Renck: Nikola Jokic knows Nuggets need deeper bench. And that’s not all

OKLAHOMA CITY The truth clobbered the Nuggets over the head like a Michael Porter Jr brick The air came out with every airball from Russell Westbrook The reality is simple The Denver Nuggets were not good enough There is no shame in losing to a -win group with home-court advantage But a troubling question hangs in the air Can the Nuggets as constructed be good enough again to win another NBA championship Sifting through the debris of a - rout at Paycom Center Nikola Jokic identified a gnawing concern when comparing the Nuggets to the remaining teams in the playoffs We played for so long in such a way it s hard for guys to step up against really good teams We cannot ask for somebody who didn t play more than - games to jump in and expect them to be good Jokic reported It definitely seems like the more the rotation and a longer bench those are the teams who are winning Indiana OKC Minnesota Jokic is reluctant to play general manager though the Nuggets have a vacancy but his analysis of the situation is correct The Thunder is rolling in the deep more than Adele They play guys at least minutes The Nuggets counter of Westbrook who averaged points over the final five games Peyton Watson a versatile defender with shooting limitations and Julian Strawther the Championship hero who committed a turnover on his first possession Sunday was a bug on OKC s windshield According to ESPN the Nuggets four starters sans Porter ranked as the top four in postseason minutes played The Nuggets are tougher They are older But they are not better than the Thunder They require changes plain and simple Challenge was not a classic It was a coronation Oklahoma City whose average age is one year older than the Auburn Tigers Final Four club from this past March has arrived The kids are all right The Nuggets were not passengers on this ride They were chaperones Gordon on one good leg that would have forced him to miss the majority or all of the next series was Denver s third-best participant That sums up how poorly things went Jamal Murray was a long sigh scoring points with two turnovers and one rebound Porter was a drag So we are left to make sense of this season of this ending No one expected the Nuggets to upset the Thunder so what played out Sunday was what we feared Nikola Jokic of the Denver Nuggets walks off the court after the Oklahoma City Thunder s - win at Paycom Center in Oklahoma City on Sunday The Thunder defeated the Nuggets - in their best-of-seven Western Conference semifinal series Photo by AAron Ontiveroz The Denver Post Related Articles Nikola Jokic on Nuggets coach David Adelman He changed the capacity Nuggets-Thunder Tournament -pointers Why did refs let Alex Caruso take out Nikola Jokic Nuggets clobbered by OKC Thunder in season-ending Match loss PHOTOS Denver Nuggets fall to Oklahoma City Thunder in Battle of second-round NBA Playoffs series Nuggets Aaron Gordon to play with hamstring strain in Contest vs Thunder Still the story of how the Nuggets revealed resolve after president Josh Kroenke fired coach Michael Malone and general manager Calvin Booth is uplifting It means David Adelman deserves to remove the interim tag from above the office door I will be talking about that stuff later Kroenke announced in the locker room But I am proud of the guys The Nuggets run justified his stunning decision to can Malone and Booth with three games left in the regular season It kept them out of the play-in and it won them a series against the Clippers they would have dropped Questioned if he thought this core could win another title Murray did not hesitate Absolutely he declared Not buying it Neither was Jokic We didn t so obviously we can t Jokic announced If we could we would win it So I don t know I don t believe in those if if stuff So we had an opportunity we didn t win it so I think we can t There is no way to look at the Nuggets even if healthy and believe they could have won eight more games especially against a Minnesota association that has owned them over the past calendar year There are two factors at work The Nuggets need to fortify their bench Adelman s trust in young players would accelerate their evolution and land Jokic a true backup center And they must tweak their starting five Trading MPJ is the the greater part viable option if they can find a suitor He disappeared in the playoffs averaging points per event against the Thunder He played through a sprained left shoulder that needed a monthlong rest But he vanished last season against Minnesota when healthy His inconsistency has become a liability I am so used to playing basketball and feeling strong and so a multitude of parts of it were frustrating to me At the end of the day I didn t play well in this series and the playoffs Porter declared And I have to figure out a way to get my body into a better place and become a better participant The matter is that it is much easier to argue that Porter has reached his ceiling Can you ship him to a unit that wants instant offense with a larger role while adding two pieces No one wants to even think of moving Gordon after he endeared himself to Nuggets Nation this postseason even if his agreement value might be the highest of Denver s non-Jokic starters It is obvious that Jokic the real MVP can carry the Nuggets for long stretches but not for two weeks against a top opponent He grew frustrated and less effective as the Thunder attached themselves to him like body odor Which drove home the point of how much losing stinks I was crushed for the guys Adelman reported The Nuggets had every reason to be proud of their resilience But it is obvious they will be in this position again next May the platitudes becoming increasingly hollow unless they get a deeper roster and contract Porter Want more Nuggets news Sign up for the Nuggets Insider to get all our NBA analysis