Lessons from a Championship Culture: 2023 NBA Champs Denver Nuggets
As the Denver Nuggets were crowned NBA champions this week, three things really stood out to me about their culture and team building philosophies that helped them become champions.
1. Selflessness
The selfless way in which Denver plays is mirrored by their genuine focus on doing what is best for the team regardless of what anyone's stats or awards are. All they care about is winning as a team. Finals MVP Nikola Jokic stated after winning the title that “We won because we are not rooting for ourselves…we are rooting for the person next to us. I’m winning for Jamal and everyone else, and they are winning for me. We believe in each other and the relationship that we have."
Denver coach Michael Malone on the relationships with his players
"You can have the best plays in the world, you can know more than most people about the game, but if you don't have relationships with your players, if you don't have true buy in, it doesn't matter. It will fall on deaf ears."
2. Patience
A patient approach in building their team and not being too quick to make unsound decisions (far too common for NBA franchises) helped the Nuggets not only build chemistry as a group, but also allowed them to experience failure with each other and grow from those moments.
Jokic on the relationship between failure and success
"If you want to be successful, you need to be bad, then you need to be good. Then when you're good, you need to fail. Then when you fail, you're going to figure it out.”
3. Situations Dictate Success
Situations play a big factor in the success of players at the highest level. Ownership, coaching staff, teammates and a number of other factors have significant impact on the success, and failure, we see in any highly competitive environment.
Nugget players like Aaron Gordon were able to not only accept, but star in their roles and have a huge impact throughout the season and playoffs.
Kevin O'Connor's tweet below does a great job summarizing the tactics behind his role and how Denver leveraged his greatest strengths to make a difference on a championship team.
