Is This the Year of Jamal Murray? What Does the Next Step Look like?

Is This the Year of Jamal Murray? What Does the Next Step Look like?

The Denver Nuggets headed in to maybe the best squad they’ve ever had, but for many, this is going to come down to Jamal Murray. Matt and I, as he makes his slow way back into reality after having a wonderful vacation, we’re going to talk about Jamal Murray. What are some of the expectations for Jamal? Can he get better this year? And how is his rise going to really determine what happens with this Denver Nugget season? You got Matt Moore, Swiper. This is Locked on Nuggets. You are Locked on Nuggets, your daily Denver Nuggets podcast, part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. What’s going on y’all? Welcome to Locked on Nuggets. This is your daily NBA basketball show about the Denver Nuggets here with Matt Moore. We are getting ready to get into a great magnimous conversation about Jamal Murray and his upcoming year. And there’s been a lot of discussion in the NBA Twitter streets about Jamal. Some positive, some not so positive. But we’re going to get into the meat and potatoes of the story as my co-host with the players choice chill loves to say. We’re going to talk about a lot today for the Denver Nuggets. The nonicage minutes especially and how might that be a determining factor on just how good this Denver Nuggets team is going to end up being. Y’all, today’s episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Right now, new customers can get $150 in bonus bets when your first $5 bet wins. Yo, we’re here with Matt Moore. Matt, first off, good to see you. Have not had really much conversation with you outside of the group chat since you went on your vacation. How are you reaclimating into real daytoday life since you’ve been back from your trip in California, my friend? It’s good, man. Uh, it was a good trip, but I’m glad to be home. I really miss Colorado. So, really glad to be home. Excited for these dog days to work on some writing, work on some stats stuff. I’m gonna go hiking a little bit. It’s been great. How’s been How’s your summer been, man? Uh, it’s been good. You know, Matt, I’ve been on this uh I think public fitness thing and I’ve been posting a lot of workout videos to and encourage more and more people to get out there and get busy and get moving. Uh, but yeah, you know, I’m having a great summer. Uh, been traveling myself. Went to Chicago, one of my favorite cities in America. Now, I’m getting ready to head off to uh out of the country, well, in the country, just to Providence, Puerto Rico uh here in a little bit. And then I’m headed to Texas to go see some colleagues at Baylor. So I’m all around flying Swiper as we were just kind of letting us get used to this nonNBA content season we’re in in the summer. So we’re here to talk about Jamal Murray, you all. And as I said, there’s a lot going on. There’s a lot going on in the streets about Jamal Murray. Jamal Murray, I think who had a very in some many ways really good season uh for some stretches really the last 40 games of the year. Matt uh of the regular season, he actually had like a really really good turn up. You know, he had that 55point game versus the Portland Trailblazers. He was showing really a lot of chops as a playmaker, as a scorer last 40 games of the year. For the audience, in case they don’t remember, he was averaging 23 points a game, 5.8 eight assists, 4.1 rebounds, while shooting 48% from the field, 40 from three, and also 90% from the free throw line. Now, the true shooting was only a 59.6 cuz he doesn’t take enough threes to really kick that up. But Jamal, he was balling and, you know, I think a lot of people felt like going into the playoffs that this was going to be an opportunity for him to kind of rewrite the wrong of 2024. you know, obviously having the calf injury versus the LA Lakers really plummeted his efficiency in that series. 23 points a game, but not great efficiency at all. And then he had a very very up and down series versus the Minnesota Timberwolves in which he averaged 18 points a game, I think on 39% from the field in that series, but ended the series with 35 points into game seven. Him and Jokic the only two players to score more than seven points. So Jamal Murray came into the year, I think, trying to recover from some offseason stuff he’ been dealing with with the injuries. Uh Matt, I don’t know if you probably might remember this. I I actually had pulled up Jamal Murray and D’Angelo Russell’s numbers in the first like monthish of the year and they were very similar. But then from then, really since December 1st, he kicked it into overdrive. So when you think about Jamal Murray, Matt, do you think that this could be the year that he is really able to take a true step as a basketball player? So I pull up this chart. You can find at youtube.com/locktonnuggets. And this is his estimated plus minus throughout the course of last season. And what we’re really going to see is so 1.9 was a season average. So locate the plus two when you’re watching looking at this. And you’ll notice that for the most of the season, he’s well below that. like he’s hovered right around zero a little bit in the minus dips into there. Um gets harder in the playoffs. That’s not unnecessarily unexpected given how EPM is kind of measured. You have this stretch from mid January that goes really until kind of about the beginning of March. Um so he has a month and a half where he was absolutely phenomenal and I thought it was some of the best basketball of his career. And the thing with him is always this consistency issue. And I think his mindset always kind of seems to be, I’ve had great games, my overall season numbers are good. What’s the problem? And I think there is a demand from the fans. I think there is a demand from the front office. I think there is a desire from his teammates like his teammates want good things for him but it goes beyond that where it’s if we can just be like hey we’re going to get 25 and six from you that might be a little bit high 23 and a half and six from you every night will be in a better spot because the problem is like these dips that he has where it’s it’s not one game and you saw it on that chart like he has these games these stretches where it’s just like he is he’s not terrible, he’s just fine and you can’t have him be just fine given how much of the cap he takes up. And like I have a hard time with this swipe because I don’t like this idea of evaluating players based on the contract. Like the contract is set like you should debate the contract at a time. But on the other hand of this there is like this level of look for X amount of dollars out of the salary cap allotted out of the total roster salary you have to be able to expect a certain amount of production or impact or both. And Jamal, it seems, is always kind of missing the target, high or low, because there’s, I think, games where it’s like, he was phenomenal. He was incredible. But you should have great games if you’re if you’re at the level that he’s at and at the level that I you’ve seen him get at. If he couldn’t do it, he wouldn’t have the max contract and there wouldn’t be this frustration with him. It just be like, he’s not that guy, but he can do it because we’ve seen it in these playoff games. We see it in these games. And so there’s this tension point of how do you what is it going to take? Is he ever going to be that level of consistency? Because like so many people I think in the comments this year have really acted like Jamal’s like a negative player and that’s just like there is no way to argue that guys. like he’s not Andrew Wiggins, right? The problem is he’s not Andrew Wiggins, but he’s not De’Aran Fox either. And we had all these comparisons ready for Jamal after the bubble about Devin Booker or like all these other like highlevel guards. Even Derek White, like you can’t sit there and be like Jamal Murray is as good as Derek White. You can’t do it. Both of them won championships and Dererick won it as the third guy and Jamal won it as the second and Jamal’s going to be like that certifies me. But White is so consistent in his impact game by game, possession by possession, you have to put a gap between him and Derek White. And that should not be the case. And I think it’s really I think the criticism of him goes way too far. But I think the idea of what a standard for beef should for him has been set too low as well. I think that’s the tough part because you know Matt you and I have argued about Jamal uh publicly at times and you know at times I felt like you know the bar was set too low for what he should be I think on a team that’s this good. But I also think he’s also been very good. Like like I said, I think you can make an argument that once you got Jamal right, like you know, he was healthy and he was in shape. But not even just like him doing that, like he was trying not to be, but just you got him to a point where his body was able to recover from everything that he went through uh for the months leading up. Like I said, after December 1st, he was a 49 41 92 player. Like yeah, I think he’s that good of a shooter, Matt. And I think that’s a part of the issue is like he’s that good of a scorer and shooter and he’s also a really good playmaker. You would expect more consistency from him. And go ahead. Well, let’s take a break and then when we come back, I got a question for you about as much as I don’t like this conversation, I like forcing myself into uncomfortable conversations. And I got a question about what if the problem hasn’t actually been Jamal and what if it’s been who’s been building the offense for him? Yep. We’ll we’ll talk about all that and more here at Lockdown Nuggets. Now, summer sports are in full swing. And whether you’re all about baseball under the lights, golf on the green, or high stakes soccer action, FanDuel is the best way to make every game even more exciting. You’re already following the action. Why not make it a little more thrilling? With FanDuel, you can get in on the game while your friends are getting sunburned at the beach. Now, I’ve been using FanDuel to track my favorite matchups, and the apps keep it refreshed, and new daily promotions are always available, and they’re fun ways to bet. It’s easy to use, fast payout, and makes even regular seeding games feel like much events, y’all. So, if you’re new to FanDuel, new customers can bet just $5 and get $150 in bonus bets if your first bet wins. So, open the FanDuel app today or visit fanduel.com to get started, y’all. We’ll be right back for more here. Locked on Nuggets. We’re back here for segment two of Locked on Nuggets. Hope you’re having a spectacular day, spectacular summer, spectacular July. Make sure if you’re watching this on YouTube, give us a like, share, and subscribe. We’re on the way to 15,000 subscribers by the end of 2025. We want to continue to grow the community with you. Also, if you’re listening to this on Apple, iTunes, or Spotify, give us a fivestar review. That way, more and more people can listen to the great content being made here at Locked On Nugget between Ryan Blackburn, Matt Moore, and myself. So Matt, what is the question that you wanted to ask about Jamal and the framing of the offense? So I think about this a lot with him where I think there was the idea of who Jamal wanted to be coming into the league which was like Steph Curry, right? And there has been the evolution of him as a player next to Joker and he really like he embraced that challenge. It was hard for him at first. People forget like they didn’t have great I didn’t think they had great chemistry to start with. It took them a a while for them to build it, but when they built it, you know, now it’s like it’s secondhand to them. They talk a lot about that. They don’t even have to think about it. They don’t have to communicate. They just know how to play with one another. But I also kind of wonder because I think Malone reached a point where he wanted the thing to be on autopilot. Like I I always kind of got that impression was like they did a lot of work um with Chris Finch and with other coaches that had been through like implementing the offense and building it around Nicola and then they took a lot of those those elements and then they just kind of set it on automatic like it was on autopilot and didn’t want to add like a lot of new stuff because of the mental wear and tear of competing for championships. And I wonder, there’s not like there’s a lot of new novel stuff under the sun you can throw out, but with Jamal specifically, if they focus on using him in different ways, if they do focus, he’s going to want the ball in his hands, and that’s fine, but I don’t think there’ll be any shortage of that. I love the idea of him being more of an offball threat. Like, I love the idea of him coming off screens. I love the idea of him coming off of like, you know, with relocation opportunities, like using him more as a more diverse weapon than he has been. And some of that’s a little bit complicated with Nicola because you need to have things a little not set, but you need certain mechanisms built in for Joker. Um, and it’s hard to do that and have simultaneously Jamal doing these things. But if you can build those kind of mechanisms in, it’s gonna I think increase his shot variety, which I think is something that needs to kind of be there. Like Ryan’s talked a lot about constantly over and over again how much he needs to shoot threes. And I am less interested in the volume of because it’s just like look, if Jamal’s coming up the court in transition and just firing up transition threes, that means he’s getting more threes up. But are those the shots that you want? No. Like he can hit them, but like no. What you want is you want healthier opportunities for him in half court for high percentage looks. So, I just kind of wonder if David Adelman can come in and actually instill a little bit of innovation, a little bit of a revamp, a little bit of a rework, and put Jamal in some positions where the opponent doesn’t know exactly what he’s going to do every single time. Because I feel for the last two seasons, that’s been one of the reasons why the offense’s numbers has been good because their execution and talent level is so high, but it hasn’t felt as explosive because the opponent always has seen this so much. They know what’s coming. So maybe like that’s the way to do this is that instead of it being about Jamal’s conditioning which everybody rags on or which I think is comes from a real place of ignorance, but whether it’s it instead of Jamal focus like being about Jamal’s body or about his mental approach or aggressiveness or any of these types of things, what if it’s as simple as just get some new mechanisms in to open him up and unlock different parts of his game now that he is a more complete NBA player And that is exactly why I think adding Cam Johnson is so important. Cam Johnson will give them a tertiary passer and playmaker and creator that I think would allow for Jamal to be able to do more stuff like that. I think having Bruce Brown on the roster will also assist with that. I think having Valenunis on the roster would also assist with that. I have talked about this for some time now that I think Jamal Murray ostensibly should be one of the best offball scorers in the league because of his jump shooting ability. You should be able to run down screens, back screens. You should be able to do like some even just some some high post rubs where he’s diving towards the basket with a 64 and a half frame. You should be able to utilize Jamal off the ball and his gravity as a scorer more. And I actually think that will increase the kind of shots he’s getting. I think Jamal needs to have more shots around the rim to create free throw advantages for himself. I do think he still needs to get up a higher volume of three-pointer. Again, Matt, he 5.9 free throws, three-pointers last year, 5.8 the year before, 6.6 the year before that, and then 6.6 the year before that. I think this is the year he needs to be closer to seven. Like Cameron Johnson is going to put up seven plus this year. Aaron Gordon’s probably going to put up around three. Jokic, I think he put up five last year. I think they want to get their three-point attempts up. I think Jamal based on how he shoots, I think he should be higher on that list. But I do think getting off the ball without when Nico is not in the game and allowing for Cam Johnson to be able to run the offense a little bit to get sets initiated, allowing for Bruce Brown to be able to run the offense and get sets initiated. I think that will all help Jamal. But for me, one of the reasons, Matt, that people seem like they’re like really impressed with this Denver team, but the thing that’s not taking them to the top, because a lot of people concede Jokic is the best player in the world. A lot of people concede that this Nuggets roster is now like it’s confident and from one to nine, one to 10. There’s an NBA team there. But one of the things that I think people are a little bit down on, which is why they’re saying the Nuggets aren’t the outright favorite even or a second favorite for some people, they just don’t know what Jamal looks like. Like what’s the next level for Jamal? What’s the development for Jamal? What is the next star step for Jamal? Last four years from Jamal, 21 points and you’re getting 4.8 assists. 20 points and you’re getting 6.2 assists. 21 points, 6.5 assist. 21 points, six assist. Like, it’s just a lot of consistency in terms of the overall number. And it just doesn’t look like a player that’s consistently making marketed improvements. And I think if Jamal starts the season faster, I think the if his aggression is is there in the start of the year, I think if his shotmaking is there in the start of the year, I mean, Matt, there’s a world where this team because of how well-rounded they are now, they could start 12 and two, they could start 10 and one. But a lot of that comes down to that as Jamal, I think, if he does take that next step, he’s to me, is going to be the difference between them being like, oh, they’re a very good regular season team to pushing for 60 wins in the regular season. Because I think that’s kind of how the NBA works. You got to have a lot of people that do a lot of different things. You got to be able to send waves and waves and waves at people, which is what OKC does at a really high level, which is what the Bucks did at a really high level in their heyday, which is what the Celtics do. But I think that they they just have to find ways to be able to utilize Jamal’s skill set. And I think a lot of that Jamal also for me there need to be tangible steps that are taken in his game as well. Yeah. And so I think there’s part of this I I just kind of keep getting back to which is I’m less interested in the talking about the demand for Jamal to be better because like what are the things that you would want to see from Jamal to that end, right? And it’s okay like other than doing it, it would be you want him to acknowledge it. Jamal’s acknowledged it like I think over and over again. Like Jamal was a little defensive in the beginning of the year when he struggled a little bit. But there’s a lot of this where it’s just Jamal doesn’t respond well to feeling down on himself. Like he doesn’t respond well I don’t think to those kind of mechanics. And so for him it’s about he’s always trying to get better. He’s always So I think for him it’s you have to I don’t think how can I put this? I don’t think that Jamal, the key to Jamal unlocking another level is negative criticism. I think it’s opportunity. I think it’s stuff like building in different stuff with the offense. I think it’s stuff like adding guys like Cam Thomas, Bruce around him. JV, I think JV is gonna be huge for him, giving him a replicant. Like JV is a very very like DLE Jokic, right? Which is not insulting to JV. It’s just like the passing gap is that wide because Joker’s one of the best passers of all time. But you can run DHO out of the pinch post with JV. You can run pick and pop. The mechanisms are the same. Like Jamal’s had a hard time, I thought, integrating different guys because they didn’t really have a rim runner. He finally started to make some some headway with um DJ this summer or this season. But having a guy that’s a lot more like Yoke, I think is honestly going to be it’s a lot easier for him. And that makes things like the question should be how can the Nuggets provide the opportunity and the things necessary for Jamal to make this happen rather than just like constantly hammering he’s got to be better, he’s going to be better, he’s going to be better. Like I don’t know like that if that conversation is helpful. I don’t know if that’s actually going to do anything. I think it’s like good to hold players accountable, but if we’ve been having this conversation for this long, you talking about conversations from his coaches to him or like just him overall fans? fans, I think, is is the conversation because I do I don’t know what the coach conversation with coaches are like. I think it’s probably been a lot of like of like Malone covering for him because they had such a close relationship and it’s been apparent like Booth talked a lot about wanting to hold him accountable, but I don’t think that actually happened. I think the front office is a position to do a little bit better like David Adam being in a position where it’s like look whoever is going to win like like I don’t get to make decisions based off of politics. Like you’re gonna have to you have to play well. Maybe that’s going to help with the accountability part of this. Um, before we take our last break, I want to kind of show two more charts here because I thought they were really interesting. These are off of NBAvisual.com. So, this is catch and shoot year-over-year. He took basically the same amount of catch and shoot shots that he did the year before last season. That’s not good. Like, these are points that he created off of catch and shoot. That’s not good. Like that’s really poor because they needed more catch and shoot opportunities for him to balance out the three-point stuff and they simply could not do it either because of the other spacing around so they never left Jamal or he wasn’t able to get open or the mechanisms that they used. And then you got this which I think is really promising. Jamal was 2.8 points better at the rim last season. Like his numbers were his efficiency numbers were so good. You just have to find different mechanisms to get him opportunities and that I think is probably going to have to be like a large part of this. Joker’s usage was so high they got to they got to peel back. He can’t have another season like this one. He was in He was incredible. It’s the best off offensive season in NBA history. But he knows that’s not the pathway for them to be successful. So wouldn’t you think a lot of that was Well, but I think that’s that’s the the the chicken or the egg thing. Jamal started the season horrible. Mhm. and the team was struggling because they had no depth. So I think if you have no depth and your second best player is not playing well and no one’s playing any defense, I think that’s why his usage for the first part of the year. So I think I’m not blaming like I don’t think that he’s been I I would never say that Joker’s selfish. It’s not in his DNA. I would never say that. I think if Joker felt like he had to that’s what he had to do, that’s how dire the situation was. But with a more balanced roster, maybe like that’s the key here is like a more balanced roster can open up more opportunity for Jamal specifically. Sure. On the other side, y’all, we’re going to finish this conversation. Um, what are our expectations for Jamal Murray next year? We’ll talk about all that and more here at Locked on Nuggets. We are back here for the final segment of Locked on Nugget. Thank you so much for being here with us today. We’re talking about Jamal Murray. Uh what are the expectations that we have for him this next year? You know, Matt, I I really have ridden this uh this like fence with Jamal where I have been very high on him at times. You know, you remember after the title, I think he was a top 20 player in the sport. I think what you do in a playoff matters, you know, 265 and seven on what was it? 47 what 393 splits. I mean, that’s like Yeah. Yeah, I mean you’re going to get credit for that, you know. And then I think he had stretches in the next year before he went down where it was like wow. Like Jamal is like taking leaps, you know. This is You remember he had a 35 point game versus Boston in Boston in a 23-24 year. Remember him and Joic, I think they put up like 73 points or whatever else it was. It was wild. And then you had this year the Portland Trailblazers game and mind you where they had a top 10 defense during this stretch and it didn’t matter. He was cooking everybody. So you get these points for Jamal where it’s just like man like he looks so good. He doesn’t have to be this player all the time. But I I would have said though if you have asked me Matt after 2019 now we talk about the injury a lot. What was his progression? I would have said oh yeah he would like Devin Booker him you know John Cade Cunningham. I would have expected him to kind of exist in that tier. But Matt, he’s just he’s not been as impactful as these other players who have made like high-end allstars or all NBAs. And I think that is something to be said about him. I think that is also I think what Nuggets fans are hoping for like if he was able to reach to that level. I don’t expect him to get there anymore. But here Mitch Matt, that’s the thing. When I have built in my prognosis for the Nuggets next year about why they could win 60 games or why I think they’re the favorite to win the title, it’s not been based on Jamal Murray getting better. Go ahead. Go ahead. Why don’t you think he’s been good enough? Good enough. Yeah. Well, I mean, he I’m not I’m not asking like you to justify that position. I’m asking you what you think the reasons are. Well, I think the injuries were the 23 24. I really don’t have like I think that calf injury was serious. Could it affected him in the Olympics? Like Jamal Murray if 29% from the field, 14% from three. Do you do you agree with a sentiment that has been shared on other shows in this fair market that Jamal’s problem is about conditioning and that’s why his injury issues occur? I have not had those conversations with the people who might be uh leaning into some of these narratives about Jamal. I’ve heard them. I personally don’t know what people are doing in the gym. So like I can’t speak to that. I have no idea. I know J I know Michael Porter is working out but I know he is like but I’m saying that like Jamal I just have no verification. Like I’m not with the man, you know, watching him like I I don’t I know Jokic is working out kind of but like I just don’t live in that place. I don’t even think that’s really been the biggest issue. I think one of the things is that you can’t separate this is from talking to people in the organization around the team. I don’t think you can separate the bias that is held about his onc court performance and it’s not like you can be biased and still accurate, right? But the the appraisal of his what I mean to say is you can’t have you can’t separate the appraisal of his encore performance or work ethic from his attitude, which he’s a sirly dude. like Jamal is like several people have indicated like Jamal and again it I’ve had co-workers who are not fun to be around. If you’ve worked in any sort of se if you’ve worked with anyone, you will know that there’s people that it’s not fun to be around them. And I think Jamal has kind of had that attitude some of the time. Like I think it has dragged on people. But but I also think that a lot of those voices that share this information have agenda reasons for doing so. Like it is not Nicole Joic talking to the media and being like, “Man, Jamal’s such a pain in the ass.” That’s not happening. It’s not Aaron Gordon doing that. That’s not Michael Porter doing that. It’s not even the guys deep down on the bench. That’s not happening. It’s people around those other players who all have a reason to apply pressure to Jamal. Whether it’s to clear a minutes for their guy, whether it’s to put more pressure so that they they help out big fella, whatever it is. Like there’s agenda reasons around these things which make it very complicated to try and appraise it. And all I can really do is take the word of like what the players say about their teammate and they’re all they’ve always been supportive of Jamal. And I think that that does complicate things. Like there has been an effort to poison the well about Jamal Murray in Denver. I don’t think it’s been like coordinated. I don’t think it’s been um from a from extremely strong forces, but I do think that there has been an attempt to do so by people that are close to the players on the team. And I don’t know how to like square that. What I don’t want to do is I don’t want to be influenced by that in my appraisal of Jamal, no matter how much of a jerk he has been to me for the entirety of of his Nuggets career. But also, I don’t have that experience with Jamal that you have that he’s been a jerk to you. You know what I mean? So, I think all of this stuff has to be held in context of like us having biases. I know that Jamal is very talented. I think Jamal could be better based on level of play and his skill set. There’s just not many 6’4 and a half guards that have walked through the league in the last 25 years that are able to do things to this level and then haven’t become all NBA players. I mean, he kind of has the physicality of Don Williams. Like, I mean, he like in terms of his build. Like, he’s very big for the position. He does a lot of really unique things. He has a really good handle, Matt. He’s actually a really good isolation player. He’s a really good pull-up shooter. He’s a really good passer. Yes, he can dunk on you. Hey, typically in NBA history, Matt, I’ve watched these players play and I’m like, damn, that was one of the guards of that era. But for whatever reason, Jamal has, I think, had SGA come in the league, been passed by SGA, had Luca come in the league, been passed by Luca, had Jarant come into the league, was passed by Ja Morant, Devin Booker, same age frame, Rose, you know, went went by him. Like, I just think all these players, it there’s just something that hasn’t connected. And I’m saying I hope with Jamal this is the year it connects because Jamal has a chance this year I think to spearhead a 60- win Denver Nuggets team is I mean legitimately. So and Matt by the way just for context when the Nuggets and Jamal played and together in 200 I think it was 23 24 I think when Jamal and Jokic played in 59 games together. Well, more than that. I think I think they were like 44 and like 15 or something like that. Like I can’t remember what the exact record was. If Jamal’s good to start and Joic is good and Cam Johnson first 42 games in the year, Matt, I’m not sure if you saw the the stat I pulled the other day. Well, you you weren’t. You were drinking uh uh some fancy wine on the side of a beast somewhere. But Cam Johnson 42 games in the first 42 games last year, Matt was 19 and a half points on 65 true shooting. on the Nets with Cam Thomas. Just imagine if Cam is able to bring that to Denver. How much easier life is going to be for Jamal. This should be the year that Jamal just like soarses up these rankings because he’s just it’s free. He can literally do what he needs to do. He’s diving down. I I want to see him do it, Matt. And maybe maybe this is an earnest plea for me. I want to see Jamal do it, Matt. I would love to get the allegation that Yogic got carried this year. I would love to be able to face those allegations and say he did because Jamal reached this level and I think he can do it is my whole point. Do you think he’s the only person holding him back? I personally don’t think that other people have that much ability to control the things you do well or do bad or not when you’re the second highest usage on the team and you have the second most opportunity to work on the team. So, I think he is the one that’s getting in the way of that personally. Do you want to know something crazy? This lineup only played 48 minutes and it shouldn’t play much more than this. Jamal, Aaron, Porter, and DJ. Okay. 48 minutes. DJ. Yeah, DJ. 48 minutes. It’s the four starters. It’s the Sorry, it’s three of the core four and DJ. 48 minutes. 132 offensive rating, 108 defensive rating, plus 24.5. And there were these things that worked when you kind of got into it. Jamal and Aaron without Nola, Porter, or DJ was plus eight in their minutes this season. Like there were these kind of indicators of of that Jamal was finding ways, I think, to get more out of the second unit. And I’m hopeful with this combination that those numbers will be better. I also think that this is part of it is like I was say I was writing about KD today and about how he’s not I’m trying to figure out the right word for it. He’s not a tide riser. He’s not a current where it’s like he’s not what moves the water, right? That moves everything through the water. Jamal never really had a chance to learn that stuff because he’s always been the component Joic plays off of. I don’t know if I agree with that though, Matt anymore. He’s played a lot of events without Jokic at this point. Like if you go through Yeah, you’re right. But I always do look at that and like I I will blame Malone for this. One thing that I always was like uncomfortable because you I didn’t want to blame Malone, but like I was just like God, their offense in the second unit is so unstructured. It was just like run out there, get some stops, make some buckets, get through these eight minutes instead of being like, how can we take the talent and actually build a functional off? Because I think that that may be part of it is that Jamal can’t carry them and can’t make them better. So, you have to have something that’s functioning on its own and then add Jamal. But that’s tough though. Like that’s not the role of a you know do you understand what I’m saying? Like that’s not the role of a second best player. We do see that with other great teams with other players of Joic’s level. The Warriors offense in their prime with Steph did not fall into what they looked like. It was there was always like got to get Steph back on the floor in like tight games. How about the KD era? Um no like even like preKD like 2000. Oh yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean yeah. But that’s what I’m kind of saying here, right? Is like or I’m trying to think of this OKC I think is this way. Uh but she’s not Shay’s not Jokic’s level. Um even I think the teams with LeBron it was never there at least there was like a function and identity. It literally with the Nuggets has been like there’s one team with a clear identity that is excellent, that is awesome, and then there’s just like a bunch of other guys that we happen to have and we haven’t even thought about how they should fit together. So when when I when I say the the non started a second quarter unit this year, it’s going to be Jamal Murray, Tim Hardaway Jr., Cam Johnson, Pton Watson, Deron Holmes, and Jonas Valentunes. Do you think that’s a good enough floor for him to work with to to be able to raise their ceiling? I think it has more of an identity depending on what how Daron is, right? Um, if it’s if it if they stagger what I would rather they actually do is I would rather they stagger Cam at four is I would like Cam JV at four, five, Hardaway, Strawther. Yeah. And then Hardway at three and then either Julian or Bruce with with Jamal. Oh yeah, Bruce Brown’s on the team. Completely forgot. It’s gonna be Bruce and Jamal. So Bruce Yeah. Bruce, Jamal, Cam Johnson, Hardaway, JB or whatever. Yeah. Yeah. Or a three guard lineup. I’d be okay. I would be okay with a three-g guard lineup even though it go the other way because like Malone was so much insistent on like they’re going to we’re going to be like we’re going to get stops, right? Maybe the the be especially with JV and how bad not how bad he’s just he’s only a drop defender, right? Um maybe the better approach is like, man, let’s kill him with offense. Mhm. Let’s have Let’s have Julian and Cam with JV and Jamal. And Bruce is your connector. That’s a pretty fun unit. And then Jamal runs a heavy pick and roll offense with a bunch of splashers on the floor. Hand off. Not Not even pick and roll. I would just run handoff action, right? Handoffs and split cut with Cam um and Bruce and do that kind of stuff. I think it I think there’s opportunity there. It’s gonna be interesting. It’s gonna be interesting to see what happens with Jamal this season. I’m glad we had this conversation though. No, let me know what y’all think in the comments section. What is your ideal non Jokic Jamal lineup? What do you expect from Jamal? And do you think maybe the most underrated story is he just gets better and the Nuggets are just indomitable? Maybe. Is that the most positive timeline as Adam Mades would say? Y’all let us know in the comments section. Shout out. Thank you, Matt Moore. Ryan Blackburn and I will be with you on another day this week. We’ll have two more episodes coming out this week for y’all. This is Locked on Nugget. This is Swiper. See you on the other side.

Jamal Murray has a huge opportunity in front of him and perhaps his development is the key to unlocking the full potential of this Denver Nuggets team. Matt and Swipa discuss what a career year from Jamal Murray could look like.
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