Best Guard Combos - Denver #5

[NuggetsWY]

https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2853568-ranking-nbas-best-backcourts-for-2019-20-season#slide10

I'm prejudiced and I think Murray & Harris deserve high praise but with the inconsistencies of Murray and the rough year Harris had, I'm surprised they made #5 as top NBA starting backcourts - pleasantly surprised.

[THE J0KER]

https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2853568-ranking-nbas-best-backcourts-for-2019-20-season#slide10

I'm prejudiced and I think Murray & Harris deserve high praise but with the inconsistencies of Murray and the rough year Harris had, I'm surprised they made #5 as top NBA starting backcourts - pleasantly surprised.

I see Murray much more consistent than ever this season, and Harris back on much better 2017-18 level... but that is still not enough for NBA #5, to be fair and honest.

But for me, Nuggets actually really have NBA#5 backcourt lineup in the upcoming season! But not starting duo, but whole Murray-Harris-Beasley-Morris rotation!

[NuggetsWY]

https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2853568-ranking-nbas-best-backcourts-for-2019-20-season#slide10

I'm prejudiced and I think Murray & Harris deserve high praise but with the inconsistencies of Murray and the rough year Harris had, I'm surprised they made #5 as top NBA starting backcourts - pleasantly surprised.

I see Murray much more consistent than ever this season, and Harris back on much better 2017-18 level... but that is still not enough for NBA #5, to be fair and honest.

But for me, Nuggets actually really have NBA#5 backcourt lineup in the upcoming season! But not starting duo, but whole Murray-Harris-Beasley-Morris rotation!

I understand and totally agree our complete backcourt is probably #1 in terms of four players.

But let's look at the list and see who is better than Murray & Harris:

Lillard & McCollum
Curry & D'Angelo - not sure they work
Harden & Westbrook - not sure they work
Mitchell & Conley - new pairing that should work
Murray & Harris
Simmons & Richardson
Irving & Harris - new pairing, probably should be higher
Fox & Hield - looked nice last year, maybe higher than #8
Walker & Brown - new pairing but should work
Booker & Rubio - not sure they belong in this list

Five of these pairings have never played together and some don't look like ideal pairings. The Nets' combination might be the only one I'd move ahead of the Nuggets' guys. IMO the article did a pretty decent job, all things considered.

[The Rebel]

I know that I will probably be called a homer, but the fact is that I do not see the Rockets nor the Jazz backcourts being better than the Nuggets backcourt. It is no secret I have watched Mitchell live twice now, and do not understand what people see in him, he is an overrated chucker if you ask me. Conley will be the better player in that back court and he is aging. The Rockets back court I think is going to be worse than it was last year, Westbrook is not going to suddenly return to his MVP level and has never been good off the ball and Harden has refused to play off the ball, I just do not see it working effectively.


I do think the Kings back court was better than our last year, and I think they will be better this year as well.

[THE J0KER]

With improved Murray and recovered Harris, better backcourt duos are all 4 which are listed better: Lillard & McCollum, Curry & D'Angelo, Harden & Westbrook, and Mitchell & Conley, but also Simmons & Richardson.

There are also several NBA duos which are not clearly better than Murray-Harris but not clearly worse too, and some of them are not even mentioned in this BR list, so Murray-Harris belong to #6-#14 group with Oladipo & Brogdon, Butler & Dragic, Irving & LeVert, Fox & Hield, Walker & Brown, Booker & Rubio, Paul & SGA, and Ball & Holiday. Where they are exactly between #6-#13 we will see very soon. And also don't forget about L.A. rumors that Kawhi Leonard will actually play SG in Clippers and even LeBron as PG, which will create more cruel backcourt competition this season. But as I am already pointed, our overall backcourt lineup when we add our great backcourt backup options Beasley and Morris are better than when we just look at our backcourt starting duo.

If Murray-Harris is a little bit overrated in this article ranked as #5, according to nba.com article Murray-Harris are #14 backcourt duo for the upcoming season, which obviously ignores every projected Murray improvement and Harris recovery, which is the reason why they are so much underrated in that ranking.

[NuggetsWY]

I know that I will probably be called a homer, but the fact is that I do not see the Rockets nor the Jazz backcourts being better than the Nuggets backcourt. It is no secret I have watched Mitchell live twice now, and do not understand what people see in him, he is an overrated chucker if you ask me. Conley will be the better player in that back court and he is aging. The Rockets back court I think is going to be worse than it was last year, Westbrook is not going to suddenly return to his MVP level and has never been good off the ball and Harden has refused to play off the ball, I just do not see it working effectively.

I do think the Kings back court was better than our last year, and I think they will be better this year as well.

I'll agree with all you said and maybe even about the King's backcourt being better than ours but I think ours fits with Jokic better so ...

I'd guess we might have about the 4th best in the league but I'm not sure which of the Warriors & Rockets & Jazz we would bump - but one of them is not going to work out is my prediction.

So Portland - someone - Sacramento - Denver ???

[NuggetsWY]

With improved Murray and recovered Harris, better backcourt duos are all 4 which are listed better: Lillard & McCollum, Curry & D'Angelo, Harden & Westbrook, and Mitchell & Conley, but also Simmons & Richardson.

There are also several NBA duos which are not clearly better than Murray-Harris but not clearly worse too, and some of them are not even mentioned in this BR list, so Murray-Harris belong to #6-#14 group with Oladipo & Brogdon, Butler & Dragic, Irving & LeVert, Fox & Hield, Walker & Brown, Booker & Rubio, Paul & SGA, and Ball & Holiday. Where they are exactly between #6-#13 we will see very soon. And also don't forget about L.A. rumors that Kawhi Leonard will actually play SG in Clippers and even LeBron as PG, which will create more cruel backcourt competition this season. But as I am already pointed, our overall backcourt lineup when we add our great backcourt backup options Beasley and Morris are better than when we just look at our backcourt starting duo.

If Murray-Harris is a little bit overrated in this article ranked as #5, according to nba.com article Murray-Harris are #14 backcourt duo for the upcoming season, which obviously ignores every projected Murray improvement and Harris recovery, which is the reason why they are so much underrated in that ranking.

Of course there are a lot of nice pairings; this is the NBA and these guys are great.

I would not rate Simmons & Richardson as high as the article or as high as you did - not until Simmons can hit jump shots consistently.

All those groups you list are nice but Butler is not an elite SG and Kawhi won't be either. I even question Jaylen Brown at SG. But yeah, we're good.

[TunaFish]

If Harris is back to his 2017-2018 level of play and Murray stays the same then its fair. If Murray takes another step, its too low.

[Coeur]

If Harris is back to his 2017-2018 level of play and Murray stays the same then its fair. If Murray takes another step, its too low.

What is the “level of play” you guys are talking about. I’m so worried it’s offensive statistics and if that’s the case that you’re way off on what Harris is actually valuable for and that the statistics aren’t going to jump up.

Harris might have his best season yet and average 15 ppg.

[Coeur]

Nugs have ridiculous depth being able to go 6 deep with starter level talent. I like TC more than most and prob Beasley as well. Barton is also so much better than he’s being talked about and Monte Morris is either a product or the system or a guy that would do very well w starter minutes.


This team has 6 starting guards. I don’t think any other teams come close. And there is the sf position to steal minutes but overall it’s sad that there a ton of value given away by trying to hoard

[NuggetsWY]

If Harris is back to his 2017-2018 level of play and Murray stays the same then its fair. If Murray takes another step, its too low.

What is the “level of play” you guys are talking about. I’m so worried it’s offensive statistics and if that’s the case that you’re way off on what Harris is actually valuable for and that the statistics aren’t going to jump up.

Harris might have his best season yet and average 15 ppg.

"Level of play" for Harris it means both ends of the court. His shooting pct was down last year and for part of the year (not much), his defense seemed a step slow. I'm okay with him getting 15-18 ppg - as long as it is fairly consistent at near 50% FG and near 40% 3pt.

Nugs have ridiculous depth being able to go 6 deep with starter level talent. I like TC more than most and prob Beasley as well. Barton is also so much better than he’s being talked about and Monte Morris is either a product or the system or a guy that would do very well w starter minutes.

This team has 6 starting guards. I don’t think any other teams come close. And there is the sf position to steal minutes but overall it’s sad that there a ton of value given away by trying to hoard

Not sure how you figure 6 starting guards. If you are counting anyone past Murray, Morris, Harris, Beasley, Barton as starting quality at guard, I think you're reaching too far. I think those five can start on many teams in the NBA - a couple of them on most teams.

[The Rebel]

If Harris is back to his 2017-2018 level of play and Murray stays the same then its fair. If Murray takes another step, its too low.

What is the “level of play” you guys are talking about. I’m so worried it’s offensive statistics and if that’s the case that you’re way off on what Harris is actually valuable for and that the statistics aren’t going to jump up.

Harris might have his best season yet and average 15 ppg.

The one who is way off on what Harris brings is you. You continue to insist that Craig can bring 90% of what Harris brings, and you do not understand what Harris even brings. It is not offensive stats, it is the threat of offensive stats, he is a 3rd option that when uninjured is an elite perimeter defender and a well above average offensive threat, if you do not understand why that is considerably more valuable than a defensive specialist that teams do not even guard than you need a lot of help learning about basketball. There are only a few SGs in the league that can do what Harris does on defense and a few that can do what he does on offense, but there are very few that can do what he does on both ends every night.

Nugs have ridiculous depth being able to go 6 deep with starter level talent. I like TC more than most and prob Beasley as well. Barton is also so much better than he’s being talked about and Monte Morris is either a product or the system or a guy that would do very well w starter minutes.


This team has 6 starting guards. I don’t think any other teams come close. And there is the sf position to steal minutes but overall it’s sad that there a ton of value given away by trying to hoard

The Nuggets have 2 starting level guards, 3 if you count Barton, Beasley was one of the worst defenders on the team last year, he is nowhere near being a starter until he can become at least an average defender. Morris struggled against double teams and/or packed lanes, he is not ready to be a starter either.

I know you are also trying to include Craig as a starter, and that is a joke, he is as much of a starter and Dahntay Jones was in Denver. In other words he was a starter because we needed to bring the guy who was getting minutes off the bench due to lack of scoring off the bench. Craig's lack of offense kills our starting lineup spacing effectively destroying our entire offensive system. Every one of us knew that the team's ceiling was limited when Malone was forced to start Craig during the playoffs last year. The fact that we got as close as we did to the conference finals is a testament to Jokic and Murray and not an indication of how good Craig was, especially since McCullom went off on him while Harris was giving Lillard fits when the refs weren't calling bull fouls.