![]() ![]() And because they were focused on development over results in 2016-17, they started to realize what they had in Jokic and Murray. Jokic finally debuted the following year, but that 33-win campaign lined them up to draft Murray with the seventh pick in 2016. The next year they were bad again and got Emmanuel Mudiay in the mid lottery. Their losing season in 2013-14 set up the Jokic pick also gave them a lottery pick they’d use to trade back to get Harris, a player that was later central to the Gordon deal. He might have been the 41st pick, but Denver absolutely positioned themselves for this title run through a protracted stretch of non-competitive basketball. Some people think the Nuggets are the argument against tanking because Jokic was drafted late, but that kind of misses the point. Those eight are the only Nuggets who saw double-digit minute averages in the postseason. Bruce Brown was an exception signing, and Jeff Green was signed off the minimum-contract bargain heap. Both trades cost the Nuggets starter-level talent, and the Gordon trade also required a first-round pick. The acquisitions of Aaron Gordon and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope were pretty gutsy. The rest of the playoff rotation was formed by nailing their moves for complementary guys. A third Nugget draftee, Michael Porter Jr., is a project in process, and Christian Braun appears ahead of schedule. Homegrownįor teams outside the glamor markets - like the Jazz - a championship is always going to be a lot more likely to come the way Denver did it: by hitching their wagon to the right candidates for in-house development.ĭenver’s two best were drafted by the franchise and grew into building blocks. Here are some Jazz-tinted thoughts now that the Nuggets are champs - about the Nuggets, the playoffs in general, and what Jazz fans can draw from the last eight weeks of basketball. And that one belongs to DeAndre Jordan, who played all of three minutes in the Finals. In fact, outside of Jokic, the entire Nuggets roster boasts a combined ONE All-Star appearance. But he hardly fits the megastar mold himself he’s never appeared in a single All-Star game despite being the undisputed second best guy on the newest title team. ![]() Jamal Murray seemed to balance the stoic Jokic, weeping on the dais as he reflected on the road back from a tough injury. After the buzzer of the Game 5 win, Finals MVP Nikola Jokic quietly made the rounds to every member of the runner-up Heat, then soft clapped on the sideline, then demurred in his postgame interview about how the club’s first NBA title feels good because “now we can go home.” He’s an atypical superstar, on and off the court. Sure, those are division rivals celebrating across the Rocky Mountains, but the story of the 2022-23 NBA champion Denver Nuggets has to be a bit encouraging to Colorado’s western neighbors. ![]() There’s a certain kinship among fanbases in non-glamor markets, so watching a pair of understated, homegrown superstars from Denver make it all the way to the NBA’s mountaintop has to be somewhat endearing to Utah Jazz fans. The Nuggets win the 2022-23 championship. ![]()
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