Denver Nuggets: 3 Bold Predictions for 2018-19

Yes, James Harden, second.

This is more than wishful thinking.  The stiffest competition Denver will face this season outside of Houston and Golden State will come from their own division.

The Minnesota Timberwolves, Utah Jazz, OKC Thunder and Portland Trailblazers all made the playoffs last year. That’s everyone in the Northwest division except the Nuggets. Only the Jazz made any noise in the playoffs.

Denver Nuggets

So, how do we elevate the only team not to make the playoffs to division and conference supremacy?

First, it’s important to point out that while Denver missed the playoffs a season ago, they were within three wins of a three seed.  In the tightly-packed Western race, most teams can pick out three games they should or could have won.

Clippers, Mavericks, Grizzlies.

Three head-scratching losses that meant the difference between a three seed and a lottery pick.  Let’s not exaggerate the playoff miss.

Of course, all of this is contingent on injury.  Denver can’t afford a season-breaker like Paul Millsap’s wrist this year but they’re also more resilient. So, this is all presuming that the Nuggets stay healthy for the whole season.

Speaking of health, there’s a monkey-wrench in the form of Michael Porter, Jr.  Neither the team nor Porter’s people have been committal on the status of MPJ’s back.  If he’s ready to go, Denver has, for all intents-and-purposes, a number one pick and potential ROY candidate. There’s a ton of speculation to this but Porter’s addition moves up the Denver timeline.

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Ultimately, another year of hard work and improvement from Jokic, Murray, Harris and Barton is going to be tough for Western Conference teams to contend with.  It’s rare that a team gets one young player with such an incredible ceiling.  Denver has at least four in MPJ, Jokic, Harris and Murray.

The mantra is that Denver is some unspecified amount of time away from West dominance.  Usually, coupled with the inevitable demise of the the Warriors, we like to point at 2020 and beyond for Denver’s power band.

The thing is, if that leap is going to be made, with this staff and roster, there need to be signs of it this season.  Moving from playoff outsider to an eighth or seventh seed is unacceptable.  Denver, for all it’s accolades blew their goodwill last year.  This year, there needs to be a leap for this team, if it is to contend for a title in the foreseeable future.  That leap needs to be in the “home court” half of the playoff seedings, so four-or-better.

Of course the Warriors are number one.  If they don’t finish first, it will be because they decided to throttle back for the regular season.  After that, it’s a free-for-all and there’s no reason the Nuggets can’t top that list.  Did Houston improve this offseason?  No.  Divisional teams are the same.

There is a window here for the Nuggets to establish themselves as the heir and the future.  It’s going to require quite the leap from the likes of Jamal Murray but there’s a silver-lining to Murray and Denver’s Point Guard development.  It even has a name:  Isaiah Thomas.

The more I mull the Thomas signing, the more it looks like a stroke of pure genius for Denver.  Isaiah’s indomitable will, his skill and his fire are all translatable skills and he’s already in Murray’s ear.  There’s no posturing for starting roles, just solid (and needed) leadership.  Not to mention, if he’s healthy, Thomas can score with the best of them.  On those nights when Jamal can’t find his game, how nice is it to have IT available.  Whether he plays 18 or 48 minutes, Thomas is going to have a large impact on this team.

Looking at this roster, the schedule and the Western Conference opposition, it’s not nearly the leap that it seems for Denver to finish with a two seed. The biggest challenge for that position is still the Rockets.  What remains to be seen is if Carmelo Anthony has learned anything (he hasn’t).  Last year’s Rockets had an incredible season, fueled by MVP James Harden, PG legend Chris Paul and a breakout season from Clint Capela.  Houston was also the team that gave Denver the most trouble.  The addition of Anthony is curious, as are the losses of Trevor Ariza and Luc Mbah-a-Moute.  Particularly for a team that parlayed cohesion into a 65-win season. While Houston remains a beast, offseason moves may give other Western Conference teams a shot at dethroning the Rockets.

I’m not saying it will be easy but it’s time for the Nuggets to do some hard things.