Should the Jonas Valanciunas era in Denver be labeled a failed experiment?

For years, the biggest structural weakness on the Denver Nuggets roster has been hiding in plain sight. Nikola Jokic is the best player in the world when he is on the floor. The problem has always been what happens the moment he steps off it.

The Nuggets have cycled through backup centers throughout Jokic’s tenure. None of them have been able to provide the kind of stability the second unit needs to survive its non-Jokic minutes.

When Denver acquired Jonas Valanciunas last offseason, it finally felt like the long-standing issue had been addressed with a real, established veteran capable of holding the fort. But it didn’t last long.

One season later, Valanciunas is out. And Marvin Bagley is in.

On a recent edition of the midday show on 104.3 The Fan, host Josh Dover didn’t dance around what the Valanciunas era actually amounted to.

“It’s a failed stint. You can’t call it anything but that,” Dover said.

That’s a blunt assessment, but a fair one. Bringing in a veteran of Valanciunas’ pedigree to fix a specific problem, then moving on from him after a single season, doesn’t leave a lot of room for a more generous interpretation. The signing could have been a multi-year solution. It became a one-year detour.

What frustrates Dover most about the outcome isn’t the initial signing. It’s how the situation was managed once Valanciunas arrived.

“I really loved the signing. It was like, ‘Wow, they actually addressed a backup center for Nikola Jokic,'” Dover said.

That reaction was widely shared across Denver at the time. Valanciunas was exactly the kind of player the Nuggets had been missing.

A big body. A capable scorer in the post. A rebounder. A veteran who understood his role and could operate within the structure of an offense built around another elite big. On paper, the fit was as clean as any backup center signing the Nuggets had made in years.

But paper and playing time are not the same thing. And Dover pointed directly to where the disconnect happened.

“Insert David Adelman and completely ruin the addition that was Jonas Valanciunas,” Dover said.

That’s a pointed critique. Adelman’s rotation decisions throughout the season limited Valanciunas’ minutes in ways that made it difficult for the veteran to find any real rhythm. Rather than settling him into a consistent role behind Jokic, the deployment felt inconsistent and, at times, tentative.

A player like Valanciunas needs reps to be effective. He needs to know when he’s playing, how long he’s playing and what kind of possessions he’s being asked to run. Without that consistency, even a talented backup becomes ineffective, and the eye test on Valanciunas’ season reflected exactly that reality.

Dover made his conclusion clear.

“I look at it as a failed experiment, because of the coach,” he said.

That distinction matters. This wasn’t a case of the player failing to perform. It was a case of the coaching staff failing to put the player in a position to succeed.

Now, Denver moves on to Marvin Bagley, a different kind of player entirely, one built around athleticism rather than post presence. They’re hoping the fit with Adelman’s system works better this time around.

Related

Another new team enters the Peyton Watson sweepstakesSpencer Jones opens up about free agency on LinkedInThe addition of DeMar DeRozan would transform the NuggetsIt’s hard to imagine the Nuggets taking on the repeater tax next seasonReport: Nuggets offer Peyton Watson way less money than Christian BraunNuggets give David Adelman some help, hire Dave Joerger