So one of my goals for New Years is to go back through every NBA Finals and watch them all. But what I really want to do is give an in-depth discussion about the champion of that year, give my thoughts and analysis about them, discuss their opponents, and where I think they stand compared to other champions in NBA history. I have no real idea of how this is going to turn out and quite frankly, I don't really know how this is all going to look. But I just thought I'd let you guys know what the deal is here and what I'm planning on doing. And I thought this would also be an opportunity for us to discuss how we feel about said champions, or even the ones that pop up on here that we rooted for, in my case being the 2016 Cavaliers and 2020 Lakers (if you don't know why, you probably don't know me very well).
I don't know how far back I'll go with this, but I figured I'd at least start with the last ten champions and then go from there. I don't know how frequently I'll be posting these. I guess it just depends on how much I get through in a timely fashion or if I get bored. And for right now, I don't really have any real format or pattern in mind with how I'm going to do this. For this first one, I just kind of want to give my thoughts and go from there. So... let's go ahead and get started I guess.
Alright, time to start with the most recent NBA Champions, the 2023 Denver Nuggets.
Record: 53-29
SRS: 3.04
Off Rank: 5th
Def Rank: 15th
Net Rank: 6th
(Was hoping to find something cooler with the opening gif but... I guess not a lot of spectacular things happened in this one)
It's the legacy defining series for Jokic... the one that proved you could win with him as your best player... it's the 2023 NBA Finals. And on this occasion, we all sat back and watched as Nikola Jokic proved to everyone that he could do the thing we all should have known he could do already... dominate at the highest level. Yeah I had to open with this one because, quite frankly, I always thought of Jokic's inability to advance to that next stage and win the same way I thought of when LeBron was going through the same thing. Now granted, LeBron did already have an NBA Finals trip and that... well, it didn't go well... twice. But I always figured that when Jokic would finally reach that stage... it would go pretty much exactly as it went here. Him dominating and the other team not really knowing what to do about it. And the fact that he wasn't beforehand was just due to circumstances beyond his control and that it was only a matter of time. But even then... this one did surprise me a bit. What do I mean by that?
Well, I'll be perfectly honest... part of me wanted to just skip this one and move on to 2022. I actually had to convince myself to watch this NBA Finals series because I didn't have a lot of interest in it. And in fact, I got so disinterested that I didn't even bother watching game 5. Yeah, I actually just got done watching game 5 for the first time today. I couldn't bring myself to care enough to watch what ended up being the closeout game live. Normally I don't have that problem with an NBA Finals. There's always enough intrigue to teams in general that make me want to see them perform. But this series just didn't catch that for me. And you might honestly think it's because of the fact that the eighth seeded Miami Heat are the ones who turned out to be the opponent for the eventual champions but if I'm being honest... the Denver Nuggets didn't interest me much either.
Okay okay so what were the Denver Nuggets and why were they so good? How did they get to this point? It's the typical built around your star player prototype team. Jokic is coming off back to back MVPs and arguably got robbed of a three peat from Embiid, which was the matchup I'm sure a lot of people here wanted to see. Believe it or not, the matchup I actually wanted to see instead was against the Bucks. I just loved the idea of Jokic going up against Lopez. How would Denver slow down Giannis? Would Jrue be able to slow down Murray? None of that came to fruition as Miami ended up upsetting the Bucks in 5 and managed to make it all the way to the Finals, where their Cinderella run ended in such poor fashion that Jimmy Butler is now trying to look like her. But I'm getting sidetracked. Jamal Murray is Jokic's running mate, complemented by a well put together starting five and a pretty decent bench unit. But really, what stands out to me about the 2023 Denver Nuggets is the fit. Spoiler alert, I'm going to be talking about fit a lot throughout these... because it is VERY important.
Jokic is a multi-talented all time offensive juggernaut. On top of being able to score from just about anywhere on the floor, he's one of the best playmakers in the league and Denver's main source of offense in just about every way. So you have a center who is so good at playmaking that he's the one running the plays and a lot of times taking the ball up the floor. How are you going to build around someone like that? Well ideally, you'd surround him with shooters. Jamal Murray isn't known for his playmaking. He doesn't have to be. He has to be a reliable and consistent scoring option who can step up and provide offense when needed. He does that at a really high level. But in the playoffs? Holy **** does he step up. I don't think people realize how much Murray balls out in the playoffs, but just to put it into perspective for a moment... Jamal Murray currently has the best point differential in the NBA when it comes to difference between regular season and playoff scoring, with over a five point per game difference, which is utter insanity. Jamal Murray may not have an all star selection or all NBA nod yet... but you tell him it's the post season and suddenly a new side of him is unlocked.
There's some other players that deserve mention as well. Michael Porter JR. is an incredibly reliable source of points and a great third option. 17 PPG on 61% TS, reliable defender, that's a third option any team would be happy to have on their team. Pope is PERFECT for a team like this as a secondary playmaker who can provide scoring, good defense and height. Brown helped round out their capable perimeter defense. I liked what guys like Reggie Jackson and Jeff Green brought to the table off the bench, especially Green for his style of play when you consider who he backed up.
Speaking of... I think the biggest thing that turned Denver from pretender to contender was the acquisition of Aaron Gordon, who I thought was a stroke of brilliance on the part of Denver. Gordon's the kind of PF any team would be lucky to have. I don't think Gordon is ever capable of being the best player on a team. But let's think about something for a moment... you have a player like Jokic on your team. You consider his style of play, you consider his physical capabilities. Who do you want to have be his frontcourt mate? Someone who is athletically gifted, plays physical basketball and is a very good two way player. Aaron Gordon fits that bill. I love to watch the guy play, and I love what he brings to the table.
So that begs the question... why did I have so little interest in this series?
Well, to be frank, I didn't see any chance at all for Miami winning this series. Yeah I know, not a lot of people saw any chance for Miami to make the NBA Finals when the playoffs first started and they did that, I understand all of that, that's all perfectly fine. But... I mean... well, let's talk about Miami shall we?
Before this season started, I questioned how anyone could think Miami is a legitimate contender to win the ECF this year. That would, if they did it, mean they repeated. In most cases, if someone did it last year... they deserve that consideration this year, no? Well the thing is... Miami was the 8th seed for a reason. Their Cinderella run opened up the eyes of a lot of people, myself included. It showcased just how good of a Erik is. It demonstrated his kneen ability to see something in players others just don't and how to make good use of them. Sometimes it really is a case of paying attention to the finer details and realizing... yeah, I can make this work.
And make it work he did. He didn't just make it to the Finals... he did it while knocking off some really great teams. The first seeded Bucks, the fifth seeded Knicks fresh off a gentlemen's sweep in the first round, and the Celtics, who were no slouches either and it even looked like at one point they had all the momentum in the world needed to pull off a historic 3-0 comeback after MIami looked like they were poised to sweep them. But Miami came to play in game 7, dominated, and went on to the finals.
The most notable aspect of Miami's roster is the number of undrafted players getting minutes in their rotation. Gabe Vincent, Max Strus, Caleb Martin, just to name a few. Two of these guys were starters on this team during their postseason run. We all know about Jimmy Butler and what he brought to the table. And we can't forget about Bam Adebayo and how crucial he was as Miami's best defender in the middle and second option on offense.
But two names I really wanted to focus on and give attention to are two veterans in the league who already were champions by this point... and that's Kyle Lowry and Kevin Love.
By no means were they the main reasons Miami made their NBA Finals run. I don't even think either of them were the top 5 reasons if we're being honest. But they did nonetheless play big parts in getting them there, and I wanted to discuss that for a moment because I think veteran roleplayers are quite misunderstood in todays day and age, at least as it pertains to the role they play in the postseason.
I should put this out there for the record... I've always been a Kyle Lowry fan. If my fandom of LeBron James is any indication, I'm a sucker for all around players and the incredible impact they make on the game. I think a player who is able to make a positive impact on the game in multiple ways is more valuable than one who excels in only one, because if that only positive attribute they have isn't being used to its fullest affect in a game, most of the time they aren't helping their team. You never had that problem with Kyle Lowry. If his shot wasn't falling, you still had his defense. You still had his playmaking. You still had his very high basketball IQ and the ability to make smart decisions on both ends of the floor. There was always something he was doing for you that helped you win. There's very few really bad Lowry games out there and there's a reason for that. Lowry may not have been their starting PG, but he was about as perfect of a sixth man as you could ask for. I loved the way he was able to control the pace of the game and dictate the action for Miami. I always felt that with each series throughout the playoffs, he adjusted to how he needed to play and figure out how he could impact the game the most. For example, he knew he could be much more aggressive as a scorer against NY and Denver, since they didn't have the same kind of perimeter defense that Milwaukee and Boston did. It showed in both his scoring averages and just his overall impact on the game. He wasn't someone that was going to try to shoot his way out of a bad scoring night. He understood what he needed to do and took a step back when needed. That's what you want out of your backup.
But Kevin Love is an interesting one to me. He didn't play nearly as many minutes as Lowry did despite becoming their starting PF in the rotation. But I don't think people realize how much of a difference having that extra floor spreader who could still rebound at an elite rate and help move the ball around made for Miami in the postseason. And that veteran experience I just mentioned? It worked wonders for Miami at times. Kevin was always willing to limit his opportunities and wait for those moments to come to him naturally. After his Minnesota days, he knew he had to be the guy who couldn't force things and instead had to play to his strengths and pick his chances. When things were going for him? He knew it was time to step up. A good example of this is the closeout game against Milwaukee where Miami won in overtime by two points to take the series. In that game? Kevin Love was able to produce 15 points on five three pointers and 12 rebounds in just 32 minutes of play. It reminded me a lot of when Derek Fisher went to the Thunder in 2012 and he was their backup guard for their NBA Finals run. You weren't going to get the old Fisher by any means and he wasn't going to wow you with his play. But he knew exactly what he needed to do and he was still a good enough player at that point to be able to help the team out when needed. When his number was called, you knew what you were getting out of him. And that's a very important thing to have in the NBA.
So with this being Miamis roster… how were they supposed to win exactly? Bam is an excellent defender but better men have tried and failed to slow down Jokic. Who was going to stop Gordon from doing whatever he wanted? Who was going to guard Murray? I just couldn’t for the life of me see Miami get more unexpected production from unexpected sources for another series. It just looked like a total mismatch of talent, kind of like the other series Miami won, but this time their opponents didn’t just have a well established system, they had matchup advantages. These are hard things to overcome.
I wish Jokic and company had a more capable finals opponent, but that doesn't necessarily mean Miami wasn't an interesting team, just not enough to fully grab my attention and make me think "yeah, they have a chance". Nah, they really didn't. There's a reason they lost in five and like I said before, there is a reason they were the eight seed... but in the end, there's also a reason they made the finals so I guess there's that. I wish we had someone else that could better test this Nuggets team and see just how good they truly are as a unit. I like the fit around Jokic, I like the roster construction... I just don't know if that's good enough to make them standout compared to some of their championship counterparts. For example, if this Nuggets team were to go up against, say, the 2020 Lakers, I just don't see them giving that Lakers team much trouble. The Nuggets were the best team in the league, but when it comes to standing to the test of time, I personally don't think they favor all that well. Maybe that says more about how weak their opponent was, I don't know. But what I do know is this: The Nuggets won the championship that season and when it comes to the record books, that's what matters the most.
I'm looking forward to moving on with the 2022 Finals where there's definitely a lot more to say with regards to the two opponents and the matchups we had there. But here, for the most part... this one just feels pretty one sided. If this all just feels like me rambling, then I'm right there with ya. This is something I really want to start doing but I hated that this was the first series to start with because, again, there just wasn't a lot to it that grabbed my attention. I'm sure you guys will be able to come up with a lot more to contribute to this than me but regardless, this really just feels like one of those situations where if these two teams played again, the same result would probably happen. Hell it'd probably be a sweep this time. I don't think there's any adjustments Spo could make that would swing things in Miami's favor to the point where they manage to win four games and... that's not a bad thing. Again, great on them that they made it this far, but in the end... they were just outmatched.
"Finally, it's over. After 47 long years, the Denver Nuggets can finally call themselves NBA Champions!"
