Denver Nuggets: Offseason lessons from the Suns series

The Denver Nuggets have officially been eliminated from the NBA playoffs in the second round against the Phoenix Suns. Denver went into the series on a high but a rolling, healthy Suns team was too much for the Nuggets missing key contributors in Jamal Murray, PJ Dozier, and Will Barton for the start.

Say what you will about the Nikola Jokic ejection, or any part of the final game, that final buzzer means the Nuggets have begun their offseason.

It’s going to be one of the more interesting offseasons in recent history with a short-term Jamal replacement needed a few moves around the fringe.

This article is looking at what can be gleaned from the Suns series, looking at how Denver got picked apart and beaten so convincingly, and how they can address those issues.

Denver Nuggets offseason lessons: Jamal Murray’s health

This one is an obvious one and one that’s hard to fix without simply waiting. By hard to fix, I mean it can only be fixed by the passing of time.

Jamal Murray’s torn ACL will leave him sidelined for most of the 2021-22 NBA season and the Denver Nuggets will have to look for a short-term replacement for early in the season. This incoming player will also have to be content coming off the bench for the playoffs as Jamal will likely be back in the lineup and better than the replacement.

Given Denver’s salary situation, they will be looking to find his replacement on the cheap, either at the minimum or slightly above.

Some of the names on this list aren’t too bad and you could envision the player coming in, being a lesser-quality starter early in the season and then one of the better guys off the bench later.

The first player to mention should be Austin Rivers. He was the best available player on the free agency market when Jamal went down and it was a perfect marriage between the two, one needing a team and the other needing a scoring guard.

Rivers likely has the inside track here since his contract would again be at the minimum and he’s already familiar with the Nuggets’ offensive sets, even exceeding in the Portland series.

But he was the best guy available but more importantly, the only guy available. How does he stack up against some of the other names like Avery Bradley, Bryn Forbes, Reggie Jackson, or Reggie Bullock? These names are clearly more secondary guys, but could all be greater fits than Rivers.

It’s hard to find a better solution without the money to throw at these players, but an interesting name on the market for a free agent is Victor Oladipo. His stock has taken a few hits this season after struggling in Indiana, underperforming in Houston, and rarely touching the court in Miami.

If he wanted to sign a one-year, make-good contract to show he still has ‘it’, then Denver is the winningest team out there with the largest role to offer. He’d have to take a lot less money than what he’d imagined last year after turning down an extension from the Pacers starting at $25 million per season.

Whichever way Denver goes, they need a replacement at this spot in the rotation and they don’t have many tools at their disposal to get it done. They can offer a minimum contract and plenty of minutes for a winning franchise, who wants it?

Denver Nuggets offseason lessons: Who’s the primary guard defender?

Giving up Gary Harris in the Aaron Gordon trade both helps and hurts the team. Yes, they got Gordon who helped them on both sides, but Gordon is best guarding big wings and forwards while Harris was better on smaller guards.

This was exposed in the entire playoff run with both Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum getting whatever they wanted for most of the six games and then Chris Paul toying with the Nuggets defenders in the second round.

In Game 2 of the second round, CP3 had 17 points, 15 assists, and no turnovers. He wasn’t afraid of Denver’s defenders and licked his lips every time a big tried to switch onto him.

Denver was hedging hard on Devin Booker’s pick-and-roll action which was smart considering how hot he was in their first-round matchup against the LA Lakers but it didn’t go great this series. Each time Jokic neutered Booker’s possible shot, he had to sprint back to the rolling Deandre Ayton who had a clear pathway to the rim.

Why did he have such a clear pathway to the rim? Well, the other big defender, usually Aaron Gordon, was too worried about Cam Johnson, Mikal Bridges, or Jae Crowder shooting in the corner, so he couldn’t help too hard.

If the Denver Nuggets are aiming to win an NBA championship, there will be plenty more skilled guards out there and it’s easier to ask a solid defender to stick to their man than rotate the defense hard on the very first action.

Luckily for Denver, they’re already in the market for a guard to replace Jamal Murray. I love the fit of Avery Bradley here. He has a $5.9 million Team Option for next season with the Houston Rockets so it’s up to Houston as to whether he becomes a free agent, but even as a trade target, AB has no role in the Rockets’ future.

By no means is Bradley one of the best guard defenders out there but for the market Denver will be in, he’s an incredible fit and could be a starting guard on opening night and play behind or next to Jamal when he returns.

If Avery gets around the initial Ayton screen and bothers Booker from behind, Jokic can continue to sit at the free throw line, tag Ayton rolling, and watch the guard matchup from afar.

At age-30, Bradley probably isn’t the long-term solution but the following offseason, Will Barton’s $14.9 million will be off the books (assuming he picks up his Player Option this offseason) and then Denver can look for an established 3-and-D wing in free agency.

I’ve also broken down how free agent wing Kelly Oubre Jr would fit with this Denver Nuggets team but that’s more than a simple signing and requires parting ways with Barton.

Denver Nuggets offseason lessons: Is it worth keeping these prospects?

The Denver Nuggets, more specifically this Tim Connelly front office, has done an excellent job and developing young talent. They have developed rotation pieces like Monte Morris, Malik Beasley, Juan Hernangomez, and others, while also hitting on the big names like Jamal or Jokic.

A few of those rotation pieces were shipped off last season in a consolidation trade and then Gary Harris and RJ Hampton went to the Orlando Magic in the AG trade.

This has left Denver’s reserve of young talent a bit shallow. At the moment, the prospects on the roster are Zeke Nnaji, Bol Bol, and Vlatko Cancar. The difference between these guys and their predecessors is that they haven’t been able to produce at a rotation level yet.

It’s hard to go in on these guys since they are so young, but maybe it’s time to refill the coffers? Nnaji just completed his rookie season so he isn’t going anywhere, Bol has played in 39 regular season games, and Vlatko has only been playing in garbage time.

With the 26th pick in the upcoming NBA Draft, the Nuggets will have another shot at a young player. There’s also the opportunity to buy into the second round of the draft if Denver sees some talent worth grabbing (like they did with Bol Bol).

Michael Malone’s lack of options was exposed in this series. When nothing was working, he looked down the end of his bench and couldn’t find a spark.

It’s also worth mentioning that injuries to Jamal, Barton, and PJ Dozier made the team incredibly shallow, but wouldn’t it have been nice to try an RJ Hampton late in this series? Maybe not, we didn’t get to see Nnaji in real minutes so maybe I’m just grasping at straws here.

At the end of the day, the Nuggets had a ceiling without Jamal Murray, their second-best player. The Phoenix Suns were fully healthy and playing incredible defense. Let’s wait and see what next year holds.