Jamal Murray giving Nuggets a glimpse of their future at point guard

DENVER — Step onto the Nuggets’ practice court on the second floor of Pepsi Center as the team is wrapping up another day at the office and usually, you’ll watch a similar series of events unfold.

15 players spread out across six different baskets shooting free throws, typically evolving into different groups; veterans and youngsters getting up jumpers from different spots around three-point arc. If you’re lucky, you’ll see a spirited 3-on-3 game between Juancho Hernangomez, Malik Beasley, Mike Miller, Johnny O’Byrant, who’s currently on his second 10-day contract with the team, and player development coaches Stephen Graham and John Beckett.

Slowly but gradually players one by one make their way towards assorted media members conversing on the near baseline or veer towards the weight room, where Director of Performance Steve Hess or Associate Head Strength Coach Felipe Eichenberger is ready to put anyone and everyone through a post-practice workout.

More often than not, Jamal Murray is the last one off the floor.

Whether it’s a friendly but competitive 1-on-1 game against Beckett or a series of drills focused on improving his ball handling and the intricacies of his jumper, you typically have to wait Murray out if you want a word with the rookie post-practice.

“Jamal has an innate drive to be special,” General Manager Tim Connelly told BSN Denver. “His drive and determination are fantastic attributes.”

Coach Michael Malone and his staff couldn’t get a read on this group early on this season. Injuries, inconsistent play up and down the roster, and lineup and rotation changes made the first month-and-a-half of the regular season a wash.

Then, Dec. 15, a date that will live in Nuggets’ infamy if Nikola Jokic, who started his first game of the season at center that night continues trending upward, changed everything. Jokic would go on to introduce himself to the rest of the league over the next two months. A triple-double, dozens of highlight-reel assists and a selfless personality turned him into an NBA darling almost overnight.

For Murray, his introduction would come more gradually.

Point guard promise

After starting point guard Emmanuel Mudiay went down with a back injury in Denver’s Jan. 21 win over the Clippers, Murray was elevated into the Nuggets’ backup point guard slot for the first time all season after filling in at shooting guard with the second unit up until that point.

The next night, Murray, who played mostly on the ball in high school, but off it during his one year at Kentucky, responded with a 17-point, five-rebound, three-assist effort in just 20 minutes while playing exclusively point guard.

“I felt like I was at home,” Murray said. “I love playing the point, my natural position.”

After a back injury held Mudiay out over Denver’s next five games, the second-year guard was able to return but aggravated the injury a few nights later, mid-way through Denver’s Feb. 4 loss in San Antonio. Murray then returned to his role as the backup point guard. He scored 20 points on 8-12 shooting in 23 minutes against the Spurs.

Murray’s minutes in February are finally back up to where they were in November when Denver’s rotation was decimated with injuries, and he’s showing the Nuggets that with a consistent role and regular playing time, he’ll produce.

“You never want anybody to get hurt, but it seems like all year long when somebody’s gone down, somebody’s stepped up and taken full advantage of the opportunity,” Malone said. “Jamal has done that and he’s shown with his first really true minutes as a backup one, that he’s more than capable of playing that position at the highest level in the NBA.”

The wealth of talent in the 19-year-old is as clear as day.

It’s rare for rookies, even rookie shooters to excel from three and although Murray has only shot it 32.3 percent from distance this year, he’s had his moments and his shot is there. Murray is up to 86.5 percent from the line and his form and mechanics project well. He’s holding steady at a 52.6 effective field goal percentage on catch-and-shoot jumpers this season, per NBA.com

On offense, Murray has shown enough flashes this year to draw a healthy conclusion that he’ll be able to score at this level for a long time. Off the dribble, in the pick-and-roll, it’s all there. Murray’s a ball of energy on the floor, always giving 100 percent effort, especially noticeable on defense when he’s crashing through screens, darting into passing lanes, or blocking shots.

“Every game you get more comfortable,” Murray said of playing point guard. “Even if my numbers don’t show it, I do my thing and I’m finding guys and guys are playing off me.”

That confidence is the No. 1 trait Malone and his staff have seen grow in Murray over the past ten games where he’s spent most of his time at the one. Confidence in running the team. Confidence with the ball in his hands. Confidence in calling plays.

[pullquote]“I felt like I was at home. I love playing the point, my natural position.”[/pullquote]

The Nuggets don’t have a terribly complex offensive system, which has made Murray’s transition easier. Denver runs a free-flowing full-court style stocked with read-and-react sets that take time to get familiar with but mostly rely on basketball IQ and execution. Malone and his staff have spent extra time with Murray diagramming plays on the whiteboard, “script sessions,” as Malone called them to get the rookie up to speed and comfortable if Malone does make a play call, but the rookie’s IQ has made it a quick transformation.

“The greatest thing about this team is everybody’s telling me to be aggressive,” Murray said. “So I just play with confidence and I don’t think twice about what I’m doing. I make mistakes but everybody keeps telling me to keep my head up.”

Mental makeup

Off the floor, Murray never breaks character. Whether it’s at practice, shootaround, before or after games, Murray’s unparalleled confidence and tunnel vision never wavers. He’s all basketball all the time with the skill-set and ceiling to match.

“I can’t shoot the ball scared,” Murray said. “It doesn’t take me long to get hot. I feel every shot is going in.”

Murray knows he has to earn his stripes in this league but isn’t holding back. In Denver’s home win over Dallas, Murray hit a three from the top of the key, then turned to the Mavericks’ bench looking for seven-year veteran Wesley Matthews, who shares Murray’s three-point arrow slinging celebration.

Murry was asked postgame if he was trying to let Matthews know that was his celebration.

“I was looking for him,” Murray said of Matthews. “I couldn’t find him. I didn’t know where he was. I was trying to.”

I’ve described Murray’s mindset as Kobe-like with a skill-set and ceiling between Damian Lillard and Stephen Curry. His aggressiveness, confidence, passion, and determination at such a young age reminds you of some of the game’s greats. Murray’s play at point guard and off the ball this season certainly helps that argument along.

“He’s a modern-day point guard,” Malone said. “He can run your team but he’s also very aggressive-minded. He can make you pay if you go under screens and he can get to the cup and finish.”

Murray still has a ways to go. He has to get stronger and build up his 200+ pound frame so George Hill can’t back him down on three-straight post-ups like he did in late-January. He still over-dribbles at times, and now and then you can see Murray getting ahead of himself.

“Jameer just wants me to slow down,” Murray said. “Hold the ball for a little longer. Get everybody in the right spot and when I’m ready to attack, just don’t over dribble.”

The ups and downs of this Nuggets season has led to many questions that the Denver front office will have to answer at next month’s trade deadline and this coming offseason. What to do with veterans Danilo Gallinari and Wilson Chandler? Whether or not to move on from 2014 first-round pick Jusuf Nurkic?

What Denver does know is that they have a center in Jokic who’s likely headed for multiple All-Star appearances before his career is said and done. They also know they have a point guard in Jamal Murray who’s quietly following a similar path.