Denver Nuggets: Dear Mike Malone, It’s Time To Unleash Jamal Murray
By Aaron Mah
Win now or develop the youngsters? The Denver Nuggets has been juggling the counteractive responsibilities all season. But, at this point, they need need to fully free Jamal Murray.
The quagmire of every coach managing a middling team such as the Denver Nuggets in the NBA: to go all-in with the team’s young core, or try to win as many games as possible behind the shrewd leadership of your veteran presence.
The shelf life of a professional sports coach is inherently finite; you walk into the job knowing one day you’re most likely going to get fired (unless your name is Gregg Popovich).
Fully aware of this, most would subconsciously try to win as many games as possible, even if the team’s mandate is to rebuild — because, after all, the sentiments of overachieving are what preserve jobs around the association, not leading the tank brigade as its lead commander.
Having been in the coaching realm for decades — not to mention, a father who once coached in the NBA himself — Denver Nuggets head coach Mike Malone is extremely mindful of this obscure situation.
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And, heading into the 2016-17 NBA season, the Nuggets featured a roster that accentuated the above mentioned theories of thinking.
On one hand, Denver houses a contingent of highly-capable veterans, such as Danilo Gallinari, Wilson Chandler, Kenneth Faried, Will Barton and Darrell Arthur — players who are right smack in the middle of their primes.
They also have a grey beard in Jameer Nelson who is very much still qualified to quarterback a second unit.
Denver Nuggets
In contrast, however, the Nuggets also possess one of the best young cores in the NBA, highlighted by rising star Nikola Jokic and flanked by the likes of Gary Harris, Emmanuel Mudiay, Juan Hernangomez, Jusuf Nurkic, Malik Beasley and Jamal Murray.
Thus far this year, as the team sits at 21-25, desperately hanging onto eighth place in the West, coach Malone has put the Nuggets brass on a whale of a ride juggling the “win now” and “developmental” fronts.
In the beginning of the year, Malone was dead set on making the Eastern Bloc a thing — stubbornly starting the plodding frontcourt of Nurkic and Jokic, even though the two clearly could not co-exist in the same ecosystem.
He then leaned heavily on the Gallo-and-Chandler forward combo, which got the Nuggs back into the playoff picture. The versatile frontcourt, when paired with Jokic’s offensive brilliance, instantly turned Denver’s offense into one of the most potent in the NBA.
The rotation would gradually evolve: Barton went in and out of the starting lineup as Harris recovered from his injuries, Faried served as the backup center before regaining his position as the starting power forward, Nurkic went from starting center to a third-string big, while their prized rookie, Jamal Murray, has shuffled between the roles of starting shooting guard, backup combo guard and most recently backup point guard, all with one swift breath.
All in all, one thing has remained constant: the Nuggets are (somewhat befuddling) committed to Mudiay as their point guard of the future.
Despite having the empirical stats to prove he is one of the, if not the, worst starting point guard in the NBA over the past two seasons, Malone has indiscriminately given Mudiay the reins with no repercussions.
Miss 10 jumpers in a row, he’s still starting. Turn the ball over on three consecutive possessions, here’s another 30 minutes of playing time.
His inability to hit an open J or finish efficiently at the rim currently makes him an offensive liability. In fact, Denver’s offense scores 3.6 points per 100 possessions more when Manny is on the bench, per Basketball-Reference.
This is not to say the jury is out on Mudiay. The youngster is still just in his second season, not to mention the youngest starting point guard in the league at age 20.
He also has the size and length to one day evolve into a terror defensively and the passing instincts and the size to look over and pick apart opposing defenses with ease.
But clearly he’s not there yet. Instead of force-feeding him with minutes, why not try a different approach?
Allocate some of his minutes to Nelson and have him hijack the team’s offense; or better yet, why not extend the Jamal Murray point guard experiment?
Simply put, when given the chance, the Blue Arrow has been breathtaking in the small doses of free, unabated play he has been awarded this season.
Almost the polar-opposite of Mudiay, Murray doesn’t have great size or measureables, or the clairvoyant vision that make scouts salivate. Instead, he is a shifty combo guard with cat-quick, deadeye release.
Although not as long or as strong, the Kitchener, Ontario, native still stands 6’4″ in shoes, and is much bouncier than given credit for. Over the past couple of games, when given the chance to run point, Murray has also shown an advanced handle and superior feel in the pick-and-roll game.
More specifically, Murray just knows how to curate open looks in the spread pick-and-roll. If the defender is fighting over the screen too feverishly, he’ll reject the pick, cross over and drive down the teeth of the defense. If the defender goes under? Splash, step-back 3 in his face.
Murray has the skill-set and pace for the game that fits coherently with the contemporary landscape of the NBA.
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He is also an exceptional off-ball cutter and an accomplished catch-and-shoot gunner.
His all-encompassing repertoire clearly compliments the skills of Nikola Jokic more fluently than Mudiay. And, at this point, building around Jokic should be priority No. 1 for the Denver brass.
Sure, defensively, Murray is going to leave a lot on the table; and furthermore, he doesn’t possess the potential of a Mudiay on the end as consolation.
But, looking at the grand scheme of things, his ability to serve as a primary ball-handler or secondary ball-handler, his off-ball skills as a cutter and spot-up shooter, as well as his dynamic capacity to create his own shot in the pick-and-roll game, should earn him more playing time alongside the Nuggets’ “A” team.
Who knows? He might be catastrophically bad in such a role and fans may yearn for the return of Mudiay as a result. But, at least you can say you’ve tried.
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More likely, though, as one of the youngest players in the league, give him the reigns, Malone, and Jamal Murray might just continue to take your breath away.