RealGM

Interesting thought: Harris, Beasley, Murray, Morris are all roughly the same size.

Murray is the clear-cut starting PG for the Nuggets. Some believe this could be a break-out year for him. Could he average 20+ ppg? Many say he is not really a PG, but on the Nuggets team, that doesn't seem significant.

Thomas is the clear-cut backup PG. A major question is simply how many minutes will Thomas be playing? 24 mpg would imply Murray would be the primary backup SG. Thomas' height hurts his defense and the Nuggets' do not have very good help-defense, so it seems unlikely he'll be playing significant minutes in the last minutes of the games.

Morris is called a PG and he is probably the purest PG on the Nuggets roster. With that said, he played quite a bit of SG last year while in the development league. He seems like a nice future backup for Murray because he may be more of a PG than Murray but he is still a combo-guard. It just doesn't seem like he'll see a lot of minutes this year.

Main 2018-19 PG question is the level of Isaiah Thomas game and his health. Even in the best case scenario, nobody anymore expects from him to be MVP candidate, nor a serious West all-star contender. But he can be a serious 6th man of the year contender, close or even better of Lou Williams or Eric Gordon level of play. In that case, we can simply shot down Beasly and Morris in important and playoff games, and give IT 30 mpg playing time, with Murray and Harris still hold projected 33 minutes!

PG Murray(18), Thomas(30)
SG Harris(33), Murray(15)

If our weakest SF spot is disappointing (Porter out, Juancho bad), we can even use a couple of minutes when Barton is on bench Harris as SF with Thomas and Murray both on the floor.

PG Murray(15), Thomas(33)
SG Harris(28), Murray(20)
SF Barton(33), Harris(7), Juancho/Craig(8)

But whatever will happen, I see more minutes as PG of Thomas than in Murray case, which will play similar minutes at PG and SG both IMO.

Out of other PG (backcourt actually) backup options, I think Morris already deserves more minutes than Beasley.

OK, the Nuggets have signed a PG for training camp - probably zero chances of making the team. He was signed because it looks like Thomas won't be able to play during camp.

If Thomas never plays this season, can Morris play 10+ mpg at PG? Will Malone use Barton as a backup PG? Or will they have to find a veteran-minimum player?

Right now seems Morris>Beasley, especially as PG backup (at SG spot they looks equally good/bad)

THE J0KER wrote:Right now seems Morris>Beasley, especially as PG backup (at SG spot they looks equally good/bad)

Morris > Beasley at PG for sure
Not so sure at SG but Morris still might be the better. He looked great in the G-League last year but I only saw about 6 of those games and he only played SG for about half of each of those. He looks like a Murray-type combo that's perhaps more of a PG than Murray is but in the modern NBA, an old-fashioned pass-first PG is not what teams want. So I'm hoping that Morris is going to be a great combo-guard.

I looked at Beasley as a pure SG and had high hopes, but he just hasn't lived up to it. I have no idea if that's on him or coaching or player development or whatever. But the truth is, a player's abilities and skills are his responsibility - ultimately.

Not sure why Beasley is even mentioned in this thread, can’t say I’ve ever seen him play PG (at least seriously).

skywalker33 wrote:Not sure why Beasley is even mentioned in this thread, can’t say I’ve ever seen him play PG (at least seriously).

Not in the NBA, but he played some point in the G-league. He was mentioned because Morris & Murray are combo-guards. I'd say Beasley could be a combo guard.

Beasley mostly SG
Murray PG w/strong SG
Morris strong PG w/some SG

NuggetsWY wrote:

skywalker33 wrote:Not sure why Beasley is even mentioned in this thread, can’t say I’ve ever seen him play PG (at least seriously).

Not in the NBA, but he played some point in the G-league. He was mentioned because Morris & Murray are combo-guards. I'd say Beasley could be a combo guard.

Beasley mostly SG
Murray PG w/strong SG
Morris strong PG w/some SG

Hey, don’t forget your boy, Barton

skywalker33 wrote:

NuggetsWY wrote:

skywalker33 wrote:Not sure why Beasley is even mentioned in this thread, can’t say I’ve ever seen him play PG (at least seriously).

Not in the NBA, but he played some point in the G-league. He was mentioned because Morris & Murray are combo-guards. I'd say Beasley could be a combo guard.

Beasley mostly SG
Murray PG w/strong SG
Morris strong PG w/some SG

Hey, don’t forget your boy, Barton

Not a problem - see previous post in this thread:

NuggetsWY wrote:OK, the Nuggets have signed a PG for training camp - probably zero chances of making the team. He was signed because it looks like Thomas won't be able to play during camp.

If Thomas never plays this season, can Morris play 10+ mpg at PG? Will Malone use Barton as a backup PG? Or will they have to find a veteran-minimum player?