Nikola Jokic reveals how Nuggets' new strategy involves "testing refs"

The biggest question mark surrounding the Nuggets entering the season is their defense, but apparently, the coaches are implementing some new strategies that involve being extremely aggressive on that end. As Nikola Jokic put it, “We are basically testing the refs to call fouls”.

This would be a stark contrast from recent years, when the Nuggets were more passive defensively, waiting for the action to come to them. But this year, David Adelman and company want to install a new scheme that relies on physicality, getting into guys, and as Jokic describes, essentially daring the officials to call fouls.

We have commonly seen these types of tactics work, even against the Nuggets, most recently by the Thunder in the playoffs. Oklahoma City’s defenders were bombarding Denver’s ballhandlers and beating up Jokic. There were some fouls called, but overall, the game plan was able to stifle the Joker and the Nuggets enough, getting them out of rhythm and forcing turnovers and tough shots.

The style seems to have made an impact on Adelman, who clearly wants to see his own team playing in that mold. It’s great to hear, as the Nuggets have been a tough watch defensively the past few seasons. And an aggressive shift in style and schematics can hopefully help vault the team back to some semblance of a championship-caliber defense.

Nuggets personnel may impact schematics

The question then becomes, do the Nuggets have the personnel to pull this off? We saw it work so well for the Thunder, but a big part of the reason is their plethora of elite defenders. It’s easy to be all over guys when the players hounding them are Alex Caruso, Jalen Williams, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Lu Dort, and others. 

On top of that, they’ve got Chet Holmgren and Isaiah Hartenstein behind them defending the rim. The Thunder had an all-time defense last season, and while a lot of it was due to scheme, it was due to the outstanding players and depth more than anything else.

The Nuggets have beefed up their depth this summer, but the guys they brought in are hardly lockdown defenders. Peyton Watson, Christian Braun, and Aaron Gordon can hold their own on that end. But it’s hard to see guys like Jamal Murray, Nikola Jokic, and others playing that aggressively on defense for 48 minutes.

Over-aggression will lead to foul trouble, overplays leading to open baskets, and fatigue. If this works, it should lead to some great results. But this could easily backfire badly if the players aren’t able to play within the system, leading to some disastrous results.