Denver Nuggets: 3 Franchise Highlights for 2018

MM is for real.

Personally, I had weird beef with Monte Morris early in the season.  I mean, yeah, he looked good but Jamal Murray…something.

I feel silly.

First, Monte is for real, there seems to be no aspect of his game that isn’t polished. He’s dropped to second in the league in assist-to-turnover ratio but his nearly 6-to-1 number is super important to a Nuggets team that struggles with ball security.  His decision-making is solid, he does just about everything well.

There are a couple of places where he’s surprised us, though. His three-point shooting has been outstanding with Morris hitting at a 45.8% clip from deep.  It’s a nice indicator of his developing chemistry with Nikola Jokic.  Jokic, the master at finding the open teammate finds Morris a lot and Monte has rewarded the Nuggets with big shot after big shot.

The other place he’s surprised is in his ability to get to the basket and finish with nifty moves around the rim.  Morris reminds us of a bigger Ty Lawson.  He’s fearless, he makes his free throws, he plays solid defense.

Like Plumlee, Morris is a glue guy and someone you can count on every game.  He is a poster-boy for the maturity that can come from spending four years in the NCAA.

It falls to these guys to hold down the fort while the Nuggets wait out their injury woes.  They’ve demonstrated that they are up to it and it’s because of them Denver’s expectations have risen from ‘make the playoffs’ to ‘hold on to that top seed’.  With the talent on the Nuggets roster, that second part just might not be that ridiculous.