What happens next for Jokic, Murray, and the Denver Nuggets?

What happens next for Jokic, Murray, and the Denver Nuggets?

[Music] hi everyone welcome in a pickaxe and roll brought to you by our good friends over at bet online number 38 I’m your host Ryan Blackburn at NBA Blackburn on Twitter part of the Mile High Sports podcast Network and I’m here 24 hours removed after the Nuggets season has ended uh the nuggets are done it’s unfortunate it always sucks when you have to hear that when you have to say that again and again and I don’t begrudge anybody for sort of boycotting nuggets episodes for a little bit just because this was a painful way to go out for sure I know a lot of folks were not happy about how things went but the good news is that now you get to take a step back get to turn the page a little bit and if you are into offseason stuff like think about it last year nobody really cared about the offseason the Nuggets won the championship who cares now there’s there’s a little bit of stakes there’s there’s some things that Denver is going to have to do that they’re going to have to take care of that they’re going to have to get better at and I think for the Nuggets players there’s also some Stakes as well so we’re going to get into all of it I’m excited to see what happens how people sort of approach this topic what people are going to say uh the first thing I’m going to do in the first segment is go over some moments from the 2023 24 season over the course of the last six months seven months or so we’re going to talk about a variety of things and that’ll be great and we can reminisce it’s going to be The Good the Bad and the Ugly from the season second segment we’ll talk about is the formula good enough what happened like can Denver just run this back can they be better next season than they were now with just basically the same Supporting Cast and then third are major changes coming is this an opportunity for the Nuggets to sort of rock the boat a little bit is it the right idea to rock the boat we’ll talk about it all I’m curious to see what your thoughts are what your takes are on this moment but first got to tell you about our friends over at bet on the line the number one source for all your summer Sports this season with MLB golf NBA and NHL Playoff stats you are not going to want to check out the NBA playoffs I understand that and if you’re a hockey fan you’re probably not super happy about where the rocky or where they where the ABS are so now it’s Rocky time now it’s golf time if you’re looking for the latest stats news scores everything available for your favorite teams and players get the latest odds and lines player props team matchups odds things like that over at bet online head over to their website today or use your mobile device to get in on the action bet online where the game starts okay let’s talk about some moments let’s talk about what happened this season I couldn’t really do this last night because there’s just a lot of things obviously to go over but I wanted to start the podcast in that light and not necessarily having to think about okay uh man it’s just a really tough moment really really like just woes me woes us kind of thing let’s talk about what was good how about every game against the Lakers every single time like except for game four some of them were stressful some of them were tough but ultimately the Nuggets basically won every single time they face the Los Angeles Lakers I know that if you’re a nuggets fan if you’re a longtime nuggets fan that you’re pretty happy about that normally in a year where there weren’t like massive champion ship expectations what happened in the first round of the playoffs would have been good enough most people would be like stoked hey this like you win all the games against the Lakers you embarrass them you send them out on a buzzer beater shot basically in game five uh the game two buzzer beater that Jamal Murray hits will live in infiny in terms of like he he’ll always be an OP for the Lakers like he’s just never ever going to be somebody that they support and that was gonna that was true based off of previous matchups as well but really really hammered that point home uh he became an Enemy of the State over there and that’s that’s fun like you want to be somebody else’s bane of the existence that’s for sure how about the Boston Celtics matchups those were fun those were good moments Denver had some great games against the Boston Celtics some of the best in the NBA some of the most important games of the NBA in the regular season and those were good those were those were good moments uh good things to think back on and a good reminder that yes while Denver season is over against the Minnesota timberwol if Denver had just gotten through that I think they would have had a pretty solid chance against Boston some people might think that that’s painful to think about some people might think that I’m doing you a disservice by like talking about oh man if they had just gotten through game seven yeah obviously like I think Denver had a really great chance to win a championship this year they fell short because they faced another top three team in the NBA and then they just were facing a team that was not only in their tier but was geared towards facing them if they had just played the Thunder or hypothetically if they had played the Mavericks I think that there would have been a different outcome for sure how about Nicole yic winning MVP he was great throughout the entire year played 79 games put up historic numbers ultimately nuggets fans don’t celebrate individual Awards like they do for team awards for team success championships but this is still a pretty cool thing um is still a pretty cool Moment Like Denver still has Nico yic around he’ll be around next year he’ll be around for the following year he’ll probably be around for the next four years at least and that is a good thing to celebrate you guys remember the inseason tournament I pulled this up when I was looking at Denver’s actual game logs and like trying to remember what even happened this season the inseason tournament the four games that Denver played that were regular season games that were overlaid on inseason tournament games were games 6 11 12 and 16 earlier this season they were quite literally five months ago and age an absolute Eon ago and it’s funny to it’s funny to see like all of this man the comments are Wilding they are absolutely Wilding um what is going on man H people are not happy obviously I I get it the inseason tournament will be back I wonder if that’s going to take a a larger precedence going forward for the NBA just because like the NBA wants it to take precedence so if Denver actually wins it next year if they really try for it next year then they’re going to have an opportunity I think to gain a tiebreaker in the playoffs that hasn’t been fully decided yet it won’t be decided until the CBA is fully ratified uh in late June early July but I’m curi ious to see what that tiebreaker Situation’s going to look like Denver will probably try for that and that was a fun moment think about the two teams that matched up there the Indiana Pacers were The Darlings the Los Angeles Lakers actually won it kind of tired them out and they were lost in the first round but the Indiana Pacers are in the Eastern Conference Finals because they’re pretty good so kind of an indicator in an early season environment of how good a team can be Jamal Murray’s injuries throughout the season they were bad moments they were difficult to swallow I think Murray has long just wanted a healthy year coming off of a torn ACL in the previous season he only played like 62 65 games somewhere around there and was kind of on a minutes restriction for a lot of it kind of on an effort restriction for a lot of it this past year was like this year was supposed to be his healthy year this was supposed to be the year that he broke out as an All-Star hypothetically if he had stayed healthy maybe that would have happened um as it turns out that hasn’t happened and it’s unfortunate that that is just part of the story at this point for him I’m going to talk about this a little bit later in the podcast I think that it is Jamaal Murray’s time to become an All-Star next year he’s in a he’ll be in a contract year next year unless Denver signs him to an extension I think that he will like he’s gonna make a better effort than he did this year that’s for sure but I’m very curious to see how he how he handles it the yic versus embiid Saga that was back in January if you remember kind of Forgotten amidst all of this that embid and Sixers fans are still thinking that they have the best player in the NBA that as long as he’s stays healthy think about how much like Jamal Murray’s Health has defined what the nuggets have done at least you’re not Sixers fans at least Denver got a championship man like sometimes it’s tough sometimes it’s not it’s not perfect it’s not easy but then forgot the championship last year you could trade places with Sixers fans that’ be absolutely miserable if you want to um yeah like that’s a that is another alternative if you want how about yic is buzzer beater versus the Warriors that near halfcourt buzzer beater are basically all the Warriors matchups because the Nuggets swept the warriors uh Draymond Green would have you forget that he got absolutely cooked by Nicole yic he wanted Rudy goar to be on Nicole yic as it turns out that strategy of having Carl Anthony towns guard him or Nas Reed guard him that legitimately won the Wolves the series so I am not looking forward to Draymond Green’s tenure with TNT and maybe this is where we’re inside the NBA goes to die um think about the battle with OKC the battles with Minnesota those two teams were Elite dur during the entire year and I think nuggets fans might have underestimated those teams initially but the longer you get into the season and how much they compete throughout the regular season um it’s very clear that like those two teams are here they’re they’re here to stay they are not going anywhere and Denver is now on the hook to match up with them and outpace them going forward be better than them rather than them having to catch the Nuggets anymore because they’ve caught the nuggets and they might be uh they might be pasted where the nuggets are at um Denver did go 21- six post All-Star break they were very good they had the moments where they looked like the best team in the NBA they had a lot of Great Moments during the regular season they couldn’t ultimately capture it during the playoffs I know that that’s where most people want to see it but it’s also one of those things where you you kind of miss the forest through the through the trees when you are focusing so heavily on one result especially when facing against another Elite team only one elite team can win and the fact that it’s unfortunate that Denver lost in this one I won’t get tired of saying that I guess um only one of the teams could move on this year it was the Timberwolves next year could be the Nuggets it’s very possible um joic versus wemi was fun throughout the year three of those matchups right at the end of the season including an unfortunate one in game 81 where Denver lost that but wemy is going to continue to get better just as Anthony Edwards has continued to get better and those are fun moments however I will wrap up this segment with this there were fun moments throughout the year I don’t want to diminish that but this season in all honesty felt like a chore and I think the Nuggets felt this too it’s something that Michael Malone Jamaal Murray sort of alluded to in the postgame last uh last night that it’s just a very very long and arduous season and process in order to not just do it for one year but do it for two years where not only are you like working as hard as you possibly can to win a championship but then you got to try to muster the same energy if not more so in order to win a championship the following year when the opposing team in this case the Timberwolves has had a ton of opportunity to see what you do to hone in on where your weaknesses are and really try to press those buttons um this year was a chore this year was tough not just for the players not just for the coaches but covering it was really really tough like I remember back in November getting mad at joic getting mad at the nuggets for not necessarily taking things as seriously as they need to not necessarily bringing the right energy and effort early on and then won 57 games so like maybe some of my concern was misplaced at the time but there were signs I guess throughout the year that Denver was one of those teams that’s like okay you got to flip the switch you got to flip the switch you got to flip the switch and then when they finally did flip the switch it was a little bit duller it was not as potent it was not as like breathtaking as it was the previous season other teams weren’t ready for it when Denver did it last year they were ready for for it when they did it this year so going forward I think Denver’s switch it needs to be more potent it needs to be like when they reach that zone they have to become more Unstoppable especially on the offensive end because I think that teams are catching up to what Denver does on the offensive end for sure so they’re gonna have to figure it out they’re gonna have to go through a variety of things but I am curious to see how they handled it um and Michael thally says he strongly disagrees they when they flipped it against Boston they looked incredible I do agree but that’s one matchup and there were plenty of matchups in the Western Conference where Denver did try to flip the switch a little bit they tried to go hard against the Thunder at times they tried to go hard against the t- Wolves at times and there were some times where they made it work but they’re like that’s what a Ser that’s what a series is for it’s where when one team finds that gear it’s on the other team to rise up and beat it and Denver just could not do it in the the t-wolf series and I think that’s important it’s an important thing to um to understand in all of this so look is what it is they look good and Patrick McMahon says it here they look good for three four and five in the first half last night so they look good for half of the series the other half they did not look good and then It ultimately came down to which team could like figure out the war of attrition and the Tes were the team that was able to do it all right let’s take a break when we come back we are going to chat about what can the championship formula look like is it good enough and should the Nuggets maintain their status quo we will be right back but first I want to tell everybody about number 38 the Nuggets or not the nuggets the Mile High Sports and Denver stiffs host bar for the playoff runs I know the playoff runs are over but it doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t still go out to number 38 where they do a bunch of great appetizers uh bunch of great beers on tap they’ve got some awesome food selections from brunch to pizza to chicken sandwiches to appetizers there’s just like a variety of fun Foods there and there’s a variety of seeding options inside outside lots of good places it’s a it’s an awesome venue you should definitely go check it out let them know that you came from us over at High Sports we would love to keep up our relationship with them we will be right back on pickax and roll all right we’re back pickaxe and roll thank you so much for tuning in the show hit the like button hit the Subscribe button apologies for uh sort sort of in a regular time sometimes I’m going live at midnight sometimes I’m going live at 900 p.m. like I did today sometimes I’m going live at 11:00 if there is a regular time that works well that the audience prefers that like I could try a bunch of different things I tend to think the evenings are the better time during the off season because most people are working during during the day especially during the week but I’m curious to see like would you prefer the evening like around now or would you prefer prer the morning would you prefer the midday who knows I’m open to doing a variety of different things as the offseason wears on all right is the formula good enough for the nuggets the formula is this the Denver Nuggets have the best player in the NBA the Denver Nuggets have the best two-man game in the NBA the Denver Nuggets have the best starting unit in the NBA and the bench fills in the gaps finds ways to contribute and ultimately the starters will be out there when it matters bench doesn’t matter as much that was the formula going in that was the formula going into the playoffs that was a formula going into the regular season for what it’s worth the Nuggets decided Calvin Booth specifically decided rightly or wrongly that the Nuggets were going to go into this season young they drafted three players Julian Str Jaylen picket Hunter Tyson those guys were all on guaranteed contracts including the second round picks in addition to that they had three2 way players all of whom were pretty young except for Braxton key Braxton never really played never really got the opportunity so that’s six of the 18 and then Denver has Deandre on the bench he wasn’t ever counted on to be a consistent rotation player nor should he be nor should he be going forward then they have vaco chanar who was going to be counted on to be a rotation player but he unfortunately tore his ACL back in I think Late July I want to say he will be healthy and ready to go for next year the nuggets have an option to pick up on him I assume he will be back there’s no reason for him not to be I don’t think but um but yeah I think that between those eight guys Denver wasn’t expecting major contributions from those eight out of the 18 so then you go to the top 10 obviously you have the starters we’ve talked about them best starting lineup in the league right you have Christian Brown Reggie Jackson Payton Watson Zeke Nai and Justin holiday the Nuggets counted on Christian Brown they knew they were gonna count on pton Watson they knew that that was going to be the formula that was going to be those two young guys specifically and then they had Reggie Jackson from the previous year they resigned him they thought okay he could be the backup point guard for this group so that’s eight and then the other two Zeke Nagi and Justin holiday Zeke Nagi was expected to be one of the major rotation pieces that is what he was paid to be and never worked out Zeke Nagi regressed this year he was not as good as he was in the previous year and Zeke was not as good as he was in his sophomore year he has gotten worse as the years have gone on in his career and like he has struggled to really figure out where he can impact the team and the nuggets as a result have really struggled to figure out how to use him he’s not a backup center but he’s not quite a backup power forward either his shooting has fallen off in a major way and the Nuggets couldn’t use him in the playoffs he wasn’t good enough he wasn’t helpful enough he also like can be a good perimeter Defender but also he is a guy that could be schemed against and I don’t think he’s an impactful Defender which is a problem so then you’re left with Justin holiday and ultimately the Nuggets were basically left in their rotation with nine guys that they could trust and when it came down to it in the playoffs they only had eight and now that’s not as much of a problem if it’s like last year where Denver has Bruce Brown Jeff Green and Christian Brown Christian Brown was basically justtin Holiday from this year he was a low usage not going to get in the way Gonna Fill in around the gaps like he’ll make an occasional play but most of the time he’s just out there for defense and connectivity he was supposed to be Bruce Brown this year or the Nuggets were supposed to kind of piece that together with a variety of different skills in Reggie Jackson’s ball handling Christian Brown’s defense and pton Watson’s athleticism that ultimately didn’t come to pass and it’s one of the reasons why the formula did not work it’s because as great as the starters were last year in the playoffs think about how many times Bruce Brown closed games think about how many times he made impact plays I think back to game four against the the Miami Heat in the NBA Finals as one of his most important moments for the team where Michael Porter couldn’t really play in that moment and the Nuggets could trust Bruce Brown to not only be a Defender but he could also be a playmaker he could also score he could also shoot at least a little bit but it was just the confidence that the Nuggets had in him and the confidence that the team had in what he could do and the variety of skills that he brought to the table at the same time while he was just one player out there that really helped fill in a lot of the gaps that helped and the Nuggets this year without a good series from Michael Porter Jr could have used another player to be able to create a little bit could have used another player to defend now Christian Brown had some great defensive sequences had some great defensive plays against the t-wolves they had the defense covered the defense wasn’t the reason why they lost the Series against the Timberwolves the problem was the offense and when Michael Porter couldn’t deliver on that end and when Jamal Murray who struggled from basically games one through six struggled on that end one of the things that the Nuggets could do last year was put the ball in Bruce Brown’s hands a little bit have him create a little bit it relieved some of the pressure from Jamaal Murray so the Nuggets there’s a reason why the championship formula didn’t work as well this year was because they tried to bring the same formula that won last year’s playoffs into this year when they didn’t have the right Personnel to make it happen Reggie Jackson was not going to be out there when it mattered Christian Brown was out there at times when it mattered but he couldn’t fill all of the roles that Bruce Brown had played and he’s not Bruce Brown he’s a different player he’s going to have to grow into and I think he’s a little bit closer to kcp in what his skill set is than he is to Bruce Brown who is a more like variety kind of player who can handle a little bit who can be a little bit of a point guard who can be a little bit of a small forward and a shooting guard I think Christian Brown is a defensive Wing a three and D Wing at his Peak I don’t think he’s a playmaker I don’t think that’s what his his skill set is going to develop into and that’s okay you need three and D guys but there’s only a limit to what they can do in terms of helping out the offense so I think that the real question here is of course should the Nuggets maintain their status quo should they bring back the same formula that previously won a championship maybe maybe they should the starting five and Christian Brown they won the championship but while they stayed the same the rest of the league improved Minnesota improved OKC improved Dallas improved a lot uh Boston certainly improved I’m not sure how many teams you would actually take in a series against Denver but I think the Nuggets were a little bit more vulnerable than people were thinking going into this thing and I do think that part of the reason why is because they didn’t have scoring and playmaking Off the Bench that they needed they didn’t have a change of pace they didn’t have somebody who could fill in if the plan wasn’t working with the starters they need somebody who can fill that role somebody like a Bruce brown but it doesn’t have to just be Bruce it could be I don’t know think of like bogdon bogdanovich or maybe not Malik monk because he’s close to Six ban of the year but somebody close to that where this player is changing the pace of what the nuggets are doing they can space the floor they can handle the ball they can run some pick and roll and most important thing for Denver I think is to find that player now could Julian St develop into that player there’s a possibility I’m not sure he’ll be ready I’m not sure he will be the guy that Denver needs he shows some of those skills but the nuggets are going to have to trust him and they played him close to 500 minutes in his rookie season can that grow to 1500 does Denver need a guy that can play 2,000 minutes like Bruce Brown did I don’t know I think that it’s something to think about something to figure out how can Denver find that type of player because that type of player would be really helpful for this nuggets team the problem is money the problem is financial the problem is Denver doesn’t have a bunch of different options at their disposal and the other problem is that kcp might be gone in the off season when we come back we’re going to talk about whether the Nugget should make a major change and what has to happen for this nuggets season and for this nuggets off season to be a great one we’ll be right back on pickax and roll all right we’re back final segment pickax and roll thank you for tuning into the show hit the like button hit the Subscribe button on YouTube okay should the Nuggets make a major change that is a pretty bold statement it is one of those things where I I used it on the thumbnail change is coming oh my god um look anytime you go through a heartbreaking moment you have to discuss some things Denver was not good enough Minnesota was better the Nuggets might feel like they were the better team but they weren’t or else they would have won they might feel like they had a chance but there is a possibility that the formula that they put out there is not good enough we just talked about what happens if Denver kind of maintains status quo I think if they do that then the goal should be to try to iron out who the sixth man is find some more perimeter creation maybe they believe in Julian staler pton Watson Christian Brown developing into that kind of player but that’s like that’s three different guys and neither like none of them have the right skill set that I’m looking for which is almost more of like a a second point guard a combo guard if you will maybe a big Wing that can handle the ball a little bit obviously every team is looking for that but that’s if the starting five is intact what does a major change look like that’s where you have to ask like if if major changes are coming should the Nuggets make a major change what does that actually entail what does that actually look like I personally believe that niika yic Jamal Murray and Michael Malone should stay like this is a core this is a group especially between those three Michael Malone has been talking about that he will go to war for joic and Murray he will he loves those guys he believes in those guys and I think that those three can absolutely be the center of Denver’s next championship vision I have faith in Jamal Murray we’ll talk about him at the end of this but I have faith in him becoming what he needs to become I think he needs some motivation I think he thought that things would go differently this season and when he reflects he’ll be better going forward I believe in him I believe in what the nuggets are trying to do with that Trio so then what does a major change look like well probably looks like moving off of one of the other three guys breaking up the starting five most likely to go is kcp kcp has a player option this year he is do 15.4 million I want to say on the market he will decline that option he’s not going to accept that unless it looks like an optin and extend that is all I can really expect from what that’s from what’s going to happen there um kcp is a needed piece every team would love to have a kcp every team would love to have a guy like that I think the second most likely player to go would be Michael Porter he has three years 115 million left on his contract one of the things that we’re talking about when we talk about how Denver doesn’t have a lot of moneyy to throw at the bench is because of the Michael Porter contract specifically Porter based off of his production based off of what he looks like in the playoffs I think of him as close to a 25 million Pere dollar player like in the current market he is not quite a $4 million player $37 million player like he’s paid to be right now and that’s that’s just what his contract is Denver can’t change that maybe there’s another team that values him a little bit more and could give Denver the pieces that they need in order to bolster what they do but that’s a big change Michael Porter is a big part of what the nuggets have accomplished so far the Nuggets do not win a championship without Michael Porter Jr last year he was very very important he made some big plays in game five of the Miami series made some made a big three after not being able to hit anything in those finals but Denver got to the finals in large part because of Michael Porter so I think that they needed him do they need him going forward I think is a fair question do they need what he provides and does what he provide is that worth the cost I don’t know the answer I can ask the questions but 3 years 115 million is a lot it just is and if you’re looking for the way to bolster the bench it is probably to break up that Michael Porter contract into a couple of smaller contracts for example this is not like this is a hypothetical I mentioned bdon bogdanovich earlier what if I told you that the Nuggets could trade Michael Porter and one of Julian Str Christian Brown or pton Watson to the Atlanta Hawks for DeAndre Hunter and bdon bogdanovich basically a downgrade as the starter a DeAndre Hunter type a downgrade at the starting three for an upgrade at your sixth man if I told told you that Denver could do that would you take it the answer might be yes the answer might be no I’m not sure if that is a fair deal from Atlanta’s perspective they may not want Michael Porter but that’s the thing I think that Denver is going to have to have these tough conversations and it may not be that deal but they’re going to have to some tough conversations about Michael Porter specifically and this is a tough time because he just like really struggled but I do appreciate what he has brought to the table for this team he was their second most consistent player throughout the entire regular season and then was a key factor their second best player in the first round of the playoffs but as I mentioned last night there’s a difference between a 16 game player and an 82 game player and even beyond that there’s a difference between a 16 game player and a player that is designed to go to the Conference Finals and the NBA finals I’m not sure if Porter is designed for that I think he’s a little bit more rigid than that a little bit less flexible than you probably need in a moment like this so he’s the second most likely guy to go I think most likely is kcp because he already has a player option he could just walk away if he wanted to like if he gets a good option he has an opportunity to walk away the third most likely is Aaron Gordon least likely of the three starters around yic and Murray Gordon’s got one more year on his contract and then a player option the year after that can the Nuggets justify trading him can they justify tra moving Casey P or Michael Porter I think Aaron Gordon is the least justifiable for moving because he has a skill set that is so important for what the Nuggets do it’s the yic Murray Twan game and it’s Gordon as the followup on the offensive end he can do some playmaking he can do a little bit of scoring he can do a little bit of rebounding and he’s mostly defensive focused he’s got a lot of Versatility and that is very very important when guarding a team like well guarding any team basically like Aaron Gordon will be able to find a good defensive matchup for him against any team because he has positional flexibility on that end of the floor now was Minnesota a tough match up for him on the offensive end yes and that’s why I said that he was the next Factor heading into the series and it didn’t ultimately go well for him but I don’t think that Denver should overreact in that to Gordon specifically although he is up for extension as well when September rolls around like you can’t do it this offseason until the later portion like September early October he will be up for a veteran extension will Denver give him the four years $140 million that he could earn I don’t know maybe they hold off on that that would be that’ll be interesting to to see and a lot of that I think will break down as to whether Denver retains kcp or Michael Porter or both I think that Aaron Gordon will be around can Denver replace Michael Porter via trade maybe like the deal that I just laid out is both good and bad in some ways you get a little bit of a downgrade at the starting small forward and then an upgrade at the bench that’s really the give and take you have to look for though you’re not going to find if you move Porter you’re not going to find an opportunity where you are doing both things improving the starting unit and improving the bench you have to figure out which one you prefer and for Denver they have made the case that they prefer to get the best starting lineup possible maybe that’s the right call but I don’t think that Denver can just replace Michael Porter it’s going to be really tough like it’s a tough skill set to try to fill out so can they do it maybe but he’s he’s ER can Denver replace kcp I think that is the most justifiable for being able to replace because Denver whether it’s a sign in trade whether it’s say you you’ll let him go and then you sign somebody uh for either the taxpayer mle or if Denver works hard enough they could get to the non-t taxpayer mle they could try that they could just try replacing kcp internally and that would be tough because like I talked about there’s no Perfect Replacement for him on the roster Christian Brown is probably the closest one but they might decide that Payton Watson is the guy that they want to go to but I don’t know I’m curious as to what would happen kcp does some good things for Denver but and he’s he’s a great defender there’s no doubt about it but there were some problems for Denver in terms of like they couldn’t leave him on an island against Anthony Edwards ant was scoring no matter what now maybe that is a thing that just happens against Superstars and you can’t task a guy like kcp to do that all by himself but that is really the difference I think between him defensively and between a guy like herb Jones who is tremendous on that end and I think would have made a bit of a better impact in this series just with size and athleticism kcpu is 6’5 he’s a little bit under sized he’s aging a little bit this is a tough thing for Denver to have to do I think he is probably though the most justifiable that if Denver wanted to break up the starting five then they could let him go but you have to find a way to capably replace him you can’t just say okay we’re going to let Christian round start and then we’re going to sign some sort of backup center for the taxpayer mle and then we’re going to resign Reggie Jackson and they were done because that makes you worse like you didn’t get better in that moment so Denver if they let kcp go and like it may not be their choice like I said but if they allow kcp to go then they have to have a better plan or at least a justifiable plan in order to replace him last thing Jamal Murray I don’t think the nuggets are GNA break up with Jamal Murray I think that he’s around to stay I think that he is a player that is very connected to niika yic I think that he Michael Malone and yic are very important and I think that that is like it’s not something the Nuggets fans should be thinking too hardly about however like um everybody knows I’m a Murray guy Murray was not good enough in the playoffs some of that was injuries but like I’ve said throughout this thing some of it was because he was facing one of the very best perimeter defenses in the NBA and did not navigate that as well as he needed to he has to be better he’s going to want an extension the nuggets have an opportunity to sign Murray to a contract extension and I’m at Le I’m gonna keep my eye on it a little bit like I think on July 1st technically I think June 29th or June 30th because they’ve changed up the the free agency calendar a little bit Murray will be eligible for a Max extension 30% of the cap he will not be eligible for the supermax because he hasn’t made an all NBA team has a made an All-Star team but he will be eligible for the 30% Max which will be four years $24 million so over 50 million a year in order to justify that contract Murray’s probably got to be better in some ways and if he’s not then that is a really tough it’s a really tough thing um I want to go over this comment that I just saw Murray is not a max player the most important thing that I think I can parse on to people is that every team has a max contract player every single team it just depends on who you’re giving that money to there are teams that like the Detroit Pistons their Max contract players are going to be pretty bad Portland Jeremy Grant is being paid five years $160 Million Murray would be PID be paid more but like there’s there’s a lot of guys that you can point to and say okay they probably do not deserve that kind of money uh if I go to active contracts right now and just go to average annual value Murray would be making about the same amount of money that Bradley Beal would be making that Kawhi Leonard would be making that LeBron James would be making there are stars that are being paid more like Jaylen Brown’s averaging 57 million a year but the thing that I think people should remember is that with the salary cap going up when you say that Murray is worth only a certain amount of money what you really mean is he’s worth a certain percentage of the cap and if the TV money actually goes the way that everybody hopes it goes then when the next TV deal is signed salary Cap’s going up it’s going up a lot so I think that you probably just sign him you probably sign him to that contract hope that the salary cap goes up a little bit and like okay well here’s the thing how many Max contract players are there in the NBA like I would probably call Jaylen Brown about the 20th best player in the NBA or so somewhere in that General vicinity so he’s overpaid for the amount of money that he’s making but if he made 45 million 48 million is it fair is it is it fair I don’t know um there are players that are younger there are players players that are on rookie Maxes that would be making more money if they had the opportunity to like if you had an opportunity to pay Victor wanyama $50 million a year you’re probably doing it you probably are so I think that people have to appreciate that but the obviously thing the obvious thing for Jamal is that if you do not believe that he is worth that contract then this is probably the year if you’re the Nuggets to shop them it’s probably the year might not be what people want to hear might not be what Jamal wants to hear might not be what the Nuggets what nuggets fans want to hear but if there was a year if you did not believe that Jamal was going to be a good value on his next contract if you not did not believe that it was in the best interest of the team to sign him to that contract you don’t sign him to the contract you try to find a different option so if people want to share with me what they think the better options are then I’ll listen I will hear you out and we will see what happens like because I was proposed a deal by somebody close to me that was basically a Jamal Murray for dejon Murray Swap and this person Justified that dejonte Murray might be a better player that is closer to the value that you’d be getting on a Jamal trade and I do not agree that Deonte Murray is a better player than Jamal Murray or a more valuable player like that than what Jamal can provide and what he has provided for the team like if there was a major deal if there was a player that was out there that made sense and the situation was right then maybe you consider something like that but I don’t consider that really I do not consider that to be an actual legitimate option you’re not trading for Murray you’re not trading Murray for anything less than like a legitimate true blue Allstar somebody that that is at that point so people got to understand that this is the lot like if you if you bring me a name then I’ll I’ll discuss it I’ll figure it out like we can we can go through it and maybe that’s something that we do on a future episode but you got to actually bring me a good name and here’s the name from Patrick mcpan dearn Fox why in the world would Sacramento trade the guy that helped them get to the playoffs for the first time they wouldn’t do that there’s no way what if the sons offered Durant for Jamal Murray interesting name and one that I had considered now keep in mind that they also have Devin Booker and Bradley Beal on their roster probably not happening now could you build a deal around Michael Porter for Kevin Durant that would be a little bit more interesting um Tyrus Maxi LOL JK JK yeah I mean that’s probably not happening so obviously like Maxi is going to be a sixer for a long time the names that people like probably would be describing are names like James Harden Paul George maybe Kevin Durant but like once you start getting into those names and dejonte Murray and I just don’t think that it makes sense I don’t think it makes a real difference and I think that people would be pretty disappointed that oh wow for whatever reason the Nuggets don’t have as good of chemistry as they did before for whatever reason weird Chris Middleton plus one more player so they’re gonna add Jamal Murray to Damen Lillard it’s tough to find a deal it really is would you trade M Murray for Damen Lillard you probably wouldn’t think about how Damen Lillard looked like this year like that’s uh it’s not great so look people got to understand that it’s just going to be tough and like you have your lot in life and the nuggets have their lot and I believe that they should keep Murray and I believe that they will sign Murray to that contct cont extension I believe that Murray has to become an All-Star next year that’s just the facts like it’s time it’s time Murray wasn’t good enough he wasn’t consistent enough he wasn’t healthy enough in the regular season and then into the playoffs this was the first time in a while that Murray has legitimately failed because I think that this season was a failure from him I really do I know what his expectations should be and you can start talking about what the Fallout for that should be but I do think that this has to be the off season where Murray really gets himself into shape really gets himself as healthy as possible improves his game even more improves his athleticism going to the rim a little bit more finds more confidence in his legs and in his driving to the point where he can become closer to where he was before the injury and the the more distance that you get from the ACL tear the more I think he can think about getting back to that place but I don’t know we’re g to see we’re gon to see how it goes did you just say d rozan would be nice what are we doing Jamal Murray is so much of a better player than demard de rzan especially in a playoff environment it is insane go look up demard rosen’s Playoff stats and get back to me like they look like Murray’s from this year every year every single season what are we doing look this is going to be a tough offseason for a lot of people it’s GNA be a tough one I think that the nuggets have a lot of things to figure out I think that it’s going to be a tough option for Denver they’re they’re not like look they could bring back the same team probably be a top three seed again and maybe draw a better matchup than Minnesota and be okay for now like guess CT says in the comments it’s draft season Ryan CT you’re a soldier get us ready for that 28th overall pick uh the other thing that we probably have to talk about is like our jayen picket Hunter Tyson and Julian St are actually going to play real roles next year like are they gonna be part of the team we’ll see we’ll find out folks that is going to do it for this episode of pickaxe and roll brought to you by our good friends over at Super Book Sports oh Jesus I did oh my God when you say that for a year straight and things don’t really change it could be uh it could be pretty tough well I found out who’s getting banned that person’s getting banned brought to you by our good friends over at number 38 in bed online thank you so much for tuning into the show went a little bit long today apologies for that I will be back maybe tomorrow I think swipe and I are going to try to do some content tomorrow we’ll probably do some wrapup content as well uh gonna get his own thoughts and maybe just sort of expand upon some different things from the season should be good everybody thank you so much for tuning into the show hit the like button on the way out we’ll talk to you guys very soon

Ryan Blackburn shares his thoughts on the end of the 2023-24 NBA Season for the Denver Nuggets. What were the moments worth remembering? What moments were forgettable? Ryan discusses the plan heading into the season and whether there were problems from the outset. Did Nuggets general manager Calvin Booth do the right thing by going young? Ryan goes over those points and answers questions about the path the Nuggets offseason will take going forward.

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