The Unapologetic Nuggets and Can the Timberwolves Learn Anything From Their Win?
The Denver Nuggets are NBA champions, but some people are unhappy they couldn't play every good team in the East (I guess). Also, how different the Wolves are building.
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I don’t know how many times we, the basketball community, are going to do this. Every few years, a new team or superstar emerges and is met with a loud contingent of people deriding them for not having won yet. This isn’t necessarily the majority, but they are loud all the same. The simple fact is that no one has ever won until they’ve won. You could go back to Giannis, LeBron and even further. This is not golf or tennis. Not even Michael Jordan won a championship scoring 35 points per game; you need a team.
This is true for Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets. Jamal Murray tearing his ACL in the spring of 2021 following their great Bubble run and costing him his 2022 season was unfortunate. The Nuggets did nothing wrong, their second-best player just got hurt at the worst possible time. Then, this season, they were the top team in their conference all season — albeit it in a lesser Western Conference.
These Nuggets were a very good team and the most consistent throughout the season. Yet, I even wavered when they took the foot off the gas after the All-Star break and Phoenix acquired Kevin Durant. There were a few health risks and depth concerns with that Suns team, but the potential upside was hard to ignore. Nonetheless, the Nuggets beat them in six.
You can find criticisms of the Nuggets for beating three play-in teams. Maybe the Warriors should have beat the Lakers or three other teams could have beat the Heat before reaching the Nuggets. No, they did not play Milwaukee, Philadelphia or Boston but none of those teams could even get out of their own conference. How were the Nuggets supposed to go through them? A team can only play who is in front of them and should not have to apologize for it, especially when they win a title.
Despite the overall quality of the teams, the Nuggets went through some star power:
Rudy Gobert, Karl-Anthony Towns and Anthony Edwards
Devin Booker, Kevin Durant and Chris Paul
LeBron James and Anthony Davis
Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo
Not only did Denver beat all these teams, they handled them comfortably. They played two five-game series, one six-game and had one sweep. The one series that went to six was against the betting-favorite Suns, too. They lost four games the entire playoffs. Along the way, Jokic only averaged 30-13-9, broke Wilt Chamberlain’s single postseason triple-double record, and combined with Murray to be the first teammates to have triple doubles in a Finals game.
What this playoff run felt like was a coronation two seasons in the making. It’s not out of the question that this could have been the Nuggets’ third-consecutive Finals appearance without the Murray and Michael Porter Jr. injuries. Had the Nuggets not pulled it off this year, they may have gone down as just another pop-up team. Now, with the last two seasons considering, they have become a good “What If…” team. They cannot change what happened the past two seasons, but there does not appear to be much reason they cannot come out of the West again next season, even if Bruce Brown leaves. Is Memphis, Phoenix, Memphis, Sacramento, Golden State or either L.A. team looking like a sure thing right now? Offseason moves notwithstanding, there appears little reason for Denver to be the conference favorites.
Timberwolves and Nuggets Team-Building Processes Hard to Compare
There have been a lot of pieces about what the Timberwolves can learn from the Nuggets championship as a non-glamour market team. While I have seen them, I have not read them yet, so apologies if this has been discussed. The thing that stands out to me is how well the Nuggets drafted. No, you cannot reasonably expect to draft a Jokic at pick 41 every season, but being able to nail those mid-lottery and lower picks is really important. Just a few seasons ago, guys like Malik Beasley and Jarred Vanderbilt were just collecting dust on Denver’s bench from necessity. These are role guys that had value just four months ago. They even used distressed assets like Gary Harris to land Aaron Gordon and then re-signed him to a great contract.
Now, when we talk about asset management and the Timberwolves, it immediately comes back to trading four picks and a good prospect (I can live without the others) for Rudy Gobert. How are they supposed to build that depth with cost-effective young players without, essentially, five first-round picks? Now, you have a $90 million front court with large contracts coming for Edwards and Jaden McDaniels. There is no hard cap stopping them from extending Edwards and McDaniels anyway, but the new CBA is setup to punish teams for this kind of spending. Now, you’re also the Minnesota Timberwolves and not one of these high revenue generating teams. Sustaining this long-term seems difficult.
I think this is why the trading Towns idea has gained steam. They don’t have to do it this summer and can run it back, aiming to get a healthy season to see what they have. In theory, the West is open enough right now where they could have home court advantage in the first round by standing pat. Looking long-term, Towns may also be their best means for recouping picks and prospects to build that depth and get better value contracts on the books. The problem is that Towns is only getting older and more expensive. He may still have value in a year but will it be as high as it is now? I don’t know, but it seems like his value will be higher now than in two years.
At any rate, this is an unenviable position to be in. When you look at how Denver built their team and how Tim Connelly and Wolves ownership have begun building this team, they feel very different and rather unsustainable. What they do will be interesting, that’s for sure.