NBA roundtable: How does Jamal Murray's torn ACL affect the Nuggets' championship hopes?

In an NBA season full of injuries to big-name players, the Denver Nuggets were dealt one of the most notable Tuesday when star guard Jamal Murray was diagnosed with a torn ACL in his left knee. Murray is expected to miss the rest of the season.

Murray's absence will be a significant blow for a streaking Nuggets team that has gone 17-5 in its last 22 games to climb to fourth place in the Western Conference.

How will Murray's injury affect Denver's championship hopes? Who will have to step up in Murray's absence?

The first part of this week's NBA roundtable breaks down the Nuggets' fortunes without one of their best players. USA TODAY Sports' Matt Eppers moderated the discussion with a panel of NBA experts from around the USA TODAY Network: Jeff Zillgitt and Mark Medina of USA TODAY Sports, Duane Rankin of The Arizona Republic, Marla Ridenour of the Akron Beacon Journal and J. Michael Falgoust of the The Indianapolis Star.

Eppers: How does Jamal Murray’s injury impact the Nuggets’ title chances? Is this as devastating as it seems for Denver?

Zillgitt: Just rotten for the Nuggets and it's a brutal hit to their title chances. They had been playing some strong ball and the addition of Aaron Gordon seemed to be working. Given the depth in the West, you just can't take the second-best guy off the roster and still have the same expectations. A 4-5 Lakers-Nuggets series would've been fantastic with Murray. Now, they could slip into the 7-10 range for the play-in game.

Medina: I think this is a huge dent in the Nuggets' chances. They were one of the hottest teams in the NBA before the injury and were considered a legitimate threat after the Aaron Gordon trade. Nikola Jokic is still the Nuggets' best player. But despite Murray's inconsistency, he is a young talent and was finding a groove before his recent knee injury that kept him out of four games before his return on Monday.

Ridenour: I still think they can make some noise the way Nikola Jokic and Aaron Gordon are playing. What I wonder is how they will handle this mentally. Seems like it would be a huge blow that might take a while to get over, at least in the short term, especially happening so late in the game. Not sure I saw them winning the title, anyway, don't see it now unless this galvanizes them.

Rankin: It's clearly a tough blow. You don't want to lose a player like that who not only can score, but has playoff experience. But Denver has guys who can make up the scoring. Michael Porter Jr. Aaron Gordon. Will Barton. Those three are capable of going for big numbers. The key to Denver is Jokic. He makes everyone better, including Murray. As long as he's doing that, they'll still capable of doing damage in the postseason.

Zillgitt: Big minutes coming for Monte Morris and Facundo Campazzo, that's for sure.

Falgoust: Porter, Gordon and Jokic still make them viable. Maybe they're can't quite get a title by getting another elite team in 7 games, but I think it would be a mistake to assume they'll be walkovers. If they have championship mettle, it can be overcome. That's a huge if, of course. Every time I see Will Barton for some reason, he turns into Klay Thompson. I've been a Monte Morris truther since he was in the draft and with everything running through Jokic at the elbow as it is, he can make average players good and good players better.

Zillgitt: Morris has some game; we'll see how it is in these minutes, with the load and pressure.

Ridenour: Can three-time champ JaVale McGee help lead them through the wilderness, at least as far as pulling them together?

Falgoust: As long as he doesn't touch the ball on offense beyond a tip-in.

Rankin: Barton and Morris are the guys to watch. Barton is highly aggressive and will probably take that to another level. Morris is an underrated player. Very valuable to Denver's success, but again, Jokic is the maestro of it all. Hate to see Murray suffer an injury like this. With the way this schedule has been this season being so compact of having back to backs and three games in four days, I'm surprised there hasn't been even more injuries. Think you may see teams rest guys here down the stretch, especially if they're comfortable where they are or where they think they'll be.

Eppers: Duane mentioned Michael Porter Jr. He would seem to be another candidate to increase his scoring without Murray. How much Michael Malone trusts Porter will be interesting to determine.

Rankin: Malone has no choice now. That guy is talented as it gets. Mistakes are going to happen, but on the flip side, not too many guys his size has his offensive skill set.

Zillgitt: Well, Malone may not have much choice in the matter. Time to sacrifice one thing for another. I'm with Duane on Porter. Gotta ride it even if his defense frustrates Malone.

Falgoust: Not a fan of Porter's defending, especially weakside. Gets beat on back cuts repeatedly, doesn't close out the right guy and sometimes just stands there. His offense has to be that much better to make up that difference.

Medina: I think Malone has more and more trust with Michael Porter Jr. He may have been hard on him. But a few weeks ago, Malone told me he saw Porter Jr. as part of the team's long-term core. Nuggets GM Calvin Booth is also high on him and thinks his varying degrees of inconsistency has to do with simply being a young player and also becoming used to teams paying more attention to him on the scouting report. But regardless of the up and down nature of Porter Jr.'s play and role, the Nuggets like him long term.

Ridenour: Can't put it all on Jokic and Gordon or it could lead to more injuries with this compressed schedule. Someone is going to have to emerge off the bench. Who will seize the moment here?

Falgoust: I always think in cases like this, though, it could be someone we haven't even thought seriously about coming out with increased time.

Eppers: NBA Twitter would certainly love to see more Bol Bol.

Zillgitt: Good thing NBA Twitter doesn't coach!

Rankin: How about coaching the guy. Defense is about knowing the concept and then giving the effort. The Nuggets are 16th in the NBA is defensive rating. That's not all on Michael Porter Jr.

Malone is a great coach, but he’s got to clearly do more to get Porter up to a level he can tolerate enough to give him a chance to really bloom on the offensive end.

Falgoust: That’s a lot to put on a coach. Porter and a lot of young guys like him come in the league with no defensive acumen. Even elite schools defensively like Duke don’t coach defense the way they used to because of one-and-dones. They don’t have time.

So you're asking an NBA coach to teach basic pick-and-roll defense, X-outs to guys like Porter when ideally, they've already have that baseline. Most of them don’t.

Rankin: What I'm asking Malone is to help Porter improve. That's all. He already knows his limitations or what he's weak at.

Ridenour: Can see someone on Malone's staff spending every waking moment with Porter now.

Falgoust: Look at guys like Zion and Bagley defensively. Just completely lost. So it's asking a lot. It's not just Malone with that problem. A lot of NBA coaches have that issue with these young guys.

Zillgitt: The other thing, even earlier than college but in college, too, some have never had to really, really play D because they've always been so much better than most every other player.

If Porter really wants to play D, he'll find a way to improve on that end. But Nuggets just have to play through that, especially now.

Rankin: Oh, every NBA coach has a player that makes him cringe defensively. Can't box out backside rebounding. Can't keep the ball in front. Getting beat backdoor. The key is creating a team defensive concept. Porter knows he has to be better. My point is if you're going to make up for the loss of Murray, then you got to figure out a way to get Porter at a level defensively that he's not a complete liability. This is 2021 NBA. Teams are so good offensively, you're not slowing teams down on a consistent basis. The key is to make them work for their shots. No easy ones. If Porter can just do that, that's an improvement.

Ridenour: Can make up for a lot of deficiencies with effort.

Medina: Good point that J. Michael raised about Zion's defense. Even with how high he's viewed around the league, there's definitely a thought that how he plays defensively could be the most significant factor into determining how much of a star he can actually become. The Pelicans see him as coachable, but there's also a process he and other young players face with ridding themselves of bad habits and becoming aware of the things they don't know. Stan Van Gundy remarked the other day that Zion used to zone out when his man didn't have the ball.

Falgoust: Four guys playing D and one falling asleep ruins everything.

Rankin: Got to figure it out. They need Porter's offense.

Ridenour: Are young guys thinking it's a make-or-miss league and that's all they care about? SportsCenter generation? That's not happening in Cleveland. They are all talking defense first. The Cavs might not be good at it yet, but they've gotten the message. Nuggets have to drill that home.

Rankin: Malone is talking defense, too. Again, it's been established Porter is a liability, but he's now their second-leading scorer with Murray out, shooting 53.4% from the field, 42.1% from 3. Second-leading rebounder at 7.8. They can also to go Dozier, but this guy offensively is an eruption waiting to happen. Can't just shelf that for something that can be mended if he plays with better effort and a greater understanding of what to do on defense. The athleticism is there. The talent is there. He has to take care of the effort part. The concept, that's on him and the coaching.

It's not all on the player. Don't make me call Draymond Green and have him stand up for the players.

Falgoust: Well, if you're going to switch 1-5 every ball screen, that'll allow the opposing offense to hunt the worst on-ball defender. Sometimes teams shouldn't switch certain matchups, but they do anyway. This is always going to be a thing. We see it in the Finals every year, should they/shouldn't they. There's no one-size-fits-all answer to it.

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Roundtable: How does Jamal Murray's torn ACL affect Nuggets' title hopes?