NBA Season/Playoffs 2025-26

[Moranis]

Denver really needs that 3rd scorer when teams load up on the Jokic/Murray two man game.  Watson seemed like he was developing into that when he got hurt.

Yeah, someone like MPJ. 

I think MPJ was too limited a creator.  They need someone more dynamic.

I thought Westbrook was the right kind of player just too inefficient. Somebody like Mathurin or Jaquez or Grimes who you can sing the ball too weakside and they can run their own scoring actions against a recovering defense.

Feel like MPJ is a much better scorer than any of those guys and the Nuggets won a championship with him as their 3rd option. He is a career 50/40/80 guy. Averaged 24ppg this season and can score from everywhere. That trade was a big mistake. Cam Johnson has been a disaster.

He can absolutely score but not in the contexts they needed. He averaged 13 per game in 5 playoff campaigns for them.

When teams overloaded on the Jokic/Murray 2 man game he wasn't the guy who could punish a weaker matchup or act as a pressure release valve. Became peripheral, not unlike Cam Johnson (who has disappointed because he hasn't offered any more guard skills).

A guy like Jaquez with more on- ball game fits their needs from a 3rd wheel better.

maybe it is a Denver issue not a 3rd player issue. 

[snively]

Denver really needs that 3rd scorer when teams load up on the Jokic/Murray two man game.  Watson seemed like he was developing into that when he got hurt.

Yeah, someone like MPJ. 

I think MPJ was too limited a creator.  They need someone more dynamic.

I thought Westbrook was the right kind of player just too inefficient. Somebody like Mathurin or Jaquez or Grimes who you can sing the ball too weakside and they can run their own scoring actions against a recovering defense.

Feel like MPJ is a much better scorer than any of those guys and the Nuggets won a championship with him as their 3rd option. He is a career 50/40/80 guy. Averaged 24ppg this season and can score from everywhere. That trade was a big mistake. Cam Johnson has been a disaster.

He can absolutely score but not in the contexts they needed. He averaged 13 per game in 5 playoff campaigns for them.

When teams overloaded on the Jokic/Murray 2 man game he wasn't the guy who could punish a weaker matchup or act as a pressure release valve. Became peripheral, not unlike Cam Johnson (who has disappointed because he hasn't offered any more guard skills).

A guy like Jaquez with more on- ball game fits their needs from a 3rd wheel better.

maybe it is a Denver issue not a 3rd player issue.

Could be. But I think it's a roster construction philosophy. They love to surround Jokic with shooter/cutter/defenders and understandably. But whenever I watch them I'm struck by how little quality on-ball guard play they have outside of Murray. Been a problem for them for years. Bruce Brown in their championship year was probably the best non-Murray option they've had, but he seems to have lost whatever mojo he had that year.

It's strange too because scoring/ballhandling on the perimeter is not exactly in short supply in the modern NBA. Coby White, Sexton, Mathurin and Dosunmu all got traded midseason.