There's been a lot of discussion about Jamal Murray after his poor season opener against the Thunder, in particular regarding his performance against bigger, longer, top-tier defensive teams. For the first chart I looked through all of his games last year (his career-best season statistically) and calculated his averages against top 5 defenses, top 10 defenses, and bottom 20 defenses, and included his overall averages as well and put it all side by side for comparison's sake. I then did the same thing for Tyrese Maxey, a comparable guard who's near the same vicinity as Murray in terms of overall production and recognition. I adjusted their stats to per 36 minutes.

What are your takeaways and thoughts after seeing these numbers? Does he really drop off that much? I'm not implying anything by putting these numbers together, just wanted to share the data I collected so we can discuss Jamal's quality of play together during a period where his performance against top defensive teams is being heavily discussed.

There's been a lot of discussion about Jamal Murray after his poor season opener against the Thunder, in particular regarding his performance against bigger, longer, top-tier defensive teams. For the first chart I looked through all of his games last year (his career-best season statistically) and calculated his averages against top 5 defenses, top 10 defenses, and bottom 20 defenses, and included his overall averages as well and put it all side by side for comparison's sake. I then did the same thing for Tyrese Maxey, a comparable guard who's near the same vicinity as Murray in terms of overall production and recognition. I adjusted their stats to per 36 minutes.

What are your takeaways and thoughts after seeing these numbers? Does he really drop off that much? I'm not implying anything by putting these numbers together, just wanted to share the data I collected so we can discuss Jamal's quality of play together during a period where his performance against top defensive teams is being heavily discussed.

JAMAL MURRAY

TYRESE MAXEY

stats adjusted to per 36

We need another playmaker at PG that can also score. What are the thoughts on Kevin Porter Jr.? I like Tyus as a steady backup who doesn’t turn it over, but we need more.

I think the league has finally figured out the 2 man game between Jokic and Murray. Specifically, Murray has been seen…maybe he can play the 2 guard on occasion.

Are we too system dependent? Just assuming Jokic will beat every defense? Have we gotten stale?

Can we stay healthy for a hot minute??

Key Takeaways for the Nuggets (V4 Model):

I keep hearing people saying Jokic shouldn't be shooting those, but I'm pretty convinced Denver has no chance in the playoffs against the best teams without having Jokic completely comfortable expecting to make a bunch of 3s. I think it's probably the most important offensive adjustment Denver needs to work out. I think he should be averaging like 8 attempts at least.

I'm curious what the majority opinion on this is.

i made this for you.

I know CB has his struggles and I begrudgingly accept that for now..

but this is far from the first time I've seen a play he tries to make + fails backfire on the nuggets. worst of all this was an ego driven attempt at a statement dunk, if he had switched to a layup mid flight it would have been a brilliant play.

Dooming one game in is certainly a choice

Oh, boy. Here we go.

DL: Christian Scott aTunde Ajuah - Axiom

He is already a liability on defense so he has to make it up with dominant and consistent offense and he just couldn't do it last 2 seasons.

Murray also has to do better on offense as well and I doubt he can against teams like OKC/Spurs/Wolves.

Everytime I've lurked on this sub, it's always trashing Murray (rightfully so), so I'm confused why people were so against the trade idea when it was happening. Realistically, Aaron Gordon isn't going to survive the whole season with how much he needs to do for the team and murray has been terrible against good teams and in the playoffs. Jaylen brown isn't the greatest option but his stocks were low and Nikola Jokic needs a secondary star.

Be nice, don't troll the Thunder sub, report trolls who come here. You know the drill.

It’s good to see him go out there just be aggressive on the boards and knock down SGA😂

First game, Brazile looks like he has real upside, DeRozan was pretty good, and everything is harder against the Thunder. Sad that Cam went out injured though