With the NBA preseason now underway, this is a time when every fanbase is optimistic and full of hope for their team, and rightfully so. Everyone is undefeated, and after a summer full of hype, there’s no reason to think that this isn’t the year. The Nuggets certainly didn’t have the best offseason, but now that things are in the rearview and the team is back on the court again, excitement is building.
We get to watch another year of Nikola Jokic, Jamal Murray, and Aaron Gordon playing basketball together, and that alone is reason enough to be jazzed up about the possibilities in Denver. After all, we’ve seen this core win a championship not that long ago, so there’s tangible evidence to believe they can do it again.
But that was four seasons ago, and in the NBA, that’s an eternity. Outside of that big three, most of the cast and coaching staff have changed, and the Nuggets have only won two playoff series’ in the last three seasons, failing to even get back to the Western Conference Finals.
So, it’s safe to say there are some questions around this team, as there are with every team in the league, and The Athletic dug into some of them as its staff writers posed one big burning question for every team. For the Nuggets, it was an unsurprising one, but an important one, as it has plagued them for the last few seasons: will the health hold up?
Health will dictate how far the Nuggets can go
It’s frustrating to boil it down to something so simple, but at the end of the day, it’s hard to get past it. When Jokic, Murray, and Gordon are healthy, this team is incredible. Unfortunately, that hasn’t happened often, especially in the playoffs.
Now, these players are getting older, and with each passing year, it feels like the likelihood of them all making it through a playoff run in peak form is dwindling. Still, the possibilities are tantalizing, as we’ve seen what this team is capable of at full strength - or even close to it.
They’ve completely revamped the bench, brought in new assistant coaches, and made plenty of moves around the margins. But it’s still all about the big three, and when those guys are at their best, they can go toe-to-toe with just about anyone in the league. Whether we’ll be able to see that consistently or not remains the biggest question, and will largely dictate how far this team goes this season and beyond.
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