Sean Keeler: Nuggets' Christian Braun wants to start. Michael Malone should let him.

Sean Keeler, The Denver Post on Feb 19, 2025

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DENVER — Like a good ranch dip, Christian Braun goes with anything. And anyone.

He runs through screens the way the Kool-Aid Man used to run through walls. He cuts to the rim like a Ginsu knife through a block of frozen spinach. He finishes Russell Westbrook pitches with grace and Nikola Jokic lobs with rage.

When Nuggets general manager Calvin Booth says he has seven starters, that includes Braun, who’s done everything asked — and more — to fill Kentavious Caldwell-Pope’s Nikes.

“If everyone’s healthy,” I asked Braun last week, waving at the empty locker stalls of Aaron Gordon and Westbrook, “do you care whether or not you start?”

He does.

“I’m not going to sit here and say I don’t care. I do care,” Braun told me. “I do want that job. That’s the job I compete for and compete for every day. It’s a competition every day. But that doesn’t change my approach.”

And if Nuggets coach Michael Malone wants to keep this party going, he won’t change his starting five once Beastbrook’s left hamstring is healed up.

Denver (36-19), which hosts Charlotte (13-39) on Thursday to open up the post-All-Star-Break stretch run, hasn’t lost since Braun went back into the starting lineup on Feb. 1.

They’re 7-0 this month. Since resuming a starter’s role because of Westbrook’s hammy, CB’s been averaging 20 points, eight boards, four assists, two steals and roughly one 3-pointer.

Sure, the Nuggets’ opponents haven’t exactly been world-beaters — they’ve seen the Pelicans twice, Blazers twice and the Hornets once. And yeah, context matters. At the same time, 20 and eight is 20 and eight.

“It’s not up to me,” Braun continued. “That’s a coaching decision, and I trust whatever the coach’s decision is every night.

“I don’t know. It doesn’t matter — start, come off the bench. If they choose for me to come off the bench, then that’s what’s best for the team. If they choose me to start, then that’s what’s best for the team. It doesn’t really matter, in my opinion. That’s their decision. My job is to come out and play good basketball every night.”

The Nuggets let KCP walk and challenged Braun, already an elite, emphatic closer at the rim, to step up his spot-up game, especially from the wings. So far, so good. Per NBA.com tracking data, only Peyton Watson (14) has nailed more treys this season from the left corner than Braun’s 12 on the Nuggets’ roster.

And while CB’s 36.2% make rate on corner 3s (17 for 47) trails fellow guards Westbrook (45.2), Watson (45.3) and Julian Strawther (50.0), it’s also a jump of more than five percentage points off his accuracy on corner treys last season (31.0).

With Jokic, Jamal Murray and Michael Porter Jr. green-lit to fire at will, the other two spots in the starting five have to be crazy efficient on the offensive end in order to hold up their ends of the table. We already know the kind of havoc Aaron Gordon can wreak from the “dunker” spot. The bar for Braun is to try and replicate KCP’s accuracy on those corner 3s, and he’s been creeping closer by the month — Caldwell-Pope was a 42.1% shooter on corner treys during the ’23-24 regular season and a 40.7% converter in ’22-23.

“Never an easy decision,” Malone said last month when asked about moving Braun to the bench. “I think the Russ-and-Nikola (Jokic) dynamic is the best two-man combination in the NBA right now, and I didn’t want to disrupt their rhythm. Knowing that CB, whether he comes off the bench and plays 29 minutes like he did tonight or he starts, he’s going to give us the same thing every night. We need that. … I applaud CB’s understanding of what we’re trying to do.”

And you get it. The Nuggets are 19-8 (.704) when Westbrook starts, 17-11 (.607) when he doesn’t. It’s about the big man, and Westbrook and Jokic looked practically telepathic in January. Russ is a future Hall-of-Famer, a veteran with a national cache. His ability to bring the ball up the floor theoretically lightens the load on Murray, who needs to be right as a shooter for this train to reach those elevated stations in May and June.

Although let’s be real about this, too: Everybody looks better playing with the Joker. Everybody. Heck, Ronnie 2K would look better playing with Jokic. According to NBA.com, the Nuggets’ three-man lineup of Joker-Murray-Braun has put up a better Offensive Rating (127.9) and Net Rating (plus-10.8) than Jokic-Murray-Westbrook (125.6 and plus-9.9) as a trio.

“If I come off the bench or if I do start, I’m still approaching the game the same way,” Braun said. “I’m not going to change who I am as a player. I’m not going to force anything. I’m going to continue to be who I am every single day, every single game, regardless if I start or come off the bench.

“But I’d be lying if I told you that didn’t (matter).”

At least he’s honest. Malone should be, too. And leave things where they are.

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