The Denver Nuggets went from rags to riches: How they hit gold in the draft
The Denver Nuggets are a legit contender in the Western Conference and managed to get here through smart decisions via the NBA Draft
As an aspiring sports journalist, a commonplace for me to find a safe haven is in a library. A library has all I need in terms of finding information or educating myself on a matter. A lot of people will tell you or you will hear that the mind is the most lethal weapon. Priding myself in storing my brain with the most sports information has always been of nature. That is why libraries and I go hand-in-hand. A rule in the library, unspoken or spoken, is to stay silent. Respect everybody’s reading privacy. It is not a playground. Libraries would, in conclusion, fit the famous mantra, “silent but deadly”.
The Denver Nuggets are metaphorically on a sports level like a library. Their moves have been silent over the last few years but have recently shown to be effective. 2011 marked the end of the eight-year partnership with former star Carmelo Anthony in a blockbuster trade to the New York Knicks. Anthony led the Nuggets to seven straight playoff appearances as soon as he got into the league. He was Denver’s savior.
He took them to the Western Conference Finals in 2008-09. The only season they made it past the first round.
Since then, the Nuggets have been sort of an afterthought in a loaded Western Conference and in the NBA in general. The Nuggets were stuck in the dreaded mediocre zone. A zone comprised of teams that are not early lottery bad but also not good enough for the playoffs.
The offseason entering the 2014-15 season changed that stigma for the Nuggets. Looking back that offseason itself will go down as one of the most underrated offseasons of the recent decade. The Nuggets pulled off a draft heist in trading their 11th pick (Doug McDermott) to the Chicago Bulls for their 16th (Jusuf Nurkic) and 19th (Gary Harris) picks.
Denver wasn’t done pulling surprises out their bag. They then selected in the second round an unknown foreign prospect Nikola Jokic (however, he didn’t join until the 2015-16). Looking back how did 29 other teams miss out on arguably the best player out the draft? Teams often fall in love with the hype. Coveting prospects upside rather than what they’ve showcased. For example, the next Greek Freak. He ended up getting drafted higher than Jokic. Hype kills, most of the time it always does. Anyways, the Nuggets hit the gold mine in this draft. This draft will end up laying the groundwork for their future.
Things still weren’t sunny in the Mile High, cloudy but the forecast was eventually going to clear. The midseason came around and the team was enduring a rough patch. They were 20-33. Arron Afflalo and the current set of wings weren’t getting the job done. In another lopsided trade with the Portland Trail Blazers, wing Will “The Thrill” Barton came to the Mile High City along with the future draft rights to Malik Beasley.
Two drafts later from the Jokic draft the Nuggets hit on another prospect. A small yet very aggressive Canadian named Jamal Murray. Murray averaged a quiet 20 ppg in his first (and only) year at University of Kentucky. The year prior point guard Emmanuel Mudiay was selected. There was the question in why the Nuggets drafted Murray when there were already guards on paper already in front of him?
There was also what position best suited Murray, he is more of a scorer than a set-you-up-run-the-offense kind of point guard. Mudiay quickly showed he wasn’t of fit so he was shipped out. Harris was more effective at the shooting guard position anyways. As a result, the Murray-Harris tandem was created.
Murray quickly put to rest the questions about him. His second season he averaged 16.7 points per game (almost a 7 point uptick from his rookie season), this past season up to 18.2. His PER is close to All-Star caliber consideration. His duties on the offensive end are increasing year-by-year. This offseason he was awarded the rookie scale max, five-year $170 million. Denver is putting their trust in Murray leading the reigns. Of course next to Jokic.
According to Bleacher Report’s Kelly Scaletta, the Nuggets rank 8th in the league in terms of the NBA’s top duos. Behind the likes of disproven duos Kawhi Leonard and Paul George, LeBron James and Anthony Davis, the dubious partnership of Russell Westbrook and James Harden, and the hopeful yet contradicting system fit of Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid. Both Jokic (24) and Murray (22) are the youngest out of all the duos listed.
The pairing of Murray and Jokic is a match made in heaven. The pick and roll is the bread and butter. How can you stop it? Murray is effective off the ball just as he is on. Jokic is a center that operates as a point guard. The chemistry between them if given a rating like on NBA 2K would be a 100 percent. They know where they are going to be the majority of the time they share the floor together. Whether it be Murray running around, slashing, cutting, Jokic knows where to find him. The pick and roll ran by Murray often lead to him knowing where to feed Jokic in the soft spots of the opposing team defense.
You can see the early chemistry these two had in their first year together:
Or this absurd “I know where you are going to be” pass from Jokic to Murray:
Maybe the New England Patriots are going to need a quarterback soon when Tom Brady retires:
This is just plain nasty. Opposing defenses are in for a nightmare for the next few seasons:
Just how massively underrated Jokic and Murray are as a duo is how underrated this Nuggets team is coming into this season. All the noise is surrounding the Los Angeles teams, Houston Rockets, and the still persistent Golden State Warriors. Sure there are multiple “underrated teams” in the West because of the outside attention but none more undervalued than the Nuggets.
Last seasons team surprised everyone with the constant push for the No. 1 seed out West. At All-Star break they finished with the second-best record in the West.
The playoffs gave Nuggets fans insight into how the future will be. A tough 7-game Western Conference Semifinals loss to the Blazers. That series put Murray and Jokic onto a superstar pedestal. Jokic posted a near triple-double 27.1 points, 13.9 rebounds, and 7.7 assists per game. Murray had an efficient 23.6 points, 6.0 rebounds, and 5.3 assists per game. Harris showed his potential All-Defensive capabilities suffocating Blazers superstar Damian Lillard.
Beasley and Barton showed flashes. Mason Plumlee provided defensive insurance and played his role nicely in complement to Jokic. The Nuggets were super close to challenging the Warriors in the Western Conference Finals. This year they actually have a legitimate chance to reach those heights.
The front office clearly valued team chemistry rather than making a splash. They have multiple assets to do so though. They brought back Paul Millsap to solidify the other frontcourt position next to Jokic. They are banking on Michael Porter Jr., their 14th overall pick in last year’s draft, to fill the small forward role. Porter Jr. was the No. 2 ranked player coming out of high school but these last few years have been injury-riddled. He still has major upside and reports out of the Nuggets camp he is looking good.
Zack Kram, a staff writer of The Ringer, listed Denver first in the league with the best young core. Just look at Denver’s roster. Coming into the 2018-19 season they had the youngest roster. This offseason they got even younger with the acquisition of stretch forward Jerami Grant and Bol Bol in the late second round of the draft. Bleacher Report’s Dan Favale, in his assessment of every NBA team’s offseason, gave the Nuggets an A.
The majority of the roster is locked for a good amount of the future.
These are the players under contract for the future:
- Jamal Murray 2025
- Nikola Jokic 2023
- Gary Harris 2022
- Will Barton 2022
- Jerami Grant 2021
- Monte Morris 2021
- Michael Porter Jr. 2022
When Denver’s coach Michael Malone put out the lineup of Jokic, Millsap, Barton, Murray, and Harris they posted a positive net rating of 7.8. This lineup was super effective just based off the offensive versatility each player possessed. Denver was No. 6 in the entire league based off of offensive efficiency, No. 7 in average scoring margin, No. 1 close game winning percentages, No. 6 in points per game, No. 5 in assists and No. 4 in rebounds (No. 2 in offensive rebounds). Now throw Porter Jr. in the small forward role, this team is an offensive wrecking force.
dark. Next. NBA: 10 way-too-early predictions for the 2019-20 season
To sum it all up the Nuggets are legit. While the media is focusing on the bigger name duos/teams the Nuggets are flying under the radar. This is all possible because of recent good luck in drafting. The Nuggets have hit the gold mine in terms of quality NBA players. Chemistry plays a big part in competing for an NBA title, more than the big names on paper. This Nuggets team is young and has already gelled together, the Western Conference should be wary.