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Tag: grading the week

  • Grading The Week: Nuggets’ Jamal Murray sure looks like NBA All-Star to us

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    It’s Jamal Murray’s Team World. The rest of us are just living in it.

    Or rather, living in the glow of what might be the Nuggets guard’s best-ever start to a regular season — best statistical start, at any rate.

    While the Nuggets themselves are coming off a schizophrenic and inconsistent week, to put it kindly, after home losses to Sacramento and San Antonio, the Blue Arrow has quietly been tying a bow around his most productive November ever.

    Friday night’s 37-point performance against the Spurs at Ball Arena pushed No. 27’s scoring average over his first 12 games of the month to 23.2 per contest — easily his best clip for the month of November since the COVID-19 pandemic.

    Jamal Murray: budding All-Star — A-minus.

    From Nov. 1-Nov. 28, Murray was connecting on 48% of his attempts from the floor and 40.4% from beyond the arc. As of Saturday morning, his November averages were 23.2 points, 7.3 assists and 3.0 treys per tilt.

    If that sounds like a healthy jump from a year ago at this time, that’s because it is. Murray in November 2024 averaged 17.8 points, 6.7 dimes and 2.2 3-point makes over 10 games. In November 2023, Maple Curry averaged 12.5 points, 6.3 assists and 1.5 treys over just four appearances.

    Given that Murray is a historically slow-(ish) starter, Team Grading The Week (GTW) wanted to pause form stuffing our respective faces with turkey sandwiches and tip some collective caps in the Blue Arrow’s direction.

    For one, Murray promised that a dedicated summer of good health plus a intense workout schedule would lead to a better opening two months of the regular season. He’s been true to that word — so far, so good.

    For another, here’s hoping that yet another tweak in the NBA’s All-Star game format opens up a window for Murray to finally make the cut at age 28.

    Instead of conference-vs.-conference matchups, the main competition on ASG weekend will be a Team USA vs. Team World tourney. Only instead of two teams, there will be three teams comprised of eight players, with no positional restrictions, who will face off in a round-robin format.

    With Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (32.6 points, 6.6 assist per game as of this past Friday) almost a lock to take up at least one Team World backcourt spot, Murray is going to have to keep this pace up to join his fellow Canadian at the Intuit Dome in Inglewood, Calif., come mid-February. But with each passing week, Murray gets that much closer to crossing the threshold from almost to All-Star.

    Tad Boyle’s still got it — A.

    New DU men’s hoops coach Tim Bergstraser sure got the GTW crew’s attention earlier this month by beating CSU Rams and Ali Farokhmanesh in FoCo. Steve Smiley’s UNC Bears men’s basketball team improved to 6-1 this past Wednesday with a victory at Air Force. Thanksgiving weekend means we’re going to finally get some meaty inter-conference matchups on the hoops front, and no local men’s team has stepped up over the past few days the way GTW’s old pal Tad Boyle has with CU.

    Between Nov. 21-28, the Buffs (7-0) knocked off UC Davis at home by 16, then went to Palm Desert, Calif., for a holiday tourney — taking out a good San Francisco team by 10 and following that up with an 81-68 victory over Washington on Friday thanks to Bangot Dak’s 15 points and 11 boards.

    It’s too early to draw deep conclusions on the men’s hoops front locally, but not too early to dream. As of late Friday night, CU’s good week had moved the Buffs up to No. 65 on KenPom.com’s computer rankings, just ahead of CSU at No. 68. With both rivals needing a “name” win on their respective resumes before Christmas, the Rocky Mountain Showdown at Moby Arena on Dec. 6 figures to be, to paraphrase Russell Wilson, awfully spicy.

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    Sean Keeler

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  • Grading The Week: Broncos’ passing woes wouldn’t be saved by Jaylen Waddle at NFL trade deadline

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    Jaylen Waddle can’t throw the ball to himself.

    It’s kind of been the worst “best” week for the Broncos that anybody on the Grading The Week (GTW) crew can remember.

    After all, the orange and blue went 2-0 over the last seven days to extend Denver’s lead atop the AFC West with an 8-2 record. The Broncos set up a showdown with the Chiefs (5-4) at Empower Field on Nov. 16 that could officially end the Mahomes-Reid stranglehold on the division.

    It’s how they got there. A victory over the Texans (18-15) was due to a brilliant defense and a very timely injury to Houston quarterback C.J. Stroud. A win over the Raiders (10-7) on Thursday night was an exercise in sheer agony. Brilliant defense again, but mostly agony.

    In between the games, Sean Payton was grouchier than usual. And on Tuesday, despite being on track for a No. 1 or No. 2 seed in the AFC playoffs, the Broncos elected to stand pat as the trade deadline came and went. Marcedes Lewis, the 41-year-old “blocking” tight end, was Broncos Country’s midseason acquisition of note. Everybody dance!

    Broncos at the NFL trade deadline — D

    Payton insisted midweek that he had everything he needed inside Broncos Park Powered by CommonSpirit. Against Vegas, his offense showed him otherwise.

    Several reports over the last few weeks had the Broncos sniffing around at offensive additions, primarily at wide receiver. Denver was allegedly a suitor for New Orleans wideout Rashid Shaheed, only to be pipped by the Seahawks.

    NFL reporter Jordan Schultz then claimed the Broncos reached out to the Dolphins to inquire about Shaheed clone Jaylen Waddle, only to find the reported asking price — a first-round draft pick, at the least — to be too steep.

    Considering the Colts (7-2) coughed up two first-round picks to free star cornerback Sauce Gardner from the Jets, it puzzled the kids in the GTW offices why the Broncos wouldn’t consider a corresponding move in kind. Nix will only be on a rookie contract for so long, and the Broncos’ cap situation improves significantly in 2026.

    Waddle would be an upgrade over Troy Franklin. But we’re not sure he’d be a significant improvement over Marvin Mims Jr., assuming the latter is good to go. And it would be a waste of a first-rounder to land a guy that Sean Payton would likely just be asking to block on screens anyway.

    DePodesta is a Rockie! — C

    The GTW gang is torn on this one. We’re mildly and pleasantly surprised that Rockies CEO Dick Monfort hired a director of baseball operations from a) outside the organization; and b) outside his genetic family tree. Baby steps, after all, are still steps.

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    Sean Keeler

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  • Grading The Week: Ex-Broncos RBs Audric Estime, Javonte Williams would love to have J.K. Dobbins’ problems right now

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    Where there’s a Williams, there’s a whoa.

    As in former Broncos running back Javonte Williams, the Dallas Cowboy who somehow managed to have a rougher week than his successor, J.K. Dobbins, did in London.

    For the first time since Week 1, the Javonte Train finally went off the rails. Despite what the fantasy experts on the Grading The Week team saw as a (makes finger quotes in the air) “favorable” matchup at Carolina last Sunday, the ex-Bronco was held to a season-low 29 rushing yards on 13 carries and 5 receiving yards on five grabs.

    Context: Despite a banged-up, messed-up offensive line in front of him across the pond, Dobbins still managed more rushing yards (40) and more total yards (also 40) on far fewer touches (14).

    Life of an ex-Broncos RB — D

    And yet Williams’ statistical stumble was cupcakes and rainbows compared to the week of his former teammate — and backfield mate — Audric Estime.

    Estime, the Broncos’ fifth-round pick out of Notre Dame in the 2024 NFL draft, was waived by Denver this past August after falling behind Tyler Badie and Jaleel McLaughlin on the depth chart. The Philadelphia Eagles signed Estime a few days later and stuck him on their practice squad.

    On Tuesday, our man Audric became unstuck. The Eagles released him.

    The ex-Irish runner remained inactive for all six games with the Birds, including the Broncos’ 21-17 win at Philly back on Oct. 5.

    Burning through two franchises over your first 18 months in the league makes for something of an auspicious NFL start for Estime, no question. But there’s one thing on the dude’s side: Time. He just turned 22 this past Sept. 6. If Estime can land on his feet, with head, heart and hands all pointing the same direction, he’s got time to re-write his narrative.

    Wedgewood’s start for Avs — A

    When the kids at the GTW offices can’t trust our eyes, we trust the math. After its first five games a year ago, the Avalanche had given up 28 goals (5.6 GAA) and had lost four times. After five games this fall to open the 2025-26 season, the burgundy and blue had surrendered just nine goals (1.8 GAA) while winning four of those five contests. Avs faithful may not know what a good power play looks like, but they know what it’s like to have a grown-up — Scott Wedgewood — keeping watch between the pipes.

    Meanwhile, our old pal Alexandar Georgiev — the man in net here to start last season — just cleared waivers in Buffalo and was spotted in recent days practicing with the AHL’s Rochester Americans.

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    Sean Keeler

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  • Grading The Week: Nuggets star Nikola Jokic dished out almost $400,000 in gifts to Serbian teammates, because of course he did

    Grading The Week: Nuggets star Nikola Jokic dished out almost $400,000 in gifts to Serbian teammates, because of course he did

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    Nikola Jokic isn’t just the best hoops player on the planet when it comes to dishing out dimes.

    The Big Honey might be the best when it comes to dishing out bling, too.

    Despite our crack staff being in the writing biz, Team Grading The Week believes actions speak louder than all the words on this page.

    And GTW is firmly in the camp of backing up your brags.

    Is anybody — certainly not anybody in the basketball sphere — conquering both fronts better than the Joker is, right here and now?

    The NBA’s three-time MVP didn’t just help carry the Serbian hoops squad to a bronze medal at the 2024 Summer Olympics. According to the Blic newspaper in his native country, Jokic purchased Rolex watches for every one of his teammates on the national team.

    Jokic’s Serbian gifts — A

    The kicker? Those timepieces were reportedly worth $32,500 each. Which puts the Joker’s total purchase at an estimated $357,500 for 11 watches.

    Jokic and Serbia won the men’s hoops bronze in Paris thanks to a 93-83 win over Germany in the tourney’s third-place game. The Nuggets star posted a very Jokic stat line, too — 19 points, 12 boards and 11 assists.

    The Joker averaged 18.8 points, 10.7 rebounds and 8.7 assists for his homeland, which finished 4-2 at the tourney. He led all tournament players in points, boards and dimes — the first Olympian to ever top all three categories in one campaign.

    Apparently, nobody gives like Jokic gives when it comes to the gift department, either. At least the fantastic gesture was one the Joker could afford: The Nuggets center, per Spotrac.com, is slated to take up $51.4 million in cap space in ’24-’25, and $55.2 million in ’25-’26.

    If you’re like the GTW staff, you don’t just want Jokic as your franchise centerpiece now. You kind of want him as your secret Santa, too.

    Big Russ’ debut — D

    Russell Wilson’s Steelers stats after preseason Week 2: One appearance, five drives led, zero points, three sacks taken.

    Bo Nix’s Broncos stats after preseason Week 2: Two appearances, seven drives led, 30 points, zero sacks taken.

    It’s early, and we’ll know in a month whether Sean Payton won the Broncos-Steelers game, head-to-head. But the coach is off to a flying start in terms of winning the argument. And in justifying one hellaciously expensive football divorce.

    Valor’s Friday — A

    Love ’em or hate ’em, this past Friday was a pretty good day to be an Eagle.

    Earlier in the day, Valor alum and PGA star Wyndham Clark pulled himself back into the BMW Championship title picture by shooting a 68 during his second round at Castle Pines — including five birdies. Later that evening, his alma mater’s football team opened its season with a 31-14 victory over Pine Creek. The latter had beaten Valor in last September’s meeting, 31-17.

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    Sean Keeler

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