Speaking to reporters on Tuesday about Jamal Murray‘s impending return to the Nuggets‘ lineup, reigning MVP Nikola Jokic attempted to keep expectations in check for his star teammate with a tongue-in-cheek assessment of what he expects from Murray.
“I love to play with him, of course,” Jokic said, according to Mike Singer of The Denver Post. “I know he’s gonna be really bad for the next 20 games, but we’re gonna survive.”
Jokic’s answer wasn’t a serious one, but there’s some element of truth to it, Singer observes. While Murray may not be “bad,” he’s also unlikely to look like his old self right away following an 18-month rehab from an ACL tear. Jokic and the rest of the Nuggets seem to recognize that a return to normalcy for Murray will take time, and don’t want to put pressure on him coming out of the gate.
Here’s more from around the Northwest:
- Michael Porter Jr. knows that he and the Nuggets faced criticism when he went down last fall with a season-ending back injury shortly after signing a five-year, maximum-salary extension, but he remains determined to prove the team made the right call signing him to that deal, as he tells Marc J. Spears of Andscape. “I’m trying to be the best draft pick Denver’s ever had,” Porter said. “We got a lot of really good players, and my goal is to be one of those guys who they look back on drafting me and they’re very thankful that they took a chance on me.”
- Asked whether Donovan Mitchell asked the Jazz for a trade before being sent to Cleveland, CEO Danny Ainge declined to say one way or the other, writes Eric Walden of The Salt Lake Tribune. “You know, I’m not going to even comment on that, just because those are private conversations,” Ainge said. “If he doesn’t want to say it to you … You can keep asking him that question, but I won’t divulge our private conversations.”
- Former Thunder big man Nick Collison, who worked last season as a special assistant to GM Sam Presti, will be in a new role this year, having earned the title of amateur evaluation scout, according to Joe Mussatto of The Oklahoman.
All the talk I heard was that it was a mutual decision to move forward with a trade for Donovan. It was said that he was in constant communication with the front office. That’s a bit more complicated than a simple trade request.
The Jazz/Donovan saga summarized:
The Jazz originally said there was no intent to trade Donovan. That was before the offers came flooding in. At that point, it sounds like they discussed it with Donovan’s camp, and likely himself, but never said anything to the public.
Based on his press conference and interviews, it sounded like he thought he was being traded to the Knicks. The Cavs trade happened fast, but they did have discussions here and there since Summer League.
I’m sure Donovan knew where all the offers were coming from, but the Knicks were the front runner for awhile. The Cavs coming in at the last second were a bit of a surprise to him, in the end, but overall not a complete blindside.
Looking at both teams I think Donovan’s situation in Cleveland is better as a transition for his development. Going to the New York, after what they would’ve had to give up, would’ve inflated his ego too much as the star in The Big Apple. Learning to work within a balanced team, that plays defense, will help him find more ways to complete his overall game. In other words, he’s not the absolute best player on the team, so that’s going to help him stay hungry and more humble, in comparison.
As for the Jazz, it went from building around Donovan, to getting offers, to having serious discussions internally, to being publicly talked about in trade talks, to reports about what the price was, to rumors of trades being close, to talks stalling and restarting, to turning to plan B and getting a deal done with Cleveland.
Both the Jazz and Donovan got what they needed from a trade. Donovan just wants to win. He was going to have to wait awhile longer with a restarting/retooling Jazz team.
Plus, I’m sure he realized he’ll win more right now with the Cavs vs the proposed Knicks team. The Jazz got assets and young players they can build with or trade later.
Now, the only problem is how to handle the insecure or overly competitive Jazz Fans that can’t seem to handle a tank. I think Danny falls into this category as well. Ainge is too competitive to truly tank. Plus, he said he’s too old to build through the draft.
It would seem the Jazz are going to build through trades and supplementing with draft picks. Although, they would be wise to at least increase their draft chances at this and next year’s draft. Ainge mentioned next year’s draft as being better. Might be more realistic to give them time to complete all the trades and cap moves this season.
I’m sure at some point they’ll have a good enough team to attract free agents that want to win, just like before with guys like Bojan, Gay, and Whiteside, but hopefully with a better result and better chemistry. Although, I will say that Bojan was a perfect fit. Too bad they couldn’t go deeper into the playoffs.
This is a summary?
I am sure he also called War and Peace a summary.
Thought this was his doctoral thesis
Haha, it’s a summary plus bonus. But hey, can’t blame you for posting a douchebag comment. Douchebags can’t help but post douchebags things. ;-)
P.S. Feel free to mute me. I did you. Life’s too short to deal with people that only see the negative.
But yes, this is a summary of entire Summer timeline. Those who don’t see the intent can just move on. No place for negative people in these comments. Stick to the cesspool that is Twitter.
As for the Jazz, great win tonight! It’s been difficult to predict what this team will be like. I do think that cutting Stanley Johnson showed that guys need to be complete players on both ends. That’s unless they are elite at certain things, like Vanderbilt.
Just DM Luke directly next time as to why you deserve to be the next Hoops writer.