Ranking the NBA’s small market teams

Tim Duncan, San Antonio Spurscredit (Robert Sullivan /AFP via Getty Images)
Tim Duncan, San Antonio Spurscredit (Robert Sullivan /AFP via Getty Images) /
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Alex English, Denver Nuggets
Alex English, Denver Nuggets(Photo by Focus on Sport/Getty Images) /

#11: Denver Nuggets

The Denver Nuggets have a generational player in Nikola Jokic, and I don’t say that lightly. I feel like we slap a “generational” label on stars, but it means something else. Kawhi Leonard, Jayson Tatum, Jimmy Butler, and Klay Thompson are all really, really good, but they aren’t generational. The only players that earn that title are Jokic, LeBron James, Curry, Durant, and Giannis. “Generational” implies they have either changed the game forever, as Curry did, or transcended it, as James did.

Jokic is the first true point-center I’ve seen. He’s not a point guard in any sense, but the ball is always in his hands and he can put it on the floor and pass like the best of them. Unfortunately, his team is yet to make the Finals and has never really had any degree of success, with or without him on the roster.

The Denver Nuggets were one of the best ABA teams, but this article is clearly titled “Ranking the NBA’s small market teams.” To my editor–if you change the title, this fourth wall break doesn’t work.

Since entering the league, the Nuggets have the 15th best win percentage. That’s perfectly average, although teams with the worst records have made more noise in the playoffs. The Nuggets have hardly made any, which, for the time being, secures their spot.