“Identical identical, however completely different!”

Anybody who has traveled to Thailand has greater than probably heard this jaunty “Tinglish” (Thai-English) catchphrase repeatedly exclaimed by native market distributors, who use the expression to imply “related,” however with a splash of playfulness and humor that may each allure and confuse vacationers. From way back, this determine of speech grew to become so iconic as to make its means onto fashionable t-shirts and trinkets offered in stalls and outlets across the nation, and its (actually) ambiguous nuance one way or the other communicates volumes whereas nonetheless maintaining issues amiably mysterious.

Within the upcoming NBA season, “identical identical, however completely different” is a wonderfully becoming description for the new-look Denver Nuggets roster, which with a mix of returning stars in Jamal Murray and Michael Porter Jr., and an offseason overhaul that created a major, if under-the-radar personnel shakeup, will function each new and acquainted faces, however even within the instances of some returnees, teammates who’ve but to take the courtroom collectively in any precise video games.

The Departed Gamers Depart Behind A Minutes Vacuum

To start out with, purely when it comes to complete minutes performed by Nuggets gamers final season, greater than half the staff is gone from the roster. Of the 19,805 complete minutes Denver gamers logged within the 2021-22 season, 9,988, or 50.4% of them have been performed by guys who’re now not with the staff. Nearly all of these minutes, 8.265 of them, have been from common rotation fixtures Will Barton III, Monte Morris, Austin Rivers, Facu Campazzo and JaMychal Inexperienced, with Bryn Forbes, DeMarcus Cousins and P.J. Dozier rounding out the majority of the rest. Whereas Dozier was traded early after a season-ending harm, and Campazzo fell out of the rotation halfway by means of, that’s nonetheless six full-on rotation gamers whose time will likely be changed.

In actual fact, in response to Cleansing the Glass, the Nuggets performed actually solely two possessions of any lineup which did not embrace any of the gamers who’ve now departed from the staff, that means that primarily each lineup head coach Michael Malone places on the ground this time round will likely be one which by no means performed final season. And whereas the taking part in time vacuum left behind will likely be stuffed by a mixture of new and returning gamers, the mixtures will almost all be new.

Yr-Lengthy Teammates Who Have By no means (Or Virtually By no means) Performed Collectively

Jamal Murray has by no means performed an NBA recreation with Bones Hyland, which type of boggles the thoughts contemplating how rapidly Hyland grew to become such an integral a part of the Nuggets in his rookie season each in basketball phrases on the courtroom, and in embodying the guts and soul of the staff’s character, and placing his distinct, lovable imprint upon it. Murray has additionally by no means taken the courtroom alongside Jeff Inexperienced or Davon Reed, each of whom have been additionally new to Denver final season. And contemplating that Michael Porter Jr. performed simply 265 minutes in 9 video games final season earlier than again surgical procedure sidelined him the remainder of the way in which, the identical can successfully be mentioned for him.

The truth that Murray and Porter are starters, and the opposite three gamers come off the bench to a point mitigates this being a significant concern, However as Hyland’s function and significance continues rising, Malone will presumably wish to give him some significant minutes subsequent to Murray and Nikola Jokic within the beginning lineup, even perhaps in game-closing conditions, so he and Murray particularly could have a studying curve in determining how you can share the courtroom collectively in a productive, environment friendly method.

New Faces Be a part of the Combine

The Nuggets made two essential veteran acquisitions this offseason. They obtained their new “three-and-D” improve at beginning capturing guard, touchdown Kentavious Caldwell-Pope from the Washington Wizards in a commerce of Barton and Morris, and subsequently extending him on a two-year, $30 million contract. To again up the identical place and additional bolster their wing protection, in addition they added Bruce Brown, signing him in free company to a two-year, $13.3 million deal. Each of those gamers seem set to determine prominently in Denver’s common rotation, particularly contemplating potential minutes limits and relaxation video games for Murray and Porter which ought to open up extra taking part in time.

On paper, each gamers seem like seamless matches. Each have expertise as efficient function gamers alongside massive stars like LeBron James and Anthony Davis, and Kevin Durant and James Harden, respectively. However the proof will likely be within the pudding, and anticipating some adjustment time with a number of bumps within the highway right here and there may be in all probability extra sensible, particularly contemplating that Murray and MPJ will likely be not solely adjusting to their new teammates, however on the identical time, following their accidents and rehabilitation, ramping again up and getting reacclimated to taking part in NBA basketball.

Maybe extra on the perimeter of the rotation, in the event that they crack it in any respect, may even be new gamers rookie Christian Braun, who the Nuggets chosen with the twenty first total decide within the 2022 NBA draft, and DeAndre Jordan, Denver’s first free agent signing out of the gate, and a former Brooklyn Nets teammate of each Brown and Inexperienced.

There will likely be extra new blood on the bench than within the beginning 5, which bodes effectively for the Nuggets’ most important lineup when it comes to the steadiness that comes with continuity, however as the teachings of final season illustrated all too painfully, they are going to want their bench to congeal extra rapidly, and carry out extra reliably and constantly from begin to end, so as to relieve a number of the strain off the starters to place in an unfavorably excessive minutes load.

A Pleased Reunion Of Denver’s Excessive Upside Core 4

Within the temporary window of time in March and April of 2021 from when the Nuggets traded for Aaron Gordon till Murray went down together with his ACL tear, they appeared unstoppable, and on observe to grow to be not only a title contender, however maybe the favourite to win the championship. (ESPN’s Zach Lowe, for instance, usually mentions on his podcast that had Murray not gotten injured, Denver would have been his decide to win all of it.)

The numbers the beginning lineup of Murray, Barton, Porter, Gordon and Jokic put up in these 9 video games have grow to be the stuff of the legend of what might need been. Per Cleansing the Glass, when the 4 who will likely be returning collectively this season (minus Barton) shared the courtroom collectively, The Nuggets had a scorching internet ranking of +17.1, the tough equal of, on common, beating their opponents by about 17 factors per recreation. For context, rolling in reverse by means of the previous few seasons, the highest internet rankings within the league have been put up by Phoenix (+8.5), Utah (+11.6), Milwaukee twice (+9.9, +9.1) and Houston (+9.0).

Granted, Denver’s “core 4” solely performed 232 possessions collectively, and in a bigger pattern dimension that +17.1 would definitely come all the way down to earth a bit. However because the numbers (from NBA.com) within the tweet above present, when the vary is narrowed to solely Jokic and Murray in a far greater, and subsequently extra reliable pattern dimension of almost 15,000 possessions, that internet ranking drops solely to a really respectable +7.0, which might have been good for third-best within the league final season behind the Suns and Celtics, and which additionally contains the sooner, extra childhood of the Murray and Jokic pairing. When Porter is added to the combination, the variety of possessions drops to round 1,850, a reasonably significant quantity, and the online ranking jumps to +13.1, which is championship caliber.

How effectively this core can recoup this magic after they reunite stays to be seen, and relies on a slew of things, at first the well being of Murray and Porter, and moreover the flexibility of all these new teammates and mixtures to search out the identical degree of chemistry they beforehand achieved.

Because it’s the names on the prime of the depth chart – Jokic, Murray, Porter, Gordon, and now Hyland ought to be included there as effectively – that additionally symbolize the Nuggets’ most acquainted faces, the numerous methods during which this staff can and can truly be fairly completely different have been considerably obscured. However that truth additionally supplies good purpose to consider that Denver ought to have the ability to climate these modifications fairly effectively.

With a greater than rock-solid back-to-back MVP as their anchor to regular the ship if the waters get a bit uneven alongside the way in which, and a extra succesful (particularly on the defensive finish) assist solid than final season to fall again on, this new incarnation of the Nuggets could also be “identical identical, however completely different,” however in addition they stand a really actual probability of convalescing into the very best staff in franchise historical past.