The Nuggets aced the offseason even with an “incomplete” grade.
That’s how good their roster moves were, according to most of us in the business of making such evaluations prematurely. After trading Michael Porter Jr. for Cam Johnson, turning Dario Saric’s contract into Jonas Valanciunas, reuniting with Bruce Brown and signing Tim Hardaway Jr., Denver has been widely labeled one of the biggest winners of the NBA summer, in stark contrast with last year.
And that’s despite not filling all 15 roster spots.
Executive vice president of basketball operations Ben Tenzer has said he feels no pressure to fill the final spot before training camp at the beginning of October. It might even benefit the Nuggets to wait until the trade deadline, when they can react to roster deficiencies instead of predicting them. Right now, there’s no telling who will be injured or who will be underperforming 50 games into the season. Denver expects to be one of the best teams in the league with or without a 15th player in the meantime.
By that token, consider the open spot a luxury.
But now that everyone has spent two months getting drunk on Nuggets Kool-Aid, it’s time to nitpick the state of the roster. What weaknesses will emerge? What skillset will Denver want to address either before or during the season? Here are three possibilities.
1. POA perimeter defense
Arguably, their biggest flaw last season, point-of-attack defense, remains a lingering question for the offensively gifted Nuggets. Thanks to a handful of variables, they already appear well-positioned to improve from their league ranking of 21st in defensive rating last season.
Aaron Gordon’s calves and hamstrings should be healthier and more mobile after a year of recurring injuries. Christian Braun has matured as a pick-and-roll navigator. Cam Johnson is at least a marginal upgrade over MPJ. First-year coach David Adelman seems eager to be malleable with scheme. And Nikola Jokic should be in a better mood.
Is that enough to make a leap into the top half of the league? The sum of Denver’s offseason moves isn’t necessarily going to move the needle a ton. Bruce Brown is a long and versatile guard, but he’s filling the shoes of another impactful bench defender in Russell Westbrook. Tim Hardaway Jr. and Jonas Valanciunas were acquired for other reasons.
There’s a realistic scenario in which the Nuggets still need defensive reinforcements after the first stretch of the season, especially to guard on the perimeter and take some of the load off Braun and Gordon.
2. Table-setting
Denver’s new front office clearly intended to diversify the team’s 3-point shooting options this summer, even with two-way signings such as Curtis Jones and Tamar Bates, who can contribute during the regular season. But do the Nuggets have enough dependable ball-handling and play-making behind Jamal Murray in their backcourt?
The second-unit point guard minutes are expected to be split between Brown and Jalen Pickett. Brown, of course, was a major piece on the championship team two years ago. He also hasn’t looked quite like himself since leaving Denver. It’s no guarantee that he’ll pick up right where he left off in the 2023 NBA Finals, or that he’ll be consistently healthy after undergoing knee surgery last September.
As for Pickett, the last glimpses of him were highly encouraging, but he’s still a bit of a wild card as a 2023 second-round pick who’s been through his share of struggles while acclimating to the NBA. The position could turn out to be not as deep as it looks on paper.
Maybe a traditional point guard is less essential on a team with Jokic and Gordon, especially with help from two-guards who can operate as combo guards, like Hardaway and Strawther. But you don’t want to have to rely on them too much with the ball, either. Long story short: You could talk yourself into an optimistic or pessimistic stance on the Nuggets’ point guard depth.
3. Forward depth and experience
Peyton Watson, DaRon Holmes II, Zeke Nnaji and Hunter Tyson are Denver’s bench forwards. Tyson is the oldest among them at 25 years old, and he’s the least likely to play real minutes. Watson, a player not without flaws, is the only one of these guys who’s proven he can stick in an everyday NBA rotation up to this point.
The frontcourt outlook hinges to some extent on Holmes, who missed his would-be rookie year with a torn Achilles tendon last season. If he reveals himself to be playable at the four, it allows Watson to spend more time at small forward, a position that he views as a more natural and comfortable fit. If Holmes and Nnaji struggle, Watson likely plays the four more often, and Denver could need Hardaway or Strawther to slot in at the three.
Although he’s been linked to other teams already, one idea worth throwing out there is Kevin Love. The 37-year-old is widely expected to be traded or bought out by Utah before the season, and when he does, a contender will scoop him up. Maybe he gets an encore in Cleveland or joins one of the Los Angeles teams. But why not Denver? He and Adelman have a previous relationship from their overlapping years with the Timberwolves. Love also played high school ball near Portland, Ore., and lost the 2005 state championship game to Jesuit High School — where Adelman was a volunteer assistant coach at the time.
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