It’s great to see these kind of success stories, where teams don’t panic and continue to let their players grow. That said, I can’t help but wonder if the Nuggets were actually benefiting from their previous bad luck. Would this level of patience have been extended if Murray didn’t get hurt? That built-in excuse made it much easier to keep the core together and try again.
So many teams wind up breaking apart due to perceived failure in the postseason, and you have to wonder if any of them could have had success if they had stuck together for a bit longer.
To quote Bill Simmons, that’s a great What-If! but based on the last few years and reading the article, it’s pretty obvious the front office was 100% onboard the Joker/Murray future. I actually think Jamal’s time away simply paused his (and the team’s) growth, if he wasn’t hurt I can see them making the finals last year over Warriors.
Non-archive link for ESPN+ folks https://www.espn.com/nba/insider/insider/story/_/id/37844891/lowe-seven-year-journey-construct-2023-nba-champion-denver-nuggets
A realistic model for any decently run team, except for maybe drafting an MVP so late. Okay, that’s actually super lucky. That, or genius.
