Coach Karl’s Corner: The importance of team connectivity

The first 10 to 20 games of a season is when you find out who you really are as a team. At this point in the season, the Nuggets are a team that has yet to be tested. About 70 percent of their games thus far have come against non-playoff teams.

Now, there’s still a lot of optimism around this team. I like the current construction of their roster. Nikola Jokic is playing well and even Jamal Murray, when he is playing, is in good form. When you’re coming off an injury, it’s important to get that sense of confidence back. An injury like his is going to take a considerable amount of time for that confidence to be fully restored, but one game at a time, he’s finding a groove.

The Nuggets main test, however, is managing inconsistencies with the current rotation. They have players in and out of the lineup with injuries and illnesses, and it’s easy to see how their connectivity wanes, which is evident in losses to teams like the Detroit Pistons.

Connectivity is an essential part of a winning team. Specifically, younger players are the ones that are most impacted by a team’s connectivity.

Right now the rotation is scattered all over the place and the inconsistencies are cutting into player development. There are too many young guys, particularly coming off the bench. That’s one of the reasons I loved having a guy like Andre Miller coming off the bench; he was a calming veteran presence that can take control of the pace of a game at a moment’s notice.

The Nuggets rely heavily on Bones Hyland. Maybe a little too much. He’s a player that’s up and down. You have to expect bad shots from him at times. His shot selection sometimes drives me crazy, but when he’s in the flow of the game, he is an extremely confident player. He just has to learn the small details of the game that will make him a complete player.

Much like one of my former players, J.R Smith, Bones has the potential to play starter minutes. He’s doing a decent job playing both ways, but when he becomes fully engaged on the defensive side, he will be a true starter in this league.

Christian Braun is another young player impacted by the connectivity of the team. He’s a smart defensive player that offensively doesn’t turn the ball over. He does all the little things to contribute to the team’s success and there was a point mid-November where I thought he would be a key contributor to this roster. But the inconsistencies are keeping him limited.

The Nuggets currently are in second place in the Western Conference, but I think they have many improvements they still have to make as a team to maintain their spot in the current standings. I am interested in seeing what strategies Michael Malone will employ to encourage the development of his young guys off the bench in hope of maximizing this team’s potential.

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