3 Storylines to follow for the Denver Nuggets in 2022-23
By Alexandros Tsakos
The Denver Nuggets and Jamal Murray need time
Nuggets’ fans will have to exercise patience with Jamal Murray as he’s making his way back to form after missing the entire 2021-22 campaign. Murray’s condition will determine if the Nuggets can compete for a championship after the end of the 2022-23 regular season. That’s already a great amount of pressure for the Canadian guard.
Michael Malone recently told NBA.com that the Denver Nuggets will need to be patient with the guard:
"“This is a work in progress and it’s going to require patience on everybody’s part. I talked to Jamal about that. There will be tough nights for him, but he is our guy.”"
We know Murray can be a destructive force on the offensive end. The last time he was fully healthy, he averaged 21 points on 47.7 percent shooting, while making 2.7 3-pointers per contest on a 40.8 percent clip. He was also adding 4.8 assists and four rebounds per contest. Murray will get there eventually after taking the right amount of time to return to action.
Murray had a great two-man connection with Nikola Jokic before the injury, so I believe that at some point during the season we will see both creating havoc again in opponents’ defense. Jokic also knows that there’s a process before reaching to that point again.
Nikola Jokic, on his excitement of playing with Jamal Murray again: “I love to play with him, of course. I know he’s gonna be really bad for the next 20 games, but we’re gonna survive.”
— Mike Singer (@msinger) October 18, 2022
It will be interesting to see how the Denver Nuggets will cope in the first few months of the season with Murray still searching for himself on the floor.