The 240 Minutes Series Explained:
In the NBA there are 450 players under full contracts to start every season. These players consist of superstars, all-stars, average players, guys dealing with injuries, benchwarmers, rookies, ring-chasers, and whatever Hassan Whiteside is. Despite the contracts, draft capital, coaching, potential, friendships, and experience that all play a role in rotation minutes, there are only 240 minutes every game to go around and split amongst the players.
In this series, we cut through all of that. Join the fun as we dig into the rosters of every NBA team and project how many rotation minutes will be played by each player to begin the season. This takes into account all active injuries and thinks about the rosters in terms of which 9-12 players on each team will actually be playing for their respective team for the first few weeks of the regular season. In addition to this, we will discuss the positions that they will be playing, why their minutes per game total is calculated where it is, and showcase the quality of the player that is allotted those minutes. The “quality of player” tiers will look as such:
MVP Candidate – Top 10 player and potential to win MVP this season
All-NBA Candidate – Top 30 player and potential to be on an All-NBA Team this season
High-End Starter – Quality starter with potential to make the All-star game this season
Starter – Quality starter and is (roughly) a top 120 player this season
Low-End Starter – Starts but is not (roughly) a top 120 player this season
Elite 6th Man – Does not start but is a top (roughly) 120 player and could win 6MOTY this season
High-End Backup – Does not start but could if needed and perform well
Backup – Does not start but is a quality role player
Low-End Backup – Could see minutes during regular season but might not make playoff rotation
Without further ado:
Where Will the 240 Minutes on the Denver Nuggets Go?
Nikola Jokic C – MVP Candidate (33 minutes per game)
Coming off of his MVP season, Jokic is looking as lean and fit as ever. After playing all 72 regular season games last season, Jokic was the epitome of consistent, reliable, and amazing. With Jamal Murray rehabbing and not expected back until at least March, he will be asked to carry the load yet again in the 2021-2022 season. While he did average 34.6 minutes per game last season, Michael Malone will likely look to limit his minutes when possible and keep him in the 32-33-minute range to keep the Joker fresh late in the season.
Michael Porter Jr. SF/PF – High End Starter (32 minutes per game)
As the clear #2 on the Nuggets going into this upcoming season, MPJ is going to have to take another leap if the Nuggets want to be an elite team. He was one of the most efficient shooters in the NBA last season, ranking 4th in effective field goal percentage and 7th in true shooting percentage. Porter Jr. averaged 31.3 minutes per game last season and he is likely to see an uptick in usage this year.
Will Barton SG/SF – Starter (30 minutes per game)
One of the most polarizing players on Denver, Barton was perhaps the biggest beneficiary of Jamal Murray’s injury. He signed a new contract (2 year/32mil) with the Nuggets and will be a much-needed ball-handler and scorer while Murray is gone. His relationship with Jokic and experience with the team was a large reason that this re-signing was inevitable. Will Barton played 31.0 minutes per game last season and looks to start at SG for the Nuggets. PJ Dozier’s improvement and flexibility should allow Barton’s minutes to stay in the low 30s to hopefully avoid the repeated injuries he tends to suffer towards the end of the season.
Aaron Gordon SF/PF – Starter (29 minutes per game)
After Denver acquired Aaron Gordon at the trade deadline, he showed flashes of being the missing piece to this Nuggets lineup but also struggled at times. Due to his inconsistencies, Michael Malone would at times elect to end games with other players on the court instead of Gordon. Despite this, the off-season should help Gordon feel more comfortable with the team and the assets given up to get Gordon on the roster should warrant that more minutes go his way this upcoming season. He averaged just 25.9 minutes per game with the Nuggets post-trade but averaged 32-33 minutes on a below-average Orlando team the past few seasons.
Monte Morris PG – Low-end Starter (27 minutes per game)
Monte Morris is perhaps the ideal backup point-guard in the modern NBA. He is a true floor general and has been a top-two player in the league for assist-to-turnover ratio for the last three seasons. He also has a career 3-point percentage of 39.3%, well above league average. He will have to take on a different role for the first part of the 2021-2022 season however, as he slides into the starting PG spot. He averaged 25.4 minutes per game last year and looks to be the front-man for the PG committee that Denver will use with Facundo Campazzo and PJ Dozier also spending some time at point.
PJ Dozier PG/SG/SF – High-end Backup (24 minutes per game)
PJ Dozier seems to be poised for a break-out in 2021-2022. He is an extremely versatile player who can defend both guards and wings at a high level and has a nice connection with Jokic, specifically on fast-breaks and dump-off passes. He is the clear favorite on the Nuggets to be the first man off the bench and could have a career year. The 24-year-old played a modest 21.8 minutes per game last season and should see an uptick is both minutes and production.
JaMychal Green PF/C– Backup (19 minutes per game)
Jmyke is a solid backup and a definite playoff rotation guy. While he only scored 18+ points once last season and only hit 10+ rebounds three times, he was a tremendous glue guy and can be a huge difference maker when his shot is hitting. He and Jeff Green can both rebound at a high level as well, which allows the Nuggets to play small-ball when Jokic is on the bench if they want to. JaMychal Green averaged 19.3 minutes per game last season and his role should be exactly the same this season.
Jeff Green SF/PF/C – High-End Backup (15 minutes per game)
The other J. Green on the roster and the only new face with the Nuggets for this upcoming season, Jeff Green looks to fill in the Paul Milsap role from last season. 35-year-old Green had a career year from deep last season with Brooklyn, hitting a remarkable 41.2% of his 3-pointers. While it is wishful thinking that this will carry over to this upcoming season, Green is a career 34% shooter from deep. Despite this, he has shown that he can be a replacement level starter if needed and even started 38 games for the Nets. Green averaged 27.0 minutes per game last season for a very thin roster, but he likely takes a back seat on this deeper Nuggets team.
Facundo Campazzo PG – Backup (15 minutes per game)
Many casual NBA fans may have no idea who Facundo Campazzo is. The 30-year-old Argentinean was one of the oldest rookies to ever enter the league last season. Campazzo is pure effort and plays every minute he is on the court like it is the last two minutes of a finals game. Not only that, but the 5’10” pest was eager to put in massive minutes in the playoffs for the Nuggets last season when their guards were riddled with injuries. Campazzo is not an efficient shooter by any means, but can impact the game in a way that not many players can with pure energy. He averaged 21.9 minutes per game last season but only 16.3 minutes per game pre all-star break (and pre-injuries for the other Denver guards).
Austin Rivers PG/SG – Low-end Backup (10 minutes per game)
The hero of game 3 vs Portland in the playoffs is back in Denver. After dropping 16 points in the 4th quarter of an NBA playoff game, Rivers still could not find any suitors for a bigger contract so he re-signed with Denver for a minimum contract. Being a streaky shooter and a sneaky solid defender gives Rivers a chance at the rotation initially with Murray out. While I think he likely only sees a stint or two a game, if he drains a couple of threes I could easily see him getting double digit minutes in some early games. He averaged 26.9 minutes last year with the Nuggets and shot 41.3% from deep in the playoffs but with Barton and Dozier back from injuries, his role will be drastically reduced.
Zeke Nnaji PF/C – Low-end Backup (6 minutes per game)
Nnaji was the 22nd overall pick in the 2020 NBA draft for the Denver Nuggets and just couldn’t seem to get onto the court last season. He did have a nice stretch of games in February including one start but was mostly buried behind the likes of MPJ, Gordon, Green, and Milsap. Nnaji showed versatility on defense being able to defend both SFs and bigs and has a beautiful shooting touch. Look for him to get a couple more opportunities this season, but still not high volume as the forward room did not get any thinner this offseason.
Projected Nightly Depth Chart:
PG: Monte Morris/Facundo Campazzo/PJ Dozier
SG: Will Barton/PJ Dozier/Austin Rivers
SF: Michael Porter Jr./Jeff Green/PJ Dozier
PF: Aaron Gordon/JaMychal Green/Zeke Nnaji
C: Nikola Jokic/Jeff Green/Zeke Nnaji
Not in Initial Rotation:
Jamal Murray PG (Injured)
Bol Bol PF/C
Vlatko Cancar SF/PF
Bones Hyland PG/SG