When I first saw Russell had joined the Denver Nuggets…I thought there was a chance this might work for both he and the Nuggets.
The obvious first reason is he’d be playing beside Nicola Jokic and Jamal Murray. The other reason I thought he and coach Michael Malone would be a fit at this stage in Russell’s career as he attempts to add the one missing piece to his NBA Hall of Fame career. That being an NBA championship ring.
So far the fit has been better than both Michael Malone and Denver GM Calvin Booth could have hoped for.
Earlier this season the Nuggets basically stunk despite Nicola perhaps having a better season than in any of his three previous NBA regular MVP seasons. Nicola has been superb…add this to the resume–he’s hitting 49% of his threes to compliment the other always excellent components of his game. There is no one in this league at the center position even remotely close to Nicola given the constant health issues with Joel Embiid.
Let’s call it like it was…Jamal Murray and Michael Porter Jr. were not playing up their standards or the salaries they’re receiving as the second and third stars of a team which easily won the NBA championship two years ago.
Leadership comes in multiple packages. Nicola is generally a laid back dude with no major ego issues. But he felt the need to address this with the press and make his feelings known to his teammates. Those being, “I can’t do this alone. We need you guys to play up to the level of your game and earn the money you’re being paid.”
Jamal has finally kicked it in. It appears the calf issues and about 10 pounds of weight have been addressed. Michael Porter…I’m not sure about. The Nuggets need his three point shooting deperately given there’s no way in hell Mike Malone wants Russell out there chucking threes at a 28-29% clip. So we’ll see how Calvin Booth feels about Michael Porter Jr. at the trade deadline. Bruce Brown back to the Nuggets from Toronto? I’d take that deal with the Raptors adding another role wing shooter to make the dollar numbers work.
As of this morning the Nuggets are one of the hottest teams in the league only 1.5 games out of the second seed in the West. Only the young Houston Rockets and Memphis Grizzlies stand in their way. Houston is still too young is my take. Ja Morant still has a lot of time on his hands to let his team and city down again with some of his off the court bad decisions before now and the end of the NBA reular season. I hope all of that is behind him. He’s such a great talent.
I like Denver’s chances of ascending to the No. 2 seed in the West if Russell can stay locked in on what his teammates in Denver need from him on a nightly basis as the games mean more coming down the stretch.
Russell doesn’t have to be the star. He doesn’t have to be shooting bad threes. He doesn’t have to fill the scoring voids he had in Oklahoma City with Steven Adams and Andre Roberson.
All Russell has to do is keep feeding Nicola, Jamal, and Michael Porter either off the pick and roll, the pick and pop, or the penetrate and kick out to the wings. Just keep doing what he’s been doing. Keep hustling on defense and do the little TSN lunchpail blue collar things.
In closing let me leave you with this stat…when Russell and Nicola have started games together this season…they have the NBA’s two highest individual +/ ratings.
Russell, I’m happy for you. Stay on track. This is fun to watch.
Good luck.
Mike J