Mal-VP

Jamal-MVP

Dont ever call Jamal a role player

Mpj First option in nets. Gordon first option on magic. Murray would be the first option in other teams. Nuggets have had one of the strongest starting 5s since 2022

Big fat agree. Imma rant like a gremlin

The quickest flag for someone who absolutely does not know ball is when people point to our 24-25 regular season and say MPJ or Jamal were overpaid because they only averaged 20… on the most efficient offense with the highest offensive rating. If you have stick 8 players that all average 25 points on a team, you’re not going to start averaging 200 points a game. There’s only so many buckets to go around. If the team only had the 13th highest offensive rating, sure, the haters might have had a point, but not when they’re number one.

I wish the term role player was used to mean players that fill a specific roll. Jokic is one of the highest playoff performers in history. Across his playoff career, he is a minus player without Jamal on the floor. A significant portion of Jokic’s success has been his chemistry with Murray. Could another ball handler have filled Murray’s role? Maybe. Maybe if they had a Luka next to Jokic, they would have had the number one offense with the highest efficiency. Oh yeah, they already did that. MPJ had one job in Denver: never swing the rock. If it touched his hands, the next destination sure an hell better be the rim. If you listen to him talk about his nickname, he answers with, “duh, of course I don’t get assists. That’s not my job and that’s how our schemes worked”. Gordon’s role (until he became a 3 way scoring threat) was stalk the baseline, flatten the deafense, and yam it. If you are an interior defender and dont watch Jokic, you lose that one. If you’re an interior defender and do look at Jokic, believe it or not, you still lose because Gordon always fins the lob or passing lane. CB barked at the opponent’s best player and played transition. They may not have been “role players” as the league uses the term, but they sure as hell were best in class at the role they played.

Their starters have always been elite but their bench and non jokic minutes were consistently not good/reliable for years. Between 2021-2025 the nuggets were something like 13-36 in the games without him if I counted right?

The Nuggets always had the best starting 5 since their championship season but their bench sucked until this season.

Yes it usually takes a good team to win a championship

and yet your sub still called him a bitch last year

Well, and he never came into the season in proper conditioning, leading to a lot of lingering soft tissue injuries throughout the seasons

I mean his numbers with jokic on the court has been insane too. Hes definitely been a lot more consistent this year compared to past years.

I mean I’m a Nuggets fan but SGA, Luka, Cade (arguable PG), Brunson (there is an argument but I’d take Murray), and Curry exist lol

Best Canadian player in the MVP contention race right now.

/r/nba was saying he was the worst contract in the league.