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I really like the idea of starting Fox/Hill together. Hill is one of the most underrated guys in the league IMO, but he's not a penetrator so Fox complements him well. Moving Hield to SF is a disaster though. And Randolph will struggle in this matchup. Cauley Stein is an excellent defender , very mobile and stops the PNR. That's not really how Denver plays though so that neutralizes his biggest strength.

Should be a W if Murray doesn't try to do too much. Hill/Fox/WCS really is a nice defensive combo. They can guard on the ball and defend the PNR as well as about anyone, those aren't the matchups to exploit. Chandler could actually have a big game he's got a nice size/experience advantage on Hield.

I'd say run it through Jokic all night and open up the paint by taking WCS out of it. Can probably rack up the fouls on Skal as well.

Barton can just be maddening to watch. He has some value in this league as a cheap bench scorer, but anyone who gives him a decent sized deal is nuts. That play where he tried to dribble through 2 defenders for absolutely no reason was just disgusting.

And Jokic with these backcourt fouls. Saving one basket just isn't worth it. He's way too valuable offensively for the Nugs.

Portland and LAC both look pretty good. Utah not bad either. Need to see this team start playing better basketball quickly.

Needed the win but man that was a snoozer. Good defensive effort. The kings bllllow offensively though geez

I took my son to this game, and while it was entertaining at times, this team, or should I say the way Malone plays it is terrible.

Our offense looks like ****. no other way to put it, no screens, limited movement off the ball, and getting sticky in some guy's hands.

Crowd got pretty loud when Barton was coming into the game in the 1st half, 2nd time there was barely anything. He is trying to do way to much, I honestly think that he thinks he is as valuable as Jokic to this team and should be given the ball more and let iso, it really is terrible to watch. One thing that was very noticable was that when Barton gets the ball many of the guys just stop moving.

Wilson Chandler seemed to have a decent game, but man his body language is worse than usual. He did not seem to care at all when he was not on the court.

Plumlee is a terrible fit with both Millsap and Jokic, like worse than even I expected. There is no way that those 3 ever work. Plumlee is not a good enough shooter and stays to close to the rim at all times to make it work. Jokic needs lanes to pass into, as does Millsap.

Faried fits better with both Jokic and MIllsap. There is no way around it Plumlee is a bad contract on this team, and is the guy that should be moving on.

Mudiay on the court with Barton and Chandler is a waste, they will not even look at him on offense, once he passes the ball he just goes stand in the corner.

Murray is not playing his game, he is passing up wide open layups and trying to make the extra pass, he has to play his game to be effective.

They need to give more minutes to Juancho.

Malone needs to five out that this team is not going to be effective with no shooters on the floor, tonight we won with defense, but this team isn't going to win many games playing that bad on offense.

By the way we won the game with defense, when is the last time you could say that? It is funny with Millsap and Faried on the floor they were rotating into the paint, and stopping all the crap we had so much trouble with last season.

I watched this game online, and here is my simple thoughts on it.

1. Jokic body language isn't encouraging.
He doesn't seem motivated to defend nor leading offense (I did see a small stretch of him being motivated to do those, but not enough imo, could be because he is still learning the new system). Though, he still passes like a champ, and for some reasons, he DOESN'T score a point. This is worrying.

2. We won with defense. Like Rebel said, how often can we say that?
This is an encouraging sign as this is what Malone promised the end of last season. Hope that this defensive intensity can be consistent in every game.

3. Gary Harris, Millsap looks like the players who can count on. Gary looks efficient and its great to see him draining 3s after 3s. Smooth release and confident.

4. Jamal Murray though didn't score much, he did have really good body language especially on defense, he ain't scare of anyone and always active with his hands. Once he starts scoring, he should be a sure number 1 PG in this team. Also, he is very vocal which is important as our team needs someone who communicates constantly in the team.

5. Mudiay and Faried performed really well today.

6. Not see enough of Juancho today, Malone's rotation left so much to be desired.

Conclusion:
IMHO, Jokic is still having issue not being the focal point of the offense, though he is getting there on defense, we need him to be the orchestra in offense, sadly Malone has other plans besides doing this. I just hope Jokic can start scoring more and become the star we hope.

kinggnik87 wrote:I watched this game online, and here is my simple thoughts on it.

1. Jokic body language isn't encouraging.
He doesn't seem motivated to defend nor leading offense (I did see a small stretch of him being motivated to do those, but not enough imo, could be because he is still learning the new system). Though, he still passes like a champ, and for some reasons, he DOESN'T score a point. This is worrying.

I watched Jokica lot on the defensive end, despite having a couple of lapses, he was good on defense.

Is that Malone's new role for Jokic? He did say he will have a different role this year or something of the sort.

Richard Miller wrote:Is that Malone's new role for Jokic? He did say he will have a different role this year or something of the sort.

I hope not, but I don't think it would surprise any of us if it was.

The Rebel wrote:

Richard Miller wrote:Is that Malone's new role for Jokic? He did say he will have a different role this year or something of the sort.

I hope not, but I don't think it would surprise any of us if it was.

As someone noted there has to be some kind of agenda behind it, shooting once in 10 minutes can't simply be an accident. Maybe they are still trying out things, however since Malone isn't exactly Pop 2.0 not sure what to think.

Richard Miller wrote:

The Rebel wrote:

Richard Miller wrote:Is that Malone's new role for Jokic? He did say he will have a different role this year or something of the sort.

I hope not, but I don't think it would surprise any of us if it was.

As someone noted there has to be some kind of agenda behind it, shooting once in 10 minutes can't simply be an accident. Maybe they are still trying out things, however since Malone isn't exactly Pop 2.0 not sure what to think.

For all the hype Malone gets for his time with the Kings, I have yet to see a single nuggets fan that thinks he is even above average.

Jokic did not seem engaged on offense at all, but was working hard on defense.

Off the top of my head in his 2 years in Denver Malone has had major issues with Gallo, Chandler, Nelson, Faried, and Nurkic, or in other words most of the veterans. It would not surprise me if he was having issues with Jokic.

Richard Miller wrote:

The Rebel wrote:

Richard Miller wrote:Is that Malone's new role for Jokic? He did say he will have a different role this year or something of the sort.

I hope not, but I don't think it would surprise any of us if it was.

As someone noted there has to be some kind of agenda behind it, shooting once in 10 minutes can't simply be an accident. Maybe they are still trying out things, however since Malone isn't exactly Pop 2.0 not sure what to think.

He only took shots when the shot clock was expiring , I think this is some kind of silent boycott by Jokic, we will see if this trend continues, Denver can't win against quality opponents if Jokic is going to be non factor on offense.

Mickey8 wrote:He only took shots when the shot clock was expiring , I think this is some kind of silent boycott by Jokic, we will see if this trend continues, Denver can't win against quality opponents if Jokic is going to be non factor on offense.

He wasn't taking shots, but I don't think he was a non-factor at all. He was encouraging players to move and was still whipping passes to them, he just wasn't trying to bail them out as a scoring option.

But he has to score if Nuggets wants to win against good teams, we saw what happen against Utah. Sacramento is bad team plus they played game night before, that game is irrelevant to me . Its very dumb for Nuggets for stopping the progress of your most talented player , he should take at least 10 shot attempts per game, there is no excuse for Malone and coaching staff regarded to this issue.