Talent vs Cohesion?

[NBAGOAT]

you need cohesion but we also technically had no superteams this year so no teams had way more talent than denver. Like if the lakers or suns got kyrie and were healthy, they have a chance for sure. Also talent is not just scoring talent and your whole starting lineup matters.

Bucks dont have a good 5th starter and jrue and khris are inconsistent. They do have better top end talent but that's a moot point when Jamal these playoffs has easily played better than khris/jrue which shouldnt happen considering they're considered all star level and he isnt. Having a guy on the floor who isnt good can kill you in the playoffs phx had the same issues. cp3 and ayton have name value but were not great this year and to defend him cp3 is 38 tbf.

Maxey and Tobias are good scoring talents but dont offer much else. Even discounting jokic elevating him, I rather have aaron gordon on most contenders than those 2 and porter jr is likely better than tobias just because of his shooting.

Boston was puzzling tbf they have more depth than denver. Tatum is not in jokic's tier and brown is a bit overvalued however. their core just plays down to opponents so much.

[BallsOut]

you need cohesion but we also technically had no superteams this year so no teams had way more talent than denver. Like if the lakers or suns got kyrie and were healthy, they have a chance for sure. Also talent is not just scoring talent and your whole starting lineup matters.

Bucks dont have a good 5th starter and jrue and khris are inconsistent. They do have better top end talent but that's a moot point when Jamal these playoffs has easily played better than khris/jrue which shouldnt happen considering they're considered all star level and he isnt. Having a guy on the floor who isnt good can kill you in the playoffs phx had the same issues. cp3 and ayton have name value but were not great this year and to defend him cp3 is 38 tbf.

Maxey and Tobias are good scoring talents but dont offer much else. Even discounting jokic elevating him, I rather have aaron gordon on most contenders than those 2 and porter jr is likely better than tobias just because of his shooting.

Boston was puzzling tbf they have more depth than denver. Tatum is not in jokic's tier and brown is a bit overvalued however. their core just plays down to opponents so much.

We did have superteams this year.

Boston
Lakers
Phoenix
Philly
Bucks
Heat

All of them had at least 3 all stars.

It makes what Denver is doing really special

[ShawkFactory]

We did have superteams this year.

Boston
Lakers
Phoenix
Philly
Bucks
Heat

All of them had at least 3 all stars.

It makes what Denver is doing really special

Literally none of those teams have or had 3 all stars. Only one of them even had 2 this year.

[BallsOut]

Literally none of those teams have or had 3 all stars. Only one of them even had 2 this year.

Doesn’t take genius to know that each of those teams had 3 recent all stars. DAngelo was an all star what two seasons ago? So he’s all of a sudden not all star according to your homer goggles.

News flash buddy, there’s only 30 all star slots every year. Doesn’t mean if you don’t make that 30 cut you’re not all star level. Dumbass gatekeepers

[BarberSchool]

Denver roster and staff are seemingly all genuinely good high quality people, who enjoy covering for each other’s deficiencies and maximizing and amplifying each other’s strengths.

It’s a beautiful, familial, militant thing to watch.

I’m so happy Aaron Gordon now won’t have to retire with his career legacy convos containing “they screwed me out of those dunk contests *salty*”

Now, with a championship ring or 3, he can say:
“They screwed me out of those dunk contests *laughing triumphantly*”

God bless the Denver Nuggets from top to bottom.
Love this squad chemistry and cohesiveness, and their ability to all be on a string playing for each other on both sides of the ball.

[BallsOut]

Denver roster and staff are seemingly all genuinely good high quality people, who enjoy covering for each other’s deficiencies and maximizing and amplifying each other’s strengths.

It’s a beautiful, familial, militant thing to watch.

I’m so happy Aaron Gordon now won’t have to retire with his career legacy convos containing “they screwed me out of those dunk contests *salty*”

Now, with a championship ring or 3, he can say:
“They screwed me out of those dunk contests *laughing triumphantly*”

God bless the Denver Nuggets from top to bottom.
Love this squad chemistry and cohesiveness, and their ability to all be on a string playing for each other on both sides of the ball.

The best thing about this Denver Nuggets team is how they were built. Through careful draft selection and timely offseason pickups. They didn’t need to collude to form quick superteams like LeBron and many others to follow him did.

[ShawkFactory]

Doesn’t take genius to know that each of those teams had 3 recent all stars. DAngelo was an all star what two seasons ago? So he’s all of a sudden not all star according to your homer goggles.

News flash buddy, there’s only 30 all star slots every year. Doesn’t mean if you don’t make that 30 cut you’re not all star level. Dumbass gatekeepers

Russell was an all star once and it was 4 years ago.

[NBAGOAT]

Doesn’t take genius to know that each of those teams had 3 recent all stars. DAngelo was an all star what two seasons ago? So he’s all of a sudden not all star according to your homer goggles.

News flash buddy, there’s only 30 all star slots every year. Doesn’t mean if you don’t make that 30 cut you’re not all star level. Dumbass gatekeepers

Dlo is already cutting it but you’re really going call old horford and cp3 and Lowry all star level. Lowry isn’t even starting anymore lol. Also who was that 3rd recent all star on Philly??

My definition of superteam is also stricter than yours. Having
3 all stars isn’t enough. You need a top tier superstar and really good 2nd star who’s all nba lvl and a 3rd all star imo. By that definition Milwaukee isn’t and few people were calling them a super team in 2021 even

[ILLsmak]

There were super teams this year they are just washed or cancerous. I don’t think the super team thing ever goes away but it’s not a winning strategy. Weak era.

-Smak

[3ba11]

Show me where an abnormal ball-dominator for their size/position like Luka or Lebron had great "cohesion", fits or chemistry

It's never happened because abnormal ball-dominators impose spot-up roles, which doesnt' develop teammates, fits or strategic capacity/coaching.

Otoh, expert jumpshooters are assisted by teammates, which facilitates ball movement, fits and strategic capacity, so guys like Curry, MJ, Bird, Kawhi, or Kobe have cohesive teams with dynasty chemistry.. Jokic is a different breed because he isn't an expert jumpshooter but he has a similarly-low hold-time, which results in the same cohesion and strategic capacity for the team.

[BallsOut]

There were super teams this year they are just washed or cancerous. I don’t think the super team thing ever goes away but it’s not a winning strategy. Weak era.

-Smak

+1 weak ass era from 2011 onwards

[Heat_chips]

For Denver it's honestly pretty simple. Playoff Murray is a not only a legitimate 2nd option but a great one. You have an All-Time great with a legit 2nd option and good supporting cast. You toss in the fact that there probably hasn't been a player since Magic Johnson who made him teammates better and it's really not that surprising. Denver has both talent and great cohesion. They have an All-Time great. It's a legitimate championship roster when it's at it's best .. the biggest thing is for some of these Nuggets players that's just something that doesn't happen over an 82 game season so it catches people off guard. Like if you told Nuggets fans you were going to get bubble Murray and MPJ playing at a high level than none of would be surprised .. the surprise is weather or not you actually get that.

People don't care about Denver and I get it but Jokic has literally been playing with trash for the most part with Murray/MPJ hurt. People don't realize how inconsistent Murray has been in his career. If you had another player who was MVP caliber like Jokic and he had played with zero all-stars it would be a massive storyline .. but instead the storyline was Jokic couldn't win in the playoffs. Murray averaged 22/6/4 on 49/43/85 shooting splits during wins in the regular season. He averaged 16/5/4 on 39/32/80 shooting splits in losses. Murray obviously plays a big role and when he's bad he sinks the team .. when he's good were elite .. when he's great were bordering on special.

Not a believer in Murray at all. You dont play defense in the West so murray will not be able to Hunt vs the Heat as he did so easily against a poor lakers team and a suns team that plays ZERO defense, And besides, when was the last time a championship teams 2 best offensive players were also their worst defensive players on their whole roster ? the answer is Never. Jokic and murray totally stink on defense.,

What the Heat do best is they take away what you do best.

You saw last night how the Heat targeted Murray playing Butler on him for 35 possessions compared to just 4 possessions Butler was on him in game one. They also blitzed Murray with traps. The Heat have been great at stifling and rattling top guards on teams through the playoffs. They made Jaylen Brown look like straight poo all series long. Brown shot way below his 49% season averages. And Jrue Holiday shot 36% or worse in 3 of the 5 games against the Heat in the Bucks series. The Heat are targetting Murray into mistakes and just playing Jokic one on one. And it's genius

Starting Kevin Love to stop Aaron Gordon's cutting and backdoor cuts allowed the Heat to go with Butler against Murray and making Murray's life hell. Murray was poor last night, and REALLY bad on defense, especially in the 4th quarter where the Butler defense took a toll on murray and murray himself couldnt get the energy to play defense. The Heat run in the 4th was a lot to do with Murray's poor defense and lack of awareness

Everyone in the media is thinking about Jokic but the Heat really want to rattle Jamal Murray and get in his head for the whole series, like they did to Jaylen Brown

[Heat_chips]

Denver roster and staff are seemingly all genuinely good high quality people, who enjoy covering for each other’s deficiencies and maximizing and amplifying each other’s strengths.

It’s a beautiful, familial, militant thing to watch.

I’m so happy Aaron Gordon now won’t have to retire with his career legacy convos containing “they screwed me out of those dunk contests *salty*”

Now, with a championship ring or 3, he can say:
“They screwed me out of those dunk contests *laughing triumphantly*”

God bless the Denver Nuggets from top to bottom.
Love this squad chemistry and cohesiveness, and their ability to all be on a string playing for each other on both sides of the ball.

Aside from jokic, nobody on the nuggets impresses me. Your playoff record is heavily inflated because the nuggets played nobody. they played a suns team that plays ZERO defense and had no cohesiveness whatsoever. then they played 2 playin teams, they played a timberwolves team that stinks on defense and an extremely overrated lakers team with a 40 year old lebron and a broken down passive AD that looked nothing like he did in the bubble. the lakers also stink on defense

And none of those 3 teams are good 3 point shooting teams !!!

When I was watching the western playoffs I was laughing how easily Jamal Murray was able to hunt matchups because the defenses in the west are so poor. Against Miami however, Murray wont be able to hunt like that, We made top guards have very poor series in Jaylen Brown and Jrue Holiday for the Celtics and Bucks respectively and Brown is a much better overall player than murray is ( score more ppg at much better efficiency, better assist man, better rebounder and Brown is a thousand times better on defense than murray is)

the bucks and celtics would also have their way with murray/

the nuggets cruised to the easiest finals path anyone can remember,, but as soon as they face a very good defense like miami they are limited to just 106 points per game at home with a huge rest advantage. The bucks and celtics would wipe the floor on the nuggets in 6 or less. The east plays defense

Speaking of defense, your 2 best offensive players are absolutely atrocious on defense. When was the last time a championship teams 2 best players were the worst defensive players on their whole roster? Its a huge flaw, the nuggets are vastly overrated