The Nuggets TRICKED the NBA…

The Nuggets TRICKED the NBA…

The Denver Nuggets are my favorites to come out of the West and win the NBA championship this year. And I know that the Oklahoma City Thunder just won it all and they’re running it back with the exact same roster. However, keep in mind they got taken to seven games by a Denver Nuggets team that had a banged up Jamal Murray and non-existent Michael Porter Jr. Aaron Gordon was basically unavailable in game seven. He toughed it out, but he was not himself. They had little to no bench and now they come back. They trade MPJ in a first for Cam Johnson. A guy that will definitely level up alongside of Joic getting easy passes, easy looks all day long. They bring in Bruce Brown and Yonas Valenunis and Tim Hardaway Jr. Three new bench players. So they have instead of an eight-man rotation, this year they’re going to have a 10-man rotation of legitimate NBA players. This Nuggets team is scary good. And they will even have some more depth pieces behind that if they really need to when injuries hit. But of course, they’re led by the best player in the world, who could legitimately have like five consecutive MVP awards if it wasn’t for voter fatigue because last season was his best season yet. He’s won three MVPs and he didn’t win the MVP. So led by Joic, of course, that gives you an edge over anybody. And then they turned Michael Porter Jr. into Bruce Brown, Tim Hardway Jr., Cam Johnson and now Jonas Valenunis is officially locked in as a Nugget. They’ve got a squad. They go 10 deep, maybe even 11 deep and they turn MPJ’s $ 38.3 million contract into Cam Johnson first off. Now, they did have to send out a sec a first round pick to get Cam Johnson with Michael Porter Jr., but Cam Johnson is making about $21 million a year. So that takes off about $17 million that you free up to then go out and get Yonas Valenunis, who is going to make $10.3 million next year and should not be going overseas, at least at the time of this recording. Bruce Brown, who next year will make $3 million, got him on the minimum. Heck of a steal right there. And then the front office also convinced Tim Hardaway Jr. to come play for a championship and come in on a one-year veteran minimum deal to make $3.6 million next year. Taking a look at the depth chart now with Jamal Murray at the point. Christian Brown at the two. You slide in Cam Johnson to the three, Aaron Gordon at the four and Joic at the five. That’s a championship caliber starting lineup. And then you look at the bench because depth wins championships in the modern NBA. Bruce Brown, Julian Strawler hoping he takes a leap. Tim Hardaway Jr., Pton Watson, Yonis Valenunis. You also have Dron Holmes II who is an absolute stud and is a real sleeper because remember the Nuggets traded up six spots to get and they traded three second round picks to go up and get Dron Holmes who is 6’10 with a 7-1 wingspan and does stuff like you just saw in that clip hitting a spin move into a full jelly fam layup. 20.4 points a game in his junior season at Dayton. Eight and a half rebounds, 2.6 assists, 2.1 blocks on 54% shooting from the field, 39% from three on 2.5 attempts. You will get to see some of him in the summer league. And he’s got like a cross match of an old man game, but he’s also got some of that modern big man tendencies. Like right here, he sees the double coming, spins out of it, and then the next thing you know, he’s hanging from the rim. Or on this one where he just hits a massive hop step into a fadeaway jumper from the free throw line, can pull up from deep like we talked about. And yeah, the depth of this team is going to be really good this year. Now, let’s talk about the new acquisitions. First off being Cam Johnson who coming in from Brooklyn is coming off really a career year. Had career highs in two of the three major categories. And he can do stuff like that. He’s no MPJ off the bounce, but he can still knock down shots off the bounce. And playing alongside Nicole Joic, his stats will more than likely go up because that’s just what happens when you play with the best player in the world. 18.8 points a game, 4.3 rebounds, 3.4 assists, and a steal last year. Uh careerhigh in both points and assists. shot 48% from the field, 39% from three on over seven attempts a game. Played in 59 or 57 games, excuse me. But of course, he did get shut down towards the end because Brooklyn was tanking. He’s 6’8 with a 610 wingspan and can slide into that small forward spot with ease. I’m really excited for Cam Johnson in Denver. And then you’ve got the fan favorite here, Bruce Brown, who fans will like Cam Johnson. They’re going to love Bruce Brown back in Denver. This was their guy. and then he left after they won a championship cuz they couldn’t pay him. Last year he averaged 8.2 points, 4.2 rebounds, 2.4 assist in 25 minutes per game as a backup on a team that was really tanking. So, they didn’t need him to play very well. You see the efficiency stats there, but he is still a good slasher, a decent three-point shooter that will work around Jokic and you get Brown and Brown defense attorneys back in Denver. And I’d have to imagine Denver fans are stoked because like I said, he was the fan favorite before ultimately he had to leave after winning that championship. Now he’s back. He’s younger than Russ. He’s I’m not going to say more athletic and Russ was a great energy bolt, but sometimes Russ was unpredictable. You know what you’re getting out of Bruce Brown. Yonas Valenunis. There was the whole saga about him going back overseas, but now it looks like him and Joic are going to be a fantastic center duo. Of course, Valenunis is 6’11, 265. So, they’re really going to wear opponents down in the paint, especially if you got to box these two dudes out for 48 minutes. That is going to be rough. Valenunis averaged 10.4 points, 7.7 rebounds, and two assists last year, shooting 55% from the field and 22% from three. The fact that they were able to literally just trade Daario Sarish and they bring this dude in is perfect. It doesn’t look like he’s going to go overseas. Now, if he does go overseas by the time this video is released, then that’ll be unfortunate. But as of right now, Valenunis is the backup center. And then Tim Hardaway Jr. as well, a microwave guy they can bring off this bench. Just another score that last year averaged 11 points, 2.4 rebounds, 1.6 assist in 28 minutes a game for Detroit on a playoff team. 41% from the field, 37% from three. A guy that can come on and create for himself off the dribble. can also fit in seamlessly next to Nicole Joic and the starting guys because he can catch and shoot extremely well. That’s the best part of his game. And can we talk about the job that the Nuggets did taking their bench unit from this last year at opening night to this? I mean, we talk about such an improvement. You bring in guys like Bruce Brown, Tim Jr., and Jonas Valentunas. And then you also have guys like Dron Holmes, Jaylen Picket even as the 11th and 12th men. And then you can’t forget Tamar Bates who they got as a UDFA which was fantastic value for a guy that I thought was a top 45 player in this draft class. And now for the whole trade Jamal Murray crowd, we need to address this, right? Because I I really don’t understand why you want to break up this duo of Jamal Murray and Nicole Joic, which has proven with the correct surrounding pieces, they can win a championship. Jamal averaged 21.4.6 six assists, four rebounds, 1.4 steals per game this year. Shot 47% from the field and 39% from three on six attempts per game. I don’t understand why you would want to trade up or trade and break up a proven duo. This is one of the best pick and roll dribble handoff duos in the league. Jamal Murray flying off of a DHO from Jokic and knocking down a three ball. That’s what we’ve all come to know beautifully, right? Jamal Murray, yes, he’s on a four-year, $28 million deal, which is why I could see some Nuggets fans wanting him gone, but you got him, you got Jokic. Build around them and you can win a championship. Last year in the playoffs, he was not the problem. 22.5 points per game, 5.5 assists, 5.2 rebounds, on 45% shooting from the field, 38% from three. He’s a guy that can absolutely light you up like he did to the Clippers when he dropped 45 on him. He’s a guy that needs to stick around. Now, we haven’t even got to talk about Aaron Gordon yet, who is just phenomenal. Can’t say enough about him and that game seven performance through a strained hamstring. Or Christian Brown. We haven’t got to talk about him either. He’s due for a big-time extension next off seasonason. And it could be um at the cost of some of these minimum contract guys that the Nuggets brought in this year. But as for Nicole Joic, this is a year he’s got to go out and prove it, right? This is his This might be his best chance to get that second championship in Denver alongside of Jamal. As long as injuries don’t hit, I don’t see how this team doesn’t win an NBA championship because they are stacked. With that being said, that’s going to be it for today’s video. Thank you so much for watching. Make sure to hit the like button, leave me a comment down below, and hit that subscribe button if you did enjoy at any point. And with that being said, thanks so much for watching today’s video.

This video looks at the Denver nuggets and how they tricked the nba by bringing in elite role players to play with Nikola Jokic and win an NBA championship
Other Channels:
Backyard Blitz: https://www.youtube.com/@BackyardBlitz33
Backyard Betting: https://www.youtube.com/@BackyardBetting
Socials
Insta/Tiktok: LukeStaten3