{"id":88025,"date":"2025-06-10T01:39:10","date_gmt":"2025-06-10T01:39:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/88025\/"},"modified":"2025-06-10T01:39:10","modified_gmt":"2025-06-10T01:39:10","slug":"nuggets-thunder-series-was-fools-gold-gm-must-give-nikola-jokic-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/88025\/","title":{"rendered":"Nuggets-Thunder series was fool’s gold. GM must give Nikola Jokic more"},"content":{"rendered":"

The most valuable thing sitting on the Nuggets bench<\/a> during the playoffs was the first aid kit.<\/p>\n

Until that changes, neither will anything on Nikola Jokic\u2019s spring travel itinerary.<\/p>\n

Another Memorial Day in Sombor. Another June with no parade.<\/a> Another year closer to the end of the greatest career in Nuggets history.<\/p>\n

So, to the next Denver general manager, especially if that\u2019s interim Ben Tenzer<\/a>, we humbly beseech three things.<\/p>\n

First: Be heartened by the pluck and guile the Nuggets showed against the Thunder three weeks ago.<\/a><\/p>\n

Second: Do not be fooled or charmed by it.<\/p>\n

Third, and this is key: Do not give in to insanity. Do not do the same thing, over and over, and expect a different result.<\/p>\n

Do not run it back. Please. For the love of Pete Williams<\/a>, do not run it back.<\/p>\n

Do not look at Thunder vs. Timberwolves or Thunder vs. Pacers and decide, in your head, that the job is mostly done. Do not settle. Do not tell yourself that rest, a coaching change and schematics<\/a> are the only things between you and a return to the NBA Finals.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou know, we took the Oklahoma City Thunder, (which) is playing some of the best basketball in the league, if not the best right now, to seven games,\u201d Nuggets president Josh Kroenke reflected late last month. \u201cWhich, you know, is great. We took a great team to seven games. That series could have been 4-0 the other way. That series could have been 4-1 us. I don\u2019t think we lost Game 7 during Game 7. I thought we lost Game 7 during Games 4 and 5.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese series are very fragile things, and they come down to little moments in time and certain actions over the course of a few-minute span in games. And so while I think we were close in some ways, I don\u2019t think it was a 4-0 sweep for Oklahoma City.\u201d<\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t. And they are close. But not \u201cNuggets-Thunder was the real NBA Finals!\u201d close. You don\u2019t hang banners for almosts.<\/p>\n

\"NikolaNikola Jokic (15) of the Denver Nuggets walks behind Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (2) of the Oklahoma City Thunder during the fourth quarter of the Nuggets\u2019 119-107 win at Ball Arena in Denver on Thursday, May 15, 2025. The Nuggets forced a game seven in their Western Conference semifinal on Sunday at Oklahoma City. (Photo by AAron Ontiveroz\/The Denver Post)<\/p>\n

Yes, the Nuggets took the best team in the West to seven games with their \u201cCore Six\u201d \u2014 the starting five plus Russell Westbrook \u2014 held together by guts, gauze and chewing gum. Michael Porter Jr. had one good shoulder. Aaron Gordon had one hamstring. Westbrook had one good hand.<\/p>\n

The Nuggets played the underdog card as if Michael Malone, a terrier of a man who loved punching up, had never left. It was beautiful. Well, except for Game 2. And Game 7.<\/p>\n

Ask yourself this question, and be honest: What would\u2019ve happened to this same Nuggets team if it had sprung the upset vs. OKC and landed Minnesota in the conference finals?<\/a><\/p>\n

Oh, you know. Anthony Edwards knows. Chris Finch knows. Russ knows. The Joker knows.<\/p>\n

Deep down, Josh knows, too.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re close,\u201d Kroenke said, \u201cbut I don\u2019t want to be naive in thinking of how close we are. But I don\u2019t want to underestimate how close we were either. I mean, shoot, thinking back to the first round, I mean, we\u2019re an Aaron Gordon tip-dunk away from perhaps coming back (to Denver) down 3-1. And then what does that series look like? Do we even have the opportunity to go out and try and chase a team as great as the Thunder? So there (are) lots of ways to kind of weigh how close we are.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I think that as a group, we feel confident that we can go toe to toe with a lot of teams around the league. And now we\u2019re going to get to work seeing about how we can go toe to toe and then overtake them.\u201d<\/p>\n

For a start, the most impactful piece sitting next to Jamal Murray can\u2019t be a heat pack.<\/a><\/p>\n

The Nuggets, bless them, emptied the tank. They gave all they had. Which, by mid-May, wasn\u2019t much. A roster that runs six deep won\u2019t last two rounds before you throw a rod, before a timing belt snaps like a dry twig.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that the way that our players responded over the last six, seven weeks or so really told the world that the Nuggets\u2019 job, whether it\u2019s coaching or front office, is a really special one,\u201d Kroenke continued. \u201cAnd especially where we are right now,\u201d<\/p>\n

Hope is fine. Delusion is the enemy of progress.<\/p>\n

Until that bench gets addressed with more than lip service, someone\u2019s always going to come along by Mother\u2019s Day to steal Jokic\u2019s Thunder. At this time of year, a first aid kit will carry you only so far before the plaster cracks.<\/p>\n

\"TeamTeam president Josh Kroenke listens as head coach David Adelman of the Denver Nuggets speaks during an introductory press conference at Ball Arena in Denver on Wednesday, May 28, 2025. Adelman takes over as the 23rd head coach in team history entering the 2025-26 season. (Photo by AAron Ontiveroz\/The Denver Post)<\/p>\n

Want more Nuggets news? Sign up for the Nuggets Insider to get all our NBA analysis.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The most valuable thing sitting on the Nuggets bench during the playoffs was the first aid kit. Until…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":88026,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3781],"tags":[877,375,2276,7,250,301,187,3943,762,3787,165,4231,764,307,152,252,6,1220,253,302,4097,310,179,254,4098,209,66,198],"class_list":{"0":"post-88025","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-denver-nuggets","8":"tag-aaron-gordon","9":"tag-anthony-edwards","10":"tag-ball-arena","11":"tag-basketball","12":"tag-david-adelman","13":"tag-denver","14":"tag-denver-nuggets","15":"tag-denvernuggets","16":"tag-jamal-murray","17":"tag-josh-kroenke","18":"tag-latest-headlines","19":"tag-michael-malone","20":"tag-michael-porter","21":"tag-minnesota","22":"tag-minnesota-timberwolves","23":"tag-more-nuggets-news","24":"tag-nba","25":"tag-nba-finals","26":"tag-nikola-jokic","27":"tag-nuggets","28":"tag-nuggets-takes","29":"tag-oklahoma","30":"tag-oklahoma-city-thunder","31":"tag-russell-westbrook","32":"tag-sean-keeler","33":"tag-shai-gilgeous-alexander","34":"tag-sports","35":"tag-sports-columnists"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/114656520682938047","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88025","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=88025"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88025\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/88026"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=88025"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=88025"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=88025"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}