Which Nugget can benefit the most from the NBA's hiatus

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Adam Mares: Michael Porter Jr

This hiatus is a double-edged sword for MPJ. On the one hand, it is a bit tragic that he waited two years to get back on the basketball court only to have his return to action cut short by the pandemic.  On the other hand, the 10th man in a 9.5 man rotation on a title-contending team is a difficult spot to find yourself when you are as talented as Porter. There’s so much to learn in such a short window of time with almost no chance to catch your breath once things get rolling. It’s like a new test everyday but with no time in between to study.

Porter is easily one of the seven most talented players on the Denver Nuggets roster but he is far and away the most inexperienced. In his debut season, he often struggled to remember plays, even those that were called for him to be the primary focus. On the defensive end, he was slow to read his assignments, often bungling a switch or rotation.

Porter would be wise to spend his quarantine by memorizing the playbook. It isn’t enough to just become familiar with each play from the small forward spot, if Porter wants a spot in the rotation when the season returns he’ll have to understand each player’s role on the court during each action. Defensively, daily reminders of the team’s schemes, rules, and assignments through film study should sharpen his understanding.

Do that, and Porter will find himself in the rotation when the season returns. Fail to do so, and the Nuggets will likely enter an accelerated end of season and playoff without him.

Harrison Wind: Michael Malone

I’ll go a bit out of the box with this one. During the grind of an NBA season and even as the regular season transitions into the playoffs, coaches don’t have an opportunity to step back and reflect on the year and the last several months. But a hiatus like the one we’re currently in let’s a coach step back and reassess things to an extent that he typically can’t. It sounds like Michael Malone has tried to take advantage of the down time that he and his staff have had.

As the calendar turned from March to April with no update on when the season could resume, Malone assigned various deep dive projects to his assistant coaches centered around the first 55 games of Denver’s season. He wanted to gain more insight into where the Nuggets excelled and struggled over the first five months of the current campaign but also why Denver limped into the hiatus by going 5-5 in the 10 games after the All-Star break. Malone and his coaches are also looking into where the Nuggets got their most efficient offense from this season and other “out of the box ideas” that can lead to better play on both the offensive and defensive ends of the floor if/when the season does resume.

Coaches don’t have the ability to reflect to that extent in the middle of a season. Who knows what new perspective it can give Malone ahead of a potential playoff run in the coming months.

Brendan Vogt: Jamal Murray

Murray reminds me a bit of Bryce Harper in his playstyle. He’s a full speed ahead, dive headfirst into the first row, go hard or go home type of competitor, and that’s easy to admire. His willingness and ability to play through pain are well documented. After playing in all 82 games his rookie season, we learned that Murray played through a double sports hernia. Question Murray all you want, and I have, but he’s a true gamer. However, like Harper, Murray is an expensive investment, and availability is indeed an asset.

Murray’s toughness is an excellent quality, but how often he finds himself playing through pain is not a great sign. After a nasty collision with Ben Simmons in Philadelphia, Murray missed some time. He later quote-tweeted his former teammate Wilson Chandler, expressing an evolving attitude towards pain, his body, and longevity as an athlete.

Murray’s played through pain all season, and I have to imagine his body is grateful for the extended break, even if it’s probably killing him not to play. Should basketball return, Jamal might return in fresher form than we’ve seen him all season.