The Ball-Sharing Habit Predates Jokic by Four Decades
Denver's identity as a passing team goes back to Doug Moe, and this preseason's small roster moves are testing how much continuity that identity still needs.
The Nuggets have led the league in ball movement before, under different coaches and different stars, and the numbers from Doug Moe's era still stand decades later. This fall's version of that identity comes with more turnover underneath it than the top of the roster usually sees.
A League-Record Offense, Long Before Jokic
Doug Moe's motion offense set the template: Denver scored 100 points in 136 straight games, still an NBA record, and averaged a league-record 126.5 points a game in 1981-82. Last season's team, run through Jokic rather than around him, was again the league's top offense. The throughline across four decades is trust - five players who know where the extra pass goes.
Finding Value Late Is a Denver Habit
Dikembe Mutombo, drafted in 1991, finished runner-up for Rookie of the Year. Jokic went 41st in 2014 and is still regarded as the biggest draft steal in the sport's history. That same eye for value now shapes the back of the roster, where Denver signed Cam Whitmore to a two-way contract on September 18, two days after Bruce Brown left for the Knicks.
A Name on the Wall, and a Number Still Unresolved
Fat Lever's number went up on December 2, 2017, during a win over the Lakers, a reminder that continuity outlasts any one roster. Denver is chasing continuity again this month: Aaron Gordon's status flipped from day-to-day to cleared and back on September 13, with no update since - a small crack in the same five-man trust the Moe-era teams were built on.
What Denver Is Actually Chasing
The banner from 2023 came when Jokic beat Miami for the franchise's first title and was named Finals MVP, closing an 0-7 playoff history against the Lakers with a sweep that same spring. Oklahoma City ended the follow-up bid in seven games last postseason on its way to a championship of its own, and now holds three protected Denver first-round picks through 2030. The core in front of Adelman is the same one that built that history; everything beneath it is what keeps turning over.
When did the Nuggets win their first NBA championship?
Denver won its first title in 2023, beating the Miami Heat with Nikola Jokic named Finals MVP.
When did the Nuggets retire Fat Lever's number?
The Nuggets retired Fat Lever's number on December 2, 2017, during a win over the Lakers.
