Final season, the Denver Nuggets didn’t repeat their 2023 championship efficiency.
The Denver Nuggets fell to the Oklahoma Metropolis Thunder in a seven-game Western Convention semifinals.
Whereas dropping to eventual champions isn’t essentially disappointing, the sequence uncovered important roster flaws.
The marketing campaign highlighted Denver’s overdependence on Nikola Jokic, because the group struggled to search out various scorers throughout non-Jokic minutes.
Final season, the Nuggets compelled Jokic to play a career-high 36.7 minutes per sport, creating unsustainable workload issues.
NBA journalist Rachel Nichols harshly criticized Denver’s roster building after reviewing Jokic’s influence statistics.
“The on off numbers of Jokic final yr and the group, I imply, it was legal. I’d like to know the place that matches into just like the all time, on-off for a single star,” Nichols defined.
“They usually simply would lose floor each sport by such a level, each time Jokic stepped off the ground and it put actual put on and tear on him.”
The veteran journalist emphasised how the extreme minutes affected Jokic’s efficiency all through the season.
Regardless of his distinctive averages of 29.6 factors, 12.7 rebounds, and 10.2 assists per sport, seen fatigue turned obvious.
“He clearly performed effectively by means of that seventh sport however you possibly can see him get worn down at occasions this season, placing collectively that spectacular season, as a result of it was actually the one method the group might even win a sport,” Nichols added.
Nichols believes the Nuggets discovered their answer in veteran heart Jonas Valanciunas, who can present stability throughout Jokic’s relaxation intervals.
The addition of Valanciunas ought to considerably enhance Denver’s non-Jokic minutes subsequent season.
“I believe Valanciunas is simply going to lift that ground a lot. He’s not a celebrity in that class, definitely older, however he’s a grown up and he’s large, and I simply assume he’s going to make these non-Jokic minutes a lot extra palatable,” Nichols defined.
Valanciunas averaged 10.4 factors and seven.7 rebounds whereas taking part in 18.8 minutes per sport for Washington and Sacramento final season.
His presence ought to cut back the bodily and psychological strain on Jokic, and assist the Nuggets to problem OKC within the Western Convention.
“And so I simply assume that can take some strain off him, each mentally and bodily. And so he will probably be, if it’s doable to be higher, he will probably be higher,” Nichols concluded.
