Five things you need to know from Jamal Murray and the Nuggets’ exit interviews

The Nuggets held exit interviews with Jamal Murray, Michael Porter Jr. and Tim Connelly Friday at Ball Arena. Here’s what you need to know from all three.

Jamal Murray was not close to coming back this season

Murray said Friday that he was cleared to play 5-on-5 in April when the Nuggets traveled to Los Angeles. That date would have been sometime around April 3 when the Nuggets played the Lakers in Denver’s fourth-to-last game of the regular season. With that date in mind, it’s no surprise that Murray didn’t play this season. At best that would have given him three regular-season games to get ready for round 1 of the playoffs. That seems unrealistic, especially with how Murray spoke on Friday.

“I don’t think I’m 85% right now,” Murray said.

Offensively, Murray feels confident. He says he’s able to get to the spots he wants on offense and score, although he’s still battling soreness in his left leg. For the last month, that’s been evident just based on watching him warm-up against Nuggets assistant coaches before games. However, he still has hurdles he hasn’t cleared.

Defensively is where Murray feels further behind. Reacting to his matchup, moving around screens, and trusting his body to dive for loose balls are all areas where Murray has a ways to go.

“If I have the ball in my hand and I want to go make a layup, I’m still thinking about what leg to take off of,” Murray said. “I haven’t ran full speed and gathered off two (feet) yet to this day. There are a lot of different aspects to the game that I haven’t done.”

He’s confident that after a summer of work he’ll be the player he was pre-injury, but there will still be bumps along the way. When Murray rejoins the lineup for the preseason in October it will be 18 months since he’s played in an NBA game.

“I feel like I’m going to come back with a slightly new style,” Murray said. “I’m not going to be as energetic at first. The first few games are going to be kind of rough. I already predict that…I have no doubt that I can return to form.”

Michael Porter Jr. could have returned but is taking a long-term view

Porter was ramping up from back surgery to make a return in March, but a setback that month forced him to shut it down. The forward admitted Friday that he was ramping up too quickly at the time. While Porter ultimately could have played in the playoffs, it wasn’t going to benefit his long-term health.

“I probably could have played. I probably could play on one leg and stand in the corner and shoot 3s,” Porter said. “Would I have been at my best? I definitely would not have been at my best. At that point, it’s thinking long-term versus short-term. And if I came back, would I really help the team at that point or would they have kind of found a groove on their own.”

Porter pulled on his past experience coming back from injury when determining if he should push to return this season. During his lone year at Missouri, Porter played one game before a back injury forced him to miss the next four months. He returned to play two games in March but said he was only at 40-50% at the time and definitely wasn’t himself.

Now, the 23-year-old isn’t going to play unless he feels 100%. He’s also shifted some of his training to focus on his biomechanics. Instead of aiming to just treat his symptoms, which he was doing, Porter said he’s shifting towards a preventative line of thinking. It involves changes to how he’s loading his body, what muscles he’s using when he’s jumping, shooting, moving, etc.

All of it’s designed to make sure Porter enjoys a healthy 2022-23 season and helps the Nuggets chase their championship aspirations.

“I care about the people around me and who invested in me and trusted me with the contract,” he said. “To not play was really hard on me mentally but even more because I felt like I was letting teammates down and people invested in me.”

Tim Connelly and Nikola Jokic talk often, about how long Jokic will play

Maybe the most interesting nugget from Friday’s press conferences came from Connelly, who shared that 3-4 times per year, he and Jokic talk about how long the Nuggets’ soon-to-be back-to-back MVP wants to play basketball.

Jokic tells Connelly, “Until it’s no longer fun.”

I can’t say I’m surprised by the comment. Jokic will be a Nuggets for life. Once he signs a supermax extension this summer — something he said earlier this week that he’d do if offered — he’ll be locked in with Denver for the next five years. Jokic isn’t interested in starting over somewhere else. He’s not the type to ring chase. Once Jokic decides he’s done in Denver, he’ll be done.

But here’s something to think about. I don’t know if Jokic had fun this year. The weight and responsibility Jokic had to carry night-in night-out this season didn’t seem fun, at least from afar. The good news is that next season, potentially with two healthy max-contract running mates, should be significantly more fun.

The Nuggets think they have the pieces to win the championship next season

I asked Murray on Friday what kinds of players the Nuggets need to add this summer to reach their goals next season.

“We need a health button,” he replied. “After that, we’ll be fine. I think we’ve got everything we need, we just haven’t been on the court together.”

That seems to be the common sentiment around the Nuggets right now. Get healthy, sign a “couple of new faces,” as Connelly put it which you’d think would include a defender that can stop dribble penetration, and this team can contend with anyone. Based on last year’s post-trade deadline run when Denver won seven straight after acquiring Aaron Gordon and looked like the best team in the NBA, you can’t be upset with that line of thinking.

That potential won’t be reached without Porter returning to the player he was pre-injury, and then some. He’ll have a lot of pressure riding on his performance next season in the first year of his 5-year, $172 million contract. On Friday, Connelly spoke to signing Porter to that deal last season when Denver could have waited until this offseason to ink Porter to a new contract via restricted free agency.

“You analyze everything,” Connelly said. “Oftentimes the best indicator of future health is current health. Unfortunately, he had the injuries he dealt with this year. The previous couple years going into that contractual negotiation, we felt pretty good about it. Certainly, his numbers were reflective of a guy that you’re going to have to give a lot a lot of money. Hindsight is 20/20. I think we looked as much as we can and we tend to be a team that rewards guys earlier instead of them getting to the marketplace. We’re looking forward to him being fully healthy and I know he’s working his butt off to achieve that goal.”

Here’s how the Nuggets could look different next year

Denver currently owns the 21st pick in the upcoming draft. From the way Connelly spoke Friday, I’d be surprised if the Nuggets don’t select a player in the first round. Denver will likely follow its best player available strategy on draft night, which the Nuggets used last season when selecting Bones Hyland.

In free agency, we’ll see if the Nuggets push hard to keep their current rotation together. Connelly was pretty tempered when talking about his desire to bring DeMarcus Cousins back next season — more tempered than you would have thought he’d be when discussing a player that saved the Nuggets’ bench this season. I don’t think Cousins returning is a sure thing by any means. It seems very much up in the air.

On Davon Reed, Connelly said it was a difficult decision not to convert his contract to a two-way deal, but after conversations with coaches and players, it was decided that Denver wouldn’t waive a player (likely Facu Campazzo or Vlatko Cancar) to sign Reed and make him playoff-eligible.

But Connelly did make it sound like Reed is in the organization’s plans moving forward. The feeling around the team is that Reed is an NBA player and I would be surprised if he wasn’t back with the Nuggets on a multi-year contract next season.