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My personal list:

1. Monte Morris - I have big expectations after Summer League and a breakthrough season, but I have no idea he will be this efficient player (great 3p%, TS% and great Ast/TO ratio)
2. Malik Beasley - see above

X* Mike Malone - I blamed him personally for Denver not reaching playoff in past two seasons, but he obviously fixed most of his biggest issues. The team is not so bad on the road, Jokic point-center system was used since the early start, without waiting two months for that, and also, Jokic is not forced anymore to play "calls" in the final quarter.
3. Mason Plumlee - I expected to see him declining with just 15mpg playing time on the court, but thanks career-best physical shape, Trey Lyles slump, and fixed some of the problems when playing in a rotation with Jokic, Plumlee clearly overachieved.

4. Nikola Jokic - He is a dark horse in the MVP race this season, but that is exactly what I expected from him this season.
5. Jamal Murray - I expected from him to become our #2 player this season and this is what exactly happened. To be honest, I expected a little bit better season from Jamal in terms of efficiency (his TS% dropped from 58% to 53%)
6. Paul Millsap - he also belongs this group of Denver players which fulfill my expectations, together with Jokic and Murray. The reason why I put him slightly behind these two is actually not his fault - he missed 10+ games and Malone limited his minutes on 25mpg.
Y* Michael Porter Jr - Another player which fulfill my expectations. I expected from him to avoid this season and be redshirted from precaution reasons, and exactly that is happening with MPJ this season.
7. Torrey Craig - he also fulfill my expectations, but I obviously not expected too much from him.

Z* Brandon Goodwin, DeVaughn Akoon-Purcell, Jarred Vanderbilt, Nick Young, Thomas Welsh, Tyler Lydon - when you have zero expectations for someone in the upcoming season, and he barely plays during garbage time only, I will put them between players which fulfill my expectations and players which disappointed. That said, I'm still not gave-up from Jarred Vanderbilt and Thomas Welsh, but not in this season for sure.

8. Juancho Hernangomez - He disappointed me, but also I have too big expectations from him.
9. Gary Harris - Shocking decline from someone 24 old. Harris dropped his TS% from 61% and 60% in the past two seasons to just 52%. But Harris is still an elite defenseman and he is a good fit with our best players so his +/- stats are always good, so he is still ahead couple others
10. Isaiah Thomas - IT look bad so far, but after so long pause he deserves more time
11. Will Barton - I expected from him to be a negative asset and on-court trouble maker since next season when SF MPJ starts to play, not already since this season with Beasley and Morris much more effective use their times.
12. Trey Lyles - Not that I have some special big expectations from Lyles, but to drop TS% from 60% to 50%, and 3pt% from 38% to 25% is too much.

1 monte morris looks like a guy that I'd pay 13 million per year to play off the bench

12 Will Barton look like a guy I would not pay 13 million per year to play off the bench.

Expect a lot of "Didn't Expects"

1A. Malik Beasley - Didn't expect a huge leap
1B. Monte Morris - Didn't expect a huge leap

2. Nikola Jokic - Didn't expect him to be a top 10-15 player

3. Paul Millsap - Didn't expect him to have such a big impact on team

4. Mason Plumlee - Didn't expect him to be the best big man off the bench

5. Jamal Murray - I figured he'd have a similar season to last year, I expect him to make a huge leap once Barton is gone

6. Torrey Craig - I expected Craig to get more PT but it only came to the expense of Barton's injury

7. Juancho Hernangomez - He was actually hooping when he got the PT, I didn't expect that

8. Gary Harris - Injuries have killed his season/development

9. Jarred Vanderbilt - For a guy that hasn't played for a while, he's played great for a guy that's played a total of like 5 minutes

10. Coach Malone - I wasn't a fan of him previous seasons, he's gotten a slight bit better but could be better if he wasn't so in love with Barton

11. Trey Lyles - He's disappointed me this season

12. Michael Porter Jr. - Don't expect him to play but if he did, he'd be better than Barton

13. Isaiah Thomas - Has actually been decent but expected more

14. Swaggy P - I'd prefer him over Barton

15. Thomas Welsh - I liked him in draft and I wish he'd play some

16. Will Barton - I've hated this guy for 4.5 seasons

17. Brandon Goodwin - ____________________

18. Tyler Lydon - Disappointing defensively, needs more PT to evaluate tho

Expectations listed after:

Jokic - very high expectations and fairly close to expectations
Plumlee - high expectations and not far off from expectations

Millsap - high expectations and not far off from expectations
Lyles - medium expectations and 3pt% not even acceptable

Barton - low expectations and about what expected
Craig - medium expectations and incomplete grade due to lack of PT
Hernangomez - medium expectations and came close with not enough PT

Harris - high expectations and not meeting expectations (injuries?)
Beasley - high expectations and exceeding those expectations

Murray - high expectations and close to expectations but still lacking
Morris - medium expectations and exceeding expectations
Thomas - incomplete

Expectations
Jokic expectations - center of team with near 10 assists & 12 rebounds & 20 pts - anchoring offense & defense
Plumlee expectations - 10+ pts with almost 10 rebounds with good defense

Millsap expectations - 12 pts with almost 10 rebounds with good defense
Lyles expectations - 10+ pts with 35% from 3 with some defense

Barton expectations - 15 pts & lots of frustration & little defense
Craig expectations - low offensive expectations but positive wing defense
Hernangomez expectations - 12 pts with 40% from 3 with some defense

Harris expectations - 20 pts with 40% from 3 & solid defense
Beasley expectations - 12 pts with near 40% from 3 & solid defense

Murray expectations - 20 pts with near 40% & 6 assists from 3 & good defense
Morris expectations - 8 pts & 3 assists with good defense
Thomas expectations - not much until playoffs and then 12+ pts (lots of pick-n-rolls with both centers) & little defense

Jokic, is exactly how I hoped he would be, which is a little better than I expected. I went into the season hoping he would put up 20/10/6 on good percentages with solid to good defense.

Harris, I am disappointed in, I expected him to hit 20 ppg on 58%+ TS% with excellent defense, but his early season slump and his injuries have cost him on the offensive end, but considering he has only allowed 38.5% shooting to his opponents and how much better our perimeter defense is with him on the court I am not too upset.

MIllsap is about what I expected out of him, very good defense, picks his spots pretty well on offense, and seems to be a calming presence when needed.

Murray I put as below expectations, but for reasons not yet mentioned in this thread. I thought he would improve more on defense, there are times when he is a good defender, but most often he is marginal at best. While a lot of people complain about his offense I am actually very happy with his offense. He spent almost half of the season with constant double teams while we had Craig and Plumlee or Millsap starting and had to learn how to deal with it at an NBA level. If you go watch tape of last years games you see he struggled against double teams, especially when they were physical, this year he has passed out of it better and found ways to score.

Barton is exactly what I expected him to be, and not in a good way. I hoped for better but what can you do.

Beasley is everything I hoped he would be and more easily beating my expectations. He has shown to be a solid defender and a very good off the ball player that can get to the rim and create for himself in the right matchups. For a guy who just turned 22 and is getting his 1st real chance at rotation minutes I do not know how you can expect more.

Plumlee is arguably the 2nd best backup big in the league, he has been more than I hoped he would be as I expected him to stay about how he was last year.

If anybody expected Morris to be this good they would have been considered a crazy homer prior to the season, I was just hoping he would be at least replacement level or net zero for advanced stats, he has far surpassed that.

Craig has been exactly what I expected out of him, which is not a bad thing for a guy who should be your 5th SG/SF.

Juancho is my biggest disappointment of the season. Early in the season prior to his injury he was exactly what I expected, shooting 42% from 3, a big positive on defense, a good help defender and offensive rebound guy. Exactly what you need from a starting SF with our roster, since the injury he has basically been worthless and I am not sure if he is still injured or just has no confidence.

Lyles has been worse than I expected, but I really did not expect much from him. I lost a lot of hope when he openly complained about being asked to practice for 3 hours in Utah on that Richard Jefferson Podcast and this year just showed that he does not want to work hard enough to become what he could be.

Thomas has been exactly what I feared when we signed him, he has matched my expectations totally, and I really wish he had proven me wrong.



The rest I give an incomplete to as they have not played enough to really judge.

Morris and Beasley - Didn't expect much and I am thrilled by them.
Jokič- Expected a lot but not him being top five MVP candidate. (Mostly because I'd never thought Nuggets will have top 2 record in the west)
Plums- expected so so play but he is pretty solid.
Craig- someone who I thought will be absolute non factor but had some really good stretches.
Millsap- Now I am in the neutral zone in pozitive way. Plays just like I thought he will.
Barton- Plays just as I though he will. Same games terrible, some games damn good. Like the Lakers game. Comme on. Great scoring night and that block in 4th q showed big hustle too. Neutral zone in neutral zone D
IT- Just what I was afraid of. Ball hogging, stopping the ball, no defense, chucking threes in transition with terrible %. Neutral zone in negative way.
Harris- Obviously we thought he will be better. Some can be blamed on injuries but I'm gonna accept he is no lock for SG for the future.
Murray- Huge dissapointment. He is able to have games like against Celtics or Suns and being unstopable. Also too many games I wonder if he is mentally ready for the game.
Juancho- thought he will be useful bench player. Started as such but he is falling terribly down.
Lyles- Small expectations but he was so disgustingly bad even Malone realized and thrown him out of rotation.

Won't rate anyone under 100 minutes per season.

Morris - Didnt expect much but he turned out to be a solid starter. - awesome

Murray - I had great expectations for him in the previous season but since then i have cooled of on him significantly. Hoped i was wrong but he is not improving much. He is what he is at this point. - disappointed

Isaiah - Didnt expect anything from him but hoped that he could return to 90% of his Boston days and be a playoff contributor - so far not great and is hurting the team when he plays, cool locker room guy from what i heard tho. - nice for the locker room

Beasley - Expected him to be a bench shooter turned out to be a solid started. - awesome

Harris - I hoped he would take one more step forward and become a borderline allstar instead he got injured and regressed severely. I hope he gets back to at least where he was before. - bummed for the injury

Barton - Never liked him resigning for what he did but at least he could bring fire of the bench - he disrupts the flow of the offense and is way too inconsistent wish we could trade him for something solid. - annoyed

Craig - Expected a defensive hustle guy - was not disappointed. - satisfied

Hernangomez - Hoped for a breakthrough - ended up being a bench stretch 4. - sad times

Millsap - Expected a regression due to age but was pleasantly surprised that he is still holding on. - awesome

Plumlee - Didnt expect a change from the previous season but he finally clicked next to Jokic. - awesome

Jokic - Expected him to become a better shooter and a bit more aggressive on offense, got something even better as he became a solid defender while still being more aggressive on offense. The shooting woes hurt a bit but he will get there. - super duper

MPJ and Vanderbilt - Didnt expect them to play, they didnt. - doesnt really matter until the next season


Lyles - Expected him to suck, he sucked. - still disappointed we traded the pick

Malone - Expected him to mismanage the team again but he didnt destroy the offense and actually transformed the defense. Hats off. Still would like someone who knows how to use Jokic as a point center but i would be satisfied if that someone is a assistant coach. - Great

All in all im happy the way this season is going mostly because Jokic became a neutral defender and the team learned to play D. I hoped for another star next to Jokic but its not late for that in the future seasons.