Let's start off with the biggest prize in the sky – which Denver Nuggets player has been the most valuable player on the team this season?
Zach Mikash (@ZachMikash): Danilo Gallinari takes this award running away. He's always been the best player on this team post Melo trade. The Nuggets are finally getting the Gallo they had started to see during the 57 win season. He's averaging a career high in points at just under 20 a game and thanks to his ability to get to the foul line, his true shooting % is as high as its every been while he's in Denver despite also increasing his usage. In fact, out of non-centers, only two players in the league average more points per shot that Gallo: Kevin Durant and Stephen Curry.
Gordon Gross(@GMoneyNuggs): It's got to be Gallo. As Zach said, nobody on this team has done more than Gallinari, who is setting those career highs in everything while also being the positive-minded locker room leader this young team needs. Michael Malone has pointed out how valuable that has been in some of the team's second-half rallies, and his ability to set an example might be as important as his scoring prowess for this team going forward. Danilo all the way.
Jeff Morton (@jmorton78): Danilo Gallinari has been having a career year, and without question he has been the Nuggets most valuable player. It's hard to adequately describe the positive outlook and help he gives the Nuggets rookies and how he fosters such good fellowship in the locker room. Gallo MVP so far … However, Nikola Jokic has really made a late run at MVP so far with his amazing play.
Dan Lewis (@minutemandan): Sigh – Gallinari. I tried to think of someone else to not have so much conformity, but the Nuggets MVP is Gallinari. He's our most experienced starter, the primary scorer on offense, and his positional flexibility helps the Nuggets play small and big. He has a career-high usage rate this season, could set a new career-high in assists per game, and could set a career-high in rebounds. He does so much for the team, it's depressing to think where they would be without him. I look forward to the day when my answer to the next question fills this spot though.
Which Denver Nuggets player has been the Rookie of the Year?
Mikash: Not as big of a run away as the MVP award but Nikola Jokic has Emmanuel Mudiay beat handily in this category. Big Honey has been a big surprise for Denver. Coach Michael Malone was quoted as saying that Jokic wasn't likely to get much playing time this year and instead he's the starting center. Advanced stats love Jokic as well, only Karl Anthony-Towns can stack up among all rookies in the NBA by those measures. Perhaps though the most exciting part about Jokic is he seems to be getting better everyday and no one is sure where his ceiling ultimately lies.
Gross: I've got to go with Jokic here as well. He's tied with Boris Diaw for most assists per 36 minutes among rookie front-court players in the last 20 years, while matching up well with Pau Gasol and DeMarcus Cousins in the points and rebounds-per-36 categories. Pro-rating stats is not always an accurate way to look at a player, but the glimpses of what Jokic can do on the court make him hard to compare to anyone who isn't a star. Mudiay will be good later, but Jokic is good – very good – right now. Malone said he wouldn't trade Jokic for any young big man in the league, and it's not unfathomable to take him at his word. That's pretty special.
Morton: Nikola Jokic without question. While Emmanuel Mudiay has made some great strides, particularly since coming back from injury, it's Jokic who has made the most waves and has shown tremendous early promise … despite needing to add strength.
Lewis: The answer to the question as formatted is Nikola Jokic, but I want to make an argument that by the end of the season, the award will go to Emmanuel Mudiay. I hope I don't jinx him by writing this, but his play has been much better since he returned from injury. He's making better decisions (like not trying jump-passes every time) and he's making more of an effort to get to the rim. As he continues to seek out better shots rather than taking good shots – the contested double-clutch shots are bad, so bad – and also continues to learn how to defend, he's going to be such a good rookie. I'll close by dropping this per-36 minutes comparison here, just for fun, that's all.
| Player | From | To | G | GS | MP | FG | FGA | FG% | 3P | 3PA | 3P% | FT | FTA | FT% | ORB | DRB | TRB | AST | STL | BLK | TOV | PF | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chauncey Billups | 1998 | 1998 | 80 | 70 | 2216 | 4.5 | 12.2 | .374 | 1.7 | 5.3 | .329 | 3.7 | 4.3 | .850 | 1.0 | 2.1 | 3.1 | 5.1 | 1.7 | 0.1 | 2.8 | 2.8 | 14.5 |
| Emmanuel Mudiay | 2016 | 2016 | 40 | 38 | 1208 | 5.1 | 14.9 | .340 | 0.9 | 3.4 | .272 | 2.5 | 4.1 | .616 | 0.6 | 3.3 | 3.8 | 7.0 | 1.3 | 0.7 | 4.2 | 2.4 | 13.6 |
Which Denver Nuggets player has been the Sixth Man of the Year?
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Okay, that last question was terrible, what has been your favorite Will Barton play of the year?
Mikash: My favorite Barton play has to be this one against the Houston Rockets.
Gross: Let's go with this one:
Lewis: I really liked his first attempt in the Slam Dunk Competition. He got to show off on his intro, it was a really athletic dunk, and Magic Johnson disrespected Will by giving him a six. Zach LaVine did the same dunk later and got a 50, but you know what, the Nuggets have more wins than the Timberwolves, so there.
That intro to Thriller.That intro dunk for Thrill!
Posted by Denver Nuggets on Saturday, February 13, 2016
What has been the best offseason move (draft pick, trade, extension, free agent acquisition) that the Denver Nuggets front office made this season?
Mikash: It has got to be deciding to bring Jokic over. Like I said, no one thought he was going to be this good this soon so there certainly was some risk to that move when it was made. In hindsight it's a no brainer. Along with that the Nuggets had a quiet offseason so it's a low bar to clear for best move. The other choices are trading Ty Lawson for what amounts to a bag of beans, re-signing Jameer Nelson and Darrell Arthur and drafting Mudiay. Mudiay is the only other choice here but I'm all about the Big Honey these days.
Gross: I'll pick just from draft picks or trades, and in that sense I'll take drafting Emmanuel Mudiay. He was the great unknown, along with Porzingis, and both of those leaps of faith are being rewarded. Mudiay had basically a barnstorming tour in China after high school before he was drafted, and his learning curve (as the guy with the ball in his hands on offense for 30+ minutes a game) has been extreme. The league isn't too big for him though, even in his raw state, and after Ty Lawson finished blowing up his career we'd have been in a tough spot if we hadn't already had his replacement on hand. Mudiay has a long way to go to reach his upside, and some of his stats look hideous at first glance, but he's the future. I can't wait to see how he looks after an offseason to work on his game.
Morton: The creative extensions for Wilson Chandler and Danilo Gallinari, coupled with signing Will Barton to a steal of a contract are the moves I'll say that are the best moves of the offseason. I hesitate to include the drafting of Mudiay because that kind of fell to the Nuggets. Was a no-brainer at the slot they were in. Will prove to be a great selection though.
Lewis: The acquisition of Will Barton. I don't think there were more than a handful of people that could have predicted this kind of a season for Barton when he signed this contract with Denver. Barton played 1,581 minutes in total before his trade to Denver as part of the Arron Afflalo deal. He's almost played that many minutes just this season (1,540), which is a testament to his character. He worked and worked, waiting for his break to come, and now that it's here, he's making the most of it. The Nuggets signed him for three years, $10 million! They gave J.J. Hickson three years, $16 million; that's the level of player that kind of a contract usually gets. It's the best deal on the team by far.
What is your prediction for the rest of the 2015-16 season for the Denver Nuggets?
Mikash: Predictions are for the bold so here goes: Nuggets will be the eighth seed in the playoffs this year. Utah and Portland have put together a nice run of games to give them a 5 game cushion on the Nuggets for the last two spots right now but I think one of them falls off. Houston is in shambles, Memphis may be without Marc Gasol for the remainder of the season and the Sacramento Kings are a match away from a dumpster fire. Meanwhile, the Nuggets have been playing .500 ball for about a month now and for the most part they've been doing it on the road or against very good competition at home. The losses have even for the most part been very close (grumble grumble Joe Johnson). I like where this team is headed and I think we're starting to see it all start to gel.
Gross: I like Zach's prediction, and think we'll get close to the playoffs as well (though I feel like we'll come up a couple of games short). I expect us to line up our play going into next year, and I don't expect a major trade, so we'll ride with what we've got for now. If the injuries are over (knock on wood) then we should see some more stabilized rotations. This will be all about getting everyone comfortable with how we expect to play in future years. Jusuf Nurkic's last game before the break showed that he might be ready for more effective time, so he and Jokic can share the center load down the stretch with neither burning out from the longer season than they are accustomed to. With increased comfort among the players and more set rotations it should be easier to log those wins Zach is predicting, but mostly I care about the players getting that gel-action going.
Morton: I just look for continued improvement. They no longer get blown out, and are generally competitive in every game. Pretty much all you can ask for from a team that has battled all these injuries and youth. Maybe they can make a run at the 8th spot, but more likely we just look for gradual improvement and hope that they can show us the way forward for next season.
Lewis: The Nuggets will have a good end to the season, and they have a good shot to get some fans excited for next year, with only one big road trip left on the schedule in March, when they have a five-game road trip against Eastern Conference teams. They could do themselves a really big favor by winning their two games against Memphis and "letting" Portland win the final game of the year. They should be able to get to 30 wins, which will land them in the top-10 of the lottery. Nuggets fans better hope Houston makes the playoffs, because the pick they sent in the Lawson trade becomes a 2017 second round pick from Portland if Houston finishes out of the playoffs. It'd be nice to get at least one thing of value back from moving Lawson in the offseason.
