Denver's Identity Was Built at Center. It Still Is
Doug Moe's ball movement and Dikembe Mutombo's defense explain why Denver has always needed its center to carry the team, and Nikola Jokic is still proving the point.
Denver's history keeps pointing back to one position and one habit: a dominant center and an offense that moves through him. Last season's numbers and this preseason's visit to the Lakers both make the same case with different evidence.
What October 18 Has Looked Like Before
Denver has played three games on this date across its history. In 1978-79, the team beat Portland 125-113. In 1980-81, it lost at Utah 115-117. In 2017-18, it lost at Utah again, 96-106. Two of three losses came in Salt Lake City, a reminder that Utah has given this franchise trouble across eras that otherwise share almost nothing.
The Center Line Runs Through Everything
Mutombo arrived in 1991 and finished runner-up for Rookie of the Year, then left for Atlanta in 1995-96, taking Denver's defensive identity with him. Jokic now holds that spot and does more: last season he averaged 27.7 points, 12.9 rebounds and 10.7 assists over 65 games, and on October 11 of this preseason he put up a triple-double, 22 points, 11 rebounds, 10 assists, in a win over the Bulls. The position has always carried the team; it just carries differently now.
Moe's Motion Offense Has a Modern Address
Doug Moe built Denver around ball movement decades before advanced stats could describe it. Last season's clearest evidence that the idea still works was a five-man group: Jokic, Murray, Johnson, Watson and Jones, who outscored opponents by 20.1 points per 100 possessions across 171 minutes together. That is not one player's number. It is five players finding each other.
A Rivalry That Took 16 Years to Flip
Denver lost seven straight playoff series to the Lakers before the 2023 conference finals sweep that opened the road to the title, then beat Los Angeles again in five games in 2024. Last Friday's preseason win at the Lakers, 121-106, with 21 points from Murray and 17 from Jokic, is preseason and nothing more. But it happened against the one franchise Denver spent decades failing to beat, and that history is why it still gets noticed.
Has Denver ever beaten the Lakers in the playoffs?
Yes. After losing seven straight playoff series to Los Angeles, Denver swept the Lakers in the 2023 Western Conference finals on the way to its first title, then beat them again in five games in 2024.
Who holds Denver's center position now?
Nikola Jokic, who averaged 27.7 points, 12.9 rebounds and 10.7 assists over 65 games last season and opened this preseason with a 22-point, 11-rebound, 10-assist triple-double against the Bulls.
