What super-teams? Denver Nuggets aren’t afraid to compete using stability

The Denver Nuggets committed to Paul Millsap for one more season and rewarded Jamal Murray with a five-year extension, showing massive confidence in their stable core.

The NBA saw a whirlwind of action on the opening night of free agency, leaving all of us scrambling to figure out what exactly, is the new hierarchy of the league. But leave it to the Denver Nuggets to show us that there is a different way of building a legit title contender, the old-fashioned way.

Nuggets President of Basketball Operations Tim Connelly chose to stay in Denver despite the Washington Wizards trying to pry him away with a big offer, and part of the reason he stayed was because of the commitment throughout the organization to a shared vision.

“Loyalty and patience is such a rarity in professional sports and that’s here in spades…..Those things matter to me,” said Connelly (per The Denver Post) in the Nuggets end of the year press conference.

Connelly and the Nuggets organization have backed those words up, showing lots of patience and loyalty through the first day of NBA free agency.

The Nuggets chose to pick up the team-option on the final year of Paul Millsap‘s contract. It was expected that Denver would bring Millsap back, but doing so by picking up the option keeps Denver out of the luxury tax while allowing them to access the full $9.2 million Mid-Level Exception. This will allow the Nuggets to still add a quality player, even more so considering how fast the market dried up after one day of free agency.

Denver followed up this move by wasting no time in locking up franchise point guard Jamal Murray. The five-year, $170 million max extension not only locks in the Nuggets’ core long-term, but it also sends a clear message to Murray that the organization fully believes that he is going to develop into an All-NBA caliber player.

In his 21-year old season, Murray averaged 18.2 points, 4.2 rebounds, and 4.8 assists per game. He upped his scoring average to 21.3 points per game over 14 playoff contests in the 2018-19 season. Murray was headed for what would have been an intriguing free agent market, with several teams that will need clear help at the point guard position.

With the rightful expectation that Murray will improve, Denver chose not to deal with his restricted free agency.

The lineup of Gary Harris–Torrey Craig–Nikola Jokic-Murray-Millsap finished with a +14.6 Net Rating, second-best among the top 10 most used (total minutes) lineups in 2018-19 playoffs. Just as important, the Murray-Millsap-Jokic trio played 1259 minutes together in 2018-19, the most of any three-man grouping on the Nuggets. That trio finished with a +7.2 Net Rating and should be even better in the 2019-20 season.

The Denver Nuggets showed that despite the massive roster turnover throughout the league, they aren’t afraid to run it back with a roster that just finished second in the Western Conference, despite being the fourth-youngest squad in the league in 2018-19.

The future is bright in Denver because they are betting on themselves and with a little more patience, we could see the gamble pay off in what will be one of the most wide-open NBA title races in league history.