The Denver Nuggets had a season with plenty of highs and a lot of lows, there were high hopes for this Nuggets team, including championship aspirations, that were unfortunately derailed by injuries.
The two things to take away from this past Nuggets season, one being that they have one of the best players in basketball with Nikola Jokic. The Denver Nuggets struck gold with Jokic, early on in the season you could tell he really leveled up again after the bubble playoffs.
The other takeaway is that the Nuggets looked and felt as though they had a team that could really go all the way and win a championship this year. Unfortunately, injuries happened, and although the league’s MVP made the Nuggets competitive, in the end, it wasn’t enough against a really good Phoenix Suns team.
Looking forward to the next season and knowing what we know about the roster right now, (including Jamal Murray’s injury) there are some acquisitions the Nuggets should look to make. Their goal should still be a championship and constructing the perfect roster around their core players in Nikola Jokic, Jamal Murray, and Michael Porter Jr.
In the last three playoff runs the Nuggets have been a resilient team that always fights back. It’s about time this team looks to punch first, forcing teams needing to adjust to them.
When looking at other elite teams in the league, you begin to notice a pattern. For example, the Phoenix Suns, whom the Nuggets lost to, have their core players in Chris Paul, Devin Booker, and Deandre Ayton which is a very good ‘big three’.
What makes the Suns dangerous is that the role players can make teams pay if you don’t pay attention to them. They have shooters that will light you up and they play tough defense with Jae Crowder, Mikal Bridges, Cameron Johnson, and Cameron Payne. Long story short, their role players make shots and play tough defense.
Another example would be the Utah Jazz, they have Donovan Mitchell, Mike Conley, and Rudy Gobert as their core, but they also have an unlimited supply of shooters that makes them so tough to beat. When playing against the Jazz, you have to be on your P’s and Q’s guarding Mitchell, but you cannot leave Bojan Bogdanovic, Joe Ingles, Jordan Clarkson, Georges Niang, and even Royce O’Neale open. Their attack is very difficult to guard against, especially if you’re a slower team.
Even when the Nuggets played the Portland Trail Blazers who were lighting it up, the Nuggets were the ones that had to adjust to their shooting. Most of the teams left in the playoffs other than maybe the Philadelphia 76ers can spread you out and shoot the ball at a high level. This was something the Denver Nuggets were severely missing.
Of course, when the Nuggets are healthy they are tough for anybody, with the ‘big three’ and Aaron Gordon there was enough big-time talent between them to win you games, but the role players and the second unit still lacked shooting. It would be nice to have players other than Jamal Murray, Michael Porter Jr, and Nikola Jokic that can really light it up from deep and make a team pay for playing too far off on defense.
It makes too much sense to surround Nikola Jokic with shooting talent. Even with the injuries that happened to the Nuggets, a team that features Nikola Jokic and a bunch of players that can really shoot the ball would still be a problem for most teams.
With that being said, here are some players that make a lot of sense for the Denver Nuggets to become that dangerous team that others would have a hard time playing against.