Denver Nuggets Season Preview

The Denver Nuggets had quite an interesting off-season. Starting with the DMC trade, which is in my opinion the block-buster move of the summer.  Then Nuggets sends Dirk to Pacers so he can join LeBron & Kobe in a quest for the championship ring. Head-scratchers moves, maybe, as general consensus are putting the Nuggets out of the playoff, and ranked 20th overall in pre-season. It is totally fine with GM David. First with Cousins and Dirk gone, the Nuggets are no longer expected to compete for the Championship. One can even argue that Jrue/Dirk/DMC may not be enough to win one anyways (although the chances are higher now that OP is not with us at the moment). If we are not there yet, why not be in an asset collecting role and build for the long run?

(Nuggets parted ways with Cousins & Dirk in one off-season).

What we have accomplished: acquire assets.
Regardless of what superstar values DMC has, Nuggets got a fair market rate in return.
Start with the two big men, Greg Monroe and Nikola Pekovic. Monroe is a fringe 5 star talent with all-round game and high off-rebounding skill. But it is Pek who intrigues GM David the most. Based on his observation, Pek, has always been someone has yet to get a fair chance to fully show case his talent. With just a small sample size of two games, Pek is doing pretty good with 19/10.

(Monroe and Pek will feature in the post)
Next Nuggets acquired a trio of guards: Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Gerald Henderson & Darren Collison. It is easy to see why Nuggets acquired KCP. He is an EXCELLENT 3pt shooter with a potential to develop into a capable defender. But it is the Pacers duo of Hendo and Collison that could make a difference. Hendo, is the type of erratic scorer is that can help spark the bench. Collison will help take the load of Jrue Holiday and provide meaningful minutes at the PG spot.

(Nuggets accquired another deadly shooter!)
More importantly, the Nuggets acquired picks. We all love draft picks, whether it is in the lottery, late 1st or even in the 2nd round. We acquired gained a 2 additional net 1st rounds, IND 15, BOS 16, & OKC 17.  The fact that Nuggets kept their own 1st implies that we own our future. Yes, we started off with 2-0, but if we feel like it, we can “rebuild” this season.

Where do all of these moves leave the Nuggets?
It is a talented team with many assets. It is a team with a balance attack and depths at every position. We are giving our best player, Jrue Holiday plenty of options. We have shooters (Affalo, KCP, Hairston, Collison, Ariza), We have post players with HIGH off-rebounding skills (Monroe, Pek & Hickson).

Nuggets line-up:
PG: Jrue Holiday, Western Conference All-Star Starter
SG: Aaron Affalo, low-usage, deadly 3pt shooter
SF: Trevor Ariza, 3-D guy with PASSING skills
PF: Greg Monroe, all-rounded PF with high off-reb
C: Nikola Pekovic, his name says it all.

6. JJ Hickson, bench spark with high off-reb, perfect for the Nuggets
7. Gerald Henderson, bench scorer
8. Darren Collison, fringe starter, Holiday back-up
9. KCP, he can shoot over 45% from 3pt
10. Anthony Randolph, tweener with
11. PJ Hairston, a starter last season with 44% 3pt shooter
12. CJ Leslie, I honestly wants to play him more.

The Nuggets is a talented team who should finish higher than 20th in the league and very certainly lower than 4th. Regardless, it will be a fun season. We are off to a nice start and will continue to tweak our way to the playoff and be the dark horse of this season.

Good read, Denver should be a problem for some of the powerhouse teams out west

Benripcity (CHI) wrote:Good read, Denver should be a problem for some of the powerhouse teams out west

Thanks Ben!
You are my dark horse to win the East.

P.S. Go Blazers!

He certainly was a problem for my team. Still, much to grow here, we're going to be better when we meet again.
Nice depth you built there, way to go. You certainly have a team for Playoffs, if Ariza can score efficiently, Afflalo keep shooting like last season.. You bench need to prove they can produce in limited minutes too.

I still think you need a rim protector more than you need Peko. But it's not easy to get one. Still, you're going to do fine in our division. I think you'll reach PO's

Marcos_Beck (OKC) wrote:He certainly was a problem for my team. Still, much to grow here, we're going to be better when we meet again.
Nice depth you built there, way to go. You certainly have a team for Playoffs, if Ariza can score efficiently, Afflalo keep shooting like last season.. You bench need to prove they can produce in limited minutes too.

I still think you need a rim protector more than you need Peko. But it's not easy to get one. Still, you're going to do fine in our division. I think you'll reach PO's

Thanks Marcos!
It was a good home win for us to kick-off the season.
Definitely a long season head for both us to grow and improve.
Western Conference is tough, hope we can make it.
Lastly, I wonder where can I find a rim protector?
Cheers  

Hahahaha
There is more than one rim protector in the game. There are not many avaliable tough.
Let the season roll, let the TRs finish.
If it's gonna happen, at least we're really close.

good team. Like most I was a bit sceptical about DMC's departure but you reached the playoffs last year without DMC and without Pek and without Monroe. So you'll be there again man cause you know how to get there...

Good start into the season, really interested to see your next games. You are able to end everywhere between 10-20..

andrei (POR) wrote:good team. Like most I was a bit sceptical about DMC's departure but you reached the playoffs last year without DMC and without Pek and without Monroe. So you'll be there again man cause you know how to get there...

Yea, I think everyone overlooked the fact that Cousins was MIA most the season and we still made the playoffs.
My goal of the season is definitely to continue the playoff streak.
Western conference is tough, so we will see what happens.

DennisJ (BOS) wrote:Good start into the season, really interested to see your next games. You are able to end everywhere between 10-20..

Good start indeed!
I agree that we will end up in the 10-20 range, hopefully we can finisher higher than the latter.

I like Nuggets roster, mainly the starting lineup. dqchen87 has built equalized team (Ariza and Afflalo probably would not be starters in other teams, but in this situation Jrue and Monroe will shoot more), without a superstar.

goikiri (BRO) wrote:I like Nuggets roster, mainly the starting lineup. dqchen87 has built equalized team (Ariza and Afflalo probably would not be starters in other teams, but in this situation Jrue and Monroe will shoot more), without a superstar.

Thanks, goikiri!
It is my goal to build a well balanced team with different point of attack.
Although I would argue that Ariza can be considered as a top 10 SF in the league. There just isn't that many good SF, outside of KD and LeBron.

Denver definitely one of the quiet assassins in the league. I love the makeup of this roster.