Nuggets Braun proves his worth

He is the player with the least starting qualifications in the Nuggets. Compared with Jokic's teammates, he is not as famous as Gordon, nor is he as eye-catching as Porter Jr. with a super contract. Even Westbrook on the bench is more talkative than him, he is Christian Braun.

At the beginning of the season, when the media ranked first-time shooting guards for 30 teams, Braun was the second-last, just above Raptors rookie Grady Dick. But it was this 23-year-old young man who became the hardest defensive iron gate in the team. Especially in the series against the Clippers, Braun transformed into the Harden terminator. Facing the former MVP, he suppressed his opponent's shooting percentage at 41.7%, and made only 2 of 8 shots in the tiebreak.

Harden's best three-pointer and foul were all invalid in front of Braun. Jokic exclaimed: "He readily accepted the work of defending Harden" and "and did it very well." During the regular season, Braun broke the doubts with 79 attendances, averaging 15.4 points per game, an increase of 8.1 points from last season, while maintaining an astonishing 58% shooting percentage, which is even more accurate than many centers.

Last year, management's decision to let Pope go and straighten Braun made many people skeptical. But now it seems that Braun can not only complete Pope's defense and three-point missions, but also brings a younger vitality. He created 492 points for the team through fast breaks, and his conversion success rate was at the top of the league. These traits are perfectly adapted to Jokic's passing system, allowing him to always find the best time to cut into the basket.

Looking at Braun's basketball career, you will find that he is born with the winner attributes. He won the state championship for three consecutive years in high school, won the championship at the University of Kansas in 22 years, and won the championship in the Nuggets as a rookie the following year, becoming the fifth player in NBA history to complete the NCAA and NBA back-to-back championship.

Braun's success comes from his professional attitude. He is like a perpetual motion machine, playing in the National Finals for 40 minutes, achieving the ultimate on both offense and defense. After joining the Nuggets, even if he sits on the bench, he will build the gym and training hall into two points: "Compared with the hobbies in life", "Make yourself better", and "staying on the court is my only goal". So you will find that Braun on the field is always full of vitality and strives to compete for every round. In the 23 finals against the Heat, he faced Butler without fear and became a surprise on the field, helping the Nuggets win the championship.

Losing to the Timberwolves in the 24th semi-finals, he set the loss of tiebreak as a mobile screensaver, reminding himself that a year later, Braun's screensaver has not been changed, but his game content has changed. When he scored more than 20 points, the team's winning rate was as high as 76%. In the series against the Clippers, he scored the most 8 key balls in the team, and was everywhere on the defensive end, second only to Jokic in the number of shots that interfered with opponents. Such efficient performance as

forced the media that looked down upon him to re-examine the evaluation. During the offseason, Westbrook took the initiative to give up the No. 0 jersey for him and publicly called on fans to support the star of tomorrow. The whole team even wore Braun's training suit to promote him the fastest-progress player award. Although he missed the award in the end, Braun has proved his worth and perhaps no one will put him in the discussion of "worst guard" next season.