Top 10 Contenders: Nikola Jokic & Nuggets are one of this century’s greatest teams | Hoops Tonight
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So you guys don’t miss any of our content over the course of this season all right let’s talk some basketball my first tier is Bonafide traditional top tier contenders these are teams that in my opinion check all of the boxes that you hope to have checked for a team that
Typically will go on to win the title number one I have the Denver Nuggets I think they’re by far the best combination of half court offense and defense that we know translates to the playoff setting um their record is not as bad as it looks when you factor in how much
Time Jamal Murray has missed as a matter of fact they’re 28 and 12 when Jamal Murray has played that’s a 70% win percentage that’s basically what the Minnesota Timberwolves have been they’ve definitely had some kind of like flat efforts this year uh where they’ve could gone out and just been blitzed for
Whatever reason but that to me is kind of a typical part of being the Target on your back defending champ type of uh type of situation the bench is an issue but it was an issue last year like they were around 11 points negative net with jokic off the floor last year they’re
Around 11 points negative net without joic this year according to cleaning the glass so like I think h focusing on that misses the point that it was literally a non-issue in the postseason last year they just scaled the minutes up and they were so dominant that it never ended up
Being an issue um so to me like I’ll actually place it a little bit more aggressively if the Nugget starting five is healthy I would I would be surprised if they didn’t win the title that’s how that’s how confident I am in this team
So so I I’m I’m curious even if you have the nuggets at one you could at least tell me if you don’t view them as strongly as I do I do have the nuggets at one I think they are the clear favorite right now to win the
Title we’ll talk about I think the team that maybe both of us will have next in the you know top three I would have this team in the top tier with the nuggets as well the Nuggets so far have played a top 10 strength of schedule they’ve
Played a tougher schedule than any of the other uh Timberwolves Clippers uh Thunder as well they’ve played a tougher schedule than any of those teams so when you look at the record plus they’ve had the Murray injury I’m not concerned about what their record looks like right now I
Think they’re going to be 100% fine once the playoffs hit my only concern for Denver is they didn’t make a real move at the deadline obviously and this team still just not have amazing depth if some somebody was to go down if a uh even like if a cavius
Calwell pope or an Aaron Gordon goes down I do worry a little bit about you know elevating somebody like Christian Brown or Payton Watson into the starting lineup and then having to replace those you know let’s call it like 20 minutes that one of those two provide with
Somebody like deep on their bench that I really would have like concerns about uh in a playoff setting so that I think is one point of contention but if we’re starting to get into concerns about that that’s the sign of an elite team a truly fantastic basketball team they
Have the best player in the world in nicolea yic they have constructed a roster Calvin booth has done a fantastic job building an organization that fits around their best player to the nth degree uh he elevates everybody they elevate themselves beyond what they’re capable of I think Jamal Murray when
He’s been on the court this season uh has been outstanding and was All-Star quality so I I have I have no real concerns about the Denver Nuggets outside of potentially even if one of their starting quality non-star players gets hurt what does that look like in terms of their lineup flexibility in the
Playoffs so I 100% agree for the record I’ve actually done rants on my show before about how I think it’s like if you to Calvin Boo’s credit I I can’t think of a lineup you probably have to go back to like the 2014 Spurs to find a
Lineup that has a larger gap between like the individual reputations of all five players kind of combined versus the basketball effectiveness of their five together like to put it simply like the sum the their actual tangible greatness so far supersedes the sum of their parts and it to his credit they he just
Constructed in my opinion a perfectly complimentary starting five now the the counter to that would be because I agree you take kcp out of the equation you take your best guard Defender out of the equation at least out of the starting group and a very very very important
Spacing guy second side action guy kcp has always been one of my favorite transition guards in the league too Aaron Gordon just the job he did on Kevin Durant and on LeBron James like uh even going on to Jimmy Butler like he was just incredibly important on the
Defensive end of the floor anchoring them last year like I 100% agree with you here’s the thing if the Celtics lost Chris Ops porzingis what would you say they fundamentally become a significantly lesser team if they lost Derek white they fundamentally become a significant lesser team yeah like go to
The the the Timberwolves it’s like if they lose Jaden McDaniels fundamentally lesser team Mike Conley is so important to them in their halfcourt execution fundamentally lesser team the Clippers you take any of their core guys Terrence man out all of a sudden it’s a whole lot more Norman Powell and Russell Westbrook
You take you know Paul George out you take James Harden out you get the point so like I I do think that even though I agree with you that I don’t think the Nugget starting five can withstand an injury really to anybody in that group
Uh I suppose if you had to pick one it’ probably be Michael Porter Jr right and then pton Watson slides into that spot but even then like that he’s such an important part fundamentally of guarding actions two on two versus three on two against Denver like you just you just
Have a better chance pton Watson he’s gotten good at that slot cut out out of the weak side wing and and moving along the Baseline like he’s learned how to play off the ball but he just isn’t the same level of like Michael Porter Jr is
One of the best off ball players in the entire league so like he’s even a very good offensive rebounder like it like I I to me to me all five of those guys are of vital importance and so yeah like I I I agree that they have a lack of depth
But I just don’t think that that necessarily I just think it’s unfair to nitpick that without necessarily pointing out that the same exists for any of these other teams so I think the perfect way to transition this here is to go to my number two which is the
Boston Celtics and I guess let’s start with this like I I I think a Celtics nuggets finals is pretty likely um I I think it’s pretty likely uh I so in that matchup I think I’m higher on one team like than you are here I’m interested to do this this is
Going be I’m higher on the Clippers than I think you okay I I had the Clippers at number three and let’s hit the Clippers see like I I think the Clippers I think the Clippers can lose one of Norman Powell or Terence man or somebody like that they can’t
Lose zubot because zubot is like the real siiz guy I think they can lose one of those guys and still be okay Terrence man takes their primary point of attack assignments and puts these long athletes off the ball I find and then it just like all of a sudden it’s like 15 more
Minutes of Russell Westbrook every single night too which is which is terrifying to me a little bit A
Jason Timpf is joined by The Athletic’s Sam Vecenie to discuss why the Denver Nuggets are the team to beat heading into the NBA Playoffs. Sam shares his main concern surrounding Denver, and the guys break down whether it is actually an issue that Nuggets fans should be worried about.
Watch the full episode here: https://youtu.be/lR0DvplqjxI
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21 Comments
R deez Nuggz as good as dem Nuggs?
Hey jason i love this show but i must know if im crazy or not. Does steph get a bad whistle if yes why is that so.
Last year's Nuggets were one of this century's greatest teams. No doubt about it, particularly with the overwhelmingly dominant playoff run. I'd say last year's and this year's starters are one of the greatest starting units of this century. But whether this year's team overall deserves that title remains to be seen. This year's bench has been about as good as last year's (often bad and inconsistent) but last year's bench unit really stepped it up in the playoffs. Will this year's bench do the same. That's the big question in my mind. If so the Nuggets will repeat. If not the path will be very, very difficult.
If they don't have the altitude home court advantage this year, they're not winning shit.
I'm still concerned about the Nugget's 6th man in the playoffs, I don't trust Reggie Jackson to make a huge impact, and Peyton Watson is basically a rookie, Chris Braun did not take the leap that we expected.
Last year they had their 6th man in Bruce Brown, who was a veteran and could basically play any position, and he closed games on many occasions. They don't have that kind of player this year, and so I expect this title run to be harder, maybe they go through some 6-7 game series. But Jokic and that starting 5 is so good, they can still win it, just need to stay healthy.
Bruce was huge for the guys with defensive tasks and switching to guys. I would've been confident in them repeating if Bruce was still on the team or if there was one more effective type of switchable player, similarly to what the Sixers got out of Oubre this year.
nugget's bench is beyond terrible
Hopefully they’re not burned out from last year.
this Nuggets team is so good, it's quite insane
Only place where I see someone actually talk about Denver! Everyone on the clippers but remember the nuggets took them out! And both teams are different now!
😂😂😂 One of this century's greatest teams. Wow.
1 Championship, may never reach the finals again. Seriously.
I fear that pwat, braun and co are not ready yet, missing bruce and jeff green will end up beeing the main reason why they dont repeat but following years should be better.
Man I sure hope we can repeat this year. 🙏 the key is to stay healthy. 💯
The superlatives used when talking about the Nuggets are beyond insane. They were really good last year—dominant even—but they're not as good this year. Health and availability should also be a factor. If they don't have a healthy Murray in the playoffs, they're a 2nd round exit.
The Celtics might possibly sweep the Nuggets. Lost by 2 points and it was by below shooting average on watched missed shots.
3 to 4 championships, Jokic is that good.
soooo, according to the title premise……how could u be spending the video talking about a potential problem to worry about, the top ANYTHING of a century would not have potential problems. This is the problem with stupid headlines.
The key to this team repeat is Murray he was arguably their best player in the playoffs we already know what we are gonna get from jokic
No 1 Nuggets isn’t based on what they have accomplished this year. It all pure speculation. I’m not a believer.
Celtics win in 5
Denver getting bounced in the first round.