Time for Nuggets to make good on Jokic’s stack of MVPs

So, how was your Nuggets offseason, Michael Malone?

“Aside from getting hit by a truck in a hit-and-run it’s been OK,” the coach said on Monday.

Note to self: Never crash into Michael Malone’s car.

“Bobby Simmons, the best security (guard) in the NBA, is going to track him down.”

Note to the Nuggets: stay home except on game day. Order Uber Eats. Invest in bubble wrap.

If the Nuggets don’t have bad luck, they have no luck at all. So it makes sense Jamal Murray’s to-do list when training camp opens Tuesday begins right here: “Stay healthy.”

And that’s really the question looming over the Nuggets: Is this a franchise cursed for eternity?

Or is this finally the season when Murray and Michael Porter Jr. pair with Nikola Jokic to form a Big 3 that gives them a shot to pair a team trophy with Joker’s growing stack of MVPs?

“I want to be the Tim Duncan of the Denver Nuggets, but I need a couple of championships to be him,” Joker said during the team’s annual media day in lower downtown at Ball Arena.

Players say the time is now. Murray confirmed he’s full go 18 months removed from knee surgery. Porter said he’s ready to play all 82 games after a career-high third back surgery.

“I have no limitations,” Porter revealed.

“At the moment I just want to play,” Murray said. “I don’t care if I go 0 for 10. ”

Malone is OK after the hit-and-run, by the way. Same for Nuggets staffer Ryan Bowen, who was in Malone’s car when a truck rear-ended them and the driver left the crash scene with his dog.

“It was actually pretty scary,” Malone said.

Every finger and toe in Ball Arena is crossed that the injury issues are in the rearview mirror.

But the franchise, with Malone as the spokesman, is still not ready to unleash Murray and Porter with a full workload of playing time. The Nuggets are going to remain patient with Murray’s knee and Porter’s back, Malone said.

“Monitor their loads” is how he put it. That means Murray won’t be available for some games on the second night of a back-to-back, and Porter could be a surprise scratch even if he feels fine but the franchise doesn’t. None of the aspiring Big 3 — Murray, Porter or Jokic — will play in all five games of the preseason.

This is the Nuggets we’re talking about.

Safety comes first, second, third, fourth and fifth. It’s the best approach for trust between players and the franchise, and even better for coaches’ job security. But at some point 18-month recoveries must transition back into normal life again.

That time is not now, I guess.

“The team we’re going to be in November and December is not going to be the team we’re going to be in April,” Malone said.

Ah, April. The spring of 2021 is when the Nuggets were the best team in the NBA for a hot minute. They traded for Aaron Gordon, Joker was passing through his first MVP campaign, and Murray and Porter were fully operational without a worry in the world. Remember the good ol’ days?

“No one could beat us,” Murray said. What separated those Nuggets was their size and strength. Gordon, Porter and Jokic lined up in the frontcourt? Sign me up, and God bless the opponent who’s going to sub out with bruises.

Sure looks like general manager Calvin Booth sought to replicate the bully formula when he approached this offseason, adding tough guys Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Bruce Brown.

Ask me, and the breakout player will be Zeke Nnaji, whose transformation into a bodybuilder is something out of a weightlifting magazine.

Ask Booth, and second-year guard “Bones” Hyland will be in the running for the NBA’s most improved player award.

Ask anyone, and Jokic sounds like a two-time reigning MVP who’s thrilled to have his buddies back on the court.

“It’s going to be nice to have those dogs back,” Gordon said.

Sure is. Now back to the basement, Nuggets.

Nobody leaves the house.

“Ask anyone, and Jokic sounds like a two-time reigning MVP who’s thrilled to have his buddies back on the court.” Paul Klee