PJ Dozier belongs in the NBA and the Nuggets are making sure he knows it

Jamal Murray left his feet to contest a shot late in the second quarter and landed awkwardly, twisting his left ankle and falling to the ground. Murray will play through just about anything, but he struggled to get to his feet and was ultimately helped off the court as he worked his way back to the locker room.

All eyes turned to two-way guard PJ Dozier, who had just been called up by the Nuggets and was next line for minutes.

”Be ready,” the coaching staff told him.

Be ready, of course, meant to be ready for his first minutes of the season at the highest level of basketball in a tight game.

“In the back of my mind I was thinking, ‘You don’t have to tell me,'” Dozier said after the game.

While admittedly excited for the opportunity he’s spent most his life working towards, the nerves were at a minimum. He was ready.

In 13 minutes of action against the Charlotte Hornets, Dozier scored 12 points on 5-of-7 shooting from the field and 2-of-4 from three-point range. He grabbed four rebounds, recorded two assists, and did not turn the ball over. His work didn’t come in garbage time either. It came in a tight second half when the Nuggets needed it most. Dozier scored nine-straight for Denver in the fourth, helping to drive the final nails into Charlotte’s proverbial coffin.

Dozier didn’t look like a backup plan out there. He looked like he belonged at this level. His head coach gushed after the game.

“He’s an NBA player,” Malone stated categorically. “There’s no doubt in my mind.”

As if rehearsed before the game, “He’s an NBA player” played out like a company line. One by one Dozier’s teammates echoed their coach.

“This is his opportunity to show the world he’s supposed to be on this level,” former G League guard Monte Morris said. “He’s not a G-league player, we all know that. We know he’s a great player, great point guard. He’s an NBA player. I’m just happy for him. I told him he was going to be playing real soon.”

Dozier has had to wait patiently for his first taste of action with the Nuggets. After he spent last year with the Celtics on a two-way deal he was picked up by Denver before the season started, joining one of the most competitive teams in the league with a stable of young, talented guards sitting above him on the depth chart.

The two-way life is a unique one. It’s a life not lived by very many, and a path to a dream for which few can relate. Dozier is a Denver Nugget, but the bulk of his season has been spent elsewhere, in another city, with different teammates and a different role.

Morris has a proper perspective on what he’s navigating and he’s extended an offer of friendship and counsel from afar.

“(We talk) almost every game,” Morris said. “We were talking like two, three times a week because I know how it is down there. Will (Barton), Gary (Harris), and (Kenneth Faried) were really talking to me, communicating with me nicely. They came to one of my games in Utah, and that was big. When you go down there, it can be lonely, but when you’ve got guys reaching out to you, it shows how much (they care).”

When a near-consensus opinion begins to form in the Nuggets’ locker room, one can usually count on Nikola Jokić, who marches to the beat of his own drum, for the contrarian’s perspective. But he too was eager to speak highly of the latest young player to turn heads in a Nuggets uniform.

“I was looking at him in training camp and when he was playing with Bol Bol,” Jokić said of Dozier. “He’s kind of tall. He can handle the ball. He’s a really good point guard. He can rebound. He’s really good at finding the pocket pass and cross-court pass, just because of his size, he can see. He can score too, and he’s kind of smooth. I like his game.”

Dozier had little time to prepare for this game and to impress his teammates to this degree. The team worked hard to get him up to speed on the playbook over the last couple of days, but with just one official practice before Wednesday’s win over Charlotte only so much could be done.

“When they told me, ‘Get ready,’ they were asking me, ‘What plays do you know?’ Dozier joked. “And I was like, ‘Oh shoot.'”

The rushed process didn’t seem to faze him. Dozier has already built a reputation for himself as a relentless worker and a highly coachable player. He fits firmly into the mold of a “Michael Malone player.”

“I told him back when we had him he is destroying the G League,” Malone said. “He goes down there and puts up big numbers every night, has an unbelievable attitude and a great work ethic, so I was not surprised by anything he did tonight, I mean that sincerely. I believe in PJ Dozier and he believes in himself. All he needs is an opportunity.”

Disingenuous praise seems beyond Malone’s reach and he’s taken every opportunity to compliment Dozier, sometimes carving out opportunities to shoehorn his name into the conservation.

“He’s been great ever since they shipped me down there,” Dozier replied when asked if he can feel Malone’s belief in him. “I’ve been staying in touch with him, with the team, with the front office, everybody. This organization has been great for me, even when I was away. It’s good to be back.”

Mares asked Dozier how involved Malone has been in his development and if he can “feel his belief” in him.

Great response: pic.twitter.com/smF7i4yQrG

— Brendan Vogt (@BrendanVogt) January 16, 2020

No one ever hopes to see opportunity manifest in the form of an injury, but that’s life in the NBA, and the next man up mentality has permeated the Nuggets locker room over these last few years. Just about everyone in that locker room is good enough to play and prepares to play every single night without a guarantee they’ll do so. Now, Dozier will step into Morris’ shoes as the two-way backup guard, while Morris tries to plug a hole in the starting lineup.

Dozier will rely heavily on his basketball instincts as the second unit shrinks down to the basics. After a quick turnaround for a game in Golden State Thursday, there won’t be much time for acclimation. But that’s fine with Dozier. He’s supposed to be here, and if he didn’t know that already his teammates are making sure he feels it.

When asked after the game about how quickly this sequence of events unfolded, Dozier seemed amused by the notion that he didn’t have enough time to gear up.

“I’ve been preparing for this moment my whole life,” he said. “This is what I’ve been waiting on.”