They dont have anywhere near the depth to be title contenders right now

They have probably the worst bench in the nba

I don’t think them being healthy is remotely enough for a championship the league is way more stacked and they’ve got worse throughout the years losing more and more players and talent.

Our bench is probably the worst in the league

That ship has sailed.

Not just healthy, those two need to be in peak form. Denver is a team relying on their top 3 players all giving over performances. They really cant beat the top west teams without that since they lack so much roster depth and have proven and layered counter strategies 

A team needs to be healthy and performing to win it all, more news at 6

I trust Gordon, even when recovering from injuries. His impact, including on offense, is stronger than his numbers indicate. Significantly so.

Murray on the other hand, and I say this with heavy heart, I don’t trust anywhere as much.

I’m glad that we won a championship with him, and that playoffs run alongside the Bubble appearance (which, to be fair, was significantly less consistent than the collective memory would have you think), but pretty much everything else about him was an uphill battle for the team.

The early part of the Jokić era was plagued with him trying to get his footing as a contender level PG through years of incremental, sometimes barely visible, improvements, while the rest of the roster kept getting blamed for the inconsistent performances.
This ongoing later part has been all about injuries and the return to inconsistency.

I’m the first to say how little loyalty and gratitude teams show to the players, but Nuggets have really stuck with the Murray in the times when most others would’ve moved on.
He’s been instrumental in the teams only championship run so far, as well as some other incredibly memorable moments that we’ll talk about for decades, but the Nuggets have also given him a chance that most other teams wouldn’t have bothered to even entertain, and waited for his recovery in the years they’ve had a reigning back to back MVP.

At this moment, even if there would be hard feelings, it’d be fair for both parties to move on.
You got a ring to your name, and at least three years of making between \(50M and \)57M, before a chance to sign another nice deal at 32?
I wouldn’t feel too bad about myself if I was in his shoes.

This.

It’s also extremely unlikely that they lose Watson for nothing.

Lmao. AG and Murray could play 82 games, this team ain’t winning a championship. Y’all talk about Jokic like he’s been to the finals 4, 5 times.

Im Very respectful of Joker and I’ll never take away the chances that he just has one of those unbelievable runs that goes against the odds

That being said, it’s like the board is actively trying to stack those odds against him lol, what the fuck has been this offseason for the nuggets, how do they expect to have a shot unless everyone is miraculously healthy as fuck

It is if Aaron Gordon is fully healthy throughout the season.

This team is not going to be a top 5 team in the West

Outside of OKC and SA the rest of the west is a mixed bag. Denver’s the only team in the west to have given either of the top 2 teams a competitive playoff series in the last two years.. everyone else has been steamrolled

They ended third last year - Jokic playing at a MVP level alone is probably going to put Denver in the mix for top 5 seed

Why not?

They were 3rd last season with injuries to everyone but Murray.

How many teams in the West are you taking over them?

Minnesota could, but I can imagine a lot of growing pains integrating Lamelo and they no longer have the front court for insurance to getting easy wins if that’s too long or if they have backcourt injuries.

Houston could if FVV is healthy and fixes all of those issues. But had a very poor playoff exit and now another summer to dwell on whatever KD shit was happening.

Utah could just by trying this season (and I think should be top 6).

LA could if Luka, AR and Kessler are healthy, but could easily be worse.

And Portland could if Dame is 80% Dame, and Ja is actually a positive. But I wouldn’t count on it, and playing either/both of those guys, takes away their biggest strength that made them so competitive last year.

Which of those 3 are your more confident in than just “Denver being Denver”?

If LA can have an argument for top 5 why not Denver?

As long as Zach Lowe has a podcast, the glazing isn’t stopping.

the starting lineup is good enough because Jokic is still the best player on planet earth imo, but as the depth erodes away on the team, they are screwed if Gordon (or anyone else really) goes down.

Alpha male, confirmed

Jokic makes 60m, Murray 50m, Gordon 33m, can 23m and Braun 21.5m. Thats 187.5m right there.

I feel like nuggets have gotten worse the wolves have gotten better, but the nuggets now have a better matchup against the wolves 

Every year we lose key players, don’t replace them, and just run it back. 

worse

JK rowling ass name

Diallo by the way, OP made a typo, if I got whooshed then sorry, carry on

Diablo V

That’s a stretch lmao that team had Campazzo and will barton playing meaningful minutes

And somehow Jokic willed that team, without Murray and MPJ, to finish sixth. The starting lineup was worse, with Wil Barton, Jeff Green and Monte Morris (and even Austin Reeves) in the starting lineup.

We may be getting clowned right now about our current state, but it’s nowhere near that team.

And if we lose, Peyton Watson, we likely are getting pieces in return that are going to improve that bench.

jordan poole sent MVP jokic home in 5 is one of my favorite ragebait sentences

Very good chance someone else does it before we do lol

Always has been. Jaden McDaniels ended their run.

They need a backup big and a starting PF. similar construction to the lakers tbh but lakers are deeper now

Jokic will be able to make anything work offensively but I don’t trust that defense with Gordon being a question mark of health. That TWolves series exposed how much the Nuggets rely on Gordon on the court to look complete.

MPJ and Braun were worse

Their drafting sucked balls and they gave gigantic contracts to mid players.

Ring is deffo worth it, but if Jokic played for OKC, he’d have 3.

Unfortunately his last name is Diallo

After OKC and Spurs the West is flawed. I wouldn’t be surprised if the standings stay about the same as last season.

Diallo is actually being brought over from Europe because he’s a great defender. Won DPOY in the EuroLeague.

You karma farmers need to fuck off already. Saying that as a Wolves fan.

No ring franchise talking shit

And why is he on a first name basis with them

jones got signed by the thunder today. nuggets can technically match but doing so makes them a second apron team + jones already reposted himself in an okc jersey on instagram. probably will be a thunder

unless watson takes the qo they have to go deep into second apron to keep him. they would have to dump either braun or johnson to be able to afford him. so in terms of depth it would be around the same either way

Jones is 100% gone

Jones is probably gone, watson might return

Spencer Jones is also an RFA

It’s hard to win multiple titles when you’re stuck on an aging and injury prone team with no assets.

Google gives me 3 other mvps with 1 finals appearance: Barkley, AI, and Westbrook.

Giannis and Jokic at least won their finals, so that matters.  

As a Lakers fan, I’m hoping it’s not true, but Luka

Parity in the league. 8 years 8 different nba champions.

Giannis will get another one this season. LeBron picked wrong.

Ignore flair. 

Can’t wait for another season of this sub and the media going crazy over his on/off, when he plays more minutes with starters than any other top player while also having a bad bench.

I would argue only one of Denver’s players would start for the Knicks, and the player he would start in place of is better than anyone else who starts for Denver. 

Eh, more to do with parity and weaknesses of the star players. Warriors won 4 rings so they shouldn’t even be in the conversation. They maximised as much as they could. Just natural progression of an aging team for them.