The Nuggets were able to keep peoples’ hands away from the panic meter for another day with a comfortable win over the Jazz on Saturday night. They had a quick turnaround after a painful Friday night loss to the Wolves, but got home and took care of business one night later, 129-103.
The much-needed bounce-back win improves the Nuggets to 3-0 on the season and keeps them in sniffing distance while they figure things out. But make no mistake, they still have a lot of things to figure out. This result may mask some issues and throw some off the scent, but even in an easy win, there were some red flags.
For some context, the Jazz may be the worst team in the entire NBA; they are clearly all in for a top pick like Cooper Flagg in the upcoming draft. They are 0-6 on the young season and they’ve lost those games by an average of 19.33 points. So even on a back-to-back, if the Nuggets had lost this game at home it would have been disastrous.
Also, even in this big win, the bench stuck out like a sore thumb again. The starters built up a big lead in the first half, but the bench players came in during the second quarter and almost gave it all back. The starters had to go out and win the game again in the second half, which luckily they were able to do.
The backup center position behind Jokic is as bleak as ever
The second unit played slightly better in the second half but still, of the four guys who played meaningful minutes off the bench, two had a negative +/-. One of those players, who had the lowest rating of -7 in 14 minutes, was DeAndre Jordan, the 36-year-old veteran center.
Everyone loves DJ and he has been an awesome leader and veteran presence for the Nuggets. But he should not be paying meaningful rotation minutes in a regular season game like he was on Saturday.
The fact that Michael Malone is already going to DJ for backup center minutes in the sixth game of the season is horrifying. Sadly, Dario Saric has been that bad. The center that Calvin Booth signed for 2-years and over $10 million already has proven to be unplayable.
Beyond that, despite a strong preseason, it looks like Malone still doesn’t trust Zeke Nnaji either to play backup minutes. The team has already been using Aaron Gordon as a backup center - a move usually reserved for the biggest games and playoffs. The frontcourt situation is very grim right now.
It’s fair to point out that their first-round pick DaRon Holmes would have helped the situation, but he tore his achilles in Summer League. That’s a bad break, but the team has known about it for months. Letting the season start with this group of bigs behind Jokic is unacceptable and extremely disappointing. It won’t be sustainable for an entire season if the Nuggets are serious about contending.