RealGM

Saw this image floating around Halftime: https://halftime.app.link/ball. Thought I'd share it here.

I guess for the most part, with elite level talent and athleticism like Denver has, the shortened off-season may not be that big of a factor, but what do you think? Rust is inevitable.. Probably some load management early on. I know that the guys are starting to get their legs under them with the pre-season, but do you think this shortened off-season will have a negative effect on the season?

Just sucks that the best teams are being rewarded with the shortest time off.

Denver has youth on its side. The shortened time frame may actually be a benefit for the Nuggets.

Not really, i see it as 30 games preseason when you count everything in, as they had one small and one big pause, so i think bigger problem will be for teams that didnt play in the bubble, not much of them though, as they only have like 3 preseason games and short training camps

I agree with Tuna, older teams like LAL and LAC who have older players will want to sit them in early parts of the season, load-management will be important to save them for the playoff runs. As a younger team, our legs (outside of Millsap) should be able to play in the shortened off-season. I hope LBJ gets gassed early and often !!

Personally, I see this as a bigger problem for the other three teams that reached conference finals (LAL MIA BOS) than to Nuggets, because Nuggets are younger, Nuggets have 7 new players while Barton missed the bubble and Porter barely played last season before the bubble and Harris come from the injury recovery big pause. If 2020 was a normal year without pandemic, Jokic and Murray would play during summer for their national teams in Tokyo Olympics anyway, so we should count this as a big hit only in Millsap, Morris, and Green (who comes from another playoff team) cases.

With the quicker turnaround I think the depth will come in handy. With Malone already talking about keeping minutes down early in the season, having 12 rotation quality players should keep guys healthier and in better shape for the stretch run and playoffs. I honestly think the Lakers were the biggest beneficiaries of the layoffs before the bubble, it helped keep them healthy. Now they have a short offseason and have lost some depth.

This could actually work in the Nugget's favor, the only two players who played super heavy minutes are Jokic and Murray, and Jokic looks great, while Murray also seems fine. Everybody else are either gone or didn't play nearly as much, so it's shouldn't be a problem.