If you’re gonna tear another page off the cold, heartless calendar marking Nikola Jokic’s career, dang it, do it with gusto. Grip it and rip it.
Staying the course is fine, so long as you like watching somebody else swig champagne and ride shirtless on fire trucks. If the honest goal is a dynasty, about the worst thing the Nuggets can do on the first night of the 2024 NBA draft is follow last year’s script.
You know what they call doing the same thing and expecting a different result? Insanity. With the 28th pick, Denver selects … a movie we’ve already seen. And a rookie coach Michael Malone won’t trust. Or won’t play, once he’s tasked with navigating the merciless, Mad-Maxian, kill-or-be-killed wastelands of the Western Conference.
Me? I nail down Nikola Jokic and Aaron Gordon. Then I put a window sticker on everybody else in that locker room. Everybody. Including Jamal Murray. Including Michael Porter Jr.
Especially Michael Porter Jr.
It’s not personal. It’s not about the family. It’s not about the podcast. It’s not about the narrative. It’s not about the NBA Finals last spring. It’s not about the Minnesota series last month. (Well, maybe it is about that last part. A little.)
It’s about business. It’s about the NBA’s collective bargaining agreement, which punishes the holy heck out of contenders with max contracts who don’t get superstar production from said guys on max contracts. It’s about creating flexibility with one hand while keeping a title window open with the other.
The Nuggets have bigger enemies in front of them right now than the Thunder, Timberwolves and Mavs. The first is the CBA. The second is fear.
Fear of having to explain to your owner why trading for Damian Lillard, as Milwaukee did, got you bounced in the first round again anyway.
Fear of having to explain to the Joker why a three-time MVP and the best player on the planet has only one ring at age 30.
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Source:: The Denver Post – Sports
