Bruce Brown. Jeff Inexperienced. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope.
What number of Jenga items can Nuggets administration pull out earlier than the whole Nikola Jokic period collapses?
Okay, “collapse” is an overstatement, this staff continues to be a title contender, however their margin for error is smaller. A lot smaller. The Nuggets nonetheless have the most effective participant on the planet in Jokic, he is a strolling 50+ wins so long as he stays wholesome. Additionally, this staff nonetheless has high quality veteran gamers round him, together with guys like Jamal Murray and Aaron Gordon (newcomer Russell Westbrook may additionally match on this group). We’re speaking a couple of Nuggets staff that was up 20 in the second half of Game 7 against the Timberwolves in final season’s playoffs solely to blow that lead. If they’d gained that sport, Denver may need knocked off Dallas and returned to the NBA Finals.
“After a season the place all people says we failed, it is my job to be sure that we do not imagine all that s***,” Nuggets coach Michael Malone mentioned at media day. “We’re a very good staff. The final six years, nobody within the West has come near doing what we have finished. Remind your self of that, but additionally problem your self to not be happy.”
A part of that problem is an enormous wager by GM Calvin Sales space and the entrance workplace on their drafting and participant growth to fill in for these items which have been pulled out.
NUGGETS BET ON YOUTH
Let’s speak concerning the younger stars the Nuggets are betting on to step up this season.
• How outdated is Christian Braun? Braun is a 23-year-old guard coming into his third NBA season after three years at Kansas.
Braun is predicted to step into the beginning lineup instead of KCP (though Malone mentioned Julian Strawther will get an opportunity to compete for it), and people are large footwear to fill. Braun goes to be requested to area the ground from 3, the place he shot 38.4% final season on two makes an attempt a sport (Caldwell-Pope shot 40.6% on 4.1 makes an attempt). He is additionally going to attract the hardest perimeter defensive assignments nightly, and whereas Braun has proven promise as a strong defender, KCP was a confirmed plus defender who was in All-Defensive Group consideration.
Braun should make a leap on each ends of the court docket this season to fill these footwear.
•When was Peyton Watson drafted? Watson, who performed one season at UCLA, was the ultimate choose of the primary spherical, thirtieth general, within the 2022 NBA Draft (the identical draft Denver received Braun, however the Thunder took Watson then traded on draft evening to the Nuggets as a part of a JaMychael Inexperienced deal).
Final season, Watson got here off the bench for 18 minutes an evening, averaging 6.7 factors and three.2 rebounds a sport, and being an athletic plus defender. His function will increase this season and the Nuggets want him to develop a extra dependable leap shot — he shot 29.6% from 3 final season — and be extra of an offensive pressure. Like Braun, the Nuggets want him to step up into a bigger function.
• Julian Strawther is perhaps the most effective of them. The second-year wing out of Gonzaga confirmed some promise for the Nuggets as a rookie till a knee damage sidelined him. That knee seemed fantastic at Summer season League, the place Strawther seemed like a participant able to make a leap.
He has the potential to make a leap and in the end be the most effective of this younger group. He is often known as a shooter however hit simply 29.7% from 3 final season, he must be extra constant, and he has to step up on the defensive finish.
Denver was going to lean onerous into one other younger participant, DaRon Holmes II — a rookie heart out of Dayton — for backup minutes on the 5, however he tore his proper Achilles tendon within the Nuggets’ NBA Summer season League opener. He’s out for the season.
For all of the speak of the youth needing to step up, the truth of Denver’s possibilities is way less complicated.
DENVER WILL GO AS FAR AS MURRAY TAKES IT
Do not take Nikola Jokic with no consideration: The person averaged 26.4 factors, 12.4 rebounds and 9 assists a sport final season capturing 35.9% from 3, and that’s with each protection targeted on him. He’s a perennial MVP candidate for a motive. He additionally has confirmed sturdy, enjoying 79 video games a season in the past and by no means fewer than 69 in his profession.
Jokic is dependable. Gordon is dependable. The youth motion will probably be adequate, at the least till deep within the playoffs.
Jamal Murray must be higher than he was within the final playoffs if Denver is returning to the Finals.
He additionally struggled along with his shot by final postseason and has a historical past of damage points. Whereas his playoff counting stats of 20.6 factors and 5.8 assists a sport final season look good on paper (and he drained a few game-winners in opposition to the Lakers), he was something however elite and environment friendly. Murray shot 31.5% from 3 within the playoffs with a 47.4 true capturing share that was 10 factors beneath the league common. To make use of a catch-all stat, his playoff PER was 12.2, which is beneath the league common and is the variety of a strong bench participant.
Issues received uglier in the course of the Paris Olympics, the place he averaged six factors a sport and shot 14.3% from 3 for Canada and noticed his function shrink with the staff.
Denver president Josh Kroenke stood up for Murray and mentioned he wasn’t 100% wholesome within the playoffs or Paris. Kroenke and the Nuggets then put their cash the place their mouth was and agreed to a four-year, $208 million max contract extension.
Murray is getting paid like among the best within the sport and Denver is betting he can return to that championship type. Murray and Jokic have that uncommon pick-and-roll chemistry that goes past simply working the performs, the Nuggets can win all of it when these two are clicking. That means the Nuggets locked Murray up by Jokic’s prime, they’re paying him like one of many elite level guards within the sport, now he has to dwell as much as that constantly.
“In a best-case situation, I feel Nikola has like a major 10-year rivalry window, and in case you rely the primary 12 months of that when Jamal received harm, I feel we’re about midway by it,” Nuggets GM Calvin Sales space mentioned at media day. “We in all probability have about 5 extra single pictures. All these pictures rely. If we hit one among them, it is nice. The sooner we hit it, the extra we are able to produce other conversations about different issues. It should be extremely onerous to win one other one.”
NUGGETS FANTASY PREVIEW
From Raphielle Johnson of NBC Sports Rotoworld, targeted on Dener’s youth motion.
Whereas the East has improved at its high, the West is the deeper convention of the 2. And this is the reason I do not see the Nuggets, who misplaced one other starter this offseason in Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, returning to the NBA Finals. In the beginning, who steps into the void left by KCP? Christian Braun has been pegged by many as the favourite to maneuver into the beginning lineup, as he is an athletic perimeter participant who defends his place nicely. Nonetheless, may Julian Strawther be a greater match, even when he is not the defender that Braun is?
In restricted motion in Las Vegas, Strawther went off in Summer season League play. After all, that atmosphere does not maintain a candle to the competitors gamers see in the course of the winter, however this was a vital confidence booster for a participant whose rookie season was derailed by accidents. Braun will be the participant fantasy managers lock in on, particularly if he’s the fifth starter, however do not overlook Strawther, even when he is coming off the bench. The Nuggets won’t have sufficient to succeed in the NBA Finals (until Michael Porter Jr. raises his sport considerably). Nonetheless, Strawther could possibly be a worth choose, particularly in deeper fantasy leagues.
From Noah Rubin of NBC Sports.
Throughout media day, head coach Mike Malone mentioned that Christian Braun and Julian Strawther will compete for the fifth beginning spot. Braun has been a winner at each stage and may do a variety of the little issues to assist the staff win. Malone mentioned that each Braun and Peyton Watson spent a variety of time this summer season engaged on capturing from deep, which has been a weak point for each gamers early of their careers. Strawther does not have these points. He is an elite shooter that had two video games with greater than 5 3-pointers early final season. He was a stud in every of the final two Summer season Leagues, and now he seems to be able to step into a bigger function in 12 months two.
One other participant to keep watch over is Trey Alexander. The rookie shortly agreed to a take care of the Nuggets after going undrafted this previous summer season and was in a position to have a variety of success throughout Summer season League. In 5 appearances, he averaged 17.2 factors, 5.8 rebounds, 2.8 assists, 1.2 steals and a couple of.2 threes per sport. Summer season League dominance does not correlate on to NBA manufacturing, however it definitely does not harm.
If these younger gamers are in a position to step up to date, there may be definitely an opportunity that Denver is ready to get again to the Finals and add a second ring in three years.
