Mason Plumlee’s media day remarks shed light on why the Nuggets value him so highly

Last week, Mason Plumlee signed a three-year, $41 million deal to extend his tenure with the Denver Nuggets after the NBA offseason had almost completely transpired, ending a three-month long standoff where Plumlee lived in restricted free agency limbo that resulted in the 27-year-old receiving more money than many projected.

Whether time will prove Plumlee’s new deal to be a worthwhile investment for Denver remains to be seen, but what is indisputable is that the organization highly values the big man who was acquired in the mid-season trade of Jusuf Nurkic to the Portland Trail Blazers.

At Nuggets’ media day, there were interviews and news reports aplenty with players, coaches, and front office executives sharing their thoughts on the upcoming season and a host of other issues. In an interview with Altitude 950’s Scott Hastings and Julie Browman, Plumlee spoke on a variety of topics, but one, in particular, stood out in its importance for the Nuggets’ future success and the depth of knowledge and experience he conveyed in articulating its nuances: Denver’s defense.    

Plumlee’s emphasis on the importance of cultivating a team defensive mentality for Denver to improve would clearly be music to the ears of any NBA coach or front office executive. But even more impressive was the clarity and detail with which he envisions a path to bolstering the Nuggets’ struggling defense, which was the second-worst in the league last season.

Here is Plumlee on what the Nuggets can do defensively to improve:

I would say controlling the ball, which is easy to say, the point guard position is so good in the NBA. But you know, you gotta control the ball, and there can’t just be straight line drives all the time, you know. There has to be a team defense, there have to be concepts and principles to where you just don’t feel like you’re on an island the whole time. So if Jamal (Murray) or Emmanuel (Mudiay) is up there on Russel Westbrook, it’s not one-on-one. Russ has to get by him, and then he’s gonna have a guy at the elbow, and then there’s gonna be a guy at the rim. So I think just a team defense is gonna lend itself to us being better. People taking pride in their individual matchup, but knowing that’s not the end-all to the defense.

Plumlee’s remarks speak to his awareness of one of Denver’s biggest defensive weaknesses – the failure to stop ball penetration – that he cited as a specific example Westbrook driving to the rim. But perhaps even more significant was how he stressed how that responsibility relies on the entire team’s defense and not just individual defensive matchups on the perimeter. It shows that he is prepared to hold himself and his teammates to a high level of accountability in sharing the defensive burden.

Plumlee continuing along the same lines and spoke on the importance of being motivated to play defense and the need to follow through on that with defensive execution:

I mean it starts with (wanting to play defense). If you don’t want to, you’re definitely not going to be good. I think we have guys who want to be good on defense, and then it’s just executing. You know, at this level – I hope it’s not a want problem – but at this level, it’s executing the game plan. And when Mike Malone says, look, I need you guys to send the ball sideline baseline, or we close out like this, or we come off the pick-and-roll like this on defense, everybody has to be in agreement with that and execute it. Because if you have one guy out of the five who doesn’t crack down on the coverage, or talk through it, it really messes that whole team defensive concept I was talking about.

Malone revealed on media day that he had established what is essentially a four-player leadership group consisting of Jameer Nelson, Paul Millsap, Gary Harris, and Nikola Jokic to help address how the team will respond to President Donald Trump’s recent controversial remarks regarding the NFL, and a range of other issues both basketball-related and otherwise. When it comes to talk of who the leaders are on the Nuggets, Plumlee’s name is not often mentioned. But despite not being selected to this group, it does appear that he is prepared to assume a leadership role, especially as it pertains to defense and to help the coaching staff reinforce to the players that the only way Denver can truly improve defensively is if everyone buys in.

Here, Plumlee highlights how critical it is for teammates to help each other out on defense:

“That’s where the trust that we were talking about comes in, because if I come over to help on Russ at the rim, and then my guy gets the dump-off and nobody cracked back on him, well the next time I’m gonna be like, well, maybe Russ just goes in and scores and my guy doesn’t get another two points,” Plumlee said. “That’s a losing mentality if you have that, and the challenge is to keep with the game plan, and keep trusting each other as teammates.”

Following the announcement of his deal with Denver, Plumlee posted a letter to Nuggets fans on his website. Its message is consistent with his emphasis on avoiding a losing mentality.

“I hate losing… If I want you to know anything about me, it’s that I will do whatever it takes to win basketball games and I will expect the same of my teammates,” Plumlee wrote.

Plumlee’s media day comments indicate that these are not just empty words, but instead, something that he feels strongly and passionately about and that he does intend to bring a higher standard of accountability to the Nuggets’ defense to help engender his team with a stronger winning mindset.

Whether Plumlee is legitimately a $13 to $14 million per year player is a valid question to raise, and certainly one that will be continually rehashed for years to come. But in terms of the selfless, team-first, positive culture the Nuggets organization is creating, Plumlee unquestionably fits the mold of the type of player who will help nurture, develop, and strengthen that vision for the team.