Denver Nuggets: 3 ways to replace Jamal Murray’s production this offseason

Denver Nuggets: Jamal Murray season replacements via internal improvement

When Jamal Murray first went down, the Denver Nuggets went on a bit of a run, finishing the season 16-8, with contributions coming from other aspects of the roster. While these other contributions hurt Denver’s Finals hopes, it’s hard to win it all without a star, Jokic’s brilliance and Michael Porter Jr’s incredible shooting kept them alive.

Next season, instead of having 24 games remaining, there’ll be 82 games remaining (pending whatever the hell happens between now and then COVID-wise), a much higher sample size to try and replace Jamal.

MPJ had injury issues in the Phoenix series, but with an offseason of rest behind him, it’s fair enough to assume he can go back to his near-All-Star shooting form, so if we’re less worried about scoring, how can the Nuggets replicate Jamal’s ball-handling?

In the playoffs, head coach Michael Malone went with Facundo Campazzo and Austin Rivers as the starting backcourt and it was… fine. He changed it up in Game 4 against Phoenix, inserting Monte Morris and Will Barton but that decimated their bench production.

I think it’d be very interesting to see Monte in one of the starting guard roles for an entire season.

Let’s assume Denver sign a shooting guard to a minimum contract, someone that can hit their shot and has the size to guard twos, a Garrett Temple for example. Monte Morris can be the natural point guard he is, orchestrate the offense, play off of Jokic’s passing, and drill his jump shots like usual.

One of the underrated elements of Monte’s game is how sensible he is with the ball. Chris Paul, deservingly, gets all the attention for his lack of turnovers, but Morris is just as elite. In the 2020-21 season, he averaged 0.7 turnovers per night in 25.4 minutes.

Out of all point guards or combo guards who played 1,000 minutes, the only player with a lower turnover percentage was CJ McCollum per Cleaning the Glass. Monte turned the ball over 7.2 percent of the time, Chris Paul? 11.3 percent.

If Monte’s in the starting lineup, then behind him in the veteran Campazzo, then Two-Way guys in Shaq Harrison and Markus Howard, Will Barton in a pinch, and maybe even a rookie guard if they draft one.

It’d be great for the Denver Nuggets if they made a splash in free agency, signing a veteran guard that can soak up some of the production Jamal opens up, but even without a replacement, Denver’s depth has it covered. We’re essentially playing on house money, let’s see if the Nuggets play their cards right.