Denver Nuggets & The Stories of Improbability

“If you want to be successful, you need to be bad, then you need to be good, then when you’re good, you need to fail, then when you fail, you’re going to figure it out.” - Nikola Jokic

Let's start there.

Nikola Jokic: The NBA world will be talking about Jokic's legacy after winning his first ring at 28 years old. We can go on and on about the accolades, and rightly so. Per ESPN Stats, Joker finished the playoffs averaging 52.9 combined PPG, RPG, APG — the 2nd-most in NBA history. Wilt Chamberlain averaged 59.9 in 1967.

The Quesarito: When Joker was selected with the 41st pick in the 2014 NBA Draft, ESPN aired a Taco Bell commercial advertising the Quesarito. Not one sight of him nor highlights showing what he's going to bring to Denver. Back in Serbia, his brother woke him out of a deep sleep to let him know. Now he's a two-time regular season MVP and Finals MVP with career earnings expected to reach $423 million when his contract expires in 2028.

What's next, Disneyland? Championship Parade? "I need to go home. On Sundays, I have my horse racing."

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Denver's Vagabonds: We often watch pro sports and think about money and fame that comes with it, but how about family men who've had to move countless amount of times, year after year, to continue providing and pursuing. Role players don't get much glory and in most instances, they don't make nearly as much as star players. So with that said, the stories go deeper than legacy talks about star players like Jokic.

Here are a few that'll finally take home some hardware to serve as what I like to call 'tangible fruit to their labor.'

• Ish Smith played on 13 different teams in 13 seasons since he entered the league at 21, making him the only player in league history to play for at least 13 franchises. You see, as funny as Joker's Taco Bell story is — at least he was selected on Draft Night. Smith didn't even get that. He went undrafted out of Wake Forest and spent time between the (then) D League and NBA, bouncing from leagues, teams, and cities.
  

• "Uncle" Jeff Green has played for 12 different NBA teams over the course of 16 seasons — and this isn't even half of it. The 36-year-old underwent open heart surgery in 2012 with his doctor telling ESPN at the time, "I was so grateful that we got to him in time... before he had a major disaster." In the same piece by Baxter Holmes, Green said, "Basketball is secondary. I had to really fight for my life. I almost died over this game."

"A lot of GMs, teams told me I wouldn't even make it past five [years]... I'm glad they told me that." (Via Denver Post, 2022)

While on the topic of vagabonds...

... Nuggets head coach Michael Malone (shoutout Queens) worked in various coaching roles since 1993 before the Kings gave him a shot at serving as a head coach in the league (2013).

• 1993-94: Friends School of Baltimore (assistant)

• 1994-95: Oakland (assistant)

• 1995-98: Providence (assistant)

• 1991-01: Manhattan (assistant)

• 2001-05: Knicks (assistant)

• 2005-10: Cavaliers (assistant)

• 2010-11: Hornets (assistant)

• 2011-13: Warriors (assistant)

As DeMarre Carroll once wisely told me: "A good coach can change your whole life" — and this goes for all things in life. Malone, 51, is the fourth-longest-tenured coach in the Association. Given how much turnover there is with professional coaches, it's a great tale for those who must understand that it's a marathon — not a sprint — when chasing your dreams.

"Nobody Should Take Him..."

Michael Porter Jr. had all the tools to be the first overall pick in the 2018 NBA Draft, averaging 36.2 points and 13.6 rebounds, while leading Nathan Hale High School to a 29-0 record and a state championship. His first year at Missouri was plagued by a back injury which forced him to undergo a microdisectomy of his L3-L4 spinal discs in 2017. He underwent season-ending surgery less than a month later in 2018. Then in 2021, he underwent lumbar spine surgery.

“The Clippers had the 12th and 13th pick and their doctor is the one that did my evaluation. He wrote up like, ‘I don’t know if this guy will play again, nobody should take him.’ So that’s why I ended up dropping to 14, and the Clippers passed on me twice.” (Via The Old Man and the Three podcast)

Congratulations, Stanley Kroenke... With all respect, It's difficult to say "resilience" when discussing a man/woman worth over $12 billion — but Nuggets governing owner Stan Kroenke has also pulled off the improbable and won his third major sports championship within a 16-month span.

🏈 L.A. Rams (Feb. 2022)

🏒Colorado Avalanche (June, 2022)

🏀 Denver Nuggets (June, 2023)

💰 Value of the Nuggets, Avalanche, Rams: $8.99 billion (via Forbes)

Ring Talk and Tim Connelly

The best team prevailed. Jokic officially enters the ring conversation amid an era when basketball discourse is highly focused on counting rings as a major part of [player's] legacy... for whatever it's worth. Tip your cap to former GM Tim Connelly, who structured this entire team and trusted the right individuals to create a solid foundation — and culture with patience and continuity. He left Denver in May 2022 and signed a five-year, $40 million deal that included ownership equity for him to take over as President of Basketball Operation for the Timberwolves. Despite his early departure, he should probably get a ring!

As Michael Malone said while hoisting the Larry O'Brien Trophy: "We're not satisfied with one. We want more."

A Conversation With Jimmy Butler

Last year, Jimmy teamed up with Van Leeuwen Ice Cream to create a flavor centered around his BigFACE Coffee Brand. I did an exclusive with him a couple weeks after the Heat lost to the Celtics in the 2022 Eastern Conference Finals. As the conversation progressed towards basketball, I asked him about how the team is doing/how he's feeling. Jimmy was genuinely hurt and couldn't come to grips with the reality, the pain. "Man, that opens up a wound that hasn't recovered," he told me. "It hurts bro, it hurts so much." I kept it out of the Q&A despite his PR team approving the question and moved on to talk more about coffee and ice cream.

Why am I telling this story? This entire piece is about the Nuggets' improbability — but there's always a story on the other end. Jimmy Butler exemplifies improbability on and off the court. His mother kicked him out at 13 as he lived with friends to continue his education. He didn't go to a big school right away... he played JUCO.

He struggled in the Finals and he caught a ton of flack on social media, but Miami wasn't supposed to be here. They were the second 8-seed to ever make the NBA Finals. They had seven undrafted players on their roster. Bam Adebayo was the team's only All-Star. Tyler Herro played 19 minutes before breaking his hand in the first game of the first round.

Like I mentioned with DeMarre Carroll's quote about a great coach changing your life — that applies to great leaders, too. During a time when so much money is being thrown around and there's more focus on what players do off the court versus on the court, watching Jimmy Butler seemingly take on the world this postseason was a breath of fresh air, and I simply couldn't get our conversation out of my head through Miami's highs and lows.

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