Nuggets role player calling himself team's 'vocal leader' is massive indictment of Nikola Jokić
· Yahoo Sports
When you look at the Denver Nuggets roster, on paper, you see a lot of guys who probably should be leaders.
There's Aaron Gordon, the versatile Swiss Army Knife. There's Jamal Murray, the All-NBA-caliber guard. Above all, there's three-time MVP Nikola Jokić, the man who sets the table for the Nuggets and is the main reason anyone takes them remotely seriously.
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But apparently, none of these esteemed gentlemen is the Nuggets' "vocal leader." No, no, that role apparently belongs to Denver's fifth starter, Christian Braun, an average defender and mediocre shooter best known for thriving in offensive transition. Honestly, I'm starting to see why Jokić's Nuggets looked so weak and so soft in a convincing first-round playoff defeat to the shorthanded Minnesota Timberwolves.
More from the Denver Post's Bennett Durando:
“It’s just unacceptable [the Nuggets' playoff loss]. Especially with the talent we have on this roster,” Braun said. “I think when we come here every single year, we talk about championships. That’s our mindset and our goal. And obviously, we fell short. A first-round exit’s not acceptable. We’ve gotta bounce back. We’ve gotta get to work. … You can kind of put it on my shoulders. I think this team wasn’t resilient enough in the playoffs.”
When asked to elaborate, he said the lack of resilience was a reflection of him.
“I just think I’m the leader of this team,” Braun said. “I’m the vocal leader of this team. And when we don’t play well as a whole, you can blame whatever you want … You can blame anything. But I didn’t play well enough as an individual, and I didn’t have this team ready enough to play in a tough series. So we’ll be better. I’ll be better. I’m looking forward to next year, when we can respond.”
I'm sorry, WHAT? Braun is the vocal leader on a team featuring one of only nine NBA players ever to win three MVP awards, a guard known as one of the greatest playoff risers in playoff history, and a forward widely recognized as one of the Association's premier glue guys in the 2020s? Really?! No disrespect intended to Braun, but that responsibility shouldn't be on him.
Woof, that says so much about the Nuggets.
I'm sure I'm not the first to attest that Jokić, above all, has never really been a rah-rah guy. That's not his style. He's always been more of a lead-by-example type. The same goes for Murray and Gordon. But man, does this trio look awful for apparently letting a glorified and limited specialist like Braun, with nowhere near their experience or acumen, actually be the team's unofficial motivational speaker.
No wonder the Nuggets looked so lifeless while getting punked by one of their biggest rivals. And no wonder Denver's front office is considering earnest change up and down its roster this summer. Because Braun was this version of the team's "vocal leader," that speaks to a rotten franchise culture that's probably a little bit lackadaisical, too. And the only way to fix that might be by getting a bunch of new faces into the building that will both motivate everyone and demand so much more from the Nuggets' stars, but especially Jokić.
I didn't think Jokić could look any worse after getting humiliated in a first-round defeat smack dab in the middle of his prime. These eye-opening comments from Braun have changed my mind.
This article originally appeared on For The Win: Christian Braun's "vocal leader" comments say so much about Nikola Jokić