We NEED to Talk About the Nuggets…
After winning the NBA Finals in 2023, the Denver Nuggets led by Nikola Jokic, Jamal Murray, Aaron Gordon, Michael Porter Jr, and Kentavious Caldwell Pope felt like they had real dynasty potential led by a burgeoning all time great and a stacked supporting cast that didn’t seem to be going anywhere any time soon. Fast forward two years later and after a Playoff loss to Anthony Edwards, Rudy Gobert, Karl-Anthony Towns and the Minnesota Timberwolves as well as the loss of KCP to the Orlando Magic, the Denver Nuggets suddenly seem vulnerable. With a lack of shooting, depth, and worries about their defense, the Nuggets may need more than the addition of Russell Westbrook to save them. Otherwise, this may be the beginning of the end. Let’s talk about it.
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0:00 – Intro
1:05 – The Nuggets Post Championship
3:03 – The Problems
4:25 – Are the Nuggets Still Good Enough?
6:41 – Russell Westbrook Addition is Fun
9:05 – Less Confident Than Ever
11:28 – Outro
22 Comments
Murray is not even close to an all star….he needs so much rest…poor guy is always tired
KCP was nonexistent in the wolves series lol
Losing Da'Ron Holmes is a big blow. Still when Russ is on court w Joker, Gordon & MPJ, good luck getting a rebound. Don't discount D.Saric & J.Strawther. they'll give Denver some pretty good depth. I still think they're clearly better than Dal & LAL
Russ needs to put his knees on the altar to make the chip happen
The nuggets won 48 games with Jokic, Gordon, Will Barton, Jeff Green, Monte Morris as starters and Facu Compazzo, Austin Rivers, and JaMychal Green off the bench.
This version of the nuggets is exponentially better. 54-56 wins this year
They don't really have a lot of options due to that MPJ max. The major keys to their success next season is their young core (Braun, Watson, Strawther) stepping up and Malone trusting these dudes. Mike gassed out the starters last playoffs because he's too into vets.
A couple things. Why is everyone always so quick with trying to annoint a player or team to a certain level of greatness? Milwaukee won their title before Denver and everyone said the same thing about Giannis and the Bucks. How many can they win? Are we seeing the height of Giannis? Will he be a top 10 player of all time? Stop the hype cycle. Most of these players were able to propel their team to a single title and that may be all they get.
For Jokic to be a top 10 player of all time, let alone a top center of all time, he's gonna have to pass Shaq, Wilt, Hakeem and Kareem. Say what you want but I don't see him surpassing any of those guys ever. I don't care how many triple doubles he gets
The Nuggets' front office doesn't even try. The Nuggets' owner is cheap as hell and won't even spend enough to keep a championship team together.
I really like the addition of Dario Saric because Denver likes to use Jokic as an offensive hub for handoffs a lot. But the bench unit obviously didn’t have a center. Saric is a great passer who can be the offensive hub for the bench which is what the bench kinda needs.
Jokic shooting like 24% from three is obviously a outliner and I don’t expect him to shoot like ass forever
It's all about health. If guys are healthy & rested, mostly Jamal n Joker n Strawther, this team could win the West. They'll have plenty of shooting with Strawther, Alexander, Saric, Cancar. + Braun n Watson improvements. Westbrook could be great fit. Come on man, this team could be scary good.
Jokic definitely has the power to make some changes himself, but i actually think he doesnt give a fck at all.
Russ is a big upgrade from Reggie, but they got hurt losing Pope, I’d like to see Braun start and replace Brauns bench play with an older scoring shooting guard that has a good jumper to come off the bench with russ
thank you murry but its time to miove on
Does it matter where Denver finishes in the standings? Suppose they were a 5th seed and played Memphis in the first round? Or Dallas? They have Aaron Gordon the best Luka guard in the NBA. Basically, last year Malone didn't trust his bench, so he played the starters into the ground. They were exhausted and injured going into the playoffs. They looked sluggish against the Lakers, then staggered into the Timberwolves series and dropped 2 games before they rallied and won 3. Then they just ran into a total wall in game 6 and lost by 45. Game 7 they led by 20 in the 3rd quarter, only to run completely out of gas and dropped down 27 points in the last 18 minutes. Russ is going to play 22 minutes off the bench. He's not going to be 2016 Russ. He just needs to run the 2nd team and fast break with Jokic. The addition of Saric is important because they haven't had any help for Jokic in years. They just need to NOT play Jokic 79 games and 34 mpg so he's fresh going into the playoffs. That was the biggest difference between their title run and last year. In 2023 they rested the starters the last month and they went 16-4 a comparable run to the Celtics this year. This year they tried to get the 1 seed and won 57 games but were exhausted and Jamal Murray was injured and played terribly. The whole team was flat . They will have better role players in Peyton Watson, Saric, Russ, and Julian Strawther for the regular season but they will go with their top 7-8 in the playoffs – starters + Russ, Watson maybe Saric a little. It will all depend on whether they keep the starters rested and healthy for the playoffs.
The MPJ contract killed their flexibility after the introduction of the 2nd apron.
Russ washed!!!!! Your biased!
There depth is better, what are you talking about? Starters: Jokic, Murray, AG, MPJ, Braun. Bench: Russ, Sarge, Julian, P Watt. This could overall be bad but i don't see this not being a better team. Losing KCP ofc is bad but replacing him with depth and Braun i think will overall good good this season.
Losing Bruce Brown and KCP in consecutive offseasons is devastating. No clue how Denver let this happen when they were genuinely on the verge of a dynasty.
Nuggets still have to solve twolves. The rest of the west can be had by them. As much I love okcstill think nuggets size smokes them
People overrating the hell out of kcp my god. Star in his role but spurs dynasty teams always swapped role players
The Championship Curse. Happened with my GSW, then the Nuggets and expecting it with the Celtics. CBA doesn’t want repeaters!