Denver Nuggets: 4 burning questions entering training camp

Training camp is upon us and the Denver Nuggets are right back into NBA action, just shortly removed from a second-round loss to the Phoenix Suns just over three months ago.

The camp will take place at the University of California San Diego in San Diego, CA from Tuesday, 28 Sept. through Saturday 2 Oct. and the roster has been finalized with a few training camp invites hoping to crack into an NBA roster.

The most recent addition was Petr Cornelie, the French national, on a two-way contract, rounding out the roster. On top of the 15 roster spots, the team has invited Tarik Black, Davon Reed, and Matt Ryan to training camp.

But this offseason wasn’t one of major additions, in fact, it’s the major omission in Jamal Murray due to a torn ACL, that will garner much of the attention. So, let’s start with that.

Denver Nuggets questions entering training camp: Who steps up to fill Jamal Murray’s scoring?

When Jamal Murray tore his ACL late in the 2020-21 season, the mood around the Denver Nuggets was low. The Nuggets went from near title contenders to first-round fodder in a matter of minutes and it came right off the back of a winning streak following the Aaron Gordon trade.

While Denver bounced back, stealing a series against the favored Portland Trail Blazers, they didn’t have enough firepower to beat a rolling Suns team, losing in four games.

But one bright spot from the brief playoff run and post-Jamal games was the hot stretch from Michael Porter Jr. In the 23 games after Jamal’s injury, MPJ averaged 22.8 points and seven rebounds a night on 55/45/86 shooting splits and elevated to the second option behind Nikola Jokic.

He took that hot shooting with him into the playoffs, racking up some impressive shooting performances against Portland before re-aggravating a back injury against Phoenix and losing form because of it.

One of the stranger parts of the COVID-shortened 2020-21 season was the lack of scouting and preparation between games. With teams cramming games into shorter time frames, less practise time, and less time to study film, there were some gameplan mishaps.

While it wasn’t the reason MPJ shot the lights out in the home stretch of the season, it didn’t hurt his production. With Porter Jr. likely assuming that role for the entirety of next season, will he be able to sustain it across 82 games?

Let’s assume he can, but maybe on lesser shooting than those 20-odd games, is there enough scoring on this roster to completely make up for Murray as well as find a new third option with MPJ elevating?