NUGGETS SMASH HAWKS IN GORDON’S DEBUT
Starting five now among the best
There’s thunder rumbling in the Rockies, a noise about to shake preconceived notions of basketball snobs that think they know it all about the NBA.
“Why waste any time with Aaron Gordon coming off the bench?” Nuggets coach Michael Malone said Sunday when he immediately inserted the team’s newest member into the starting lineup.
Showing the offensive versatility to swish a catch-and-shoot jumper as well as bend the rim with a dunk, Gordon was delighted to be among six Denver players that scored in double figures during a 126-102 rout of Atlanta.
When Gordon fist-bumped his way through new teammates during pre-game introductions in his Nuggets debut, the sight of five players on the court wearing pickaxes on their jerseys forced me to contemplate a question I’ve never considered during my previous 37 years chronicling pro basketball in Colorado.
How many NBA teams have a more potent and dangerous starting lineup than the Nuggets? One or two? Maybe.
As Gordon joins forces with center Nikola Jokic, touted by team architect Tim Connelly as the world’s best player, can the Nuggets legitimately stake a claim to the most-talented starting five in the NBA this side of Brooklyn, where Kevin Durant collects All-Star teammates in bulk the way working stiffs like you and me buy 7-pound tubs of Nutella at Costco?
Philadelphia 76ers coach
Doc Rivers, who has seen a thing or two in nearly four decades hanging around the league, recently took measure of the Western Conference and declared: “The Clippers and Lakers are still the teams to beat.”
Sorry, Doc.
But even with the Lakers’ savvy addition of center Andre Drummond, Denver has its best opportunity in franchise history to reach the NBA Finals. The big if is not whether the Nuggets possess the talent to win a championship, but how long it will take Malone to get total buy-in by every player in the locker room.
While the Nuggets significantly upgraded the talent at the trade deadline, the acquisitions of Gordon and veteran center JaVale McGee also increased the danger of bruised egos quietly fuming on the Denver bench.
At its core, the biggest challenge to team chemistry never varies from peewees to the pros. It’s all about the pecking order for playing time. The game’s a whole lot less fun when you are forced to sit and watch.
“We traded two smalls in Gary Harris and R.J. (Hampton) and we brought in two bigs, so we have a ton of really talented bigs,” Malone said prior to tipoff. “And in reality, it’s going to be really hard to play all those bigs every night. It’s going to be really important that our guys understand that and continue to buy into being selfless and doing what is best for our team.”
After giving a big bro hug and welcoming Gordon to Denver, there are three teammates that will have to look hard in the mirror and decide how much they are willing to sacrifice in the pursuit of a championship ring.
Will Barton, whose swagger can rattle the arena walls when he’s shaking and baking offensively, now drops to the fifth scoring option in the starting lineup.
At the end of a distinguished 15-year pro career, Paul Millsap might want to stock up on Twizzlers to munch on between increasingly infrequent duty on the court.
There’s no delicate way to put it: The trade for Gordon is a bad deal for JaMychal Green, who now appears doomed to 12-15 minutes of playing time most nights.
And Bol Bol? He’s now a 7-foot-2 victory cigar, seen only when the Nuggets have recorded another “W” in the books.
Yes, it requires big shots in big moments to win the NBA championship.
But the quest for the ring can be lost by something as basic and human as selfish pride.