Denver Nuggets: Constructing the dream offseason
By Sean Carroll
The 2020-21 season for the Denver Nuggets was a success. No, it didn’t end in a title, but the team was able to replace Jerami Grant’s departure with a mid-season trade, and still win a playoff series without Jamal Murray, the team’s second-best player.
A sweep at the hands of the Phoenix Suns stings, but without Jamal, this team isn’t a title contender and at least we got to see the MVP Nikola Jokic torch the Portland Trail Blazers.
The end goal for this team is to win its first NBA championship and as team president of basketball operations Tim Connelly said in his end-of-season press conference; “until we’re having this press conference after we win a championship, we’re falling short”.
Jamal’s injury couldn’t have come at a worse time. The COVID-shortened 2020-21 season crammed in as many games as they could this year, meaning Murray’s possible 12-month recovery timeline could see him missing the entire following season.
Because of this, the Nuggets will likely change their outlook on this offseason. With a healthy Jamal, the goal would’ve been to retool and build around this core to contend in 2021-22. With Murray sidelined, Denver can focus on competing in the 2022-23 season, after which Murray should be ramping back to full strength.
This ideology of focusing on the 2022-23 season puts Connelly and the Nuggets brass in an interesting position. It’s a terrible fate to miss a year of contention, but Denver can spend this season developing and testing out some players to see if they’re worthy of being on the roster.
Let’s get into the first order of business in the 2021 offseason: