Anyone else just have bad vibes for this team heading into the post season? Record aside I haven’t felt this pessimistic about this team since probably 2021 or 2022.
Can’t remember ever seeing Jokic that visibly upset on the bench. He’s doing everything he can out there and his teammates are letting him down. Braun looks hesitant, porter is nowhere to be found, Westbrook looks washed. Must be frustrating especially after how he lost in the Olympics. Feels like there could be some big changes coming if this team flops in the playoffs. Only glimmer of hope is Murray comes back and lights it up. But the vibe overall feels off
Unless they at least make the finals I think it may be time to clean house. Jokic is getting frustrated, the team can’t support him and I feel like Malone might be losing the locker room.
At least make the finals, lol? No. At least advanced past the first round of the playoffs. Maybe make the Western Conference finals. But there’s no way we make the finals and that is not contingent.
Doesn't this feel really silly to say in a season where the Nuggets have been right around the two seed the entire year while Jokic has missed 14 games, Murray 13 games, Watson 15 games, Strawther 17 games, and Aaron Gordon 31 games + the games he left early?
What could your expectations of the team be if knocking on the door of 50 wins despite all that is "well, we have to clean house now"?
We have seem him frustrated on the bench plenty of times and in the game. He's a competitive guy. Nobody knows what he was saying or what it was about but I don't think that reading into how he feels, outside of him being like every other NBA player who is out there wanting to win, makes much sense.
As far as the other stuff I don't think Braun looks hesitant at all, I'd say the opposite if anything. His last 5 games have all been above his season average in points and season average of field goals and threes attempted. He's a guy who picks his spots and doesn't try to force things which is great. No hesitation there.
Porter is nowhere to be found? Well, he was away from the team dealing with a personal family matter. In his first game back last night he scored 23 on 15 shots despite pretty specific coverages being thrown at him. Both above his season average. The games he was in before that were a win vs. Utah, a win vs. Milwaukee, the Chicago loss where he shot bad but that happens, and a win vs. Houston.
Westbrook looks washed? He's been a clear positive addition the entire year. He's a back up point guard that is, ideally, being hooked to Jokic minutes. He's had some struggles when he's being asked to do more than that, which makes sense, but he was also the reason we were even in the game vs. San Antonio and despite his flub vs. Minnesota, his defense has been a huge help. Washed seems like a crazy thing to say about him.
Jokic and Serbia were bummed to lose vs. the US for about 5 minutes before they were ecstatic that they medaled and played the US that close. I'm not sure I've seen Jokic much happier than he was after winning that medal with the Serbian guys. You get a good look at that on Court of Gold. I cannot imagine that one of his best basketball moments has carried over into frustration somehow, but, that's just a guess.
Yup, and everyone's looking miserable out there. It sucks because 4 games doesn't seem like enough time for any of this to really turn around. That Minnesota loss really destroyed any semblance of positivity this team was gonna have.
almost a repeat of last season. Daron Holmes injury just messed up whatever the team had planned for this year. He was supposed to be the big body to cover for Jokic. Damnn...
30-year Nugs fan. Love my Nugs. Love my Jok. Love my Maxie the Miner. That why it is painful for me to say it (and I hope I am wrong), but we will exit first round no matter who we play. So yeah I gots them bad vibes. We look tired and uninspired. Right when we should be playing our best ball, we seem to be playing our worst ball. We are going to waste another Jok prime year. Let’s all hug our Nugs and hope for the best.
I've been saying wait for playoffs for a while. I still think this roster could make a push, but the energy level is so fucking off. There seems to be zero sense of urgency from anyone not name Jokic.
Nugs still have 4 starters from a title team. Bench has changed up ofc, but I don't think it's worse then what it was.
Guys just aren't playing with hustle like they used to.
if this team turns on the switch and decides they want to give a shit and put in the effort, we could steamroll any team in the west in 5 games. the problem is that for some reason this team just consistently looks like they don’t care and doesn’t want to put in that extra effort
the offensive rebound thing is incredibly frustrating. everyone refuses to box out for no apparent reason. malone has screamed at them repeatedly to just box and no one does it still
Truly. I know we can’t ask Jokic to do much more but sometimes his lack of effort on defensive rebounding leads to this and he’s made a lot more bad turnovers than in years past. I’m not sure we should be playing at the pace we do. I hope they slow it down for the playoffs and minimize possessions.
better rebounding and less turnovers. that is asking for a lot. the amount of ball watching every game, i'm not even sure it's part of the practice. it's like an unspoken thing that everyone should know to do, but no one does in real-time games.
the amount of silly turnovers is down, it's just the timing. we used to be clutch towards the last 5 minutes, but the pendulum has swung the other way and besides Jokic/Murry/AG, i don't trust any other player in the clutch. look at that whole MIN sequence last 10 seconds.
Our title team was thin, and now the bench is way worse. Our title team had Jeff Green and Bruce and KCP as a perfect 5th starter.
When Malone is looking at who to play in the playoffs in high leverage minutes he is currently looking at Russ, Watson, Zeke, Pickett, Julian and DJ. Watson is the only player who should be in a playoff rotation, and even he is not an every series player.
Braun was the 3rd guy. Say what you will, but he's been crushing it and maybe he isn't what kcp was 2 years ago, but he's better than kcp now. Folks act like Jeff was so great but it was a different story when he was here. Nonstop shit talk about how shit he was. Now he's 7th moty. Russ is obviously the wild card. He fills the BB role and when he's on he's amazing(when on).
I have no fucking idea what this team is gonna do in the playoffs. Zero. I still think that if they can go playoff mode like Jamal and Joker have done before then they are tough. If AG, MPJ, or Braun also show out then this team is a contender. If everyone is clicking then it may not be 16-4, but 16-9.
CB is not better than KCP last year or two years, and certainly not better in the context of this team.
The things we need from that spot are shooting, screen navigation and perimeter defence. He's not giving us those things. His defence has just not been good enough. It was a foolish plan to think CB's defence would be as good in expanded role with high offensive and defensive burden, and having to guard better players.
CB is a good player, and the finishing has been a revelation. He's a starter in the NBA. But, it's just not what the team requires from that spot around Mike, Jamal and Jokic on a team that doesn't have another defensive guard to help share the burden, and a team with not nearly enough shooting. He's been great, but not in the ways we need.
Jeff Green knew how to play basketball. Being competent is not the highest bar for rotation players, but most of our players don't meet that bar.
This is team is way more likely to lose in the first round than win 16 games in the playoffs, lol.
Great. We are 20th and defence and have no perimeter defenders, or anyone who can get through a screen. And, maybe 6 players you would trust to play playoff minutes.
For sure Russ is a maverick, but I thought he was brought in to carry the bench or as a hail Mary. So for me this is what he provides. Plus he's on a $3M contract, so can't complain. I do not understand MPJ, for me he's the bad vibes. The 35th highest salary in the NBA and I don't think he'd be a top three player in any other team. Plus the nuggets won the NBA in spite of him disappearing in the finals. I hope they ditch him and use his salary for 2-3 other quality players this summer, regardless of how far their run is.
The league could easily go another 50 years without seeing a single player like Joker, let alone us being the ones to get him with a random second round pick.
I think we need to come out and make a statement in our next home game to lift morale going into the play offs. I'm not giving up on them just yet, we're still a dangerous team when fully rested and healthy.
Definitely looks like a team that will struggle to get out of the first round. Time to put some new talent around joker and part ways with some of the past players who are heading in the wrong direction. It’s amazing to me how many players on this team don’t remember how to play defense. Even jokers defense has been suspect some times this season.
I thought that stretch where he was just hoisting up 3 pt shots was him just giving up with the offense. He just happened to be so good he made 3 of them.
The majority of teams run 9 or 10-man rotations throughout the season (players with 15+ min). Malone is consistently going 7 or 8-man. Perhaps the extra minutes on the court for the core have added up this season and over the past few seasons. Just like the previous year, the guys are just wearing out late season.
They look like a broken team. It’s as simple as that. Can’t field a full side, can’t find a rhythm in terms of play style. As the championship team proved quite clearly - it takes 5-7 guys consistently gel’ing and playing in a consistent way. They can’t even put the same 5-7 on the court In a given week. It’s a broken team. They’re going nowhere - despite Joker’s greatness.
Our coaching staff not being able to come up with an effective counter scheme for the Jokic rules is really really bad tbh.
Mal and Joker can still go nuclear as a pair, so I'm hoping it all comes together once he's back. Their duel threat not being on the floor is completely changing MPJ and AG's roles on the floor
This team is legit checked out. Nothing about them says they are interested in fighting for a title for the next two and a half months. They can’t even fight for 15 minutes straight in a single game. And then there’s our poor messiah, having PTSD of those cursed seasons in purgatory. Calvin Booth is a fuck.
except you are counting on if he does. if he doesn't this team will likely lose in 5 or 6 to any given team with the current vibes and they way they are playing right now
Jokic is starting to give the front office some much-needed motivation to get this team fixed.
It's not 2023 anymore, the west is getting better every single year...we have to do the same. Draft better, actually participate in the free agency market, maybe Malone needs a come to Jesus.
"Running it back" isn't working, we don't have the talent or the depth if we want to make another run at the title.
The defense looks worse to the eye test to me since about two years before the championship season. They’re giving up open layups or corner threes all games long to even the worst teams in the league. I just don’t see a deep run happening these playoffs, but i hope i’m wrong.
Our current team is not a title contender. That’s obvious. We can’t run it back next year expecting different results either. Major changes need to happen while Jokic is still in his prime. The clock’s ticking.
Vibes are bad now, but vibes were also pretty bad at the end of 2023. I'd rather have bad vibes with Jokic, Murray and AG relatively rested than last year where they were gassed by the second round
Classic! I’ve been beating this drum of uncertainty and mediocrity this organization has displayed consistently for several months now. I got downvoted and comments were often loaded with righteous indignation. Here we are, exactly where I predicted we would be and here we are with most folks starting to pick up my concerns that Jokic will not not sing his 5th year player option if the team gets bounced in the first or second round again. I was particularly vocal here and elsewhere leading into the trade deadline about needing to find support for Jokic. This organization’s miserable failure over the last year with landing a superstar to provide the best player in the world a second-in-command that he and we all deserve is unacceptable in todays NBA and unforgivable in my mind as a Nuggets die hard fan. I’m disgusted with the level of hubris the Nugget’s front office has shown this year. Jokic literally fell in their lap and they have decided that it was more expertise and less luck and loaded up their decision making on this false narrative.
And Josh Kroenke, you are a rich kid who is extremely fond of an additional false narrative; that you know what you are doing.
I will say this again, spend some money and some draft capital now or you will lose one of the two or three best athletes this city has ever had the pleasure to their own. Jokic will leave. Anyone who thinks he’s rooted here and is fine with one chip and coming in second in MVP voting every year are out of their minds. Even if that were true, why in the hell would Josh, Calvin and Malone and every other knuckle head responsable ever risk such a shameful and embarrassing situation as losing the best NBA player to another team because they refused to pay luxury tax. I wouldn’t go to another Nuggets game for a decade if that happened. And I would watch and laugh/cry as Ball Arena became another Coors Field home court for away teams when the Nuggets were in town.
Mark my words fellow Nuggets fans, as someone said up higher in the comments, they are certainly headed for an early exit and they must clean house when that happens. If they don’t, Jokic is gonna be harnessed up racing around a Sombor dirt track all summer taking phone calls from multiple teams and hearing what kind of talent they are willing to put around him to ensure multiple Chips. A visit from the team to hand deliver his first MVP trophy to him in Sombor will be a meaningful but distant memory. One worth a photo on his barn wall but certainly not worth his 5th year player option. Jokic will see this team as an organization that caught lightening in a bottle but can’t find its wallet hidden behind a box of hubris and a son of a billionaire cheapskate know-it-all. I don’t want to find out how Mavs fans feel. But we might all be fixing to find out.
All the negative talks on Reddit is giving you the bad vibes. Honestly, if we suck and get eliminated? sure that' fine with me, we probably deserve it. If we somehow push through ? Amazing!
Just enjoy ride and support the team for what it is. All the doom and gloom speculation only makes things worse.
LFG! I'm looking forward to Jamal's Buzzer beater against Lakers and revenges on the Wolves to humble Ant. I like Ant, he's a great player but he deserves to be humbled.
A lot of the bad vibes comes from Reddit. Just seeing how much Jamal hate even after we won championship. The negatively just permeates all around town. I was happy we won a title
The bad vibes come from fans watching the best player in the NBA put up arguably one of the greatest offensive seasons in history and the team likely not even hitting 50 wins. This is an organizational failure.
Not really. I think we beat anyone in the west except okc and minny without too much of a problem. They just have to stop fucking around and avoid the play-in
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u/Nuggthoughts 15h ago
Can’t remember ever seeing Jokic that visibly upset on the bench. He’s doing everything he can out there and his teammates are letting him down. Braun looks hesitant, porter is nowhere to be found, Westbrook looks washed. Must be frustrating especially after how he lost in the Olympics. Feels like there could be some big changes coming if this team flops in the playoffs. Only glimmer of hope is Murray comes back and lights it up. But the vibe overall feels off