Are these Nuggets enough for Nikola Jokić?

The Nuggets have spent years trying to survive the minutes without Nikola Jokić. They’ve won plenty of games and a championship along the way, but the problem has kept coming back. Over the past five regular seasons, Denver has a +10.8 net rating with Jokić and a -7.5 net rating without him, per Databallr. Even with Jamal Murray on the floor without Jokić, Denver’s net rating was -5.8. 

Denver has brought in everyone from DeMarcus Cousins to DeAndre Jordan to Jonas Valančiūnas. This year’s group? Marvin Bagley, DaRon Holmes, Zeke Nnaji, and Trevon Brazile. Now that Jokić is 31 years old, it sure would be nice if he could take a breather without the lead disappearing. But if those are Denver’s options behind him, I’d be quite nervous if I were a Nuggets fan.

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Oddly enough, the arrival of DeMar DeRozan might help. Even though DeRozan just turned 37, he remains one of the NBA’s most efficient isolation, post-up, and pick-and-roll scorers. He’s also a talented passer who maintains a low turnover rate. All four of Denver’s backup bigs can shoot 3s to different degrees of success, and Bagley is a good athlete while the rookie second-rounder, Brazile, is a sensational one. With DeRozan creating shots, the Nuggets could simplify the offense for their backup bigs by asking them to simply screen, roll, crash the boards, and hit an occasional 3. Nuggets head coach David Adelman has a variety of options to play around with to find out what works best.

(Jonathan Castro/Yahoo Sports Illustration)

The bigger questions come on defense. None of these four bigs has established himself as an interior enforcer. Brazile has the explosiveness for highlight-reel blocks, but he is only 220 pounds and lacks the bulk to battle NBA bigs. There’s hope that Holmes can recapture the form he showed at Dayton before an Achilles injury derailed his rookie season, but he didn’t look like his old self once he returned last season. And the more experienced options don’t inspire much confidence either. How many years have Nuggets fans been ready to move on from Nnaji? And with Bagley on his sixth team in his ninth season,…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/nba/article/are-these-nuggets-enough-for-nikola-jokic-142639060.html

Author : Kevin O'Connor

Publish date : 2026-09-26 14:26:00

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