Expectations are a mile high for the Nuggets faithful and Denver is widely expected to be a playoff contender next season.
So what have the Nuggets done to have such high hopes for playoff contention?
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Number One: The Young Core
Perhaps the most promising thing for the Nuggets is the young core of Nikola Jokic, Jamal Murray, and Gary Harris, but last year that just wasn’t enough to reach the playoffs. The hope is that these guys are even better this year. To me, Jokic only has to stay healthy and focused to do his part. Gary was already quietly one of the best 2 way guards in the West last year. Jamal Murray is the wild card to me. Is he the budding star he appears to be at times? Despite his silky smooth shot he was only the 33rd highest scoring guard in the league last year.http://stats.nba.com/players/traditional/?sort=PTS&dir=-1&Season=2017-18&SeasonType=Regular%20Season&PlayerPosition=G
Some of that can be attributed to Denver offense keeping the ball moving and often running through Jokic at the top. However his game log http://www.espn.com/nba/player/gamelog/_/id/3936299/jamal-murray shows up and down shooting nights where he couldn’t quite be counted on to contribute consistently and you’ll notice an abundance of L’s next to that nights opponent. So the argument could be made that a more consistent Jamal Murray adds wins and in his 3rd year he just may provide that.
Number Two: Have the Nuggets made an Off season Move to Improve?
The Nuggets didn’t pull off any “stop the press” type of moves this off season, but moves were made nonetheless. First we drafted Michael Porter Jr. which is a hot topic league wide. Is he the steal of the draft or doomed by a career threatening injury? I don’t have any more answers then you do so we’ll wait and see with the rest of the NBA.
The Nuggets signed Isaiah Thomas and he too comes with question marks, but I think he’s a low risk high reward signing and I personally think it improves the team. Aside from that the Nuggets basically focused on moves to cut salary and resign Jokic and Barton. In doing so we moved Faried, Chandler, and Arthur.
Faried and Arthur played very sparingly so I see little to no change. Chandler however was an every day starter and I don’t know that Barton is an upgrade as a starter and now can’t carry the bench. So Michael Malone will be tasked with mixing and matching the rotation.
Lastly: So Where Do We Stand?
When the smoke clears will the Nuggets be standing with the Rockets and Warriors as a new Western perennial or again meddling for the last few playoff spots. I think an up and coming young core and the hope that a healthy Paul Millsap returns to all star form pushes these Nuggets ahead of last years version.
If IT can be even a fraction of his Boston self Denver’s bench just got scary. And if Michael Malone is able to make all the cogs in this wheel move efficiently, the Nuggets will again be among the elite scoring teams.
If MPJ were to play and contribute to the bench it becomes one of the more solid second units in the league. So, since the Nuggets haven’t lost to anyone yet, I’ll set my goal a Mile High and say that the Nuggets should be top 3 in the Western Conference