'For 7 years has been getting destroyed in non-Jokic minutes' - Kendrick Perkins calls out Mike Malone's coaching in Nuggets win against Warriors

The Denver Nuggets rallied past the Golden State Warriors in Tuesday's primetime NBA Cup battle. While Denver did a fantastic job climbing back from a seven-point deficit with three minutes to go, their team's main flaw was still exposed, and that's the time when Nikola Jokic sat on the bench. It was so bad that ESPN analyst Kendrick Perkins called out Nuggets head coach Mike Malone for still not having a solution for it.

"Mike Malone, for 7 years, has been getting destroyed in non-Jokic minutes. At what point in time do we ask can he create a system or rotation that doesn't get obliterated when Jokic doesn't play? It used to be injuries but IT'S NEVER CHANGED. Aaron Gordon, Westbrook, MPJ, Murray, and it's a 10-0 run by GSW," Perkins wrote on X.

Denver's biggest problem

Perkins is actually right in saying that the Nuggets haven't done anything about the minutes without their superstar center because that's been their problem over the last couple of years. It's just that this flaw of theirs is often covered by the Joker's durability, which is why Denver has the ability to hide it somewhat efficiently.

Still, Denver needs to be wary of the non-Jokic minutes because right now, it's not looking good. According to the ever-reliable Statmuse.com, they have a net rating of -3.3, an offensive rating of 101.7, and a defensive rating of 105.0 when the one-time champion isn't on the floor. It's as if the Nuggets' identity and system goes away the moment Jokic heads to the bench.

Take their recent victory against the Warriors as an example. The Nuggets' big man was a game-high +23, which meant that they outscored their opponent by 23 points when Jokic was on the floor. But when he wasn't, Denver was -18, which speaks volumes as to how much they struggle when their superstar sits and how the Warriors led this one for most of the game until the undisputed best player in the world took over the game.

Is Mike Malone's fault?

Perhaps it's easy to blame Malone because the NBA operates in such a way that the coaches always get blamed first. But what can the veteran coach do if he doesn't have the pieces to cover for the Nuggets' main issue?

Remember, the team signed Russell Westbrook in the summer as a way to address the bench production, but that clearly hasn't panned out. On top of that, the Nuggets lost valuable pieces from their championship core, such as Bruce Brown and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, who, at the very least, are two-way players that Denver could use right now. Instead, the team management decided to invest in Jamal Murray, Aaron Gordon, Michael Porter Jr., and the young pieces around them to compete for a title.

Perhaps, like Perk said, Mike could be better with his rotations and find ways to keep the system intact when Jokic is off the floor. But with a quarter of the season in the books, it's clear that the Nuggets don't have the pieces to sustain the non-Jokic minutes, which speaks to how valuable the Serbian native is to his team.