I saw Jokić win 49 games with AG, Facu Campazo, Austin Rivers and Will Barton as starters. 2-3yrs ago. I just saw him finish olympics with most points, rebounds, assists and steals to lead his team to an almost upset of US hall of famers. The only thing he needs is just a mediocre bench performance. When he's off court, team is -7 or -9. If they can keep this just at -2, theyll be golden.
Unfortunately, as a nuggets fan, I have a feeling that problem is gonna get worse. Justin holiday was getting such heavy run in the postseason last year because Watson and Braun were shooting so badly we basically had to stagger them just to keep some spacing and basically benched Watson against the t wolves for that issue, now one of those guys is a starter, and we replaced our biggest shooting threat off the bench with another non shooter at the point guard slot. Unless the nuggets got another move up their sleeve, they’re banking on Braun not forgetting how to shoot in the postseason, Peyton Watson developing into a threat in the half court, and/or saric being a lot better than he was on the warriors. Those aren’t good bets, and we need atleast 2/3 of those to happen, or we’re worse off than last year
@@bryanfoster326Nah big bro. I’m a nuggets fan and CB was actually shooting 38% from 3. Post season he dropped but throughout the season he was consistent. Peyton Watson tho…he can’t really shoot well.
@@HajiStaxGaming yeah, but those postseason drop isn’t new for Braun. 2 deep postseason runs where both times he drops to a low 20% 3pt shooter in the postseason.
Plenty of players decline at around 27, Murray takes difficult shots, mostly fades and turnarounds, once you lose a little bit of speed and athleticism, the decline is rapid
I tell you Russ and Jokic will be big fun. I think they like and respect each other a ton. Matchup of the year. 2 of my favourite players together. I'm excited.
MPJ and Murray situation need to be resolved. It would be a travesty for Nuggets ownership to squander the greatness of Jokic. I know he wouldn't ask for a trade but I would love to see him on a team with talent where he can continue to content and win more rings. He has the potential to become the GOAT if he could get 3 more rings and continue destroying records and racking up MVPS. But I don't see that happening with a cheap owner and subpar front office.
Here we go with the superteam stuff. Jokic is fine where he is. He's one of the few stars in a small market and has won without an all-star on his team. I'm tired of the idea that you leave at the first sign of trouble.
@@Arctanis-vt3hlSo if Denver Nuggets FO continue to make dumb decisions for years to come, he should still stay and waste his career(potential top 10 all time)? Lol...
Literally the only major problem is that Murray was banged up. They lost 20 point lead in game 7 by the yeam that was BUILT to match up with them. If Murray were 10% healthier last season, chances are that they would repeat. Now, they upgraded KCP with CB, Upgraded backup 1 and 5, and got back backup 2 and 4 that they were missing because of injuries.
@@ProjectExMachinaUpgraded KCP with CB? As a Lakers fan, anytime CB was in the game, I was happy. KCP is a huge loss, along with Bruce Brown? Your team wasn’t deep to begin with.
@@therevival9505 KCP was great. But... he is on downward trajectory and too small for contemporary game. If CB starts the whole season, he will gain a bit of the only thing that KCP really had over him - experience. As for not being deep... I'm flabbergasted when someone says that we were deep on our championship run. This season, bar injuries, my prediction is that the depth would be sufficient. Three concerns are: shooting, will Murray bounce bank, will Westbrook's mistakes be too loud. Other than that (and off course injuries and personnel relationships), Nuggets should, at least, not embarrass themselves.
I wonder if it was just a weird fit with the team because SGA is better and they have role player guards like Brooks and Dort and Barrett or something more
@@dellingtonarts3487probably bojan for the shooting, cuz i don’t think the nuggets have the assets to get bogdan considering he’s one of the best 6th men in the league.
Bro Jamal hurt in playoffs, and out of his role in Olympics. SGA is a scoring guard with the ball In his hands 24/7. Murray is a similar style player. Murray has never had to play off ball as a two guard before
Why are people surprised that Jamal was bad for Canada he may be 6 years or 7 veteran in NBA but he played only 19 games without Jokić everything else he played with him and for him
Remember when "experts and analysts" said Nuggets are OP they have the best starting 5 and so on Bruh they have horrible players its Jokic or bust If Joker was on the Wizarda they d be top 3 seeds and all of a sudden people would speak how Jordan Poole and Kyle Kuzma are top 20 players in the league
I love the Nuggets and Murray. Everyone seemed to forget how Ice Cold murray was in the 23 playoffs. He played like Doo doo this years playoffs and the Olympics, no doubt. The dude has injury issues and looked injured these past few months. I wouldn't pull the plug on him yet. But if he can't get back to where he has been great. The next star that hits the market, Denver needs to look at that heavily.
Denver cannot give Murray the max he probably wants. They're already going to have to give Gordon a huge pay bump. If they lock Murray into a bunch of money and he doesn't perform, what is their path to getting better? I don't think MPJ is going to fetch you much on the trade market. They may believe in their internal development, but I see all the young guys on their roster (Braun, Watson, Strawther, Pickett) as limited upside role players. Westbrook is not the answer either. He must be really likable, because players keeping wanting to play with him despite years of evidence that he doesn't help your team.
Gordon is on the decline as well, so you got Murray and Gordon on the decline and Jokic getting fatter, Denver is toast that's why no one talks about them
@@Johnny.Natural😂😂😂 Jokic is getting fatter!!! Meanwhile, he was by far the best player at the Olympics, almost beating USA with a bunch of nobody's. And Gordon ks on decline??? Where do you get your facts?- in SAS 's and Perk's school of bball analysis?
@@Johnny.NaturalGordon is nowhere near a decline, Murray just had the best season of his career despite people acting like he choked in the playoffs when they were against the best perimeter defensive team in the league and clearly injured atleast for the first few games. The narrative I hate the most though is that Jokic is somehow fat. He is one of the best conditioned bigmen in the league, consistently playing 40 minutes in the playoffs and important regular season games and performing great in 4th quarters, almost never being outrun by the enemy bigmen and boxing out every time. People just love to harp on him not training, because it's a fun narrative but it's completely bullshit.
Denver need to go get Isaac okoro and markelle fultz . They gonna need them because Murray you gonna have to sit down rest because everybody can see you hurt bro Russ and fultz should be handle your role just rest about 20 games Isaac okoro can replace KCP Hope mpj take a leap
Remember Joker standing on the sibelines during the last match against Wolves, he clearly sent a message and even more when he asked about Westbrook. Murray and MPJr no longer as the right to make mistakes.. I hoped they pickep up Yabusele, imagine, Joker, Westbrook, Gordon and Yabusele together on the court ❤️❤️
@@sakamoto8354Denver’s bench wasn’t meaningfully worse in 2024 and Jeff Green wasn’t good. They lost because Murray wasn’t himself and Porter has the worst 4 game stretch of any max contract player in history
@@yessirski9367Bruce Brown was big on their run last year especially since he's the one carrying the scoring but he's also a big part of their defense. Jeff Green's contribution was being a vet off the bench, keeping guys in check to prevent meltdowns like Jamal Murray's throwing an ice pack on the court.
@@shamsielshahar120 Think Westbrook will do a good enough job of filling both of those roles, with Saric finally providing a playmaking big/pick and pop target off the bench, something Denver hasn’t had in years. The biggest keys are heath and their young guys being able to shoot well enough
I called out Jamal's poor play early in the playoffs and Nuggets fans called me a hater. It was pretty obvious that Murray was MIA and would be a liability to his team.
Liability to the nuggets...no wonder he called you a hater. Sure he didn't play up to his top playoff level but he was still the 3rd best on the team through the playoffs. He wasn't his usual Kobe-esque like previous playoff runs(though there were signs), but to call him a Liability, you sound like a hater...
Yeah, OMG your lead guard just played an inefficient series against the best perimeter defensive team in the league who are absolutely perfect at taking away your PnR which is by far your best weapon. You must be a liability to your team. I mean it's not like the whole team played bad for most of the series and Murray and Jokic had to do literally everything at all times in that series. He also just had his best regular season before the run, and played good versus the Lakers where, just like in the first few Minnesota games he was obviously injured and couldn't move at nearly the same pace or create separation the same way. You're not a hate, just simply delusional.
This is what I hate about jokic fans they are stupid cuz the great white hype wasn't doing shit without Murray first and second round exit every season Murray was hurt do better
i feel as if denver’s patience is telling if anything. however if we wait for too long, then i think it’s a waste of talent if he continues to become a hindrance. rather than talking about how is may be a problem,at be we need to look at through a “team” perspective and how well each player meshes together. this team revolves around jokic, I’m pretty sure he ain’t going to let go of murray so easily. here’s hoping🙏
The Nuggets who got the ring were not a fluke. They were a really talented and connected team. Last year the expectations were too high, they gave everything they got at the end of regular season to get the best ranking and in the playoffs were gassed. Mal also dealt with injury. This year is gonna be different. Nobody expects anything from them, no pressure of repeating. Considering their available budget, they made great moves adding Russ and Saric. Christian Braun is gonna successfully replace KCP. IMO, if they stay healthy, they're gonna have their best season ever.
Other teams have closed the gap like t wolves Celtics Knicks and others while they haven’t gotten better. Idk. Grizzlies are a dark horse spurs and rockets are both gonna be better too. Thunder are more than likely going to improve too.
This is only my two cents. I am not being overly critical of your comment, but I just don't see it. Denver is pinning their hopes on CB becoming KCP, while Russ and Saric may or may not contribute. I believe Russ can give you something, but I am not so sure about Saric. And they still have the elephant in the room, namely Murray. Is he gonna get out of this funk? To me he looks depressed. With all of the above in mind I just don't see it. Maybe I'm being way too pessimistic, but there are too many questions and Denver as an organisation hasn't answered any of them.
Wouldn't it be better to pay KCP and a solid role player and let Murray go? Westbrook prob isn't a Murray, but I just can't see te max value of paying Murray and lose KCP.
Denver is a case study in how to squander a potential dynasty. It's not even the fault of the front office either. You need ownership to be willing to spend. But they got their one title and seemed to become more concerned about bookkeeping than maintaining a contender. Meanwhile, Boston brought back everyone and are going to have a payroll north of $226 million next year. That's like $86 million over the salary cap, but they don't care because they have a chance at another title.
They didn't squander anything. They made moves like signing MPJ to that deal when there was no new CBA in sight and now because of it they lose KCP. Last year they didn't even have an option to keep Bruce Brown because they could only offer him around 8-9 mil per year and he took 25 almost. They just found themselves in a situation that was out of their hands 100% and even with that, I personally think that if they win that game 7 they are in the finals again because Dallas couldn't beat them
It wasnt the front office fault or owners fault.. the CBA really fucked the nuggets.. as someone mentioned above the Celtics signed everyone only to put the team up for sale..
I think Denver's problem is their lack of depth and their coach's unwillingness to play his bench players, thus leaving Jokic and Murray fatigued during the playoffs. I see coach Malone and the Nuggets organization (being asleep at the switch when trade opportunities or free agency opportunities come along) as the problem rather than Jamal Murray.
he is just not consistent enough, i wouldn't be surprised if he starts the season averaging 30 points, but i also wouldn't be surprised if he averaged 8 ppg. If nuggets get 85% of 2022-2023 murray, they probably win the championship.
Russ signing only pertains to Jamal's durability he was mainly needed as a ball handler and playmaker off the bench. He essentially fills the bruce brown void in a way and Christian Braun is poised to mold into kcp's role.
Denver is fine. Their offseason pickups were good but really it just comes down to if the Nuggets are smart enough to make Gordon the co-#2 with Murray. Gordon is their 2nd most valuable player and is their 2nd best offensive player. Dude is just hella consistent and knows how to put the ball into the hole
Mpj + Strawther for Bogdanovic + Hunter, Murray for Mitchell. Nuggets will have to put some picks into this, especially for "superstar" Murray trade. Starting five Mitchell, Bogdanović, Hunter, Gordon, Jokic, bench Russ, Okoro, Brown, Watson, Nnaji, Fultz
Jokic was carried a team. So Jokic was Jokic. Jamal might have some kind of injure. What ever they need Jamal or help for him. Good fit Westbrook can take a load of Jamal just enough. Still they need few role players or Gordon and Porter must improve.
Ima Lakers fan and Lebron my favorite he the best of all time! Most importantly I’ma Basketball fan 1st and TBH Jamal Murray was not 100% or even close to it which is why he looked like that!! No excuses but he was clearly injured
We'll see, but I think this take ages poorly. "Not a serious conteder"? Please- they won the championship two seasons ago and had the second most wins in the league last year. Jokic is the best player in the league. Porter is 26 years old, went 17 and 7 last year with 48/40/84 shooting splits, and is just entering his prime. Gordon is signed for another couple of years. They have some good young players and added a nice piece with Saric. They are going to be just fine.
What does Denver do if he isn't good? He won't have trade value. Murray is worth more to Denver than any other team. So if you trade him, you aren't better. It will be hard to sign a FA unless they leave themselves very vulnerable. I think they have little options outside of hoping that Murray gets back to where he was, and potentially trading MPJ for two good 3 and D players. But most likely, they run it back, and hope for the best.
I have Denver 4th in the conference. Okc Min Dal* Den Dallas is right there with okc and min, but they’re stronger in the playoffs and regular season But for Denver, it feels like those other teams just passed them by and separated themselves
Murray's problem is called championship poisoning. His desperation to win is no longer there. Some players are naturally immune, like LeBron and Sir Wardell, but lesser players succumb and never recover.
@@Arctanis-vt3hl Means he is doubting himself. Same thing arising from championship poisoning. You think u want to win on the surface, but the fire is actually gone.
For seasoned veteran players it is understandable. For most players who won before entering a decade of playing, they need some time to pass for them to enable their hunger to win another one again.
@@shamsielshahar120 Yes. It also happened to Giannis; you can actually make a video analysing his 2021 demeanor vs post-championship. That fire is just gone after he ate his 50 piece chicken.
Or maybe he just wasn't fully healthy. Not to make excuses, most guys aren't fully healthy in the playoffs. But different things effect different players differently. Him still performing in clutch time tho and knocking down multiple game winning shots makes me disagree with you.
Addition of Saric is not talked about enough. Denver never had a decent Jokic replacement (playing small ball is not a viable option without good shooters of the bench)Saric is a very good back up to Jokic. A decent shooter who can play inside and outside. I would say that the bench finally has some identity. Jokic asked for Westbrook for the energy and the trash talking that Bruce Brown gave them. Reggie was a bad player last season.
The MPJ contract really ruined their team. If they would be able to resign brown and KCP alongside an mpj level talent player, like Derrick jones Junior they would probably have a repeat. They have to make changes because their roster is super short, I don't think they can realistically keep Murray, Gordon and MPJ with these contracts with their production. There are teams that are looking to trade productive NBA players like Portland and Grant or Brogdon and Washington. They can retool themselves by sacraficing some picks, they don't need mega talents, just good players - unfortunately they have not done improvements to their roater yet, and they have to break their core ASAP - Jokic time is running out
This can be easily resolved actually .... Trade MPJ and Murray for 2 average players same positions which will actually save so many salary cap for Denver and team will not lose any % of their quality cause both of them are heavely overpaid and basically below average players at this point.....
Jamal has to stop taking those dumbass shots with unstable footwork. Yes he makes them and it's exciting af, but he lands at such critical angles that he speeds up his injury rate. It's not the same style as Temetrius Morant or Derrick Rose, but he's headed down that path... trust, I've learned it the hard way, and I'm a PF.
Jokic will utilize the cut Russ can make. He is fast and he can dunk on people. He needs to do what he did in Clippers he sacrificed time and offball. That is what I was thinking he would be back in the Lakers, making him the inside threat for the team. Sadly it didnt happen
NBA signed a new $76 billion TV deal. With inflation and stuff happening around the league salary caps will be more of a recommendation and big teams will be hitting that second apron routinely. When looking back at it in 5 or 10 years people will laugh at Nuggets for wasting Jokic's prime over something stupid like 20 to 40 million penalty in tax or whatever. Like Suns are hitting that penalty and they have nothing to show for it.
Joker makes you a contender just cant have everyone else jacking 3s and missing like what happened against the twolves his only real flaw is hes too selfless
Great vid but the point about us getting Russ because we don’t believe in Murray is not true at all. We traded Reggie first day of offseason and literally had 1 pg on the roster besides the 2 way guy
Paul Gorg could be the right addition to the team and not Westbrook, now that Westburk in the team needs a player who can create a shooting situation for himself and another stable scorer from three
Murray has been bad lately but he just came off of a great regular season in 2023 so it's too early to write him off. westbrook is not the best signing ngl lol
Is this video a joke? Do you actually watch basketball? This is ridiculous! Jamal Murray was hurt 10 games remaining in the season. He had zero time to recover for the playoffs..still wasn’t healed by olympics. I can’t wait till next season -
We need ant or somebody of that calibre Denver must put money if they wish new ring yes they make it once bcs that was Joker best year and Jamal best year plus we have Bruce now without KCP what is worst trade ever we need him like people in desert water and we can sell MPJ he as I see is not reliable player plus he have all kinds of problems same like Jamal now only AG and Joker are healthy in team! We need star players need to open money bag! We will loose this season for sure I don't see how when other teams make so good trades important trades and we bring nothing old player and some player who I never see how he play!
That's not what he's saying. He's saying how bad murray was. Ita not a stretch to say that if he was close to what he was the previous playoffs the nuggets would have been in the finals
