Woody Paige: What’s been learned about the Denver Nuggets since they won the NBA title

By Woody Paige July 6, 2023 | updated 2 years ago

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061623-news-s-dg-nuggets 7628.jpg — Nuggets Bruce Brown is listening as coach Michael Malone dispels rumors that Bruce Brown will be gone next year, on the elevated landing at the Denver City and County Building after a parade to celebrate their NBA Championship on June 15.
Jerilee Bennett, Gazette file

Never trust what pirate ship sailors on shore leave or NBA players after a championship parade say when they have been imbibing.

Bruce Brown, who asserted he wanted to stay with the Nuggets and “money is not everything,’’ signed a two-season deal with the Pacers for $45 million, and Jeff Green, who claimed he desired to finish his career in Denver, accepted a one-year contract for $6 million with the Rockets. Winning back-to-back titles obviously was not their priority. But thanks, guys, best wishes and enjoy Cabo next May.

The reigning champions move on with all five of their starters and the respectable rookie reserve in the postseason.

This is what we have learned since the Nuggets won The Whole Thing 24 days ago:

• MVP Nikola Jokic not only can score, rebound and assist, but he can dance, too, according to videos recorded in Vegas and Serbia. He will lead the league in quadruple doubles if the “Sombor Shuffle’’ and “The Jokic Eurostep’’ are added as a statistic. Nikola also soon will have his own special shoe brand. Mile-High Air Jokers? And he has been nominated for three ESPY awards.

• Jamal Murray is a finalist for the Comeback Athlete of the Year ESPY and has become the third Denver pro athlete in two seasons from Ontario, Canada, to win a title. In 2022 Andrew Cogliano and Nazem Kadri took home the Stanley Cup.

• When you are on vacation in another country and read a headline that states “Nuggets Acquire J. Holiday,” don’t assume immediately that the team traded for former All-Star, all-defense guard Jrue Holiday. Who they got was journeyman Justin Holiday, who has played for 10 different NBA teams.

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• The Nuggets, oddly enough, resigned free agents DeAndre Jordan and Reggie Jackson. Jordan joined the Nuggets July 12 of last year and played in 39 regular-season games, starting eight when Jokic was out. DeAndre, who turns 34 this month, appeared in four postseason games for 14 minutes (three minutes in the NBA Finals). The Nuggets signed Jackson Feb. 15. The 33-year-old Colorado native played in six playoff games for a total of 18 minutes.

• Following trades with the Thunder and the Pacers, the Nuggets ended up with the 29th, 32nd and 37th choices in the NBA draft — and selected guards Julian Strawther of Gonzaga, Jalen Pickett of Penn State and forward Hunter Tyson of Clemson. The three will be on the Nuggets’ roster in the Las Vegas Summer League this weekend. None was considered a premier pick, but general manager Calvin Booth believes they have a legitimate chance of connecting someday.

• Ten players on the current roster were drafted by the Nuggets. The Nuggets selected Christian Braun, who contributed immediately and certainly in the playoffs, and Peyton Watson in the first round a year ago. Murray, Michael Porter Jr. and Zeke Nnaji are former first-round draft picks, and Jokic, of course, was the world’s greatest second-round choice. Vlatko Cancar was another second-rounder.

• Superstars of the past and the present are not holding press conferences to announce they are taking their talent to the “Mile High City’’ or begging to be traded here. So the Nuggets have to do it the Dusty Old Cowtown Way by drafting intelligently (Jokic and Murray), taking a risk (Porter), trading cleverly (Aaron Gordon and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope) and signing second-tier quality free agents (Brown). This season they beat the superstars (LeBron and Anthony Davis, Kevin Durant and Kevin Booker, Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo, Anthony Edwards and Karl-Anthony Towns).

• The Nuggets have assembled a Summer League team that will open Friday afternoon against the Bucks and feature draft choices, undrafted free agents, a G League player and “another player’’ from France who was not picked No. 1 overall.

Watch carefully the Kamagate fellow in Las Vegas. He is a 6-foot-11, 220-pound, 22-year-old center in the Paris Basketball Association who was drafted last year by the Pistons. Then his rights were traded to the Trail Blazers and on to the Nuggets. Kamagate has liabilities, but possibilities.

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Woody Paige: What’s been learned about the Denver Nuggets since they won the NBA title

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