Nuggets shouldn’t mess with Murray

Please, do not let the name of Eric Bledsoe be whispered in trade talks involving the Nuggets ever again.

The Nuggets have a point guard. His name is Jamal Murray. Don’t mess with it.

“He is the point guard of our future,” coach Michael Malone said Thursday. “He is going to be a big piece of this team for many, many years.”

Down the road from the Pepsi Center, the Broncos have dillied and dallied for 18 months, trying to sneak into the playoffs with the marginally competent quarterback play of Trevor Siemian, rather than committing to the difficult task of finding out whether Paxton Lynch can be the team’s quarterback of the future.

The Nuggets have a chance to be smarter than their NFL neighbors in Denver, and diligently work on developing the star potential within Murray. The theory: If you believe enough in a player to invest a truly valuable draft pick in him, the faith is wasted if you let him gather dust on the bench.

“Our young players have developed because we’ve given them a chance to play through their mistakes,” Malone said.

Denver has been making googoo eyes at Bledsoe for months. Stop it.

I don’t want to hear one more word about the Nuggets trading Emmanuel Mudiay and Kenneth Faried for Bledsoe. Truth be told, the best argument for that longrumored deal has always been more about eliminating the potential for discontent in the locker room than significantly upgrading talent on the roster.

Shuffling furniture, by swapping your disgruntled chair and Ottoman for somebody’s crabby sofa, only invites unhappy living for all involved. Getting Bledsoe would have been a bad idea on the night of the NBA draft, and it gained no more appeal in October, when Malone dealt with the inevitable growing pains of Murray and Mudiay, neither older than 21.

Everyone who loves basketball

in Colorado, myself included, expects the Nuggets to win at least 45 games and make it to the playoffs for the first time since 2013. And theWestern Conference seems saltier than Denver hoped, withMemphis, Utah, Portland and the Los Angeles Clippers looking as if they can give the Nuggets real competition for the final three spots in the playoff bracket. But it’s far more critical the team discovers howmuch Murray can grow this season, which is of far greater long- term importance than whether the Nuggets finish sixth, eighth or even 10th in theWest.

“We can’t hide him, or we’re doing him a disservice in the big picture,” Malone said.

He wants Murray to learn on the job, against all- star competition, and was un-

MIAMI AT DENVER Spotlight on Hassan Whiteside:

fazed when his point guard struggled offensively early in the season.

“I wasn’t worried about the shot not going in early on, because Jamal Murray is a shooter. That was the least of my worries,” Malone added. “It was: ‘ Are you going to offensively push pace and be aggressive and get downhill? Defensively, are you going to take on the challenge of guarding JohnWall, KembaWalker and Kyle Lowry, all all- stars in their own right, and not shy away from that?’ And he hasn’t. He’s not perfect. He gets beat sometimes. You know what? There are going to be nights this year when he continues to get his butt whupped. And we expect that. It’s only going to help him.”

Bledsoe is a solid NBA player. But he’s a B- list star, at best. By almost any metric, Bledsoe has more in common with Detroit’s Reggie Jackson than with truly elite point guards such as Stephen Curry, RussellWestbrook or Damian Lillard. 7 p. m. Friday, ALT; 950 AM

The Heat center returned from a knee injuryWednesday against the Chicago Bulls, totaling 13 points and 14 rebounds for his ninth consecutive double- double dating to last season. Whiteside acknowledged some fatigue after missing the Heat’s previous five games, but teammates have referred to the 7- footer as the “heart” of the team because of his energy and defensive presence.

NOTEBOOK Heat:

Will Murray ever move into the elite category? For the Nuggets to even dream of an NBA championship in the next five years, they have to push his learning curve and find out.

“I don’t think there’s much of a learning curve. It’s just basketball,” said Murray, whose mental toughness is made of bulletproof titanium, not false bravado. “From high school to college to the NBA, it’s basketball.”

In more than 400 NBA games, Bledsoe has averaged 13.1 points and 4.6 assists. In only his second NBA season, at age 20, it’s reasonable to believe Murray can match that production this season.

Bledsoe wouldn’t get the Nuggets one step closer to a championship.

Saying no to a trade for Bledsoe? That’s a no- brainer.

Miami has lost three of its last four games but is coming off a 97- 91 victory over the Bulls … Point guard Goran Dragic leads the Heat with averages of 19.9 points and 4.4 assists per game. He also averages 4.1 rebounds. … Miami has won four of its last five games in Denver, including the last two. … The Heat is 15- 3 when DionWaiters shoots at least 50 percent from the field. … Miami is allowing an average of 48.3 points in the paint per game, which ranked 25th in the NBA entering Thursday.

Nuggets: After scoring a season- high 129 points against Toronto on Wednesday, the Nuggets entered Thursday ranked in the NBA top 10 in scoring ( averaging 107.1 points per game), field- goal percentage (. 459), 3point field goal percentage (. 393) and offensive rating ( 106.3). … Starting point guard Jamal Murray has snapped out of his shooting slump by topping 20 points in three consecutive games. … Power forward Paul Millsap is coming off his best game as a Nugget, scoring 20 points and making 6- of- 12 shots against the Raptors. … Nikola Jokic is averaging 16.1 points, 11.9 rebounds and five assists per game. He barely missed a triple- double against Toronto, finishing with eight points, 16 rebounds and 10 assists. … Denver entered Thursday ranked 14th in the NBA in scoring defense ( allowing an average of 105.3 points per game), 22nd in defensive rating ( 105.8) and 23rd in 3- point percentage defense (. 379).