The Nuggets Are Ready to Win Big

The Nuggets Are Ready to Win Big

How does a team respond after taking the eventual NBA champions to a game seven in the playoffs? In the case of the Denver Nuggets, you go out and immediately get better. The team has made some major additions this off seasonason that should help them in some key areas. I’m going to take a deeper dive into why I think these additions have been helpful and why the Nuggets are poised to be a big threat to the defending champion Thunder in the Western Conference. The Nuggets won the NBA Finals in 2023. And while that’s only two years ago, a lot has changed since. Before these recent playoffs, the team fired their longtime head coach, Michael Malone, and their general manager, Calvin Booth. With just three games left in the regular season, David Adelman took over as the head coach and got the full-time job after the team had their second consecutive exit in the Western Conference semifinals. Though, the other thing that hurt the Nuggets, which was very apparent last year, was their lack of depth. It also didn’t do Denver any favors that before last season, the new CBA and tax aprons kicked in, which prevented the team from going all out to ressign Contavius Caldwell Pope and also made some of their moves look stranger in hindsight given that the team was built under the previous CBA. Here’s a look at the Nuggets cap sheet last season. Their core four players of Nicole Joic, Jamal Murray, Aaron Gordon, and Michael Porter Jr. exceeded the initial salary cap alone. That isn’t even factoring in how their fifth and sixth highest paid players in Zeke Naji and Dario Sarich didn’t make much of an impact. So, if it wasn’t for Russell Westbrook and younger players on rookie deals like Christian Brown and Payton Watson, things could have been much worse. With Gordon and Porter Jr. both playing through serious injuries by the end of the Thunder series, the team unfortunately had trouble fielding competent lineups as the lack of depth was on full display. The first sign of change came on the night of this past draft when the Nuggets traded Michael Porter Jr. and a future firstround pick to the Nets in exchange for Cam Johnson. Porter’s blend of size and shooting is a great mix and he can score in a variety of ways. Though Johnson offers some similar skills and maybe a bit more. This past year in Brooklyn, he was utilized at one of the league’s highest rates out of handoffs, which is a common element of the Nuggets offense. And Johnson showed he can create for himself and others out of the action. Cam, like MPJ, can also shoot off movement and is very dangerous on spot-ups, whether it is shooting off the catch or attacking closeouts. That doesn’t even factor into the boost he’ll get playing with a passer of Joic’s caliber. As Cam made 44% of his threes off the catch that were considered unguarded this past year and should see more open looks in the future while also getting more chances to score off cuts. Johnson also has shown some flashes of creating offense for himself out of pick and roll and is willing to compete on the defensive end. While Cam can bring many of the dimensions and some others that Porter didn’t bring offensively, he brings another big difference, cap savings. Johnson has a cap hit of around 14% while Porters this year would be in the 25% range. This also allowed Denver to go out and add more pieces. One example of this is Tim Hardaway Jr. who signed for the veteran minimum. The 12-year vet has a lot of big game experience, but the other thing he gives Denver is another big-time shooter. Last year, by NBA standards, just a small percentage of Hardaway’s three-point attempts off the catch were considered unguarded. Though, including the playoffs, he made 46% of those shots. And with Joic, he should see plenty more of those clean looks while also giving the Nuggets another option who can space the floor. Denver also brought back a vital piece from their championship team in Bruce Brown. Bruce is a Swiss Army knife who can do a bit of everything. His cutting and ability to operate as a roleman in his prior Denver stint was very valuable alongside Nola Jokic. And he’s shown that he can create for himself out of pick and roll and for others in various capacities while also providing some versatility defensively. Given the Nuggets lack of depth last year, this is a huge boost as Brown can do a variety of tasks while being able to play with different lineups and can help provide some defensive stability, which was an issue the Nuggets had often this postseason when their starters got some rest. The Nuggets made another addition that was recently finalized when they acquired Yonas Valenunis from the Kings in exchange for Daario Sarich. Though this move has a unique backstory. After this trade was first announced, multiple writers came out with a report that Yonas was seriously considering signing with one of the premier teams in Greece and even went to Athens to meet with the team. Though Valance Ununas apparently has two agents, one for NBA matters and the other for international, which is where things got confusing. According to a Greek media outlet, Jonas’s international agent, who was not involved with his NBA negotiations, apparently promised the club that the Nuggets would be releasing him. This agent was either hoping for a quick payday or didn’t have a grasp on Denver’s backup big situation. With a player like Nicola Joic, his presence when he’s both on and off the floor is apparent. This was certainly the case with the Nuggets this past season. In the regular season, the team outscored opponents by 10 and a half points per 100 possessions with the three-time MVP on the floor and were outscored by 9.3 points per 100 possessions when he wasn’t playing. That’s a nearly 20 point margin. It was even more drastic in the playoffs where Denver was outscored by a ridiculous 22 points per 100 possessions when Jokic wasn’t on the floor. Valance Ununas can at least help keep the Nuggets offense afloat when their MVP rests. He’s still very capable at scoring and facilitating out of the post. Can contribute as a role man and also on the offensive glass. It will also give Denver another big that they can trust even if it’s for 16 or so minutes a game, which is something the team hasn’t really had at their disposal in recent years. There are still questions about the Nuggets backup point guard situation, but this roster already looks much more balanced and deeper compared to last year. This doesn’t even include the addition of Don Holmes, who tore Achilles in summer league after being drafted in 2024, who figures to contribute. Add that all up, and the team that had trouble finding seven or eight guys they could trust in big games last year now could have at least 10 in a much deeper bench. There’s plenty that could happen over the next few months and the coming season, but the Nuggets had to make changes this off season to reach their full potential, and they’re certainly headed in the right direction. If you made it this far, thank you. And if you enjoyed the video, make sure to like and subscribe to stay uptodate with my latest in-depth NBA analysis.

The NBA offseason has started to cool down, but there’s one team in the Western Conference that looks much improved: the Denver Nuggets. Despite losing to the now-NBA champion Oklahoma City Thunder in a seven-game series, one thing that has hurt the Nuggets the past few years has been their depth. They’ve been working on that this offseason, as they acquired Cam Johnson in a draft-night trade for Michael Porter Jr, and were able to add Tim Hardaway Jr, and a fan favorite from their 2023 championship team in Bruce Brown. After some delays, the franchise also added a backup center in Jonas Valanciunas. This is a team that with Nikola Jokic will continue to be tough to stop offensively, but now has a much deeper bench that will pay off in the long run. I take a deeper dive into how these new additions should help the Nuggets, as they hope to make a deep playoff run to maximize Jokic’s prime. #nba #basketball #nuggets #denvernuggets #nikolajokic #camjohnson #sports #nbahighlights #highlights #trending

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