Western Conference 2017-18 Race to Playoff

[skywalker33]

Still over 30 games left for Malone to screw up,expecting Millsap should be back after All-Star game and we should be able to make a panic trade which may/may not help.....anyone else feel like this is typical Nuggets stuff. ?

[NuggetsWY]

Still over 30 games left for Malone to screw up,expecting Millsap should be back after All-Star game and we should be able to make a panic trade which may/may not help.....anyone else feel like this is typical Nuggets stuff. ?

Don't worry; Josh will keep his yacht and Tim will keep his job and Mike will keep his job and they'll complain about not enough fans attending the games.

I keep hitting myself in the head wondering why I keep watching the games; but I can't help myself, I'm addicted to the Denver Nuggets. But since I get about 78 of the Jazz games every year, it sure is tempting to convert. But I seriously doubt I could do it. I'm beginning to wonder if there's a medical illness that I could blame. Year number 5 after letting our GM leave and dumping the reigning coach-of-the-year.

Looking on the bright side of things; at least we're proving that Philadelphia's "Process" works better than our approach.

[ThunderBolt]

Not really sure where to post this but I’m curious about Beasley. What do you guys think of him so far? Has he shown much potential or is he buried too deep in the rotation to get consistent minutes?

[NuggetsWY]

Not really sure where to post this but I’m curious about Beasley. What do you guys think of him so far? Has he shown much potential or is he buried too deep in the rotation to get consistent minutes?

He's buried pretty deep on the bench, but as the year moves on, he's getting more playing time. He hustles at both ends and is clearly learning. He's got 3pt potential and isn't afraid to drive. His handles are good. His passing is good, but nothing spectacular.

[U hova]

Not really sure where to post this but I’m curious about Beasley. What do you guys think of him so far? Has he shown much potential or is he buried too deep in the rotation to get consistent minutes?

My peers here think much higher of him, I have no idea truth be told. To me, he's just a body that does generic NBA things like shoot 3s on rotation, drive to the basket, etc. He doesn't play excessively or glamorously which might be a positive when considering some of the other guys on this team, but I don't think he has a single feature that blows out the gates.

I think one of the problems with considering him long term for the Nuggets is that he's another guard in that 6'4/5 range which limits our lineups with him - we have 2 guys that are better than him that are in that combo-guard size range. If Malone would go back to our 2017 offense, we might see how Beasley fits in the ideal Jokic system, but I can't get a grasp of his off-ball tendencies at the moment.

[NuggetsWY]

Not really sure where to post this but I’m curious about Beasley. What do you guys think of him so far? Has he shown much potential or is he buried too deep in the rotation to get consistent minutes?

My peers here think much higher of him, I have no idea truth be told. To me, he's just a body that does generic NBA things like shoot 3s on rotation, drive to the basket, etc. He doesn't play excessively or glamorously which might be a positive when considering some of the other guys on this team, but I don't think he has a single feature that blows out the gates.

I think one of the problems with considering him long term for the Nuggets is that he's another guard in that 6'4/5 range which limits our lineups with him - we have 2 guys that are better than him that are in that combo-guard size range. If Malone would go back to our 2017 offense, we might see how Beasley fits in the ideal Jokic system, but I can't get a grasp of his off-ball tendencies at the moment.

Exactly right - but I like Beasley as a backup and perhaps in time we find out that we've all underestimated him - coach included. Then again, we might find out some of us over-valued him. But as a backup for at least a couple of years, he seems like a nice option.

[THE J0KER]

Great night for Denver playoff chances. We beat our direct rival Portland after big drama, and Minnesota (w/o Butler) beat Clippers in LA.

Next two home matches vs NYK and DAL is "must win" for Nuggets, especially because after that we are playing against four TOP8 teams in the league (BOS SAS OKC GSW) in just 6 days.

[bwgood77]

Read on Twitter

[THE J0KER]

Nuggets are still on the Western last 8th playoff spot and with very hard schedule next week (BOS @SA OKC GSW). But the big picture is actually more favorable than it seems. Pelicans all-star center DeMarcus Cousins is out of the season, so despite current standings, we are now much more team which trying to reach #6 place than the team which trying to survive at #8.

[NuggetsWY]

Our record is 25-23 which is appropriate for 8th place
In the conference, we are 16-16 which is appropriate for 8th place.
We are 19-6 at home and 7-17 on the road which is appropriate for 8th place.
We are 5-6 in our division which is appropraite for 8th place.
We score 106.5 per game and give up 105.8 per game which is appropriate for 8th place.

Even if New Orleans falls, the Clippers are 7-3 in their last 10 and we are 5-5 in our last 10. Minnesota, OKC, and Portland are all better in the last 10 games also. I'm not exactly ready to bet on the Nuggets making anything better than 8th place with a 1st round sweep for Golden State.

[THE J0KER]

Our record is 25-23 which is appropriate for 8th place
In the conference, we are 16-16 which is appropriate for 8th place.
We are 19-6 at home and 7-17 on the road which is appropriate for 8th place.
We are 5-6 in our division which is appropraite for 8th place.
We score 106.5 per game and give up 105.8 per game which is appropriate for 8th place.

Even if New Orleans falls, the Clippers are 7-3 in their last 10 and we are 5-5 in our last 10. Minnesota, OKC, and Portland are all better in the last 10 games also. I'm not exactly ready to bet on the Nuggets making anything better than 8th place with a 1st round sweep for Golden State.

I'm also not happy about so many things related to Nuggets this season, but no doubt for me that in the current circumstances most realistic scenario for Denver is 6th or at least 7th place at the end of the regular season, not 8th or even 9th! I'm not biased or too much optimistic, but very realistic about this.

Denver is 9-7 (56%) with Millsap before his November injury, 17-16 (52%) without him and 14-12 (54%) without Millsap in matches in which Jokic played. Explanation of this phenom is not Millsap little impact on team results, but career breakthrough of our two young players since December, Jamal Murray and Trey Lyles! Once Millsap is back (in 3-4 weeks) I expect since that moment about 60% winning record in the rest of the season, which means about 55%+ overall (about 45+ wins). No way Pelicans (56% currently) will stay on that level without DeMarcus Cousins, and I can't see Clippers (50% right now) doing 62% (21-13) in the rest of the season to reach 45 wins and 55% mark. So for me, the most realistic scenario is battle between Portland (55% currently) and Denver (53% currently) for #6 and #7 spot on West.

[SoCalNuggsFan]

Well NO lost Boogie and LA lost blake. No excuse not to make playoffs now.

[NuggetsWY]

Well NO lost Boogie and LA lost blake. No excuse not to make playoffs now.

True but on the other hand, we've lost multiple games that we had no excuse to lose. We need to play our game and not play down to the level of our opponents - a problem many teams face. The difference is that elite teams can overcome that in the end - for most games. We aren't that good. We have to play more consistent. That's assume our Mal-tank rotations don't destroy us first.

[Acountant_Z]

Our next 10 games we'll be lucky to go 3-7. That would put us solidly below 500.

[skywalker33]

Our next 10 games we'll be lucky to go 3-7. That would put us solidly below 500.

Don't forget we'll be expecting Millsap back shortly after the ASG and our closest playoff competitor just traded away their star player for 70 cents on the dollar and UTH is still 5 games back and still without Gobert. Not all doom0n0gloom but you are correct, we have a TON of good playoff teams just ahead on our schedule until the playoffs start (Spurs 3x, CLE 2x, HOU 2x, OKC 2x, MIN 2x, TOR, GSW, IND, DET, MIL). 19 of our last 32 games have us playing better records than us, Millsap better give us a big lift when he gets back !!

[NuggetsWY]

Our next 10 games we'll be lucky to go 3-7. That would put us solidly below 500.

Don't forget we'll be expecting Millsap back shortly after the ASG and our closest playoff competitor just traded away their star player for 70 cents on the dollar and UTH is still 5 games back and still without Gobert. Not all doom0n0gloom but you are correct, we have a TON of good playoff teams just ahead on our schedule until the playoffs start (Spurs 3x, CLE 2x, HOU 2x, OKC 2x, MIN 2x, TOR, GSW, IND, DET, MIL). 19 of our last 32 games have us playing better records than us, Millsap better give us a big lift when he gets back !!

How much do we depend on Millsap? How do we rank our players? Jokic, Harris, Millsap, Murray? Is Millsap more important than Harris? Is Murray more important than Millsap?

I'd say Millsap's greatest value is fitting alongside Jokic - he's a better complement than Plumlee. Is it important that he scores? Not a lot IMO. Is it important that he rebounds? To a degree, sure. Is it important that he gets a lot of assists? Probably not. IMO his greatest value is on defense. Hopefully he can get everyone communicating and functioning as a team on defense.

[skywalker33]

Our next 10 games we'll be lucky to go 3-7. That would put us solidly below 500.

Don't forget we'll be expecting Millsap back shortly after the ASG and our closest playoff competitor just traded away their star player for 70 cents on the dollar and UTH is still 5 games back and still without Gobert. Not all doom0n0gloom but you are correct, we have a TON of good playoff teams just ahead on our schedule until the playoffs start (Spurs 3x, CLE 2x, HOU 2x, OKC 2x, MIN 2x, TOR, GSW, IND, DET, MIL). 19 of our last 32 games have us playing better records than us, Millsap better give us a big lift when he gets back !!

How much do we depend on Millsap? How do we rank our players? Jokic, Harris, Millsap, Murray? Is Millsap more important than Harris? Is Murray more important than Millsap?

I'd say Millsap's greatest value is fitting alongside Jokic - he's a better complement than Plumlee. Is it important that he scores? Not a lot IMO. Is it important that he rebounds? To a degree, sure. Is it important that he gets a lot of assists? Probably not. IMO his greatest value is on defense. Hopefully he can get everyone communicating and functioning as a team on defense.

Millsap resets the lineup (if we can ever get the SF position on board ), resets the bench and gives more well-rounded options. Plumlee in the lineup just throws everthing (and everyone ) out of sync if you ask me

[NuggetsWY]

Don't forget we'll be expecting Millsap back shortly after the ASG and our closest playoff competitor just traded away their star player for 70 cents on the dollar and UTH is still 5 games back and still without Gobert. Not all doom0n0gloom but you are correct, we have a TON of good playoff teams just ahead on our schedule until the playoffs start (Spurs 3x, CLE 2x, HOU 2x, OKC 2x, MIN 2x, TOR, GSW, IND, DET, MIL). 19 of our last 32 games have us playing better records than us, Millsap better give us a big lift when he gets back !!

How much do we depend on Millsap? How do we rank our players? Jokic, Harris, Millsap, Murray? Is Millsap more important than Harris? Is Murray more important than Millsap?

I'd say Millsap's greatest value is fitting alongside Jokic - he's a better complement than Plumlee. Is it important that he scores? Not a lot IMO. Is it important that he rebounds? To a degree, sure. Is it important that he gets a lot of assists? Probably not. IMO his greatest value is on defense. Hopefully he can get everyone communicating and functioning as a team on defense.

Millsap resets the lineup (if we can ever get the SF position on board ), resets the bench and gives more well-rounded options. Plumlee in the lineup just throws everthing (and everyone ) out of sync if you ask me

Agree with you there. I still like him but as a backup center.

Can we finally get a steady rotation?

Jokic-Plumlee
Millsap-Lyles-Faried
Chandler-Barton-Craig
Harris-Barton-Beasley
Murray-Barton

Of course that reflects my opinion of Malone's love for Barton (and when Barton is on, is offense is great - not talking about defense much). It also reflects my opinion of Malone's love for Chandler.

If we look for Malone's "nine man rotation"; it might be:

Jokic-Plumlee
Millsap-Lyles
Chandler
Harris-Barton
Murray

But who's #9?

[NuggetsWY]

Pelicans lose Cousins helped our race to the playoffs.
Pelicans trading for Mirotic hurts our race to the playoffs. He might even be a better fit next to Davis than Cousins was and next year, with all three of them rotating in and out, this may turn out to be a one truly great deal for the Pelicans.

[NuggetsWY]

Anyone notice Utah's play since Gobert returned? Nuggets are still within their reach, but we are in control of our destiny. Wins = playoffs.