The Nuggets scored a much-needed home win over the Pistons in Denver on Saturday night, 134-121. This win may have quieted some of the noise around the team, but not for long. They’re still just 17-13 on the season, sitting at 7th place in the Western Conference currently.
Jamal Murray had his best game of the season, hitting 30+ points for the first time. He poured in 34 points on 12/21 shooting and 4/7 from three-point range to go along with 5 rebounds and 4 assists. Murray has been playing better offensively over the past few games, but this game may just be a band-aid for the team’s real issues.
The Nuggets don’t shoot enough three-pointers. They don’t defend nearly well enough. They don’t have enough playable depth. These are just a few of their many problems, but most of them are largely masked by the excellence of Nikola Jokic. But what can they do when the big man sits?
Nuggets still can’t survive Jokic-less minutes
The story is the same as it's been for years; when Jokic is on the floor, the Nuggets are an all-time great team and when he sits, they are the worst team in the NBA. Michael Malone has tried all kinds of bench combinations and different units, but without the Joker, the whole thing falls apart.
Murray can’t carry bench lineups, MPJ can’t do it, and Westbrook certainly can’t do it. The Nuggets need to add players to fill the void and stay competitive in the minutes when Jokic is off the floor. This alone would solve so many of their other issues. But it’s a lot easier said than done.
Nuggets’ salary cap issues make upgrades nearly impossible
Unfortunately for the Nuggets, there is no easy solution to this obvious problem. I’m sure those in the front office understand the situation, but there isn’t much that can be done at this point. Denver has almost zero draft capital to deal and they have no easily movable contracts either.
The team is restricted in what they can do by being above the first apron, so they are limited in what they can even attempt legally. Their most movable contract is Zeke Nnaji’s $8.8 million, but that’s viewed as a negative asset.
The Nuggets are basically going to have to use one of their young rotation players or a far-out future draft pick as sweetener just to get rid of Nnaji or Dario Saric. The idea that they’ll be able to get a helpful player back and actually upgrade the team in any kind of deal like that seems ambitious.
The only other option is parting with Michael Porter Jr. That would allow the team to get in the mix for many more players, or multiple players in one deal. But MPJ is a big part of the Nuggets’ success and he plays a very valuable role. He’s also on a pretty big contract and isn’t exactly coveted around the league either.
If Booth and company can find a deal where they flip MPJ for a few players that will make the team deeper and more talented overall, then good for them. But I’m skeptical, to say the least. And short of that, they don’t have many options to make this team better.