APEX

It’s amazing how quickly a strong opinion can divide a crowd. One beer in with four buddies and watching Nuggets/Lakers kick off the 2023-24 NBA season, and as one particularly powerful Power Forward is having a rather amazing game, friend Two of Four pops off with…

“AARON GORDON IS THE GREATEST POWER FORWARD IN DENVER NUGGETS HISTORY!”

Oh. Hey. Whoah. What the hell are you saying, man? Antonio McDyess. LaPhonso Ellis. Kenyon Martin. Um… Skita… Kidding. Nene and a few others made the list, but amazingly, as we all listed them, none was a head-and-shoulders no-brainer over AG.

Holy sh–. Aaron Gordon might be the best power forward in Denver Nuggets history. The battle ensued. Who was with the team over the most time? Who made the biggest contribution? Who was the fiercest? Who freaked out the most over a poorly conceived popcorn joke? We demanded more clarity from the originator of the audacious comment. He dropped his second “truth bomb” (his words)

“At his apex, AG contributes more in total on both ends of the court than any of the other names you guys threw out.”

Apex. We all liked that word. In sports, the Apex Predator is the guy no one else can do anything about. The biggest dinosaur in the movie.

It’s hard to argue some of that with AG. Gordon’s closest defensive comp from any past Nuggets PFs is K-Mart, with AG an inch shorter, and K-Mart a pound lighter. Martin’s advanced stats are stronger, but AG’s switchability up and down an opponent’s roster is something not even the estimable Martin could match. The Nuggets current bend-but-don’t break defense has buy-in from all five starters, but Gordon and one of his to-be-mentioned cohorts are the guys pulling the string that D runs on.

On the offensive side, Aaron can comp up in the dunker spot with someone like a Kenneth Faried, as well as look reasonably flattering next to better floor stretchers like Phonz or Dice. Even AG’s sharing skills run pretty comparably to the best horses in the crowd. Huh. Our conversation went further.

Could all five starters be the apex at their position? One ended up a pretty easy “no, at least not yet”, but… Let’s at least start out with the easiest stuff amongst the rest.

While Nikola Jokic ends up stacked against some of the true giants of the franchise, like Dan Issel, Byron Beck, and Dikembe Mutombo, there can be very little doubt that he is now head and shoulders above that group. One game into the season, he has tied Issel for first all-time on the Nuggets WinShares list, and has more hardware on his shelf than the rest of the list combined. Not just his list. Ever other player in the franchise. Jokic is not only the Apex amongst Denver Nuggets centers, but is also the league’s current “what the hell are we going to about HIM?” Capital A A-pex. The unimpeachable Greatest Player The Denver Nuggets Have Ever Had. Could sit here and stack up all the arguments made about Gordon to compare Joker to the rest of the Nuggets Centers in his category, but… Math…

And while Jamal Murray may not be the slam dunk that Jokic is in the his group, it’s only because he’s sitting in the most illustrious category of them all. Fat Lever. Allen Iverson. Chauncey Billups. Andre Miller. Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf. Nick Van Exel. Michael Adams. My goodness, what a Murderer’s Row.

But here’s the crazy part that makes the argument for Jamal to at least be in the argument, if not leading it. He’s incendiary like AI. He’s become the floor general with a stout old man post game like Andre. He’s the fiery and pointed leader Chauncey was. He’s as unconscious at times as Mahmoud. He fights through a screen like Mike, and throws up historic triple-doubles like Fat. He’s converted himself into an All-Pro, All-Star level point guard in the league, and either one of those designations just might make him a lock to be the Apex of this gaudy, gaudy position list.

With names like J.R. Smith, Andre Iguodala, and most impressively, David Thompson amongst the best shooting guards in Denver Nuggets history, it’s interesting trying to compare two-time champ Kentavious Caldwell-Pope to the rest, but those rings do speak some volumes. While not exactly the acrobat that Skywalker or J.R. were, KCP can surely fly. And while the never-to-be-spoken-of Iggy was the glue tying together the team’s winningest regular season, Kenny is very similarly attuned, and the other guy pulling on the Nuggets defensive string with AG.

As the Nuggets were putting a bow on the win over the Lakers, my now somewhat-tipsy contingent was all agreeing on something IMPORTANT (hic). Trying to comp Michael Porter, Jr. with the incredible Alex English, or even Carmelo Anthony, or the aforementioned DT or even Kiki Vandeweghe was simply still sacrilege to even open up. Melo shifted the fortunes of the franchise, carrying the team for years. Thompson was brilliance on tap. And English was simply the best pure scorer the franchise has ever seen. MPJ is a killer with the potential to join the rest of his list, but he is surely not yet its capital-A Apex. The fact the he could be…

That’s the craziest part about this Nuggets team. By the time all is said and done, this five-man starting lineup may end up being known as one of the greatest collective units to ever step on the hardwood. If Denver can add another trophy or three to their case with this crew by the time all is said and done, who might you argue for as a greater unit of sum-is-greater-than-their-parts? The fact that each of their current starting five are, or even could be, the greatest at their position in franchise history shows why – at least for this moment – they are the league’s current Apex Predator.