As a Nuggets fan, I wanted Jaquez SOOOOO BAD last year in the draft. He was my guy. He would be incredible with Jokic. Absolutely incredible.

Man I wish Jaime was a Nugget so bad. Seems like everyone knew he was going to Miami pretty early on too.

Even better stat:

Since trading for Aaron Gordon, in games he, Jokic, MPJ, and Murray play at home, the Nuggets are undefeated against Western Conference opponents.

It is if they’re healthy. Since trading for AG, in games AG, Jokic, Murray, and MPJ play, the Nuggets are undefeated at home against Western Conference opponents.

Victor did FAR better than Chet did, to say the least. Jokic wasnt particularly BOTHERED by him, Victor had good possessions, but Jokic absolutely didnt even feel Chet. Not even a little.

As a Nuggets fan I’m of two minds on this. On the one hand, the Nuggets started slow last year due to Jamal/MPJ knocking off the rust and integrating new players into the team in Bruce Brown and Christian Braun [and honestly Jamal and MPJ were basically new players too - takes time to get the timing, rhythm, and chemistry back with Jok and AG]. So of course it will take time for Dame and Giannis to find their chemistry, and for Dame to figure it out with Brook and everyone else as well.

But at the same time there are very real defensive personnel issues. Like, Denver’s defense was bad for the first 6 weeks last season because they were on the road for 13 of the first 19 games, AND were trying to integrate new dudes/shake off rust for two key contributors. No one was up to speed. Everyone was trying to figure out the communication on the road. But Jamal Murray before tearing his acl had become a good defender. MPJ before tweaking his back had become a good defender. Aaron Gordon has always been a good defender and has been great in Denver. KCP has always been a very good defender. Bruce Brown - same. Christian Braun - same. The defensive players and architecture was sound, they just needed time for the rotation players to come together. The Bucks, in contrast? Of course they have Brook and Giannis. That doesnt hurt. But Brook is very clearly aging, as is Jae Crowder for that matter, as is Khris Middleton. They’re also relying on dudes at the POA who have never been good defenders in Dame, Malik Beasley, and Cam Payne. That architecture isnt nearly as sound as what Denver was trying to integrate last year. Their defense really might not ever be good this year.

I have no sympathy. Draymond is a cunt. Shoving Mitchell on the break like that was exactly as bush league as anyone should expect from Dray.

“Enormous consequences” he says at the end… like what, exactly? Miles Bridges is a piece of shit and should never play another minute of NBA basketball. To my knowledge at least, there’s been no actual punishment on him for this most recent stuff.

Gotta be honest, as a Nuggets fan, Anthony Edwards was the best, most terrifying individual scorer we faced in the playoffs last year. Everyone else the Nuggets had an answer for (or at least could rely on the bread and butter being unsustainable in the case of Devin Booker), but not Ant.

Murray is a better defender than Donovan Mitchell. He’s more physical, tougher, and can hang on bigger guys on switches periodically. He also doesnt get caught out of position or on closeouts nearly as often as Mitchell does (just go watch the Dallas series again, or even the Knicks series last year - Donovan Mitchell is not a good defensive player. Jamal Murray is).

Jamal is also a better passer than Donovan Mitchell. He just averaged 10+ assists in the Finals against the consensus best coach in the NBA. Donovan has improved as a passer, but I would be FLOORED if he ever averaged 10 assists in a playoff series.

I dont think the Embiid one is that spicy actually. If he wants out, this is the year to do it before the new CBA gets very punitive to teams trying to trade for massive salaries.

Mudiay and Hezonja are good answers. Both had quite a bit of hype.

He was, but it’s easier to play defense with less ground to cover and more ability to be physical with dudes. He probably wouldnt have been a + defender, but he might have had more of a chance at least.

As a Nuggets fan I laughed so hard when the Knicks drafted Kevin Knox. I remember watching him leading up to the draft thinking “this dude should absolutely NOT be a lottery pick”. To me he just looked to slow and he never actually made a real impact on games. He was just 6’9, that was it.

And then MPJ fell to us and I was so happy.

Because those same “worse teams” were favored to beat Denver? Denver beat them and beat them all with relative ease despite people thinking they would lose the whole way. It’s essentially a bait and switch. Initially people said “oh the Suns will beat Denver” or “Oh the Lakers will beat Denver” and then when they lost those same people turned around and said “well they only beat a 7 seed” or “wah wah they only played easy teams”. It’s all nonsense. You can only play who’s in front of you, and who, exactly, were those other “good teams” that lost before facing Denver? Boston? Boston was going to get eaten alive by Jokic and Murray regardless. They couldnt stop Jimmy and Caleb Martin. GS? They had no size. Jokic averaged 33/14/6 against them without Murray, MPJ, KCP, Bruce Brown and Christian Braun the year before last.

Thing to remember is Kawhi was never a leader. He was in a basketball haven in SAS playing with Timmy at the end and then they kept basically the same team and swapped in LMA for Timmy.

Then he went to a team in Toronto with an established culture and tone set by Kyle Lowry, a team that had been a top 4 seed for at least a few years straight.

Only after that was he ever expected to be a leader and it’s just not really who he is.

Then why didnt the good teams beat those easy teams?

Also - 8 seed in round 1. As the 1 seed, that’s how it works. 4 seed in round 2 - that was the best team they could have played, and many pundits picked Phoenix (who were also favored by Vegas to win the West going into the series). Lakers in round 3 - best record in the league after the ASB, defeated the Warriors, and also had MANY pundits picking them to win the series (remember the whole panel with Tristan Thompson?).

This revisionist history that they played bad teams is lazy and lacks accountability for the poor takes people had before each series. Shit even Rob Perez thought Minnesota would beat Denver.

Honestly if they didnt completely remake their team at the trade deadline, that’s how they were trending.

Klay playing the 4 is gonna be a disaster for the Warriors, tbh.

This should be two techs, immediate ejection. The techs for flopping should absolutely count toward the 16 you need to get suspended as well. It’s the only way dudes will stop this horseshit.