The Perils for the Nuggets in Emulating the Warriors

We’ve seen that Denver shares some similarity with the development of the Warriors dynasty.

There are pieces of the Denver squad that mirror their Golden State counterparts.  The important takeaways for the Nuggets development are these:

Like Draymond Green, Denver has in Nikola Jokic a player that is unique.  Jokic has put up numbers in his first three years that land him in territory Nuggets never occupy.  All other things being equal, opponents have no answer for Jokic.

We’ve made the case that Gary Harris is a pretty comparable player to Klay Thompson.

Jamal Murray has the potential, at 21 to develop into a Curry-esque player.

As a bonus, we get the freaky talent and leadership from Jokic without the technical fouls or beef with other players.

The Nuggets ultimately want to develop into the 2015 Warriors.  The absurdly talented, fun team that was really hard to dislike.  Part of that process is trusting the development of stars we’re already invested in.  Adding complimentary pieces is the way forward.

Denver has to find it’s Andre Igoudala and Sean Livingston pieces.  They already have the Steph-Klay-Draymond set.

I wrote last summer about the importance of staying the course.  It’s even more imperative now.  Denver will have a developed core and a lot of cap space next summer.  The 2019 title could very well land in the Mile High City.

Or we could trade up from the 14th pick to roll the dice on another project or sign someone absurd like LeBron James.

Things can change quickly.  Ask the Warriors.