The Jamal Murray doubters don’t understand the reality of the situation

“I want to come back when I’m 100%. Not when I’m 85%. I’m not even 85 right now.”

That was Jamal Murray addressing the media last week for the first time in months. After all of the speculation about his readiness for a Nuggets playoff run, and having kept his speculators in the dark throughout, it was finally time for Jamal to face the music.

What music?

(Feel free to plug your ears.)

First, he’s a basketball player and he got hurt. Football players get hurt all the time, but basketball players should never get hurt, especially right after we give you a lot of money. And if you have to get hurt, make sure it isn’t your ACL (or your back). A bad ACL could ruin a career.

But then again, it might be no big deal. Look at Adrian Peterson. He was back to full speed in six months. So we’re going to go ahead and hold you to that standard if you don’t mind.

The AP ACL Recovery Model: Six months to full speed.

Where are you on that, Jamal? It’s been over a year now. By this time in AP’s recovery, he had already rehabbed, returned to action and played an entire season, gaining 2,097 yards on the ground.

2,097.

And there you are, Jamal, just sitting there on your big fat pile of money laughing at everyone.

Ha ha ha.

And by the way, you know we can see you warming up on the main court and you look fine to us. Fine! Like, totally normal. And you know there’s a court upstairs that no one is at and you are choosing to warm up in front of us and fuel speculation. And we know you’re paying attention because you Tweeted about it.

So, c’mon, Jamal. Cut the crap. What’s really going?

Do you even like basketball? That’s the music Jamal has to face.

“Boo Hoo poor millionaire get on the court and play sissy,” lit up the text line as Chad and I discussed it on our show. One texter said that Jamal’s salary was paid by those who went to the game, those who bought concessions, parking passes, merchandise, etc. So in a way, Jamal worked for him. So he better get his butt back on the court and go to work.

But if you’re not ready to go, but you go anyway, is that really valiant? At what point does your presence on the court — no matter how much money you’re making — become a determent to your team?

When asked to expand on why he couldn’t play, Jamal said that the difficulty was in “managing all of the parts of the game. Not just having the ball in your hand and going to score. Thats the easy part. Cuz I know where Im gonna go, what I wanna do with the ball, I know my moments on the court.”

He added, “But on defense, that was the toughest part. Reacting, getting screened, moving around screens, rebounding, loose balls, all that stuff. That was an eye-opener for me when I realized I couldn’t do what I want to do when I want to do it.”

Murray concluded, “And in the playoffs, well, that’s a different story. They’re going to pick on me.”

They’re going to pick on me.

Jamal knew he’d be a target and he knew that his knee wasn’t ready. Especially not for Steph Curry. Or Jordan Poole for that matter. That’s called doing what’s right for the team.

And sitting on a big fat pile of money.

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