MPJ has become our 2nd best player. He's picked up the slack from Murray's slump and AG's injury. He's driving into the paint maybe more than ever before. And he's played every single game!

14 comments
  1. MPJ really using that added muscle and he seems to be developing his shot creation ever so slightly.

    Much the same on his handles and playmaking.

    This isnt his most efficient season in terms of scoring (thats still shockingly his 2nd season, which makes it clear why we gave him the max if you look at the ungodly efficiency), but he is close to averaging 50% from the field and is now at 40% on 3 pointers (more or less the same as last year).

    But with 2 more assists, his actual impact on the offense has been much bigger, especially his abikity to get to the rim or take a mid range shot.

  2. Outside of the first 2 games he’s easily been our 3rd best player, often pushing Braun for 2nd best.

    It really is annoying watching Jokic, Braun, MPJ and Watson play the best ball of their careers and it’s often going to waste because Murray is playing so shitty.

    We don’t need Murray to play all nba level like he did in the chip run, just not be a detriment on both ends of the court.

  3. He’s not the greatest defender but it’s not due to lack of effort. He really seems to be trying to get his hands dirty down low so far this year. He’s always cool and calm and never really complains to the officials.

    I love to see it, he’s come a long way since his rookie season. I think his defense will continue to get better as he works on his technique and footwork.

  4. I have a feeling that he is sometimes reminding himself to pass instead of shooting. But it looks like he has been working on that and he is making a good progress there, because he has some really good assists. At this point, it doesn’t seem logical to trade MPJ anywhere because he is the second most important for Nuggets this season. Go, Mike!

  5. If you think MPJ is just a shooter you should see his high school highlights before he got hurt. He’s finally back to being healthy I think. He can do a lot more out there than he’s shown so far.

  6. For all the NBA fans that think players regularly missing 30-40 games a season, and taking back-to-backs off is necessary. Or that players missing 30 games every season is “bad luck”, MPJ is the prime example that conditioning is key.

    Coach Malone said that NBA players “don’t condition anymore.” He certainly didn’t mean MPJ. MPJ has said in his interview that his entire day is spent around not being injured and being able to play basketball.

    Meanwhile, you have fans thinking that Zion and Embiid “just have bad injury luck.” Or AD falling every time he gets touched and missing 2 weeks was just “bad luck.”

    MPJ had back surgery and has tried his best to play as many games as possible. Nuggets ownership has said that his hardwork and character is why they took the risk to draft him. They obviously believed in him enough to give him a long term contract even after injury. I’ve always been a supporter of his too. He makes a lot of high effort defensive plays or grabs a big rebound in critical playoff games people often overlook because he has a rep for just being a gunner.

    I always have too. There’s a clean line between “this guy cares and has work ethic” versus “this guy doesn’t care.” Sure, there’s bad injury luck. But when you can’t ever play even 70 games once, it’s much more than just that. They’re not ready, they don’t care.

    Frankly, I think they should give him team captaincy. The Nuggets succeed because they have an NHL mentality more than an NBA mentality. Their are few egos, Coach Malone is old school, and they play as a team. Jokic should wear the “C”, MPJ and Murray should wear the “A”s. All 3 have been here as rookies and are responsible for the turnaround. They set the mentality.

Leave a Reply