"Teams with Tim Duncan and [Stephen] Curry": Nuggets GM alludes to building era-defining legacy with Nikola Jokic
Nikola Jokic has proven that he is one of the best basketball players of his generation. This comes after he led the Denver Nuggets to both his and the franchise's first NBA Championship. He also won the Finals MVP honors after he averaged 30.2 points, 14 rebounds, and 7.2 assists per game against the Miami Heat.
This comes after he has won back-to-back Season MVP awards in 2021 and 2022. Since joining the NBA in the 2014 NBA draft, he has certainly improved into becoming one of the best players in the league.
Rightfully, Calvin Booth, the Nuggets' GM, thinks they can win more with Jokic leading the team. Of course, he believes that to achieve this, they will need to manage Nikola Jokic's minutes properly.
In an exclusive interview with Sportskeeda's Mark Medina, Booth talked about what the team plans to do to keep Jokic fresh in the postseason:
“I just think that a long-term season goal is to get our team playing at the highest level possible getting into the playoffs. Part of that is maturing into a team that handles business, which in the past we haven’t done in the regular season, as far as having a stretch of games where we’re up and blowing a team away and Jokic gets to rest the last 10 minutes."
Furthermore, he refers to other teams who have employed this tactic in the past:
"You think about the San Antonio teams and the Golden State teams with Tim Duncan and [Stephen] Curry. Those teams were often doing that. If we ever get to that point this season, I feel a lot better about our chances with repeating. You have to be at that level of a team if you think you’ll be able to be a repeat champion.”
Calvin Booth believes that to maximize their chances in the playoffs, Nikola Jokic needs to be kept as fresh as possible. He has seen the tactic work in the past with the Golden State Warriors and the San Antonio Spurs. He hopes to replicate their success by taking a page out of Steve Kerr and Gregg Popovich's playbooks.
Nikola Jokic's stats and minutes last season
Nikola Jokic was once again being seriously considered to win the season MVP award last season. Ultimately, it was Joel Embiid who came away with the award but Jokic's performance was nothing short of phenomenal.
During the 2022-23 season, the Denver Nuggets star center played 69 games regular season games. During this time, he averaged 33.7 minutes per game. He put up 24.5 points, 11.8 rebounds, and 9.8 assists while shooting 55% from the field and 34% from downtown.
He played an additional 20 games in the playoffs wherein he averaged close to 40 minutes per game. He also had near triple-double averages, putting up 30 points, 13.5 rebounds, and 9.5 assists on his way to an NBA title.
Also read: Watch: Nikola Jokić's hilarious take on if NBA championship has flipped the script of his life.