Written by Jonathan Peter on Dec. 6, 2022.
After two pathetic road performances, the Denver Nuggets are hoping to get a much needed bounce-back win at home against the Dallas Mavericks.
The Nuggets had the opportunity to cushion their top seed in the Western conferences standings, but losses to the Hawks and Pelicans have caused them to fall to fourth in the West. Currently, Denver only sits 0.5 games above the Sacramento Kings. Frustration is starting to boil over throughout Nuggets nation.
Coach Malone had a weird ejection on Sunday. He got tossed near the end of the game, when the Nuggets had no shot at winning. Whether Malone was mad with the officials, himself, his team, or a combination of all of these things is unknown. The most apparent thing is that the pressure is getting to Malone.
Feeling the pressure and being upset about the state of the team is a fair reaction to have. This is the best roster in the history of the Nuggets franchise and expectations are high, higher than they have ever been. And the Nuggets have to figure out away to steer this ship in the right direction. If the Nuggets want to make a deep playoff run, Malone has to adapt quickly.
I don’t want to harp on the Nuggets poor defense to start the season. Because the bigger issue is that the young guys on the team are not getting enough playing time. Zeke Nnaji, Christian Braun, and Bones Hyland need to get playing time in order to determine whether or not they players who are going to be impact players for this team.
All three of these players are first-round picks for the Nuggets. Not every first-round pick turns out to be a reliable NBA player, but they obviously have a measurable level of talent which warrants why they were drafted so highly. Despite Nnaji and Hyland missing games to injury, we still have not seen enough of these players when they have been healthy to determine if they improve the Nuggets deficiencies.
The blame has to fall on Malone. He has been opting for the likes of Ish Smith, DeAndre Jordan, Davon Reed, and Jeff Green instead. Not to be disrespectful to these players, but none of these players have proven to be consistent bench players and they don’t have the resume to prove it either. Reed was a G-league player last season, Jordan is on his seventh team in 5 years, Smith is on his 13th team in 13 seasons, and Green is on his 11th team in 15 years.
None of Malone’s veteran options have displayed the ability to be consistent NBA rotation players in all of their stops throughout the league. And he continues to play them whenever they are available.
Now, I am not saying that Braun, Hyland, and Nanji will solve Denver’s problems. But, they deserve opportunities because the Nuggets can elevate their ceiling if these players are able to contribute. Also, they don’t need to be consistent staples of Denver’s rotation every night. Like I pointed out last week, Denver has a luxury this year with their depth. There are nights where certain players get playing time and others don’t. It should be a good thing.
Green does bring up some good points in this clip and he is right. It is early in season and Denver has time with plenty of room to grow. They also have the talent to turn things around.
So is it time to panic? Not necessarily. Two losses is in a 82 game season shouldn’t sound the alarms. However, Malone and the team have to address their shortcomings. They have to instill more confidence in each other before the wheels fall off.
Playing in the Western Conference does not give teams the opportunity to fool around. It’s time for this Nuggets team to follow the motto of former fan favorite Monte Morris and “Lock In”.
Stats Tell Stories 