1 Mistake Nuggets must avoid at all costs this summer

Any time a team gets eliminated from the playoffs there is a natural tendency to focus on everything that went wrong and overreact to every minor issue. That has certainly been the case with the Denver Nuggets since they fell to the Timberwolves in a seven game round two battle these playoffs.

The simple thing to do is nitpick and dream up grandiose overhauls for the roster; ways to retool and reshape things to come back stronger and ready to take down the Wolves. Watching the Wolves get shredded by the Mavs only compounded things for Nuggets fans and made it feel like the team is even further from reaching their ultimate goal of winning another title.

The Nuggets should not overreact to this year’s failure

Dreaming big is easy, but ultimately, overreacting to the loss could be a disastrous mistake for the Nuggets. They brought back the entire starting lineup from a team that won the championship in 2023. The bench got a little bit weaker, but they still looked like the class of the Western Conference for most of the season.

They took a 3-2 lead in the Western Conference Semifinals over the Wolves before falling in seven. As bad as the Wolves looked in the next round, there’s reason to think that Denver would have matched up well against the Mavericks and overall the team was just a few breaks from making it back to the Finals this season.

Believe in the process, not just the results

At the end of the day, they didn’t win, but expecting to win a title every season is probably unrealistic. The Nuggets still have one of hte best rosters in the league, and if they can bring back Kentavious Caldwell-Pope they’ll return arguably the best starting lineup in the NBA. 

One of the biggest strengths of the team has been their consistency and continuity. Keeping that in place for another run seems like the prudent thing to do. Obviously, if a great opportunity falls into their laps they should take it, but the smar thing to do is run it back. This core has proven they can win a title. 

Build up the bench a little, hit on some draft picks, and make smart moves around the margins and the Nuggets should be right back in the mix. Tearing apart the team because of one playoff failure would be extremely shortsighted and could be a massive mistake.