Things You Love To See: Jamal Murray On The Court Looking Like His Old Self

Jamie Schwaberow. Getty Images.

The last time we saw Jamal Murray on an NBA court was 492 days ago. After his epic Bubble run that I would define as must watch stuff

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Murray was having the best season of his career in 2020-21. In 48 games he had the highest FG% of his career (47.7%), the highest 3PM of his career (2.7), the highest 3P% of his career (40.8%), tied for the most assists in his career (4.8), the most steals in his career (1.3) and the highest scoring average of his career at 21.2. Pretty much no matter how you wanted to slice it, Murray was backing up his Bubble performance and then some. At the time he got hurt (April 12th), the Nuggets were 34-20 and a 4 seed and were certainly in the contending conversation as long as Murray was on the floor. As we know, the Nuggets ended up getting swept by the Suns in the 2nd round that year, and ever since then both Nuggets fans and basketball fans in general have been waiting for the day Jamal Murray returns.

Last season there were rumblings of a return in February, then it was March, then it just never came. You can understand why the Nuggets were being overly cautious with his rehab and return. You add in the MPJ injury as well and last year was sort of a lost season for the Nuggets despite Jokic winning another MVP. But now? It looks like the wait is finally coming to an end

Well, that's awesome. Preseason basketball is essentially two months away. If that doesn't have Nuggets fans excited, how about some actual footage of Murray playing?

Who cares about the competition in that video. Just seeing Jamal Murray on the court and looking like his old self is good enough for me. Especially since it's been a billion years since we've seen him play any sort of basketball. He's the type of talent that if he's healthy and gets back to that 2020-21 level (why wouldn't he?) that could have some big time impact on how the top of the West looks. The Nuggets adding their 2nd and 3rd best players back into the mix could easily vault them up to a top 4 seed if not higher. I mean they went 48-34 without those two, so you're telling me they can't get back into the 50s especially if Murray looks like his old self?

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One of the main storylines for the 2022-23 season will be the return of some of the best players in the league and that's especially true when it comes to Jamal Murray and the Nuggets. It's been so long since we've seen him play that maybe you forgot about what a force he can be, but if that video tells me anything it's that he's going to be back better than ever and that the team being overly cautious with him might end up being the right decision. 

Now let's just make sure Nuggets fans can actually watch this dude and this team play on their televisions. 

Altitude has opened a window into its negotiations with Comcast for ending the television blackout of locally broadcast Avalanche, Nuggets and Rapids games.

The Kroenke-owned independent regional sports network (RSN) — unavailable on the state’s largest cable provider since September 2019 — made its latest contract offer to Comcast with a Wedesday news release.

Altitude’s latest proposal: Match the same pricing terms and distribution model Comcast currently provides to AT&T Sportsnet Rocky Mountain (ATTRM), the RSN home of the Colorado Rockies.

“Our goal is a simple one. We want to return the Nuggets, Avs, Rapids, and Mammoth games back to our fans on Comcast,” said Matt Hutchings, president of Kroenke Sports and Entertainment media ventures. “Comcast representatives have recently said that they are fans of the Avs, Nuggets, and Rapids. Our hope is that by offering Comcast a model they’ve clearly been comfortable with over the last three years, we might give fans throughout the Front Range back the championship teams they’ve been missing.”

The specifics of Comcast’s carriage deal with ATTRM were not included in Altitude’s news release. The Rockies and ATTRM did not respond on Wednesday to requests for comment about its contract with Comcast. In 2019, ATTRM announced it had reached a “multi-year extension” for locally broadcast Rockies games. ATTRM is also the RSN home of the Utah Jazz and Vegas Golden Knights in their respective local markets.

It's been brutal enough they've had to miss back to back Jokic MVP seasons. Just figure it out already in time for Murray (and MPJs) return.