3 Storylines to follow for the Denver Nuggets in 2022-23

Can the bench unit keep Nuggets afloat

Several positions on the Denver Nuggets lacked depth last year. The team was a minus-7.9 when Nikola Jokic was off the floor, per NBA.com. The depth wasn’t there, and the injuries to Jamal Murray and Michael Porter Jr. made things worse.

The players coming in weren’t very efficient with their shooting, so the Nuggets were 13th in bench scoring last season. The ‘others’ were shooting 43 percent from the field and only 35 percent from beyond the arc and were a minus-1.7 in 1,482 minutes.

In the offseason, the team added Ish Smith, Bruce Brown, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and DeAndre Jordan to address the issue. They also appeared ready to upgrade the role of Bones Hyland by trading away Monte Morris.

Malone will have to figure out how to best use his new bench. KCP will get the starting nod and Bruce Brown appears to be the first guard off the bench but Christian Braun seems trusted by Malone early in the season.

With that said, It will be interesting to see if Denver can put together winning lineup combinations on the floor without overusing its stars during the regular season. Through three NBA games, Jokic is averaging 35.3 minutes per contest and for a team with championship aspirations, they might want to keep the star Serbian fresh for the playoffs.