Denver Nuggets: Can they make it a three-team race in the West playoffs?

Do the Denver Nuggets have championship-contending talent?

If there was ever a book outlining blueprints on how to properly build a successful NBA team, this incarnation of the Denver Nuggets would have a heavy chapter in it. Under the leadership of executive Tim Connelly, the Nuggets rebuilt quickly without ever actually tanking as many teams do now.

Yes, the Nuggets had a stretch of lottery picks that are a major part of their core now but never did they lose deliberately to reach the top-3 or even top-5 range. Instead, the Nuggets continued to try their best and used their innovative scouting to find stars wherever they picked.

That’s how the team has impressive players like Jamal Murray, Gary Harris, Michael Porter Jr., Monte Morris, and Bol Bol all on their roster. Leading them is their superstar Nikola Jokic who the Nuggets were able to find with the 41st pick in the 2014 NBA Draft.

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Adding to the team’s impressive drafting comes smart trades and shrewd free-agent signings. Trading for Will Barton, a still young swingman who wasn’t getting a fair shot in Portland, was one of the best moves Denver could’ve made.

The signing of Paul Millsap in 2017 to finally move into contention was another brilliant move on this Nuggets’ front office resume. Now the team is reaping the benefits of all the resources they used before, finishing second in the west with 54 wins last year and being the third seed this season.

The question now is, with all that young talent why aren’t the Nuggets being favored more in the West? This season, they’ve been an afterthought with many asserting that the West is a two-horse race between the Los Angeles Lakers and LA Clippers.

Can the Denver Nuggets make it a three-team race?

Recent play from Denver since the season resumed in Orlando could mean that the Nuggets are closer to the West’s top two teams than many initially thought.

The Nuggets may only be 3-2 so far in their seeding games but their play has been much more encouraging than the box score shows. During the team’s run so far they have been without Jamal Murray, Gary Harris, and Will Barton for varying moments.

In their absence without those core contributors, the Nuggets have found ways to step up and be competitive thanks to some of the other youth on their roster. Young point guard Monte Morris has stepped up admirably in place of his fellow guards as a steady guard.

Foward Micheal Porter Jr. has been one of the NBA’s biggest breakouts in Orlando going off as the perfect scoring threat next to Jokic. All while young big Bol Bol has flashed the potential to be the NBA’s next great “unicorn” hitting 3’s at 7-foot-2 while playing as a menacing rim-protector for flashes.

For a Nuggets team that already ranked as the sixth-best offense in the league, adding even more weapons could make them even more dangerous. A team whose biggest advantage compared to their LA rivals is their depth might just have even more to bring to the table.

A Nuggets team that can legitimately go 10 players deep could be a big threat compared to other teams including the Lakers and Clippers who have either lost contributors to opt-out or have been dealing with injuries.

How far could Mike Malone push the Nuggets?

Does a potentially deep playoff run for the Nuggets rely on head coach Mike Malone?

Malone has been a brilliant hire for Denver. His tenure has been successful and he’s been instrumental in the development of many of the team’s biggest players as well as unlocking the team’s offense around the special talent of Nikola Jokic.

That doesn’t mean that Malone is without his criticism, though. For as great as some of the youth on the Nuggets have stepped up in the seeding games, specifically Morris and Porter Jr. there’s an argument to be made that Malone may have held them back a little.

During Malone’s tenure, he’s shown that at times he can be reluctant to trust young players if he doesn’t have to. Yes, he’s done a great job at slowly developing young players but he has also limited how often they play early on.

There’s no way to know right now but one thing can be certain the Nuggets will be much more dangerous if Malone can figure out how to mesh all the young talent on his roster into one complete unit.

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If Mike Malone can do that, then we are looking at a Denver team who is only going to get better and this year could even become the biggest threat to both the Clippers and Lakers as a team that can reach the Western Conference Finals and potentially even forces themselves to an NBA Finals appearance. Crazier things have happened.

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