Denver Nuggets: The Strongest Link

If it is true that a chain is only as strong as its weakest link, isn’t also true a society is only as healthy as its sickest citizen and only as wealthy as its most deprived?

• Maya Angelou

I’ve always loved that Angelou quote for several reasons, but one of the most basic is the simple principle of overall strength being the key to long-term success. When you raise the ceiling for the strongest, you absolutely see how amazingly high we can jump. But when you raise the floor for everyone, you not only raise the number of how many get to try, but more importantly, the overall average height achieved. Raising the floor eventually allows you to attain heights you never imagined. It is also true that when you feel like the weakest link in the chain, it can be a daunting and reflective moment.

Though he wouldn’t be the weakest link on his worst day, you can tell that Nikola Jokic’s sputtering start has him flustered. Watching the video above, you can see how little fun it is to struggle in the spotlight all over his face. But just as importantly, he reiterates a few sentiments about his Denver Nuggets teammates that you’ve heard from him since the moment he arrived. Here’s the version from lifted from Tuesday night’s interview above. This section of his thoughts reads almost like a bulleted list:

• This is a team game
• It’s not one player
• They don’t depend on me
• They are really good by themselves
• They’re playing really good without me

Admittedly, it’s rarer that Jokic utters that last phrase, and what we’re all labeling “struggles” comprise a dream season for 80-90% of the league. But the first four points are thoughts that Jokic offers about his teammates religiously, whether he’s had a tough outing, or after one of his otherworldly performances. It’s just easier for us as fans to gloss over those same answers as modesty when Jokic is shining. Even more important, he’s not just offering memorized platitudes:

In both cases, Nikola’s praise is aptly placed. His team has definitely been raising their games as he’s been searching for his. Jamal Murray is the prime example. Nearly a tenth of the way into the season, Murray has come out of the gates with career per-game highs in Minutes Played (32.9), Field Goal Percentage (.452), Free Throws (3.9), Free Throws Attempted (4.6), Defensive Rebounds (4.0), Total Rebounds (4.9), and Points (18.9). Murray has absolutely helped fill in several blanks along the way.

Beyond that, Gary Harris has started to round back into form. Will Barton is playing some of his best defensive basketball, and appears to be back to himself on offense. Paul Millsap is still so tough he can literally score free throws with forensic dental imprints in his face.

Another insurance policy paying off as the Joker finds his stride is backup center Mason Plumlee. When Plumlee came to Denver in the Jusuf Nurkic trade, many fans on both sides felt as if Denver might have gotten the short end of that deal. Plumlee not only acquitted himself quickly and well, but has continued to mold himself to Denver’s center-centric system. While he isn’t the passing savant Jokic is, he’s still very gifted in his own right.

With Plumlee in the mix, the Nuggets gave themselves an opportunity to divest themselves of their platoon system, as every player could operate in a Jokic-style offense, even when he wasn’t on the floor. That fact has also allowed the team to plug Plumlee in with the starters when Jokic finds himself in foul trouble or off to a slow start.

The maturation of Denver’s bench has also played a key role in parlaying less-than-perfect basketball into a 5-2 start out of the gates. Malik Beasley, Monte Morris, Jerami Grant, and Torrey Craig may have had some hit-and-miss moments to start the season, but each of them has played solidly enough that you cannot leave any of them alone on offense or they can burn you, and are decent-to-great defensive players across the board.

The greatest benefit of raising the floor of the team as a whole is evident in the way they’ve been able to win these less-than-perfect games. Being able to throw wave after wave of talented-on-both-ends players at the opposing team means that you can typically run past the other team at their weakest points, with many of these wins being constrictive in nature. Denver simply finds the other team’s soft spots and squeezes. It’s allowed them to survive a bumpier-than-anticipated start for the team and Jokic alike.

By the way, here’s the guy who is “struggling”. A ton of Jokic from the last game, and while there are a few miscues, there are some gorgeous highlights. Be sure to check out that fourth quarter.

That’s the exciting part for these Nuggets, right? Knowing that for all they’ve accomplished, they have yet to fully realize their estimable potential. Whether via injury, immaturity, or growing pains, they can not only be better than their fits-and-starts beginning this year, but that they can still be better than the best version of them we’ve seen yet. The only player in Denver off to a career-high start is Murray, with most of the others still currently rising back to career norms. It’s enticing to think of where this team might be when they fully kick into gear.

It’s new to be in such rarified air for these Nuggets, and to be so dissatisfied by such a solid start, but those are the exciting stakes for this team. Their unnecessary loss at New Orleans was enough of an early sting as to be a solid wake up call. They’ll have a fair test of that urgency holding strong in some tough competition over the next few games, starting tonight with the 76ers in town. With the Nuggets incredible depth, their link usually looks to be a good deal stronger than their opposition. Barring the nights that everyone on the squad goes cold, the odds look good for a very fruitful year. And if it turns out they can keep the flame lit on the jet engine that used to be their offense, this could soon be a season we’ll all remember.