We can sit here and bemoan all the things wrong with the Denver Nuggets, all the team’s shortcomings, and everything they could do better. It’s an imperfect bunch. Even at full strength, they only have eight playable NBA players. They don’t have nearly enough shooting for a modern NBA team.
They’re also just not a good defensive team right now. They can’t defend a basic pick and roll, they can’t stop dribble penetration, they can’t stay out of rotation, and they can’t protect the rim. It’s a recipe for disaster and many of their recent games have looked disastrous.
All of these are very real problems contributing to the team’s 17-13 record despite employing the favorite for MVP and the league’s undisputed best player, Nikola Jokic. At the end of the day, it all boils down to one massive issue that is magnifying everything else.
If Jamal Murray doesn’t play like a star, the Nuggets have no chance
With the NBA’s new CBA, it’s harder to build a championship-caliber team than ever. Teams can ill afford to have bad contracts and giving out max money to non-stars is one of the quickest ways to sink a team. Look around the league; there aren’t good teams with those kinds of contracts on their roster.
But so far this season, that’s exactly what the Nuggets have been doing. Jamal Murray is the second highest-paid player on the Nuggets, making over $36 million this season. He also just signed a four-year, fully guaranteed max contract extension beginning next season.
NBA teams can afford to use that kind of contract on one or two players and Denver has chosen to use them on Jokic and Murray for this decade. Jokic is a no-brainer, but the Murray contract already looks scary.
His numbers are down across the board; he’s averaging just 19.8 points per game on 44% shooting and 36% shooting from three. His assist numbers are also down slightly and his defense has looked worse than ever.
The sad reality of the situation is that the Nuggets can crush every single move on the margins, but if they’re paying superstar money for role-player production, they won’t win titles. The only path to contention for the Nuggets is for Murray to play like a true number two star alongside the Joker. Short of that, this team will be fighting an uphill battle for years to come.
Murray showing signs of life lately
The good news is that Murray has finally turned it on and looked like the Murray of old in recent games. His shot has picked back up and the scoring and assist numbers have been where you’d want them to be. There seems to be a little bit of a pep in his step and he even made a steal and threw down a dunk the other night.
Murray topped 30 points for the first time on Saturday with 34 points and he’s scored 20 or more points in six of his past seven games since returning from a hamstring injury. In that seven-game span, Murray is averaging 24.7 points, 6.3 assists, and 4.6 rebounds per game. He’s also shooting 51% from the floor and 44% from three over that stretch.
This is what the Nuggets need from Jamal, a true number-two guy on offense. If he can be counted on to score in the 20s every night on good efficiency, that will be a major boost to the offense. He still has work to do to become an average defensive player, but we know he can rise to the occasion.
Hopefully, this is the start of Murray truly getting healthy and rounding into form. If he can sustain this level of play, the team will have a much easier path to solving the rest of their issues.