Nuggets will be better than Minnesota

Depth.

The first reason is depth. Looking only at starting lineups I might give Minnesota the advantage. Millsap is much better than Gibson. And an argument can also be made for Jokic over Towns. But I’ll give a slight edge to Wiggins over Chandler. Butler is clearly better than Gary Harris right now. And until proven otherwise, I need to put Jeff Teague over Jamal Murray.

Denver Nuggets

So, Minnesota’s starting five looks better than Denver’s. What about the bench though?

Denver’s bench is packed full of weapons. Barton, Faried, Mudiay, Plumlee, Hernangomez, Nelson, and Lyles are just some of the names that may make Denver’s bench rotation. The Nuggets easily have one of the best and deepest benches in the league.

Who will come off the bench and put points on the board for Minnesota next season? Will 37-year-old Jamal Crawford be a superhero off the bench? No. The veteran may have an explosive game here and there but can’t be relied on consistently.

Gorgui Deng may be solid off the bench too. Crawford and Deng aren’t enough off the bench to keep them in games consistently though. If an injury takes place then this shallow Wolves roster will be in serious trouble.

Next, the entire west has improved. Denver missed playoffs by one game. Even with the west improving it’s very realistic to believe that between adding Paul Millsap and another year of growth for Jokic, Harris, Murray, and Juancho, the Nuggets will win several more games than last year.

Minnesota missed playoffs by ten games last season. That’s a long way to go this year and the west will be even tougher to win in this year. They also have less depth than last year. And with a new team, will need to spend some games learning a rotation.

Adding Butler and Teague will help them win more games than last year. Another year of growth for Towns and Wiggins will make them better too. They might even win ten more games than last year, but that only gets them up to .500.