The Nuggets 2nd and 3rd best player in Jamal Murray and Porter Jr have been injured the entire season, with murray not playing at all and MPJ struggling before they found his back injury a few games into the season. We also lost our best guard defender in Dozier 18 games into the season and have had the 3rd most missed games due to injuries and covid protocols. This has led to our deep bench getting a lot of meaningful minutes and role players forced into roles they do not fit into.
To put it into perspective Austin Rivers is our 4th string SG, he has played in 31 games 20 mpg this season, and a lot of those minutes have come at SF.
This has led to the bench being one of the worst in the league, and our starters being very inconsistent.
If healthy our lineup would look like
Murray(33 mpg)/ Morris (15 mpg)/
Barton (28 mpg)/ D Hyland (12 mpg)/ MOrris (8 MPG)
Gordon (30 mpg)/ Dozier (18 mpg)
MPJ (28 mpg)/ Jeff Green (20 mpg)
JOkic (33 mpg)/ JayMichael Green (13 mpg)/ MPJ (2 mpg)
With Murray and MPJ getting some of their minutes with the bench it would solve a lot of the issues with shooting and shot creation that the bench has had, and our starting lineup is well balanced with good defense and a ton of scoring power.
ty 4191 wrote:--Also, they have the among the 3 weakest average opponents in the NBA from here on in:
http://powerrankingsguru.com/nba/strength-of-schedule.phpThoughts? What does the rest of the season look like for Jokic and Denver? I can only imagine Jokic's seasonal averages going up with such a weak schedule, and Denver's W-L% increasing, relative to today...
Also, do they have any chance of getting through the Suns and Warriors in the playoffs, IF they're at full strength?
I know we have had one of the hardest schedules in the league so far, but a lot is going to depend on health and the new additions. We recently traded for one of the best shooters in the league and signed a true backup Center in Cousins, depending on their fit with the bench that should help, and if both Murray and MPJ are back than we become one of the best teams in the league overnight.
I expect JOkic's stats to drop off when Murray and MPJ get back, and hope the scoring drops off with more assists prior to that, as well as him playing less minutes. He has carried us to this point, which is impressive considering all the facts, but we want him healthy and rested when we get to the playoffs.
If we are healthy I actually consider the Nuggets favorites to come out of the west this year. After the trade for Gordon last year we were something like 9-1 before Murray went down. We were in the western conference finals 2 years ago with a healthy Murray and rookie MPJ, with a more seasoned MPJ, a healthy Murray, Jokic playing like he has been, and the addition of Aaron Gordon we may have the best starting lineup in the league.
