the basket in Game 7 as CJ McCollum on the perimeter and Zach Collins (4 blocks in Gm. 7) did an excellent job of corralling Murray any time he got inside.

Murray shot 57 percent at the rim in the regular season and 62 percent in the playoffs per Cleaning The Glass. Those are both decent marks for a 21-year old guard who is still developing.

Murray’s career high in percentage of shot attempts coming at the rim is 26 percent. For Murray to become an unstoppable offensive force he needs to be unpredictable in how he attacks a defense. His floater game is nice but it would behoove Murray to work harder on generating contact on his dribble-drives in which he is getting all the way to the rim.

I would like to see Jamal Murray get to 30 percent of his shots coming at the rim. This would mean he is getting downhill often and would increase his trips to the free throw line. Murray saw his regular season offensive rating drop a few points from 2018 and there is no question that the fact that he attacked the rim less played a small part.

Now that he has a long-term financial commitment from the Nuggets, we need to see Murray play at an elite level throughout the regular season too. Banking a lot of wins early in the year is going to be especially important next season, seeing as homecourt advantage in the West could be even more important than usual in a wide open title race.