Can Jamal Murray get Denver to the Finals? | Players who will decide the season | NBA Season Preview - video Dailymotion

Peter Klein

Nikola Jokic is still the best player in the league, but he needs Jamal Murray to get the Denver Nuggets back to the NBA Finals. Peter Klein looks at the Top 5 NBA Players who will decide how the NBA Season plays out as the 2024-25 NBA Season Preview continues.   Apple Pod: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/couch-potato-diary/id1564122189 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3QgazeHcSKSteZbBIubcuM Twitter: twitter.com/primetimeklein IG: instagram.com/primetimeklein Facebook: www.facebook.com/Couchpotatodiary Twitch: twitch.tv/primetimepk Email: couchpotatodiary@yahoo.com We Had No Idea: every Wednesday morning,  instagram.com/wehadnoideapodcast

Transcript

00:00So, the NBA season is very, very close.

00:13And that means that our season preview is continuing.

00:17Today, we are going to look at the players who will decide the NBA this season.

00:22And this is different from the players who, like the best players in the league and all

00:26of that.

00:27This is the guys who, if they come out and really do what they do, or do what they're

00:31supposed to do, or whatever it is, then that is going to shift potential.

00:37Like championships, conferences, whatever, that they are going to have an impact.

00:41And if they don't do what they're supposed to do, or something happens, then it shifts

00:46the dynamic in a complete other way.

00:48So, coming in at number five.

00:50I'm cheating, but it's two guys on one team.

00:52It is Jimmy Butler and Terry Rozier.

00:54The Miami Heat have not really done a whole lot since heat culture reigned supreme a couple

01:01of years ago.

01:02And now, you have Pat Riley talking about Jimmy Butler contracts, and it just feels

01:08like the end of an era could be coming soon for the Miami Heat.

01:14I, maybe that's a bit overstating things, but I think there is a lot of pressure on

01:19Jimmy Butler this year.

01:20And thus, Terry Rozier as well.

01:22You had Rozier, Butler, and Adebayo, and they never really got going together.

01:27And injuries kind of kept that, uh, kept that group apart for a bit.

01:32But I do think now, when you go into this season, if that is still the case, and there

01:37is ineffectiveness, injuries, and all of those things, then Miami probably just kind of fades

01:42off into that night.

01:44And then that leads to a couple of things.

01:45One, I think Jimmy Butler gets traded.

01:48Two, Rozier gets traded?

01:49I don't think he would get moved necessarily, but I do think that there, it would be a change

01:55in philosophy in Miami a little bit.

01:57I don't think, they don't do the teardown thing.

02:00They just, they never have, and probably won't.

02:03But what they, they might do a retool or something, but I do think it would lead to a pretty big

02:09shift for them, and then lead to a good player being out on the market.

02:13And if those guys do click, they're a team that no one is talking about right now in

02:18the Eastern Conference.

02:19And so that would put some pressure on those top-tier teams.

02:23So that's why I think those two guys are going to be really important in deciding how this

02:26year goes.

02:27At four, it's Chris Middleton.

02:30The Milwaukee Bucks are the forgotten team, I think, in the NBA.

02:34And the, yep, your time has, your time, you had your time, it has now come and gone, on

02:40to the next thing.

02:41And everyone's kind of forgetting that this is a, has the potential to be a very good

02:45basketball team, with Lillard, Giannis, sorry, and Middleton.

02:48If Middleton can get back to what we have seen him do in the past, then this Milwaukee

02:54Bucks team, I think, still has a championship level ceiling.

02:59It might be one that they can just kind of only graze right now, but it is one where

03:04if they do have everyone healthy, and playing the way that they can, they can still get

03:11to that level.

03:12But Middleton, I think, is the absolute key for that.

03:14And so if Middleton is going, again, Milwaukee can be a championship contender, and that

03:19puts more pressure on the Bostons, and the Philadelphias, and the New Yorks, in the Eastern

03:24Conference.

03:25If Middleton isn't right, then I think that this becomes a much less dynamic offensive

03:30team, and they kind of just, again, fade away, like we talked about with Milwaukee, or sorry,

03:37with Miami, and they do kind of become the afterthought that everyone thought they were

03:41going to be.

03:42But three, Zion Williamson.

03:44We got so many, we've been getting little tastes of Zion in different play-ins and stuff

03:49like that, but we saw last year that he can go on a run and be that MVP caliber player

03:58that we all thought he could be, and we thought injuries maybe denied us of that.

04:03But there is still that guy in there.

04:06It is asking a lot, but if that guy's in there for 82 games, then this Pelicans team, again,

04:11I think could be a championship contender.

04:15There's a lot of ifs that go along with that, no question.

04:18But I think that if Zion Williamson is healthy, and can, for 82 games, just one, just one

04:2582 game stretch is all we need from this guy.

04:28Honestly, probably 65 games, maybe even 60.

04:31Can we just keep this guy healthy so that they can get into the playoffs?

04:34But again, this is a team that I don't think a whole lot of people in the West are, or

04:38a whole lot of people just in general, are really factoring into the West discussion.

04:42It is the Minnesotas, and the Denvers, and even Memphis, I think, is getting a little

04:46bit more buzz than this team is right now.

04:49And so, there's a weird Ingram thing going on there, totally, and we'll talk about him

04:54a little bit later on in this episode, but for Zion, if he can get to that level, then

04:59again, a new contender comes into the ring in the championship discussion in the Western

05:04Conference.

05:05For new Jamal Murray, it was a disaster of an Olympics for him, and it's not been great

05:10in Denver since they won the championship, and I get that was only a couple of years

05:13ago.

05:14But, like, they, I guess I say it hasn't been great in Denver since then.

05:19Like, they were a very good team, and on the cusp of being the number one seed in the West

05:24last year.

05:25So I'm overstating that a little bit.

05:26But for Murray, they have someone who I think really needs to get going.

05:33Because, if he is not, they just don't have the horses anymore.

05:38And it kind of all came together in that championship run where he was going, and you had depth

05:44and a bench that can help push you, and then Jokic is obviously the best player in the

05:47world.

05:48But now, you have taken some significant hits to your depth, and you are now relying on

05:53a lot of pieces that are just unproven.

05:56You cannot have this guy not be at an all-star level.

06:01If he is at that level, then again, the Nuggets can win a title.

06:05If he is not, it is going to be really hard for this team to get back to that championship

06:10point.

06:11And so, for the other ones that we talked about in this list so far, it's a, yeah you

06:14know what, you can squint and see that man, they could really make a push for something.

06:17With Denver, we obviously have a proof of concept a couple of years ago, and they have

06:21the best player in the world.

06:23If he can just be, if Murray can just be himself, then this is a championship caliber team again.

06:30But if he is not, then I just don't think they can compete with the Oklahoma Cities

06:34and all the teams we mentioned before, right?

06:36So he is, I think, so important to deciding how this season goes for Denver, and for the

06:42rest of the NBA.

06:43And at one, it is Isaiah Hartenstein.

06:47He comes to a Oklahoma City Thunder team that feels like they were a Isaiah Hartenstein

06:52away from being a championship team a year ago.

06:56And it certainly seems like he just fits there in Oklahoma City.

07:01And if it is the perfect match that everyone thinks it is going to be, then yes, this is

07:08I think the clear favorites in the West, and would give a real scare to the Celtics or

07:14the Knicks or the 76ers or whoever in the NBA Championship, in the NBA Finals.

07:20If he is not, if for whatever reason it's just an oil-water thing or whatever it is,

07:26if he's not, then I think the door in the West is wide open given, again, what we talked

07:31about with Denver, what we talked about with the Pelicans, what we have talked about in

07:34the past about the Minnesota Timberwolves.

07:37And so I just think, obviously this is a superstar-driven league.

07:41We all have that understanding.

07:43But the superstar play on the Thunder wasn't an issue last year.

07:48It was just getting those rebounds and getting those stops, or some of those stops I guess,

07:52at key moments, and being able to rely on a big man to do some of those things.

07:58They need him now.

08:00If he can be that guy, then this can be that team.

08:03If he can't, then it feels like it's going to be just another one, just another good

08:09team in the West.

08:12So those are the players who I think will decide this upcoming season.

Can Jamal Murray get Denver to the Finals? | Players who will decide the season | NBA Season Preview

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