The class average court-goers (C to B+ grades)
Julian Strawther: B+
The Strawther hype was strong coming out of pre-season and he has definitely played well in his 19.5 minutes per game. While he isn’t quite the mega spark plug off the bench that some Nuggets fans were hoping for, he has excelled in a limited role where not much is asked of him.
Strawther averaged 7.5 PPG, 2.0 RPG, 1.0 APG, and 1.0 SPG as Denver’s 7th man. These numbers definitely do not jump out at you, but his 60.0% FG shooting leads the team and he has connected on 55.6% of his shots from deep. It has been a solid start for the 6’7” wing this season.
Aaron Gordon: B
Gordon, who is now inked his long-term contract in Denver has had an up and down season thus-far with some aspects of his game being slightly better than expected and other aspects being slightly worse. On one hand his 3FG% and FT% are both in great spots at 40% and 85.7% respectively. On the other, he hasn’t been great defensively and has struggled at times.
Gordon has averaged 15.5 PPG, 7.5 RPG, and 3.5 APG. His first two games were not pretty as he shot just 36.3% from the field and 1/5 from 3-point range. Against Toronto and Brooklyn, he has picked it up substantially and looks far more active offensively, drawing fouls and bodying players down low in the paint. The defense has been less steady, but should come soon.
Jamal Murray: C
Similar to the previous half decade, Murray has gotten off to a slower start than he and the Nuggets staff would have liked. With that being said, he has not been anywhere near as poor as his Olympic campaign and has hit numerous clutch shots this season, most notably hitting the game-tying layup with 0.3 seconds left in regulation against the Raptors.
The problem is that he is now on his new max deal so Nuggets fans are certainly expecting more from him and are wanting to see him step up in terms of consistency and high-level play in the regular season. Murray is averaging 18.8 PPG, 5.0 RPG, and 4.8 APG, which are by no means bad numbers, but he has also been wildly inefficient, shooting just 38% from the field.
Now, unfortunately we must get into the more problematic areas of the rotation with the players who have not played well at all to start the year.