The city of Denver has finally reached the heights of the NBA. After three Super Bowls (1997, 1998 and 2015) in American football and three Stanley Cups (1996, 2001 and 2022) in ice hockey, the inhabitants of the city of Colorado can celebrate their basketball players. By winning (94-89) against the Miami Heat on Monday, June 12, in the fifth game of the final, the Denver Nuggets ended 47 seasons without a title in the North American basketball league. Since the creation of the franchise, the “nuggets” of Denver had never before managed to exceed the Western Conference final.
For years, Nuggets executives have patiently crafted a league-dominant franchise. And the coronation of the partners of the Serbian giant Nikola Jokic, crowned MVP of the finals, validates the shadowy work begun at the dawn of the 2010s, at the end of the “Carmelo Anthony era”, star and artificer of the crew.
If they are no longer part of it in 2023, former Nuggets leaders Tim Connelly and Arturas Karnisovas have a lot to do with this success. Considered as “the architect of the team”, the first is at the origin of the arrival in Colorado of Nikola Jokic, selected in 41e position of the draft – this vast “purse” for young players – in 2014, Jamal Murray (7e choice in 2016) or even Michael Porter Jr. (14e choice in 2018). Now respectively at the Chicago Bulls and the Minnesota Timberwolves, Arturas Karnisovas and Tim Connelly have been replaced by Calvin Booth, who has also shown himself to be able during the draft and the transfer market to strengthen the team.
” Calvin is very important in what we produce every night on the pitch. I told Josh [Kroenke, le propriétaire du club] when Tim is gone: I have a feeling Calvin is more than ready to lead this franchise,” recently praised Nuggets coach Michael Malone for the current general manager’s influence on the team’s success.
A duo of madness at the service of the collective
Unlike other franchises, the leaders of the Nuggets have always left time for their coach, in place since June 2015, to carry out his project. The five years without qualifying for the final stages (from 2013 to 2018) have, for example, changed nothing in the model of the Colorado franchise. The managers, aware of the youth of Michael Malone’s training, have always shown their confidence in him, despite years of complicated results.
The coronation of the Nuggets, Monday, is first and foremost the work of a shock duo. “It’s first and foremost a team effort. I say it and I’ll say it again: it’s the Denver Nuggets who have to beat the Miami Heat, not just Jamal and me.” however, pivot Nikola Jokic was annoyed after the third game of the series. The double MVP (most valuable player, Serbian “best player”) of the regular season no longer wants his breathtaking performances with Jamal Murray to eclipse the collective play produced by his partners. “It’s been four series in a row that our bench has done a remarkable job, also pointed out Michael Malone. Minutes without Nikola have been a topic of conversation all season. Our game might not be as slick without him, but the five guys on the court are defending hard, and that’s key. »
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