3 obvious moves Michael Malone must make for the Nuggets to repeat as champions

3. Up the stars’ usage

This one ties right into number two as well, but as the stars play more minutes, the team needs to play through them more on offense as well. The biggest playoff strength of the Nuggets is how efficient their half-court offense is, and what makes it special is the two-man game with Murray and Jokic.

The team needs to go that route early and often and play through those guys as much as possible, damn near every single possession. This season, Jokic has had a usage right of 29.3% while Murray is at 27.4%. Those are high numbers, but in the playoffs, they need to be even higher.

MPJ and Reggie Jackson have both been over 20% and Gordon isn’t far behind at 18%. Those numbers should all go way down in the playoffs, with Gordon and MPJ closer to 15, and Jackson hopefully playing sparingly, and always being paired with either Murray or Jokic.

The two stars should be running the offense and setting up almost all of the action with the supplementary guys being used primarily as play finishers. Let guys excel in their roles, and be able to accentuate their best skills. That’s the key to success.