The Nuggets' team building model is the best model for the future NBA to build a dynasty
Champion parade, double the happiness, Nuggets held a championship celebration in Denver, sharing the joy of victory with fans. In an interview during the parade, Nuggets coach Mike Malone vowed on behalf of the team: "Our story is not over, we are greedy and want to win another championship." ”
Defending the title will be difficult, but the Nuggets' hard work in this championship makes it possible to believe that they can set their goal of building a basketball dynasty, although not many are optimistic about them reaching the top before the start of the 2022-23 season, and in fact just two months ago, the local Denver media was discussing whether Jokic should be traded if the Nuggets were out of the first round.
Because the Nuggets are somewhat different, they don't have the Big Three, they don't have a big market background, big free agents have never been interested in this team, and the Nuggets have embarked on an extraordinary road to winning the championship, and this road may profoundly change the NBA's team building model.
If you want to win the championship, you have to throw money first, which seems to be the iron law of the NBA. Last season's Warriors spent $170 million in luxury taxes, which made the always bold Lacob a little distressed, and the Nuggets won the championship this time, the luxury tax was 17.3 million, ranking eighth among the nine teams that paid the luxury tax.
The Heat spends less, they are still 1.15 million from the luxury tax line, don't pay this money to become the king of the East. However, after all, the Heat is a "leaky" team, and no one in the draft team except Dunroe has a salary of more than 7 million, and the Heat have taken the cost performance to the extreme.
The Nuggets can control the salary output, a key point is the three Jokic, Murray and Porter Jr. at the head of the salary, in the 2018, 2019 and 2021 contract extension period, respectively, the salary in the 2022-23 season is within the range of less than 35 million, and after the three of them, Gordon, did not break through 20 million, this salary structure will not appear last season the Warriors' economic thunderstorm.
The Nuggets eat salary dividends to a certain extent, but they don't eat it in a way that every team can do. Murray and Porter Jr. have both been lying on big contracts to recuperate, Jokic has two consecutive MVPs but is alone, this situation is most prone to ace forced palaces, lineups disassembled, and coaches out of class, but the Nuggets survived, their trust in coaches and players, and adherence to team-building strategies are scarce in today's professional sports field.
The Nuggets are much like the 2015 version of the Warriors, relying on the draft to accumulate talent to cultivate and build a team, and then at the right time and time together, they will cash their patience, perseverance and hard work into a championship trophy.
Curry's ankle injuries were sustained that year, and now Murray and Porter Jr. walk through the haze of knee injuries and back injuries, which are the cost of growth delivery, compared with the model of airborne superstars and baggage, it is not so fast.
However, simple and crude star huddles are no longer the best template for success. The Big Three version of the Nets, and the ABCD version of the Suns, have failed to go further.
Many stars have run-in problems, and if they are impatient when they encounter ups and downs, they will go their separate ways, and the Nets are like that. Piling up stars weakens the depth of the roster, and the game is easy to enter the mode of individual release, which is still sad when it is weak, and it is difficult to win four games in the series when it is strong, as is the case with the Suns.
The Nuggets don't have a Big Three, in fact, if you take the All-Star as a measure, they only have Jokic as a giant, Murray has not been an All-Star, and this championship season is his first year back after a serious knee injury.
Although Murray is not an All-Star and has just recovered from a serious injury, he and Jokic's chemistry is excellent, and the blocking and dismantling cooperation between the two is a classic, not only can the teacher be a cover, Murray can also block people, which comes from both the two's comprehensive technique and Malone's tactical design.
Malone and Jokic came to the Nuggets in the same year, and when they came, they identified Mr. Jokir, who could not do 20 seconds on planks at that time, as the core of the team, and then Murray joined, and Malone began to build the Nuggets duo. After Murray's ligaments were torn, he cried and asked Malone if the team would drop him, and Malone firmly told Murray that it would not, and expressed to the team's management his determination to stick to the current squad.
The Nuggets' roster is built one ring after another, and they give a second-round pick the cornerstone status of a second-round pick who has persevered during the team's slumps, and the team has matched him with the right helpers and given the time cost of the combination to succeed.
The championship is the best reward for the Nuggets not taking shortcuts.
The Nuggets are not without salary risks, Jokic's big contract extension last summer will start next season, and Murray, who has two years left on his contract, can be extended for three years and $144 million this summer, and if he waits until 2025 to renew his contract, the contract is expected to reach five years and $257 million. Considering the tighter control of wages in the new collective agreement, the pressure on the Nuggets is not small.
The Nuggets have already begun to plan ahead, trading the 2029 first-round pick to the Thunder for this year's No. 37 pick, the lowest pick in 2024, and the second round pick in 2024. The Nuggets' main purpose in doing this is to tighten salaries after winning the championship, hoarding second-round and first-round lower picks, and relatively low rookie salaries in this pick, so that the Nuggets can fill the roster in a throttling manner and ensure depth to extend the championship window.
This nugget is a replica of the Spurs of the year, the 2015 version of the Warriors, their own rookie training, with suitable reinforcements (Gordon, Brown, Pope), coaches build a system, all members are integrated into it, form the centripetal force required to rush to the championship, and jointly experience the grind of failure to succeed.
This model, can be explained in two words, but practice requires vision and patience, often not like the kind of giant huddle to quickly achieve the goal of winning the championship, but as long as everything is in place, it will bring longer-term, more solid success, warriors can achieve dynasty, but also in the ruins of the dynasty quickly re-emerged, the basis is the core configuration of Kuchai Tang and Cole.
As the new collective bargaining agreement increases the luxury tax penalty, it will become increasingly difficult to implement the multi-star strategy, and the Nuggets model may be a more worthy model to follow, although it is also difficult, but the Nuggets have proved that it can succeed.