There’s no doubt that if healthy, the Nuggets may be the best bet to keep the Oklahoma City Thunder from repeating as champions this season, but that health remains a massive “if”. On a recent episode of the Zach Lowe Show, Lowe and his guest, Rob Mahoney, were praising the Nuggets for their recent stretch of play without Nikola Jokic, and Zach made a bold statement, saying, “Aaron Gordon to me, Aaron Gordon’s legs are maybe now the biggest wild card in the entire NBA season.”
Lowe went on to say of the Nuggets, that if AG is 90-95% healthy, “I’m not going to say they’re the favorites, but they’re as good as Oklahoma City.” That may not be a hot take, but it’s definitely not a commonly accepted or popular take, as even with their recent struggles, most pundits consider the defending champs to be on their own level, still.
But Lowe and Mahoney pointed out all of hte many ways that Gordon helps the team on both ends and brings everything together perfectly with his incredible Swiss Army Knife skill set. He’s not a star on the level of the Joker or Jamal Murray, but if AG is a role player, he fills that role as well as any player in the league.
Nuggets’ defense a massive issue without Gordon
Gorodn made waves on opening night when he dropped 50 points, hitting 10-11 threes. That was a great showcase of his much-improved shooting and how he can impact the game as a scorer, but the Denver offense is rarely an issue as long as Jokic is playing. Where they really miss Gordon is on the defensive end.
He’s that rare breed of player who can truly play inside and outside, with the quickness and athleticism to hang on the perimeter with the best wing players in the league, and the size and strength to hang with the best big men down in the paint.
They’ve sorely missed his presence, anchoring their defense. They were, perhaps surprisingly, a top-five outfit to begin the season on that end, but since he went down in late November, they’ve fallen out of the top 20.
That’s not a recipe for success in the NBA playoffs, and the Nuggets know they have to clean up their defense to be true contenders. We know they can do it, but they need the best version of Gordon to make it happen. Just like Lowe said, if the Nuggets can get that, they’ve got as good a chance as anyone.