The 2021-22 NBA GM Survey looks kindly on the Denver Nuggets

Every season, the NBA’s lead decision-makers anonymously answer some simple questions about the state of the league including the conference standings.

Dubbed the NBA GM Survey, it asks them who they think the best players are, and who some of the best young players are. This season, like most, it looked kindly on the Denver Nuggets.

Most notable in the results was Nikola Jokic‘s title as the best center in the entire league. The season prior, 50 percent of all respondents said Jokic was the best big in the league, this season: 63 percent.

The Serbian also polled highly in questions like ‘Which player forces opposing coaches to make the most adjustments?’, ‘If you were starting a franchise today and could sign any player in the NBA, who would it be?’ and tied first with LeBron James with ‘Which player is the best passer?’ – not bad company.

Most of the survey is typically predictable, GMs are typically risk-averse and it shines through in the results, picking favorites like the Brooklyn Nets and LA Lakers to come out of their respective conferences.

It gets interesting when the survey throws a curveball of a question at them like ‘Which player is most likely to have a breakout season in 2021-22?’

The Most Improved Player award is one of the hardest in the entire league to predict so it’s a bit of a crapshoot. This past season, the GMs said it’d be Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Michael Porter Jr., both polling 15 percent of the total vote.

Interestingly, this season, the GMs have gone with Jaren Jackson Jr. (17 percent), Anthony Edwards (13 percent), Michael Porter Jr. (10 percent) and Darius Garland, Keldon Johnson, Ja Morant and Kevin Porter Jr. all tied for fourth with seven percent.

One could argue that MPJ did have a breakout season in 2020-21, it was just his second season on the court and has much more growing. My pick for Most Improved Player is Jordan Poole (surprisingly no votes polled) but at only 23-years-old and with more of the ball in his hands next season, there’s every reason to believe MPJ could take another leap.

For the GMs to give MPJ a high chance at breaking out (again), it’s puzzling that they didn’t rate Denver’s young core higher when answering ‘Which team has the most promising young core?’

The Atlanta Hawks took that mantle, stealing a whopping 50 percent of the entire vote, followed by the Houston Rockets (10 percent) and Boston Celtics/Memphis Grizzlies/New Orleans Pelicans/Phoenix Suns (tied on seven percent).

Oh, and the Denver Nuggets were fifth in ‘Which team is the most fun to watch?’, but fans already knew that, the league is just catching on.