How the Nuggets Prioritize Improvement While also Pursuing Titles is Incredible
The NBA can be a battle of choices
For example, how a team tackles the regular season may need difficult decisions. Do they go all-in for the top seed in their conference? Or does a team adopt a more cautious approach, ensuring that their key players are healthy for the postseason?
Teams can also be put in a bind on the court. Does a team try to limit particular sorts of shots on defense? Or do they use a more balanced defense strategy? How does an offense work? Should it be more equitable? Should the coaching staff put the ball in the hands of their best players and let them cook?
Even a team’s construction can be a collection of complex decisions. There are many ways to go about building the best possible team.
The Denver Nuggets are living out that exact conundrum. They’re competing for present-day titles while looking to foster a tunnel of development for the future. The word “dynasty” was thrown around a lot during Denver’s Media Day festivities, and to do so, the franchise will need a pathway of sustainability. The Nuggets’ roster features two second-year players and three rookies competing for minutes on a night-to-night basis, highly unusual for a team coming off an NBA championship.
That’s by design, by the way. The new CBA informed Denver’s decision to go the development route, as we wrote about preseason, and the Nuggets’ three existing maximum salary-level players—Nikola Jokić, Jamal Murray, and Michael Porter Jr.—will make it very tough for the franchise to sign future free agents to lucrative deals. More than likely, you’re looking at a one-year rental scenario with free agents, which is what we saw with Bruce Brown last season. Brown signed with Denver on the tax-paying mid-level exception, won the championship, and immediately reaped the benefits of a big-time payday with the Indiana Pacers.
Still, winning hasn’t historically gone hand-in-hand with playing the youth. Typically, teams that give minutes to a bevy of young players have not fared too well in the standings. The Houston Rockets and San Antonio Spurs had two of the three youngest rosters last season and finished the year tied for the second-worst overall record at 22-60. Meanwhile, teams with a chance at winning it all have, more often than not, opted to house mostly veteran talents. There’s a sense of comfort in knowing exactly what you’re getting from your roster night-to-night, and that typically comes from experience.
But Denver’s thinking long-term. Younger players, for one, cost less, and they’re easier to keep on the roster if you develop them properly. Rookie scale extensions are built to ensure continuity.
Going younger may come at a cost on certain nights. Denver finished with the best record in their conference in the 2022-23 regular season and had homecourt advantage for every playoff series they played in. From there, the Mile High squad lost just one total home game en route to securing their first NBA title.
Having that many home games played a major role in the most successful playoff run in franchise history. And to do so, they needed to win… Win a lot of regular season games.
And that’s where that balance comes in. How does Denver thread the needle of developing players without slipping too far down the standings? And can they find a way to do so without overextending their key players? There’s a luxury in boasting what the organization feels is the best starting lineup in the sport. Murray, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Porter Jr., Aaron Gordon, and Jokić make this conundrum easier to stomach. Those five guys alone can get you a lot of regular season wins.
Since the preseason, the coaching staff has debated the merits of growth versus contending. Here’s what Denver head coach Michael Malone had to say about it at training camp.
“The truth is that we know who our starting group is, and we’re now trying to figure out who our second unit is.” That will most likely be a work in progress, as it was last year. And by the end of the year, we had found a group that we felt offered us the best chance,” Malone told Nuggets.com. “But having the number one seed and going, I believe, 10-1 at home in the playoffs, having homecourt with the crowd that we have is important.”
“But you have to ask yourself, do you want to win the battle or lose the war? We have a lot of guys that played a lot of basketball last year. So, how do we balance getting those guys some rest?… And then finding a way to bring our young players along, putting them in positions where, yes, they fail, but they learn from those mistakes because that’s the best way to have player development, in my opinion.”
Malone elaborated on that last point. Giving guys the opportunity to make mistakes and play is the best way to speed up development. But minutes have to be earned.
“It is tough to win at the highest level and develop so many players. Because we can have the best player development coaches in the NBA, which I think we do, but the best player development coach is playing and playing through your mistakes in a real game. And when you have so many young guys, it’s gonna be a challenge,” Malone said. “I’m not giving anything out… Those minutes, those opportunities gotta be earned. And I want to see who’s going to earn them.”
Having five concrete starting options gives Denver a lot of flexibility, but things can start to look a little different if something unexpected happens. Currently, the Nuggets are without Jamal Murray, who is out with a hamstring strain. Veteran point guard Reggie Jackson has done a fantastic job filling in for Murray, but it puts a microscope on Denver’s youngsters.
Malone hasn’t balked at giving the young guys opportunities since the beginning of the season, even in spite of Murray’s injury. Sophomores Peyton Watson and Christian Braun are rotation fixtures, and each of Denver’s three rookies has gotten the chance to play since the preseason.
On certain nights, Denver’s youthful bench will show flashes of just how lethal they can become. Julian Strawther, the team’s 2023 first-round selection, dropped 21 points off the bench against the New Orleans Pelicans. Two-way player, Collin Gillespie, averaged 16 minutes per game for a four-game stretch. Just this week, second-rounder Jalen Pickett received his first real share of playing time against the LA Clippers and looked comfortable. Hopefully, over a full slate of 82 regular season games, that young group can continue to evolve, develop, improve, and build comfortability with each other.
However, there will be nights when things do not go as planned. Denver’s inexperienced bench scored just eight points in a road loss to the Houston Rockets on Sunday. Despite this, Malone made no changes to his route. In fact, the very next game, he gave the rookie, Pickett, a look and relied on his bench sophomores. Braun rewarded him with a 10-point performance on 83.3 percent shooting.
“To whom can we change it?” “I mean, I’m playing five guys right now,” Malone remarked before Tuesday’s win over the Clippers. “And I believe that is the most difficult challenge, and I must hold myself accountable.” They’re young players, which means they’re going through growing pains. They were pretty good in the first eight games. The past two games were maybe not as good as we would have liked, or as good as they would have liked, individually and collectively.
“As a result, I have to assist them in determining who is on the floor with them.” But if Julian has a horrible game, I can’t just say, ‘Okay, I’m not playing him for the rest of the season.’ I can’t bench Peyton if he doesn’t have a strong game. Those players must play this year… “I’m not sure if it’s ever been done in NBA history.”
There will be obstacles in the road, but if everything goes as planned, Denver’s dynastic hopes could come true. What the franchise is doing is unique and hazardous. However, cultivating a large number of young players could be the key to breaking the code and extending their reign of terror over the rest of the NBA for the foreseeable future. To accomplish so, they’ll have to take risks with their young men. Malone is dedicated to that future and is on board with the front office’s overall strategy.
“You win a championship, but our path right now is we have to develop all of these young players,” Malone said. “And we’re doing it without running all of our starters into the ground.” There is a balance there. It’s difficult, but I have to remind myself of that, and sometimes you have to live with the consequences. But when those experiences accumulate, hopefully by the end of the year, those players will no longer be considered rookies. They have that confidence, they have those minutes, and they were allowed to play through their mistakes, which is the most important tool in player development, as I always say.”
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