Can The Nuggets Really Contend In the West With a 13-Man Rotation?

Are the Nuggets too deep of a team? Can they really win if they play 13 guys a night?

Oct 29, 2014; Denver, CO, USA; Denver Nuggets head coach Brian Shaw during the first half against the Detroit Pistons at Pepsi Center. Mandatory Credit: Chris Humphreys-USA TODAY Sports

Chicago Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau, 2011 NBA Coach of the Year, has been quoted as saying, “You have to have a 9-man rotation to be successful in the playoffs.” Now I think we can all agree that Coach Thibodeau knows what he’s talking about showing his recent success in the league with the always underpowered, depleted Bulls. Also if you look at past playoff contenders like the 2013-2014 Indiana Pacers and the 2012-2013 Memphis Grizzlies these teams had huge playoff success with less talented teams because they played 9-man rotations. The Nuggets played 12-guys last night and reports say that once J.J. Hickson returns from injury the rotation will bolster up to 13. Is this really a good thing?

The way I see it Coach Thibodeau is right. I say every team needs to have a set group of starters, role-players and bench/practice players; it just brings better team unity into the equation. For example, if you look at last night’s 89-79 victory over the Detroit Pistons a lot of the Nuggets players on the bench during the 4th quarter crunch-time minutes looked as if the world was ending, heads were down in their chests and seemed not as engaged into the game because they were not playing. If everyone expects to play because they got 10-15 minutes earlier in the game this, in my opinion, is not an equation for success. Also players need to get into the groove. Players need to get a good 20-25 minutes before they are fully in the swing of things and can dial into the game. If Kenneth Faried or Timofey Mozgov are lighting up the Thunder on Saturday will Coach Shaw take them out because he needs to get everyone some minutes? If he doesn’t take them out will the players who normally get those minutes subbing for the starters get angry at Coach Shaw? To me, it is a lose-lose situation if we play 12-13 guys a night.

The best way to solve this problem is a 3-for-1 trade. To be honest every player on the Nuggets has talent and does deserve to play, but in recent history teams that play too many players aren’t normally too successful. If we choose to go with a 3-1 trade it would maximize our talent into potentially an even more talented player and slim down the rotation to 10-11 for the regular season.

But who knows, maybe the 13-headed Nuggets are unconventional. They’ve proved me wrong so far going 1-0.