Denver Nuggets Thread

[J-ALL-DAY]

1 hour ago, iLikeDefense said:

I forgot we have a 1st rd draft pick this year, I’ll be honest, I haven’t looked at any prospects. I’ll have to defer to everyone on here. 

No need to look at any prospects, going to use that pick to trade for Beal anyways....

[broncosfan07]

While I like Harris a lot I do think the team will need to move on from him. Would love to be able to find a package for Beal, but in the chance that doesn’t happen I do think the franchise is working hard at it’s free agent destination image by actively rooting for former players and coaches/front office members who get promotions elsewhere. 

 

Have to say I am impressed with Josh Kronke, at first Nuggets and Avs had the bleakest futures of any Colorado teams, now both have brightest futures and championship contending teams. 

[RandyMossIsBoss]

All reports suggest Jokic has stayed in as good shape, if not improved it, since the season was put on hold. I'll believe it when I see, but that is huge news... was definitely a major concern considering he had to play his way into shape in each of the past few seasons.

 

Glad we're getting those 8 regular season games, I like at our odds at staying as a top 4 seed and this gives us a chance to avoid that bad matchup with Houston. Not championship level yet, but I am hoping to get back to WCSF and there take the Clippers or Lakers to 6. Jazz, Mavs and Thunder I would fully expect to beat in round 1.... Well, that's assuming every team looks similar/on similar trajectory as they were in March, which I suppose is unrealistic. We will see.

[RandyMossIsBoss]

Who do you guys want to see in round 1? If we beat the Clippers we will own tiebreaker over them, so 2 seed is very possible which gives us Mavs round 1. If we stay at 3 seed it could be either Thunder or Jazz.

 

I think Jazz are toughest matchup there but I’m still pretty confident in us winning that series. I think I might prefer seeing Thunder over Mavs, Mavs have given us some trouble and I always prefer a series where the best player on the court is on our team (close between Joker and Doncic).

[champ11]

16 hours ago, RandyMossIsBoss said:

Who do you guys want to see in round 1? If we beat the Clippers we will own tiebreaker over them, so 2 seed is very possible which gives us Mavs round 1. If we stay at 3 seed it could be either Thunder or Jazz.

 

I think Jazz are toughest matchup there but I’m still pretty confident in us winning that series. I think I might prefer seeing Thunder over Mavs, Mavs have given us some trouble and I always prefer a series where the best player on the court is on our team (close between Joker and Doncic).

Jazz are notttt gonna be the toughest IMO.

My preference is: 

1. Utah

2. OKC

GAP

3. Dallas

4. Houston 

[RandyMossIsBoss]

3 hours ago, champ11 said:

Jazz are notttt gonna be the toughest IMO.

My preference is: 

1. Utah

2. OKC

GAP

3. Dallas

4. Houston 

Houston no question is toughest but I don’t think we’ll see them round 1.

 

It’s close between OKC and Jazz, both series I think probably go to 6 or 7. Jazz have the playoff experience that OKC lacks outside of CP3 and they’ve been together under same coach for awhile, think in 7 game series that makes them more formidable even if Jokic is Gobert’s father.

[champ11]

20 hours ago, RandyMossIsBoss said:

Houston no question is toughest but I don’t think we’ll see them round 1.

 

It’s close between OKC and Jazz, both series I think probably go to 6 or 7. Jazz have the playoff experience that OKC lacks outside of CP3 and they’ve been together under same coach for awhile, think in 7 game series that makes them more formidable even if Jokic is Gobert’s father.

I just think with no Bogi the Jazz are the worst team in the west playoffs (assuming portland gets in). The Nuggets defend Mitchell well...Gobert can't clamp Jokic. I think our 3P defense needs to get better, but we're a much more talented team. CP3 in a playoff series surrounded by competence is a much tougher matchup IMO and that team has just been better this season. Although I like the OKC matchup as well....but yeah I just think it's way too much reliance on Mitchell for the Jazz. 

[RandyMossIsBoss]

So couple takeaways from game 1

-Mitchell has played pretty lights out against us 2 games in a row, but they lost both times. IF Mitchell kept this up (which would be an all time series, tbh), there’s no guarantee they even win a game let alone a series... big if. 

 

-While we can take solace in the fact that Mitchell won’t be scoring 57 on 33 shots every night, we probably won’t be shooting 22/41 from 3 ever again this season.

 

-Gobert is the best interior defender in the NBA, and he wasn’t in foul trouble until very late, but Jokic still put up 29 and took him to town in iso situations plenty. Great offense beats great defense in basketball, so it’s no different here. Not that this should be any surprise, as Joker has had 0 issues being effective while matched up w/ Gobert in the past. Gobert is no problem in terms of the 1v1 matchup, but he is big reason why we got worked on the glass and scored well below our average points in the paint. Tiring him out/foul trouble should be a priority no question. Let the offense run through Jokic, force Gobert to be stuck to him, which will open up paint and put him potential fouling situations.

 

-The Jazz have picked on MPJ through Mitchell in both our bubble games. He’s just not there defensively yet, soft in the paint and doesn’t position himself well on perimeter. Not worried long term or anything, but right now, that’s a problem. Malone’s biggest challenge will be figuring out how to best utilize him. We can’t just bench him, he’s our 3rd best offensive option by a mile at the present and has ability to carry us through stretches. 

 

-Millsap has been struggling a lot since his knee injury early in year. Age + injuries have really taken toll on him. Sad to see. He’s still a plus defender no question, but we can’t expect too much from him on offense outside of 3 and capitalizing on mismatches down low. We should essentially be splitting minutes between him and Grant and/or we roll with hotter hand. At least in this matchup.

 

I feel good about this series but overall not too satisfied with our game 1 performance as I view that insane 3 pt shooting as pretty flukey.

[champ11]

19 hours ago, RandyMossIsBoss said:

So couple takeaways from game 1

-Mitchell has played pretty lights out against us 2 games in a row, but they lost both times. IF Mitchell kept this up (which would be an all time series, tbh), there’s no guarantee they even win a game let alone a series... big if. 

 

-While we can take solace in the fact that Mitchell won’t be scoring 57 on 33 shots every night, we probably won’t be shooting 22/41 from 3 ever again this season.

 

-Gobert is the best interior defender in the NBA, and he wasn’t in foul trouble until very late, but Jokic still put up 29 and took him to town in iso situations plenty. Great offense beats great defense in basketball, so it’s no different here. Not that this should be any surprise, as Joker has had 0 issues being effective while matched up w/ Gobert in the past. Gobert is no problem in terms of the 1v1 matchup, but he is big reason why we got worked on the glass and scored well below our average points in the paint. Tiring him out/foul trouble should be a priority no question. Let the offense run through Jokic, force Gobert to be stuck to him, which will open up paint and put him potential fouling situations.

 

-The Jazz have picked on MPJ through Mitchell in both our bubble games. He’s just not there defensively yet, soft in the paint and doesn’t position himself well on perimeter. Not worried long term or anything, but right now, that’s a problem. Malone’s biggest challenge will be figuring out how to best utilize him. We can’t just bench him, he’s our 3rd best offensive option by a mile at the present and has ability to carry us through stretches. 

 

-Millsap has been struggling a lot since his knee injury early in year. Age + injuries have really taken toll on him. Sad to see. He’s still a plus defender no question, but we can’t expect too much from him on offense outside of 3 and capitalizing on mismatches down low. We should essentially be splitting minutes between him and Grant and/or we roll with hotter hand. At least in this matchup.

 

I feel good about this series but overall not too satisfied with our game 1 performance as I view that insane 3 pt shooting as pretty flukey.

Agree with everything you said bro. I think the Nuggets can play a lot better than they did on Monday, but no doubt impressed with Mitchell and think he can keep going crazy. Craig needs to stay out of foul trouble. 

[Joe_is_the_best]

So... what the hell happened? I was confident about this series.

[champ11]

On 8/22/2020 at 11:34 AM, Joe_is_the_best said:

So... what the hell happened? I was confident about this series.

a lot went wrong .... i don't feel great about today, but we'll see. i hope we at least show some fight because I'm not sure we have the right personnel to hang with how well the Jazz are playing. I'll write a long post depending on how tonight goes lol 

[RandyMossIsBoss]

I’m pretty dead inside. Lost by combined 56 points in last 2, I’m not sure there’s any coming back from that. I don’t know what kind of adjustments, if any, can be made to go from getting blown out 2x in a row to winning in a matter of 2 days... Going to be a long offseason.

[RandyMossIsBoss]

Pretty emotional right now so I’ll sleep on most of what I want to say, but one thing is clear to me, out priority going forward needs to be pairing Jokic w/ a rim protecting 4. His D got extra exposed this series. He’s slow footed, and can’t jump, his effort and IQ can only make up for those shortcomings so much. What are some realistic options to fit that bill? 

 

We have 3 offensive studs right now (MPJ will be one, I’m assuming that), but all 3 are neutral at best defenders. The pieces around these 3 must be plus defenders.

[resilient part 2]

36 minutes ago, RandyMossIsBoss said:

Pretty emotional right now so I’ll sleep on most of what I want to say, but one thing is clear to me, out priority going forward needs to be pairing Jokic w/ a rim protecting 4. His D got extra exposed this series. He’s slow footed, and can’t jump, his effort and IQ can only make up for those shortcomings so much. What are some realistic options to fit that bill? 

 

We have 3 offensive studs right now (MPJ will be one, I’m assuming that), but all 3 are neutral at best defenders. The pieces around these 3 must be plus defenders.

draft wise, Precious out of Memphis would be a nice fit, but may have to trade up and get him.. Serge Ibaka is a FA, if you want a quick fix maybe..

Edited August 24, 2020 by resilient part 2

[RandyMossIsBoss]

You know, you'd think losing 1-4 vs 2-4 wouldn't matter or make a difference, but it really does here IMO. So proud to see our 2 building blocks step up big and our entire team and coaching ADJUST to survive an elimination game and prevent the embarrassing backdoor sweep. Now if we go and get blown out of the water on Thursday, all bets are off, but if over these next 2 games we just put up that same fight we have games 4 and 5, win or lose, I'll be proud and less pessimistic even though no matter how you try to spin it, it's brutal getting upset round 1 against the matchup you tanked for. 

3-1 deficit, 3 Ls in a row, in what is evidently a poor matchup, pretty easy to see how a team might really just throw in the towel at that point and get boatraced in game 5.

 

Now all that talk is being somewhat realistic and still considering this a lost series, Utah is still exploiting major weaknesses and it took God mode Jokic to keep up in the 1st quarter, followed by God mode Murray down the stretch to secure this game. However, in all this talk of the 3-1 deficit, a huge thing to remember is normally coming back from that requires at least 1 road win. Being in the bubble, playing every other night, and not needing to go on the road, definitely leaves things more open. We'll see. For now, proud as hell from what I saw out of Jokic and Murray.