NBA: Forecasting the Unpredictable Northwest Division

Denver Nuggets

I truly believe that the Nuggets are a team with one of the brightest futures in the NBA. Unfortunately for them, they just so happen to play in the same division as the Timberwolves and Trail Blazers.

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That’s not to say that they aren’t a good team, but they have been at a disadvantage for the past few seasons. Namely, they’ve experienced a lot of injures which have slightly hindered their development.

They’ve been without both their veterans and their young core for a significant amount of time for the past two years. That means that they’ve also lost opportunities to experiment with their most effective line-ups.

So the bulk of this season should be dedicated toward finding the line-ups they want to use going forward. Don’t take that as a bad thing though. They’re full of talented players with loads of potential, and they just have to wait until one of them takes a step forward.

Keep an eye on Nikola Jokic, Jamal Murray and Emmanuel Mudiay to be such player amongst their young core.

Thankfully for them, they have a solid enough veteran presence to legitimately competitive. I expect the Nuggets to finish the season with a majority of their games decided within seven points. But it will be interesting to see who has the ball in his hands in the final minutes of such games.

Related Story: What to Watch for in the Nuggets Preseason Opener

Realistic Expectation:

They finish last in the Northwest Division and miss the playoffs by around five games, but they finish as the eleventh team in the Western Conference.

My bold prediction:

Jokic takes the next step into becoming a borderline All-Star while Emmanuel Mudiay wins the Most Improved Player of the year award.