During the disastrous first-round playoff series loss against the Minnesota Timberwolves last season, the Denver Nuggets were exposed in a couple of deficiencies. One of them was called out during the team's end-of-season press conference with the front office brass: athleticism. The Nuggets' bench has a different look this year, but they're all mostly athletic upgrades, and Cam Whitmore's arrival in Denver has put a final stamp on resolving that issue.
In fact, Whitmore could be the most athletic Nugget on the roster. Sure, the former first-round pick has only been signed to a two-way contract, limiting him to 50 games, but the Nuggets could easily elevate him to a standard contract as the season progresses and their salary cap issues change. But the fact remains. The Nuggets upgraded their athleticism this summer.
The Nuggets bench is full of athleticism
The Nuggets parted ways with Jonas Valanciunas, Tim Hardaway Jr., Bruce Brown, Jalen Pickett, David Roddy, Curtis Jones (the latter two on two-way contracts), and, unfortunately, Peyton Watson. But out of that bunch, Watson is really the only athletic loss.
Enter Marvin Bagley, Alpha Diallo, Trevon Brazile, Bryce Hopkins (two-way), Whitmore (two-way), DeMar DeRozan, and potentially Lonnie Walker IV (if he makes the squad out of training camp). That's a whole lot of athleticism added to the roster. Even if he's lost a step, DeRozan is still better at getting to the hoop than Brown or Hardaway.
And each of these players could see some meaningful minutes if Nuggets head coach David Adelman decides to open up his rotation to take some minutes off the stars in the starting lineup to preserve them for later on in the season.
The Nuggets need to develop the defensive side
Offensively, the athletes the Nuggets added are alright. They can score. But defensively, outside of Diallo, who's got the potential to be a game-changer on the perimeter, and potentially Brazile as a rim protector, they're in need of development.
But that's where two coaching additions this season could come in handy. The Nuggets added the defense-minded Dave Joerger, who's expected to act as the lead assistant for Adelman this year. They also added a new player development coach, former CU Buff legend Austin Dufault.
Both coaches need to work with the younger players to work on preventing the need to use their athleticism to recover on defense. But if the Nuggets can solve some of the defensive deficiencies that these new additions bring, they'll be a lot closer to closing the athletic gap that crushed them against the Timberwolves in the playoffs.
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