Grades: Starters Benched in Loss to Thunder

“I didn’t think they deserved that opportunity.”

Michael Malone

Nikola Jokić – C+

On the same night that Malone lobbied for All-Defensive recognition, Jokić no-showed in OKC. He got torched on defense and couldn’t be bothered to dominate despite a great matchup. Between his teammate’s poor awareness and Jokić’s minimal effort, he barely touched the ball in the paint before Malone decided to bench his starters. The second unit closed out the loss, and Jokić rode the bench on a milestone night. He became the sixth player in the organization’s history to log 9000 career points, but it didn’t feel like an accomplishment.

The damning stat of the night: Jokić led all Nuggets with 13 points.

Aaron Gordon – C+

Gordon didn’t play a great game defensively outside of the third quarter when he took Shai Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and fared far better than Monte Morris, Will Barton, or Jeff Green. SGA was on fire in the first half, then quieted in the third, thanks to AG. But Gordon was still a part of the problem like the rest of the starters. He didn’t kick it into high gear until he took the marquee matchup.

Will Barton – F

Barton shot 3 of 11 from the field and played abysmal defense, including a miscommunication off the opening tip, which allowed a wide-open three to start the game.

Michael Malone on the opening play of the game. Denver gave up an uncontested 3 after OKC won the tip: "I've never seen that. Right from the very beginning of the game, on a jump ball, I knew that we weren't locked in." pic.twitter.com/0L4AAbNSEM

— Harrison Wind (@HarrisonWind) December 23, 2021

Barton’s a top concern of mine right now. Not his fit with the team or any related nonsense, but his conditioning. He already looks depleted and slower than he did to start the season. He’s not dunking with ease anymore, he’s barely driving at all, and most alarmingly, his defense has dropped off a cliff. The offense will probably come back around at some point, and I’ve preached patience as the inevitable lulls pass through, but the stark drop-off physically is hard to ignore. They need more from him defensively, which might not come if he’s less than full strength.

Jeff Green – C

You don’t need much analysis here. The starters struggled, and Green did not score 20 points this time.

Monte Morris – C+

Morris did post a Full Monte, but the story of this game was the starter’s lack of urgency and the utter lack of perimeter defense. Morris played a role in both factors, particularly the latter. He must be better on defense.

Bones Hyland – Injured

Hyland’s shot was off, and then he hobbled off the court as he appeared to re-tweak his right ankle. Bones already sprained each of his ankles in his rookie season. He did ultimately return to the game.

Facundo Campazzo – B-

Campazzo shot poorly again but was the engine in a second unit that almost recaptured the game. Facu recorded six assists as he pushed the pace, drove and kicked, and never relented on defense. The bench cut the lead down to something manageable in the fourth, and perhaps the starters could have finished the job. Though Malone never gave them that chance, sending a message to the starters and spoiling the bench’s good work. They might’ve felt rewarded by Jokić’s presence in the clutch. Alas, Malone took another path.

Zeke Nnaji – F

Malone also benched Nnaji after doing, well, a whole lot of nothing in the first half. He logged a combined zero points, rebounds, assists, steals, and blocks in roughly eight minutes of action.

Austin Rivers – B

We saw more of the same from Rivers on Thursday night, who has been giving Denver what they need from him in his last handful of games. After the loss, he touched on his experience as a starter and bench player in the NBA. Rivers cited playing hard off the bench as a key to their relative success and a point of emphasis for him going forward.

JaMychal Green – C

Green returned to action and struggled to score. He did, however, grab seven rebounds and record three steals. He was much better in the non-scoring areas this go-round.

Vlatko Cancar – C+

Cancar plays hard, knows what to do, and has a knack for putting himself in advantageous positions. That all adds up to a coachable player. Before the game, Malone said the plan was to start Cancar in Brooklyn, citing trust. Cancar went from potentially starting to out of the rotation altogether, not checking in until Zeke caught the hook in OKC. All 16:51 of Vlatko’s PT came in the second half.

Davon Reed – B

Reed played well in the final ten minutes of the game. The Nuggets would have been better off with him playing more if not starting over Barton on this particular night.