After it seemed like the Nuggets had figured some things out and turned a corner, they’ve crashed back down to earth in their past two games. They were beaten soundly on Saturday by their rivals, the Timberwolves, and followed it up by losing to the lowly Bulls on Monday night, giving up 129 points.
These last two games have made it clear that the Nuggets are going to struggle with consistency, especially on the defensive end. They don’t have enough depth and they don’t have enough talent. They can patch things together, especially on offense, thanks to Nikola Jokic's greatness, but they will have to be bold and a little bit desperate to get where they want to be.
There aren’t many cards for Michael Malone to play; there’s a dearth of talent on the roster and even when the team is at full strength, he doesn’t trust more than eight players. Keeping rotations that tight this early in the season is a lot to ask of your players, but the other options are uninspiring.
Aaron Gordon must continue coming off the bench
One of the only moves Malone can make is altering his starting lineup. Aaron Gordon has been a mainstay in the starting lineup since joining the team, but since returning from a calf injury, he's been working his way back while coming off the bench.
It always felt like a temporary move while AG was on a minutes restriction, but I’ve come to terms with the idea that Gordon should continue coming off the bench even when he’s 100% healthy.
His minutes should certainly be up in the mid-30s and he should always be in the closing lineup, but employing him as a super 6th man gives the Nuggets the best path to 48 minutes of good basketball.
The easy move would be sending Russell Westbrook back to the bench, the role he was brought in to play. But we’ve already seen how that looked and it wasn’t pretty. Meanwhile, when Russ starts and plays alongside Nikola Jokic he has been excellent.
There’s no reason to mess with that. The Nuggets are getting great and much-needed production out of Westbrook and they should do everything they can to keep that going. Sending Christian Braun to the bench also makes little sense. He has been great in the starting lineup and has been groomed for this role.
Demoting him for no reason would be a mistake and could send the wrong message to him and the other young players on the team. Braun has given everything the Nuggets could have asked for stepping into the starting lineup spot filled by Kentavious Caldwell-Pope in recent years. There is no reason to mess with that either.
That brings us back to Gordon. AG has been playing well off the bench and the team has mostly been rolling with him in that spot. He’s able to come in and bring some size, defense, and energy that was badly lacking. It also gives Malone the option to use Gordon at backup center to avoid playing guys like DeAndre Jorand, Dario Saric, and Zeke Nnaji as much as possible.
Benching "Mr. Nugget" may not be a popular move
It’s a tough decision to make and one that could be unpopular. Gordon has earned the moniker, “Mr. Nugget” for a reason and he’s arguably the second-best player on the team; a borderline star. But maybe that’s what could make this work. Gordon has already told Malone he would be fine with coming off the bench even when healthy.
That type of unselfish sacrifice is what Gordon is all about and he and the Nuggets are willing to lean all the way into it, it may just save their season. He’ll still play starter-minutes and he’ll be out there for all the biggest moments, he just won’t be on the court when the ball is tipped to start the game.
It’s the best move for the team and hopefully, Gordon, Malone, and the whole organization can get on the same page and realize that as the roster is currently constructed, this is the best course of action.