Threats in the West to stop a Denver Nuggets title | Pickaxe and Roll
On the latest episode of Pickaxe and Roll, Ryan Blackburn continues his 20Q series breaks down the list of biggest threats to the Denver Nuggets in the Western Conference this season. How does the Julius Randle trade affect the Minnesota Timberwolves? Do the Oklahoma City Thunder have enough to slow Nikola Jokic? Are Nuggets fans underrating the Dallas Mavericks? Ryan breaks it all down.
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Intro – 0:00
West Contenders Tiers – 3:00
OKC – 4:00
MIN – 7:00
Dallas and Phoenix – 9:30
Close but I don’t see it – 12:45
How Denver Beats OKC – 15:30
How Denver Beats MIN – 19:30
How Denver Beats Dallas – 21:30
How Denver Beats PHX – 24:50
Third Tier Teams – 27:00
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3 Comments
Yeah, Dallas is a real threat. Luka is the only player capable of negating Jokic' advantage. Last year that might not have mattered, but with Kyrie, Thompson, Washington and Lively PLUS the best bench in the league? Going to be tough for anyone to beat them.
You make a mistake when you think OKC got better. They swapped Dort for Caruso (a modest improvement) and J Williams with Heartenstein (with his 8pts / 8 reb). Meanwhile, Dallas replaced Jones (an 8pt scorer in the Finals) with Klay Thompson, Hardaway with Naji Marshall (the #1 perimeter defender in the league and a 38% 3pt shooter), and Josh Green with Quentin Grimes (also an elite defender who shoots 38% from 3). They also moved Jaden Hardy down the bench with Spencer Dinwiddie. One team is about the same, the other is WAY better.
Wolves are less of a threat for sure. They wouldn't have won last year but Malone exhausted and injured the starters overplaying them down the stretch and they hit the wall after getting a 20pt lead in the 3rd Q of game 7. Without KAT Wolves lack that 2nd 7ft C to guard Jokic, and force either AG or Jokic to guard KAT on the perimeter, opening up the lane for ANT drives. This year, Denver moved Christian to starter and he guards ANT much better than KCP – who wasn't even as good as a traffic cone on ANT last year. They also replaced the loss of Bruce Brown and Jeff Green with Russ and Dario Saric, which they didn't have last year. Russ is better than the unplayable Reggie Jackson, and Saric is better than nobody. Julius Randle shooting 3's is fine so AG can play drop against him, unlike with KAT who is elite 3pt shooter. It's a good trade for MN, but as many commentators have said this is a salary dump for MN, making it much easier to manage their cap, but it doesn't improve them short term. DiVincenzo is an upgrade, but he's a 6th man, not a starter. Denver probably matches up worse against G's like Devin Booker but much better against ANT with Christian instead of KCP.
Sacramento here! Sac towns' nite sky will be purple ALL YEAR