Welcome to the Morning Shootaround, where every weekday you’ll get a fresh, topical column from one of SI.com’s NBA writers: Howard Beck on Mondays, Chris Mannix on Tuesdays, Michael Pina on Wednesdays, Chris Herring on Thursdays and Rohan Nadkarni on Fridays.
When Jamal Murray tore his ACL in April, Nuggets head coach Michael Malone delivered an obvious yet daunting message to his team: There wasn’t one person in Denver’s locker room who could step up and duplicate their fallen star’s production. Nobody should even try.
Instead, the Nuggets’ goal had to be for every man to become a better version of themselves.