No staff has repeated as NBA champions for the reason that Golden State Warriors did so within the 2016-17 and 2017-18 seasons, and the groups which have received all of it since have considerably disintegrated after claiming the Larry O’Brien Trophy.
Simply 18 months in the past, the Denver Nuggets received all of it with a formidable beginning 5 that was led by dominant middle Nikola Jokić, and on the time, it was thought they had been about to begin a dynasty.
However they misplaced within the second spherical of final season’s playoffs, and so they at the moment maintain a mediocre 11-9 report and are solely in eighth place within the Western Convention.
Jokic, the three-time league MVP, is averaging a triple-double and placing up the very best numbers of his profession proper now, however he isn’t getting sufficient assist, which led Invoice Simmons to complain about Jokic’s lack of assist.
Simmons additionally sounded the alarm about Denver’s prospects shifting ahead because of this, and he even claimed that no top-15 participant has ever had much less assist from teammates than Jokic, per SiriusXM NBA Radio.
“There’s no mild on the finish of the tunnel for this to alter,” Simmons mentioned.
“There’s no mild on the finish of the tunnel for this to alter.”@BillSimmons sounds off on the shortage of assist Nikola Jokić has in Denver.
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Whereas Denver is a really stable offensive staff to date this season and leads the NBA in fast-break factors per recreation, their protection has been mediocre and their rebounding is lackluster.
After they received all of it two seasons in the past, they weren’t a defensive juggernaut, however they had been robust on the boards.
Offensively, the one participant on their roster who must step issues up is guard Jamal Murray, their second-best participant.
He’s capturing simply 42.0 p.c from the sector and 33.3 p.c from 3-point vary in 17 video games this season, versus the 48.1 p.c from the sector and 42.5 p.c from downtown he shot final season.
The nice factor for Denver is the immense parity throughout the Western Convention, which implies they might be a step away from returning to title rivalry sooner or later later this season.
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