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Nikola Jokic's Nuggets are on the verge of a collapse that will likely rewrite their entire story

Robert Zeglinski   For The Win

Welcome to Layup Lines, For the Win's basketball newsletter. Subscribe here to get it delivered to your inbox every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Have feedback for the Layup Lines Crew? Leave your questions, comments, and concerns through this brief reader survey. Now, here's Robert Zeglinski.

Hello there, friends! Welcome back to Layup Lines! It's nice to meet y'all. I wanted to talk about the squad that harbors the brilliance of three-time MVP Nikola Jokic.

Of course, I'm referring to the Denver Nuggets.

At the time of this writing, Jokic is averaging (read: AVERAGING) over 40 points, 12.3 rebounds, and 9.5 assists in the Nuggets' last six games. He is at or near the absolute peak of his powers in putting up a near 40-point triple-double every night lately. Strip away all other context from his performances, and it is absurd to see how easily basketball comes to him now.

There's one glaring problem here.

Despite Jokic turning on the jets, the free-falling Nuggets have lost four straight games. They're in serious danger of losing homecourt in the first round of the playoffs and potentially falling to the play-in tournament. It speaks volumes that the Nuggets can't win right now with Jokic going full "basketball god to the rescue" mode. He has to be flawless, mind-blowingly extraordinary, and even that doesn't guarantee a Denver victory.

Don't worry. That sound you hear right now is me pulling wind in through gnashed teeth.

I gotta be honest: I'm getting the vibes of a defeated Nuggets team ready to pack it in. I've seen this kind of morose energy from many sad-sack teams before. Who's to blame for this mess?

Is it general manager Calvin Booth for constructing a roster that asked three non-lottery picks (Christian Braun, Peyton Watson, Julian Strawther) to all be ready for significant playoff minutes this year? I still think this trio remains promising on its merits, but I'm not sure their developmental timeline matches up with the Nuggets' current win-now mission.

Is it the rigidity of Michael Malone, a great coach who has built this program in Denver from the ground up, but has also failed to fix a bottom-third defense while proving to be frustratingly inflexible? Malone is doing his best to make chicken salad out of, well, you know, but he's never exactly been known as this great tactician, either.

Is it Jamal Murray's health, who is nursing a strained hamstring as we speak? We're entertaining the real possibility that he will have missed or been hampered in four of the last five Denver postseasons because of injuries. That's untenable for Jokic's primary running mate. Is it down years from Aaron Gordon and Michael Porter Jr.? Gordon has been a shell of himself on the defensive end all season. Porter, meanwhile, is putting up lots of "1-of-9" lines from 3-point land as someone who's supposed to be the team's top spacer.

Perhaps the answer to this question boils down to owners Stan and Josh Kroenke, who have mismanaged the early prime of one of the finest NBA players ever. I'm not certain it was unintentional, too.

What I'm getting at is that everyone is to blame for the Nuggets' season going down the drain. Even Jokic, who has struggled immensely on the defensive end for five months. But that's mainly because Denver doesn't have the players to cover up the warts he's always had on that end. He still gets a pass because of, you know, everything else he's responsible for.

So, it's all on the table now. Let's say the Nuggets fall short of 50 wins and lose in the play-in tournament. If that happens, I could see a realistic scenario where they fire Booth and Malone and try to trade at least two of Murray, Gordon, and Porter in the summer, even if it means getting pennies on the dollar in return. Really, unless Denver does something like qualify for the West Finals, counting on at least two of those five names being gone feels like the safest bet.

Either way, it'd be the end of an era where this Nuggets core was the Western Conference's winningest team over the last half-decade. As long as Jokic is at the center of everything they do moving forward, they may well get this mantle back in due time.

But this end-of-season implosion makes a huge shake-up feel imminent for Denver, if not outright necessary.

The Pistons' Renaissance is what this is all about

With the Detroit Pistons' win over the Toronto Raptors on Saturday night, we're finally gonna see a sight for sore eyes this spring.

(Ahem) DE-TROITTTTTTTTT BASKETBALLLLLLL ... is back. Sorry, sorry, I'm not deleting it.

That's right, folks. After a five-year postseason absence, Cade Cunningham's Pistons have come full circle on a once-agonizing rebuild. They're in the playoffs again, and frankly, given the youth of their roster, I'm sure they're gonna stay here awhile. It seems like they have a very healthy culture on top of a solid nucleus, which is always a great sign for the future.

As someone who is of the firm belief that the NBA is better when the Pistons are good and relevant, I can't tell you how much this warms my heart.

Good for all these tortured, patient Pistons fans. Good for that young team. And good for the city of Detroit.

Here's hoping this awesome ascent is nowhere close to finished.

Shootaround

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