The Nuggets just had a very loud trade deadline that ultimately resulted in nothing. Since the beginning of the season, the team has been talking about improving the roster and they’ve been connected to almost every player rumored to be on the trade block.
But none of those moves came to fruition and the team was forced to sit idly by while their competitors around the league poached talent off of other rosters and improved their teams for the stretch run.
And yet, while the team was disappointing fans off the court, they’ve been hitting their stride on the court. They beat the Blazers 146-117 on Monday night, a seventh straight win for the Nuggets that vaulted them to within one game of the number two seed in the Western Conference.
Denver has been playing without the injured Peyton Watson and Russell Westbrook, and Michael Porter Jr. has also missed the past two games. But they’ve been getting great performances from guys deep down the bench like Jalen Pickett and Zeke Nnaji.
Nuggets in for rude awakening with upcoming schedule
While this recent winning streak has been great and the team is playing well, it has been a little misleading. The Nuggets are beating up on weak competition, plain and simple. During this seven-game win streak, they haven’t played a single team with a winning record. In fact, Denver hasn’t beaten a top-6 team in either conference since beating the Pistons back on December 28th.
That’s an awfully long stretch of games without facing and meeting a real challenge. It’s propping up the bench players on this team and tricking people into thinking the supporting cast is actually good enough to help Nikola Jokic lead the Nuggets to another championship.
In reality, this team is still a little short on high-end talent and extremely short on depth. They have six or seven players who can actually be relied on come playoff time (at best) and question marks at almost every position.
They didn’t fix any of their weaknesses at the trade deadline and those issues are going to be exposed sooner than later. The Nuggets have another game against the Blazers on Wednesday night and come out of the All-Star break with a game against the Hornets.
After that, the Nuggets will play 13 of their next 14 games against teams in the playoff or play-in picture. This daunting stretch includes a game at Boston, two games at Oklahoma City, a meeting with the rival Timberwolves, and three matchups with the new-look Lakers.
Denver hasn’t been tested in a while but that’s about to change in a big way. This upcoming stretch has a chance to bring out the worst in this Nuggets roster and expose all of their flaws yet again. Many around the NBA have been hesitant to declare the Nuggets contenders despite an all-time historical season from Nikola Jokic.
We are about to find out where the team truly stands and we’re going to find out if there is actually enough talent around the Joker for this team to contend. The rest of the NBA world is certainly wary, but Calvin Booth and the Nuggets are confident.