What is Krakalak and Ardnox listener's I am Damn Valley coming at you this time
and out my fan tabulous co host Adam Brommel. I am, however,
super excited to be joined once again by t J McBride. He covers the
Denver Nuggets for a mile High Sports. As you can imagine, we have
a discussion about the Denver Nuggets. They're just a fascinating team. In the
wake of the Michael Porter junior injury that could keep him signline for the season.
We just had back surgery to repair nerve damage. Basically already without Jamal
Murray, PJ. Dozer is gonna be done for the season. They've had
some health and safety protocol issues, They've been all over the place, but
they're they're still They're still going. They're still a fascinating team. We talk
about their ceiling in wake in the wake of all these absences, whether they're
going to make a trade there, their long term future. We cover it
all. This was recorded immediately following their win over the Knicks, so nothing
about their performance Monday night against the Bulls was included. But it's a great
discussion if you're looking for another league wide pod. We will have one later
this week. I think there'll be two more podcasts in your feed this week,
so it'll be a little three podcast week for you. Congratulations. Those
are always fun or overwhelming, depending on how backlogged your podcast players are.
Speaking of podcast players, please please pretty please with sugar on top. Remember,
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it sounds. TJ and s br I, D E and b A.
Now let's get to talking some nuggets with mister McBride. TJ. Welcome back
to the Hardwoo Knox podcast. It has been a minute, dare I say
a minute and a half. But it's good to talk to you. It's
good to see you, even though the people that are listening to this cannot
see you like I can. How the hell are you? I'm just thankful
they can't see me. This is not one of those moments where like,
let's look good on zoom. This is this is not where I'm currently at,
So I'm just happy this is an audit where we only experience for everybody
taking part in it. Yeah, it's I assume every podcast I record now
is like on video, so I try and make myself look somewhat presentable,
unless it's my own because we don't use video on Hardwooknocks yet. At least,
how are things going on your end? Covering this fascinating in a painful
way. I guess team that is the Denver Nuggets. I can't figure it
out, and it's this constant juxtaposition of wow. Nicole Yokich can do just
whatever he feels like doing on a basketball court, and the Nuggets are a
complete negligent disaster when he is not on the floor. So it's so difficult
to figure out what this team is because it takes Nicola Yokich being just on
an entirely different level than we have ever seen him play, which is a
dumbfounding statement for the reigning MVP right now, but he has been that good.
His stat line, point, rebounds, and assists has never been done
in NBA history as of right now. Same thing going forward with his percentages.
He's shooting like fifty nine percent from the field on twenty six percent on
twenty six points per game or more while averaging six assists a game. Only
him and Steph Curry and his unanimous MVP season I've ever even approached those numbers,
So what he's doing makes no sense to me. It's mind blowing.
But yet Denver's eleven and eleven and they only win if they defend, and
like, it doesn't make any sense to me why this team is able to
do what they do, but yet they find a way to pull out wins
like they did today at eleven am in New York after two days off,
you know, being able to beat the Knicks in Madison Square Garden. The
Knicks are fuck shit at this point there. Yeah, Like that's why you
that's why you said they weren't going to beat the Knicks. I knew they
were gonna beat the Knicks. They have not. They're eight no in their
last eight games against the Knicks. Now that's crazy. It's the Knicks.
But so, the thing with yogis Choose. I don't even think the numbers
are telling you how good he is, at least the assist numbers. When
you go and look at his assist opportunities per game, and like the percentage
of that his teammates are converting on relative to last season. I have not
looked at it since that nixt game, but it is a lot lower than
it was last season because the talent around him is sparser and this team is
so. I said this a week or something ago. If they had Jamal
Murray or Michael Porter Junior, I would still be inclined to call them a
contender. But now we're at a point where they're probably not going to have
Jamal Murray or Michael Porter Junior for the rest of the season. And just
to add insult to injury, it's yeah, PJ Dojer has gone too,
and that's the big one. And I know it's Jamal Murray is obviously a
franchise pillar of this team. Michael Porter Junior was a burgeoning star that was
on the verge of becoming six ten Klay Thompson like, yes, I understand
how important those players are. PJ Dojer as a multitwo off the bench,
who can play literally one through four and defend one through four, who can
handle the ball, break down, a defense, shoot off the catch,
you don't find players like that. To lose him in addition to all of
those guys, it puts you in a position, as Michael Malone called it,
where their margin for error is nearly non existent because they don't have any
backline defense anymore. If Aaron Gordon is off the court, you're asking Jamichael
Green to defend the best, you know, the biggest guy on the floor
off the bench while also roaming the baseline or Aaron Gordon doing it, and
you have nothing else behind you. So the Nuggets all of a sudden,
are in a terrible position and it's not working well for them because of the
loss of PJ dojer. But today against the Knicks, somehow Tim Connolly,
working incredible magic as he does, pulls Devonrie out of the G League Grand
Rapids Gold team that they acquired this season, who was essentially now at PJ
dojer. Clone came out, had nine points, four assist, two steals,
a block, perfect from three on three shots, didn't turn the ball
over and they're finding guys to be able to make up for it. But
those injuries, there's no margin for error anymore, and the Nuggets are now
slipping because of that. That's why they're at eleven and eleven. Despote yokishiul
be incredible. They don't have anything else other than him, and it's giving
them a lot of fits on the offensive end in the half court and defensively.
If they're not perfect, they'll lose games. He's super important of what
they want to do defensively too, and you saw that sort of when he
was missing a few games. They are twenty ninth ten points allowed per possession
since November first, after being I think they were second or third through that
first part of the season. Let's start with a macro question here, then,
how do we readjust expectations for this team moving ahead this season, and
I think some people have sort of been like, Okay, well, if
Murray or Porter Junior comes back, that changes a lot, maybe way close
to the trade deadline to see where they're at so you can figure out whether
you need to make a trade to go for it. If I'm the Nuggets,
I'm just I don't have Murray or Michael Porter during the rest of the
season. That's just what I'm figuring on. And even Murray's recovery is like
he was injured in April. For him to come back this season would be
wild. I was just about to say this. Kevin Pelton did a great
piece of report when Jamal Murray first hors Aco and in that story, the
last person to be able to come back under a year from an ACL tear
and the only one on record was JJ Hickson in twenty fourteen. It has
never been seen other than that. So the idea that he could come back
less than a year at the end of the season with the playoffs a couple
of games away is a mind numbingly dumb statement to me. The Nuggets are
never doing that. They are not going to risk a franchise pillar and put
him in a position that they know that he will not be able to contain
himself. He will overly push himself despite the injury he just sustained. So,
in my opinion, I have penciled in that Jamal Murray is done.
I don't expect him in the playoffs. I don't expect him in the regular
season because you're asking him to come back at a record page from an ACL
tear and save a Nuggets team that is struggling. That is not a fair
place to put it. And Michael Porter Junior's back issue, Mike Singer of
the Denver Post reported, it's not just a back issue, it's a nerve
issue. And when you have nerve issues, they could pop up at any
moment, and you need to make sure you're not putting pressure on him,
especially when it's in the spine. That's the surgery had was to shave down
a disc that he has in his back to be able to relieve that pressure
to not have nerve issues come up. If you think they're going to rush
him back from a back nerve issue and his third back surgery at twenty three
years old, you're in an entirely different place than I am so I have
entirely ruled them out. They're not coming back. PJ. Doger's not coming
back. There are no reinforcements. That is what the Nuggets now have to
deal with. So they're not coming back. And now we're gonna have to
see if Aaron Gordon can step up and be an offensive player that the Nuggets
need him to be. We're gonna see if Bones Highland is this rookie that
can actually make a run at Rookie of the Year, if he's going to
be able to be on the court. Like, these guys are doing really
impressive stuff, but again, margin for air is so thin, and there
are no reinforcements coming. And also there's not that this would ever be an
excuse, but like you now have all of these guys under contract, there's
no Oh, Aaron Gordon might leave this summer. What's gonna happen with Michael
Porter Jr. You will get if you keep the band together, and hopefully
an opportunity to see all these guys play together next season or the season after
whatever. There's just no reason to rush anything at this point. Just twenty
seven Murray's twenty four reporters twenty three and they're all under contract. The future
is still very much so ahead of them. Which player, aside from Yokich,
Aaron Gordon even, I'll say Will Barton, who by and large has
been really good this season. He was huge for them, you know,
I know Yogis got a lot of the Yogichen Zeke Naji obviously got a lot
of the shine in that Knicks game. Will Barton was huge for them in
the first half, just really just helped keep their offense going in spurts in
the half court. Aside from those three players, like who is the player
now on the Nuggets that you're watching for the rest of this year that you're
just king in on, who's just super more pivotal obviously than than he was
supposed to be. So of the players that you remove are the ones that
would carry the starting unit. The Porter, the Porter, the Barton,
the Gordons. Those are the players that need to keep the starting unit alive.
So we can kind of remove the starting unit. So what I unit
is slaughtering opponents by yeah, starting lineup, they're killed people. There is
nothing to worry about. It's just when Nicole Yoki is suddenly not on the
court that the Nuggets have endless amounts of questions to answer, and that's why
the two players that I look at that could really swing things are Zeke Naji
and Bones Highland. Bones Highland is still in COVID protocols. We're waiting to
see when he'll come back. He tweeted that he does not have COVID,
so he could be back soon earth than later, but we don't really know.
But those two players, Bones Highland's ability to pull up from three off
the dribble within anywhere within thirty feet is something that the Nuggets just don't have
off the bench, that level of shot creation, that gravity defined shooting.
Players that have that will warp a defense just by existing. And now that
we've been able to see that, he can use that ability to then get
downhill and attack the rim to create other opportunities after breaking the defense down and
playing four on three, All of those little things that he's already been able
to actualize in his game based off his shooting has put him in a position
that he can be a legitimate lead ball handler and a creator for that bench
shoot it. And what fully unlocks that bench shoot it is someone who can
put pressure on the rim, something they have not had all year when either
of Jamichael Green or Jeff Green have played off the bench. Those guys are
picking pop threats. They're not rim rollers. The second they played Zeke Nagy
and he went downhill to the rim and they were able to actually collapse a
defense, everything opened up. Suddenly it's kickout, pass, pass, open
three and you're in an entirely different spaces as a team. So when winning
those non Yokich minutes is what will allow you to win games, that becomes
the swing situation for me and Bones Highland and Zeke Nagy being able to operate
off the bench is what will give the Nuggets the ability to do that.
I was fascinated by Bones Highland before the season ever started. He was just
watching his footage in college. He's a contortionist around the rim. Ye.
I think he needs to get a little stronger if he wants to do stuff
like that in the NBA. But his outside shooting is just for real and
it's so fluid, it seamless. When you watch him this year, and
I guess we're at this point, you can expect him to play like even
since the Nuggets season has kind of gotten off the rails. His minutes have
not been super heavy. Do you expect them to be like up, up
and up going from here or is there still Michael Malone, this is a
rookie, he might have a shorter lease. So Malona said explicitly that Bones
is in the rotation. The reason that minutes have been lower was he was
he finally fought his way into the rotation, and then he had a right
ankle injury. Once he sprained his right ankle, it took time to get
him back up in those minutes, so they slowly brought him up to that
kind of minute load, and then the COVID health and safety protocols hit,
so that's kind of why the minutes have been inconsistent. I fully expect him
to be their number one guy off the bench, especially with Dozer out coming
back from the health and safety protocols. He is their guy off the bench.
They're going to rely on him. I have a feeling he'll be the
first guy off the bench to help blend the starting unit and the bench unit
as well, because he's shown a great ability to play with Nicolokitch. So
I do think Bones is going to be a guy that plays between sixteen and
twenty two minutes and not going forward if he's healthy enough to do so.
Also, I do know that he is thin. There's no denying how thin
he is. He's tough, though he doesn't care that he's thin, Like
he will fight through screens. He will fly out and close out and put
his body on the line to be able to try and get a guy to
run off the line. He doesn't mind going off of his feet and putting
himself in danger to get to the rim and try and score draw foul.
So he plays bigger than he is, which also gives him more credibility in
my opinion. But to see the three point shot working at this level,
to see him his first step work at this level. He's getting by guys
without a screen, which I was not sure if he would be able to
do that athletically at this NBA level, And he's already doing it immediately out
of the gate, so I have extremely high hopes. I was already excited.
I love unconscious gunners who know how to play the game in the right
way, like that's my perfect balance of an NBA player, and he has
ran with it ever since he got here, and with how fearless he is,
and how hard he works, and how enamored the coaching staff in front
office is with his personality. He's only going to get more and more and
more opportunities to this group. What is up with one of my just favorite
underrated players this year? What's up with ja Michael Green? I have no
idea. I wonder if time is slowly starting to catch up, that's my
honest opinion. Because the shots slower, that's clearly he's not getting the getting
to the rim very often. The post moves are no longer there. He's
not fading away and picking pops after giving a step jab in a face up
situation, like you're not seeing the versatility that he once brought. He's not
able to move to roam the baseline to check somebody at the rim rolling and
then get back to the three point line. It's very reminiscent of Paul Millsap
last year with Denver, where you're like that five percent of lack of mobility
has removed you from being able to contest threes when you're tagging rollers, and
when you can't do that all of a sudden, your ability to play basketball
at the NBA level really takes a hit and if you can't hit threes at
the same clip either, I don't know how he's going to find a role
for himself when Denver is healthy. I really really wonder how that's going to
play out. Right now, Denver needs to play him because they don't have
any guards, so they have to play bigger off the bench, So they're
playing Signagi and Jemichael Green together. But if they get these guys back and
they have Austin Rivers and they have Bones Highland and they're able to start playing
a smaller, faster, more offensively noted bench unit, I don't know if
je Michael Green fits in there anymore. He's not out of the rotation now.
Nicola Yokis loves him, Michael Malone loves him, so it'll take a
lot to get him out. But he has not played worthy of that right
of that position in the rotation at this time. Hey, against the Knicks,
they're playing Jeff Green, Naji and Yoki together there. They just have
to play big. You can get away with it against the Knicks because they
just don't have players who can attack mismatches, especially with kadadad of the rotation.
What so well, here's the other day. He's currently in the least
health and safety protocols, but Nuggets Nation still seems to be incredibly fascinated with
bull Ball. Does he fit into this team anywhere moving forward? I would
say it's a pretty big red flag that he hasn't been able to carve out
like even a semi half intermittent role amid like all this hail storm of absences
the Nuggets have suffered through this year. How has he not gotten small forward
minutes off the bench When a team does not have a small forward, they're
playing Devon Reid straight out of the G League or minutes right out of the
league, and bull Bowl is not even sniffing the court in that situation anyway,
even if he was healthy, he's not playing what is worthy of playing
bull Bowl at this time. Like we've seen the flashes. Everybody knows what
the highlights look like. We don't need to get excited about these moments anymore.
It reminds me so much of Emmanuel Moodier. It's like, oh wow,
there's that one moment, in that one minute of your eighteen minute stint
that you were a minus twelve and a complete disaster. In every other moment
like, I get that the moments are there, but I have seen nothing
to convince me that there is anything credible about his game in a substantial way.
There is no consistency, there's no regularity, there's nothing you can build
around. He doesn't fit with other players in a way that he meshed his
groups together. I don't know what the fit is, and honestly, right
now, I was asking a buddy of mine this question. Devon Reid is
the PJ dojer replacement right now, and he played great tonight. He's on
a ten day injury hardship contract right now, so here there is not a
roster spot for him. If the Nuggets end up at a position where they
still need to keep Devon Reid, do they cut Bullball? Because that might
be where the Nuggets end up in about ten days, and that's a very
tough place to be. Vlako chan Char can play two through four. One
of Yoka's best friend. Smart player will always be there to be your utility
player for very cheap off the bench that you can trust You're not cutting him.
You're not going to try and cut you know you. I guess you
could get rid of a guy like Marcus Howard and try and put him on
a two way contractor Peter Cornelier, but they like both of them. They're
not trying to get rid of him. Bull Bull might be on his way
out for nothing. Denvers look to trade him and can't find anything. So
I really don't think bull Bull has a future in Denver. I don't think
there's any reason to try and play him in the rotation to see what he
has. I don't think any amount of minutes will raise his trade value.
I think it's dead in the water. I think you've already you didn't really
allude to what you stated it. They need wings, beatterly, wings who
can shoot the three ball. They're not a great three point shooting team this
year unless they're playing the Knicks, apparently. Is this a situation where you
go look on the trade market to see what's out there. Do you think
they're still good enough as currently constructed? Where I think? I was asked
on the radio on Friday night and I totally just space. I forgot the
Nuggets existed. That's just where I'm so. They're asked me to predict the
top six in the way I didn't have the Nuggets in there. I would
put the Nuggets to the top six in the way. No, no,
I would have Yoki just amazing. And unless you're gonna tell me that he
you know, I don't even want I'm not even gonna say it. I'm
not putting it out. I get what you mean. Yeah, so they
will be in the top six. My question would be, like I think
they should you go out and you try and find somebody, and maybe that's
the way to you know, it's yeah, it would have to happen too
soon. But like if you consolidate, if it's like a two for one,
then your roster spot for Devon Reid is right there. Then I don't
see anything happening in the next week. So that's probably a non issue.
Is there. Have you thought about any player that they should go after the
trade market or do you not expect this team to even do that because it's
like, well, what are we doing here because we're not going to win
a title this season. Yeah, I don't expect them to trade away assets
and a win now move in a season that neither Jamal Murray or Michael Porter
Junior are likely to play in. I just don't expect that to happen.
I know, that's overly simplistic and slightly reductive, but like that is just
kind of the reality I think they're with. I wouldn't be surprised if maybe
they cut somebody and looked at the buyoff market, Like here's a crazy scenario.
Let's just say that everybody still hurt. You know, maybe maybe Austin
Rivers is a disaster when he comes back and whatever's going on, they need
a guard or a wing. What if Gary Harris becomes a buyout candidate whatever
Orlando is, Like, you know what, like the end of your contract.
Did you see what Altitude Sports did to Gary Harris during the middle game?
I did not the side by side season calm to Will Barton's numbers.
It was so mean. I tweeted it out when I was rewatching the game
on Saturday morning. It was just it was mean. That's vicious. I
did not know they did that, nor should they. Gary Harris like help
set the culture in Denver. Like without Gary Harris learning how to play with
Nicola Yokis, we might not know what Nicola Yokich is able to do.
Like that isn't that's I'm not going to get on my soapbox, but regardless
of that fact. A player like that on the buyout market who knows how
to play selfless basketball, can you shoot a little bit, can defend,
can play two or three if you're playing smaller, bigger, and just understand
how to play cohesive basketball, even if he's not a very talented player himself
at this point. That kind of player maybe that type of a move that
makes some sense to me. But trading away even a second round pick to
try and get somebody in a two for one deal to incentivize doesn't make sense
to me at all. I don't think Denver is in any position to do
that. And again, like, why not just cut Bowl. They've been
trying to trade them for a year. No one out there is biding on
second round picks or anything like that, So it might just be time to
move on and find your own help elsewhere, as opposed to mortgaging any part
of your future to try and keep all Bowl around or make a two for
one deal. He I don't even think this works. And that's part of
the problem with if you want the Nuggets to make a trade is the expendable
salary that they have, like quote like, it's not going to be any
of their highest big guys. He can't even be Bill Barton at this point.
I think a lot of people it can't be a trade candy. So
you're looking at you know, Monte Morris like he's probably too important to give
up at this point. So what even a sudden like that's a five point
eight million dollar contract if I remember correctly, So like what is left blow
Monte Morris, Like, there's not a whole lot of money to build deals
and it's hard to do three for one four for one type of deals,
and Denver would have to Yeah, it's I think he would have to look
at Jamichael Green, which with his player option next year. If I think
eight point two million is next year, yeah, that is a team.
We don't want to take that on, knowing how poorly he's played this season.
I don't know I've thought about someone like a Daniel House for this team
because he's so cheap, makes like three and a half million. I don't
even think you could trade bull Bull for him straight up. They just need
to any type of option on the wing. And you know Gary Harris if
he's bought out, James Edis, by the way, still gonna have an
NBA team after having a really good season last year or something. You'll get
thirty eight percent three point shooting from from Ennis. You don't have to worry
about that. You can just let him stand in the corner on the wings.
Like that's all you really needs to do for the Nuggets anyway, I
need to know what's that he's on an NBA team, But Wes Matthews is
getting signed by the buck The will get a contract till he's seventy two years
old. It doesn't matter as a contender, who's like the leadership and the
point of attack defense, that's my guy, and the latter doesn't even really
exist that much anymore. Yes, exactly, So do you back this team?
Your reaction when I said I have the pends on in the top six,
do you view them as a top six team in the West as currently
constituted? Penciled in is a good way to phrase it. One losing streak
away from the play in tournament. Yes, like I am concerned about how
tight that line could be, and like if Yokich misses any more games,
like you have to have serious concerns about what is to come if the Nuggets
lose another guard or wing what happens from there, Like Denver is literally walking
a tight rope of are we going to be out of the plan tournament or
be stuck in it? And that's a terrifying place to be for a Nuggets
team that's banged up and had a lot of minutes and not relying so much
on Nicola. So that's a I am concerned. I wouldn't say that I
have them penned into the play in tournament by any stretch, but I'm not
willing to put pen anywhere. I do think it's fully on the table if
one little thing goes wrong, that Denver could be a play team, which
is just such a wild proposition for them. It's kind of why I love
the play in though, Like it makes this so much such a more interesting
conversation because like a three six matchup is like, oh no, what could
happen? But like now it's a big deal of als on your seven or
eight, Like that makes it a lot more enjoyable to me. By the
way, the other trade name I thought for them was just if they went
Jamichael Green and bull ball for Jeremy Lamb, who can't get when it's in
Indiana? Like, despite them not having TJ. Warren. He he's been
bad this year, but he's hit his threes and he can still mosey into
his mid range jumpers. That's just that's the they have to sort of fall
into something like it's I'm with you. You can't give up real assets,
like there's no I know people are like, oh, well they can trade
they're twenty twenty seven first round pick or twenty trades. That's not that's not
happened. You don't. You don't do that? Is there? What I
find, I don't want to say more interesting, but I think equally paramount
are there now long term concerns about this team because you have invested in this
core four, which looks so good on paper, but Jamal Murray coming off
an a cl injury, and I think even more so the Michael Porter junior
back stuff is absolutely harrowing now knowing he's been dealing with this all the way
back since college. It's terrifying when you step back and look. But the
one saving grace is that Nicola Yoki and Jamal Murray are still going to be
there, and that alone is going to get you very, very very far
in the NBA, especially because Nicola makes everybody so much better around him.
I love joking, like, how much money has Nicola yokis made for the
guards that he has played within their careers, Like it's incredible what he's able
to do with the players around him. So just to like at least preface
this with the Nuggets still have Jamal Murray, Nicola Yoki, and they have
Tim Connelly as a GM. They're gonna be okay, Like it's not the
end of the world. Sorry, President of Basketball Operations. I still throw
around general manager too often, but oh god, the front office executive vice
president, they're team president, there's general manager, there's sar. It's insane
roundball decision making whatever. Zar. I want to be a TZAR if I
ever become an executive. I don't want the exc I want TZAR next time.
I wouldn't hundred and tend to take a slight pay cut just to be
able to give myself the title at that. This is like buying your own
license plate of like arrogant and I'm so here for it and I love it.
I'm I'm so there. But regardless of that, let's now, let's
take a step back and look at the worst case scenario, right, nicolea
yoket Jama Murray will be fine. But if Porter continues to have back issues
to the point that he is unable to move on a basketball court, he
can no longer be the shooter that he once was. If you could no
longer be the shooter he once was. What does he bring you? And
again he does other things, but it's all prerequisite based on his shooting ability.
But even like his improved you know, help defense is just like if
his back is he can't get up, yeah, what is it? How
is he going to get there? Yeah? His handles are already not shaky,
like they're they're fine attacking clothes outs. But again, if you're stiff,
you're not gonna have the same explosion you mentioned it before. It's like
Bones Highland brings that element already, and like even Peek Porter Junior with the
nuggets, like that's never been his style to attack that space or attack mismatches
or anything. Like we've already seen Bones Highland take a close out one dribble
into a mid range jumper smoothly and hit from the elbow Like that's a big
shot for guys who are trying to mortgage their three point shot into more abilities.
And to see Bones already do what Porter has been unable to do for
years now is really really, really impressive for bones, but it's concerning for
Porter like and again, this is only going to get worse and worse and
worse if these back injuries persist. The other part of this, too,
though, is that those injuries could go away. These are nerve issues.
We have no idea when they're going to flare up, how they're gonna flare
up, what makes them flare up, Like a lot of those things are
incredibly difficult to pin down, So they could just go away, like we
don't know. And the agent before surgery said that it was going to go
away before that was So that is the most Bartlestein statement that I have seen
in forever. That man knows how to get his people their money. I
gotta give you, gotta give respect for being great at what he does,
because I guess he's already planning for the next contract. Yeah, you don't
have to do that much heavy lifting, God, but yes, But again,
if Porter isn't that guy, though, you're talking about being a luxury
tax team and not then potentially not contending for the next few years. And
that's a really scary spot to like risk the repeater tax because of Michael Porter
Junior who can't play, Like for a team that is not owned by a
Leslie alex Xander ownership group, that's a concerning thing. Like you're not going
to see them by twelve undrafted free agents and try and just sell them off
to teams to get a player like Chris Paul. It's not how ownership works
in Denver. Like they're going to be very, very very frugal. So
when you have that situation, does it concern ownership to kind of kick the
tires down the road, try and save money, evade the repeater tax?
One year risk a year of contention. The snowball effect is extremely concerning and
I don't know where it'll end up again. Porter could play, could not
play. The Nuggets could be fine without them, they might not be but
nothing. This only adds more negative variables where the Nuggets are at and we
just have to wait and see, which is an absolutely awful place for a
president of basketball operations to be. Nobody wants to wait and see when it
comes to these kinds of things, because you're just leaving it up to hope
and dreams at this point, because that's kind of where they're at, and
you don't you don't want it to give a distaste to the team for paying
the tax, which they finally committed to doing. I think beyond this season,
they're just outside the tax right now. Oh no, they're gonna They're
looking at being like twenty millions of the tacks next year without making any extra
moves, Like they're going to be an extremely extremely expensive team going forward.
Someone did propose me in my direct messages, and I'll leave them nameless since
they're a listener to this podcast. Ben Simmons doesn't get traded this year,
Michael Porter Junior doesn't play again this year? Are the Sixers considering I'm Michael
Ben Simmons a lot. The Nuggets aren't. That's not happening. No,
I do not envision that being even remotely approachable, because one, why would
you if they're not willing to trade Ben Simmons for all of these other players
and the deal hasn't that still hasn't been done. Trading for a guy with
that kind of injury concerns with Michael Porter Jr. Is not a Darrel Mari
move. I see happening. So that's just my first immediate thought process.
Secondly, the Nuggets do not want to bring in somebody who refuses to play
a particular way when Nicola Yoki is better at everything that he does other than
perimeter defense, and pretend like it's just gonna fit. Like he's not gonna
be like, Okay, I'm cool being Sean mary in here sounds like a
plan like I have no chance of believing that. So for me, the
Nuggets, with how much they value culture, with in my conversations with Tim
Connolly, the type of people he wants to be playing in Denver, I
don't see Ben Simmons based on these circumstances fitting that. Bill, I tend
to agree with you, but as someone who would probably follow Nakoleo Kitchen to
Hell, I could kind of see Ben Simmons like just assimilating into whatever role
needs to be fit around the team it gets. I think if it would
be a different story from one, I don't think Philly would. I think
they're the team that would probably it would be a non starter for just because
those back injuries with Michael Porter Jr. Those are, like you said,
terrifying. Is the word, but also having Aaron Gordon there as well,
Like that just Ben Simmons, Aaron Gordon, Nicole. As soon Aaron Gordon
would be involved as well, and they would take back another player because you
can't have all three of them. There's not enough room for all three of
them. Like in this scenario, I just kind of assume that he's replacing
Aaron Gordon's role on the team. Are we gonna get a chance to see
all four of these guys play together next season? Yeah? So you think
they'll all still be there? Like this is not something you not play all
of next season. We are in an entirely different position than we should be.
Like that is again, talk about terrifying. You talk about two full
years unable to play because of a mysterious nerve issue in his back after his
third back surgery. That is a every other conversation we're having becomes relevant at
that point. Almost. Yeah, that's a fair point. The back stuff
is really just like I know, acal injuries are serious, and I don't
want to say they're whatever, but they're just not like the career enders that
they used to be. The medical advancement has made them so much more functional
to come back from it just is what it is. Anything else that you
wanted to talk about. To wrap up this quick conversation on the Nuggets,
there are again, I still consider them a top six team in the Western
Conference. I think, Look, but aside from Utah, who's just been
off at points this year, they have the second highest net rating. But
there's just something. Something just is a miss in Utah. I can't there
that might be it. This is how I feel about Utah aside from them,
Phoenix at Golden State, like the Western Conference hierarchies. Why do you
tell me the Nuggets finished fourth? I would not be surprised, and that
would also be you know, talk about building an anecdotal case for Nikolayokis winning
MVP again, forget about he'll have the statistical case, but anecdotally not having
Porter Junior, not having Jamal Murray, even some of the other antillary injuries,
and you finished fourth in the West. I know we typically gret more.
Voters typically gravitate towards oh, you know, the first, the second,
or the best team in East Conference. The best player from that team
is normally gonna win it. That's a hell of a case for Yokis to
go back to back, and so I'm just not ready to write I don't
think this team is a title contender, but I'm not ready to write this
team out of like maybe finishing fourth in the West because stuff is just so
screwy and the Western Conference after the top three right now, yep, I
entirely agree with you. And when you said, was there one last thing
you wanted to bring up? Nikola Yokich's MVPKSE was the thing, Like people
don't realize that Nicola Yokich is taken probably four or five steps ahead defensively where
he was last year. Like his ability on defense. He is no longer
a player you can target. This is no longer somebody who is on the
verge of making things frustrating and to the point that you can't defensively scheme around
him. Nicola Yoki is a defensive plus no matter what metric you're using right
now on a basketball court. And that is a massive, massive part of
this because that was the only part of his narrative that didn't fit. It's
like, okay, but he doesn't defend. He plays one side of the
court like yeah, Steve Nash one MVP two, but like that is no
longer what has happening with Nicola. He is better statistically than he was last
year. He is a more potent scorer than he was last year. He
is leading a team that is even more banged up than last year. And
on top of that, he's defending at a higher level than I have ever
seen him play at in my entire life. And I've covered him since his
very very first Summer League appearance for the Nuggets back all the way back in
fourteen, So that is absolutely incredible to me what he has been able to
do on a basketball court. There is the national narrative on him defensively is
definitely not shifted, I would say, and you would know this way more
than I would, having watched more of him than I have, even when
he was at his worst defensively. But like, it's really hard for certain
bigs, especially Biggs of let's say his physical ilk to be effective or at
least non detrimental in more aggressive half court defensive coverages. And that's something he's
if you don't want to use the word always excel that like he's never been.
Like when the Nuggets get off to these hot defensive starts in season's past
or finish really strong. It's because he's playing well defensively, or at least
not being targeted in those hyper aggressive like this isn't someone who if he can
come up high like that's there are biggs who are better defensively than koliokas I
can't even do that. You try to bring like Rudy Gobert up his highs,
you bring n kolyoks Sometimes. I'm not saying he's better than Rudy Gobert.
I'm just saying there's always been a disconnect between let's say, how bad
he was on defense versus how actually not bad like he he's probably it's just
it's wild to me that it's been years now. That is really what I'm
as I'm tripping over my words here. Is normally it does take a while
for the national narrative to catch up to read, especially when you're in a
non glamor market. But like, it's just never caught up to Nikola Yoki.
If you don't want to call him a good defender, fine, I
think some Nuggets fans have gone too far. Adam Frommel my co host,
was on this podcast. It was like the third one we recorded this seasons
like man Nicolayoki should being the defensive player of the year conversation, I'm with
Adam, No, I'm with Adam at that point in time, I'm with
Adam. But also, like your point is still sailient. Though there's a
dissonance between the defensive low lights you see on ESPN compared to the actual defensive
production that he brings to the table. The dissonance is difficult and it makes
the narrative extremely muddy, and it's harder for people who don't watch him on
a night to night possession to possession basis to realize what he actually does and
what you said before about him playing aggressively at the level of the screen,
even at the screens of thirty feet being all the way up there on those
guys. Credit to west Unsell Junior, the current coach with the Washington Wizards,
has been phenomenal. He turned their defense around entirely. He went to
Nikola Yokich and was like, how do you want to play basketball? Like,
what are we doing Nicola defensively? And Nicola wanted to play up at
the level. That was his decision to make and what has made Nicola's defensive
leap this year. Is such a big deal is that he's not only able
to play at the level of the screen. He was a disaster dropping for
many, many years because he wasn't able to change positions at a flash or
take a guy sprinting at him after flying past bad perimeter defense. Didn't know
how to handle it. Now he can drop, he can switch, he
can hedge, he can blitz. They can just play at the level all
game. He has diversified his defensive skill set and the different schemes they can
play to a point that they can play any defensive scheme. And now they
can sit in a half court offense against a half court offense and actually manipulate
that opposing offense to push them where they want them to go, because Nicola
Yokich is so good positionally and they can do that in a drop, hedging,
blitzing, whatever, And they did not have that ability even last year.
That's the biggest leap defensively from Niccola because he does like play at the
level of the screen. But to get him that good dropping when you need
to be able to drop in the playoffs is a big, big, big,
big deal in my opinion. Look and dropping can be hard like Lebron
has to drop right now when he's playing set for the Lakers and can't do
it. So it's not easy for Well, you're taking guys sprinting at you
knowing there's a cutter behind you while protecting the rim that you can't see.
Like that's an incredibly difficult position to be in for a big man who can't
move very well like Nicole is quick, but he's not going to explode to
the other side of the rim and a razor shot, not like East West
erupted. Yes, exactly. So he's able to now know where to go,
how he can shade his body to get the past to go where he
wants it to go, and use his long arms to get in passing lane.
Simultaneously, he's doing multiple things at once and drops now when he could
only do one or two at a time prior. And he's seeing the game
defensively in a way I have never seen him see it before. And there's
also like, I don't think people respect how hard it is to be so
mission critical on both ends of the floor, and it's I think it's why,
you know, people appreciate what Jannis has done. Like Drew Holiday is
a perfect player where he's been underrated for almost his entire career. But because
it's like, do you understand the workload this guy has to carry on defense
in addition to what he's all already been on offense. And so I do
think Nicola Yokich is better on defense. I thought Defensive Player of the Year
at the beginning of the season was a little bit of a stretch for me.
And I also was I was all bored the Aaron Gordon trained to start
the year with what he was doing. You know, you couldn't even get
odds for what Aaron Gordon's Defensive Player of the Year odds were. At one
point, I had to ask Matt Moore to go find me odds at a
place to be able to find them. It like doesn't exist, by the
way, just for Nakola yokis Defensive Player of the Year. Little addition here,
the Nuggets without Nikola Yokas on the floor have one hundred and fifteen defensive
riding in their five hundred and seven minutes and the five hundred and fifty he
has played one hundred point four, which would almost lead the league. He
has legitimately transformed their defense any moment he is on the court, and he
plays all the time with everybody because they can't survive without him, So that
is, he is the anchor of what makes this defense work. The Aaron
Gordon Defensive Player of the Year odds, they were at plus twenty four thousand
because I wrote about them. We're not the only one before before Denver's defensive
implosion, like sort of just around when it just started, I had him
as a dark horse bet for Defensive Player of the Year, like plus twenty
four thousand. Why wouldn't that's incredible value. That's where they were at a
FanDuel like almost a month ago. At this point in case, Points had
plus twenty thousand, so we're pretty close. I'm sure they've deteriorated since,
given how worthly the Nuggets have played on. He might even be don't exist,
Yes, they don't exist anymore. TJ. This was fantastic as always.
I'm really happy I was able to catch up with you and just go
into the Nuggets are. Like I said, they're morbidly fascinating because they're they're
still good. They have Nicole Yoki, but they just they've been hit so
hard and it sucks because I think even last year, Zach always said this,
but I think a lot of other people in the same camp where it's
after the Aaron Gordon trade, there was that thought of they could be title
favorites, or they're at least one of the two or three most serious favorites
in the West. And I think even this season, you could have talked
yourself into the same boat where it's okay Warriors sons because the Nuggets with Michael
Porter Junior, but without Murray had Michael Porter Jr. Clearly his back stuff
was bothering him all year because he was atrocious, so but having one,
they just still looked like a team that can make noise. It just sucks
to see this be derailed and hopefully well everyone will be healthy for next season.
For them, I'm still I'm I'm very close to predicting that they finished
fourth in the West, though that says probably more about my distrust in the
rest of the West. But Nicoleokich is that good in look, I love
me, Samante Morris, Aaron Gordon's been really good on offensive past For really,
I've never seen Aaron Gordon play this well offensively. His intent going to
the rim, whether he's playing with the ball in his hands and just driving,
or if he's playing in a pick and roll and setting the screen and
rolling or just cutting from the opposite side of the court, like he is
so hyper aggressive and not just aggressive but efficient and calm and understanding what his
role is. He looks so comfortable right now, So best of ever's gonna
play. And it's also it's the middle of a year and he's playing games
that matter. Because I did feel like this would happen from him in Orlando
about thirty to forty five days after they were eliminated from playoff contention. He
would always just have these just to close the year in these meaningless games,
will be like, man, if that's what Aaron Gordon can be, is
going to be so good. But he's been legitimately impathful for a team that
is in the playoff. On TJ, you're able to tell our listeners where
they can find you and your work. Please. Yeah, you can find
me being insufferable on Twitter at TJ McBride NBA. You can find my freelance
work over at Mile High Sports and play Colorado if you wanted to get some
betting advice. And that's about all I'm doing in these days other than talking
to you about hoops, so hit me up on Twitter if you need anything.
Thanks again, TJ so much for this. This was great as always,
and I think you can rest a short at this point. I'll be
pestering you again in the future. I cannot wait. Talk some nuggets you later