Goal #1: Average Five Assists Per Game

The Nuggets are not ever going to expect Murray to turn into a traditional point guard. He’s a shooter by nature, and with the way lead guards are today, most are score-first players. Murray has shown he’s a willing passer, and it’s not as if he just won’t pass to the open man.

Jokic is the primary playmaker on the roster, as he led Denver in assists, with 6.1 per game. Millsap is also a quality secondary playmaker out of the post as well, but Murray needs to chip in more, anyhow. That will continue to be a long process, as he’s essentially the age of a college senior. By being able to pick the brain of Jokic, and with a quality offensive system initiated by head coach Michael Malone driven by ball and player movement, the assists will come for Murray.

There are times throughout games when he seems unwilling to take defenders off the dribble, and instead of making plays for others on the wing and inside, he will settle for jumpers over length. In a game against the Milwaukee Bucks last season, he brought Denver back with some efficient shooting and clutch free throws, but there was on-point passing to Jokic and others, too.

Those are the types of looks a point guard (even a score-first one) needs to have in his bag. Keeping off-ball defenders from stunting and closing out really tight on Murray is essential for opening up cutting lanes for Harris and others. With Thomas, Barton, Harris, and potential rookie steal Michael Porter Jr. on the perimeter looking to fire away, there’s no reason Murray’s assist totals shouldn’t increase.

One should expect them to be around that five per game range and hover around an assist rate of 20 percent. He should be much better passing out of pick-and-roll situations. With more experience and Millsap hopefully not missing 44 games, they will come.

Goal #2: Having a Better Defensive Rating Than Team Average