The Nuggets did their damage on draft day, bringing in a raft of interesting young talent: SG Jamal Murray, SG/SF Juan Hernangomez, G Malik Beasley, SF Petr Cornelie, all rangy scorers, all should be pretty good right away, Coach Malone has a ton of scoring options to work with. In free agency the Nuggets have added no new players, lost only DJ Augustine (oh yeah, he played for Denver), and retained only Darrel Arthur (3yrs/$23m), though I assume they'll be picking up the options of Gary Harris and Jursuf Nurkic.
Like the Jazz, the Nuggets' upcoming season is built on maturation of the young talent. If Mudiay, Jokic, Harris and Nurkic are just a little better next year, then the Nuggets will be vastly improved (though that may not appear in the Win column). The team is probably happy to have another lottery pick next summer, the chances of beating the Warriors are so remote, its not really even much of a dream. Play the kids, let 'em grow, don't worry about winning. That said, if they all improve and gel and if Murray has a Devin Booker-ish rookie year, if Will Barton really is for-real, the Nuggets might could sneak a playoff spot in the West. But I don't see it.
I think the talent will be fun to watch, they'll catch teams off-balance and Denver has always been a great home court advantage, so making the playoffs is not so impossible. But they've got a long way to go to catch the Blazers, much less the Warriors. They've got time to churn some talent, get some reps and learn how to play NBA ball. I reckon the Nuggets will be making another big push in next year's draft.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment