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Sources with the Denver Nuggets told The Athletic after Game 7 that the landscape of the NBA has changed around their core over the past few years. The Nuggets had been chasing top-heavy superteams, but now teams like the Oklahoma City Thunder and Minnesota Timberwolves have a mix of stars and also depth.

The Nuggets already had a thin rotation and that was accentuated by injuries to Michael Porter Jr. and Aaron Gordon during the playoffs. 

“We definitely need to figure out a way to get more depth,” Nikola Jokic said. “It seems like the teams that have longer rotations, the longer benches, are the ones winning. You look at Indiana and OKC and Minnesota, and they have been great examples of that.”

The Nuggets do still have one of the NBA's best big threes in Jokic, Jamal Murray and Gordon. Jokic has finished first or second in NBA MVP voting in five consecutive seasons and they will remain one of the best teams in the league for the duration of his prime.

“I 100 percent believe that we can win a second NBA championship,” Murray said. “I have confidence in everyone in that locker room. We just came up short tonight. We just have to get back into the gym and get back to it next year.”

“We didn’t win it,” Jokic said. “If we could have, we would have. I don’t believe in the if stuff. We had an opportunity to win a championship this year, and we didn’t win it.”

Via Tony Jones, Sam Amick/The Athletic

The Wolves play with the same number of players than the Nuggets, although Reid usually contributes with more points than any other Nuggets bench player. But he has not been especially active in that field lately.
But indeed having a long roster allows you to go faster and defend with more energy and the players that play 5/8 minutes know that the only way to get more minutes is by playing really well and giving it all out there.

I do not know what the Nuggets can do. It seems like Jordan and Westbrook are not a solution when PO arrives, while Watson and Straugther should have played more, at least during the season. They need to have a bench of 5 reliable players with cutters and shooters, because the big guy is going to find them wherever they are.

I do not think they can make major trades that bring them interesting players, so they need to sign FAs.

Michael Porter Jr. goes from regular season potential star to a bum in the playoff everytime.

I really appreciate the end quote from Jokic especially after Steve Kerr’s nonsense last week

Rebound Mound wrote:The Wolves play with the same number of players than the Nuggets, although Reid usually contributes with more points than any other Nuggets bench player. But he has not been especially active in that field lately.
But indeed having a long roster allows you to go faster and defend with more energy and the players that play 5/8 minutes know that the only way to get more minutes is by playing really well and giving it all out there.

I do not know what the Nuggets can do. It seems like Jordan and Westbrook are not a solution when PO arrives, while Watson and Straugther should have played more, at least during the season. They need to have a bench of 5 reliable players with cutters and shooters, because the big guy is going to find them wherever they are.

I do not think they can make major trades that bring them interesting players, so they need to sign FAs.

What do you think of MPJ for Jrue and Sam Hausser?

Boston shaves a year off of Jrue’s deal, gets younger and can tank their season from jump as they could put “sprained tail” on an MPJ injury report and no one would bat an eye.

Denver gets the yin to Russ’ yang in Jrue, and a more appropriately priced shooter in Hausser.

"We just have to get back into the gym" says Murray, guy who always starts season out of shape...

Cassius wrote:

Rebound Mound wrote:The Wolves play with the same number of players than the Nuggets, although Reid usually contributes with more points than any other Nuggets bench player. But he has not been especially active in that field lately.
But indeed having a long roster allows you to go faster and defend with more energy and the players that play 5/8 minutes know that the only way to get more minutes is by playing really well and giving it all out there.

I do not know what the Nuggets can do. It seems like Jordan and Westbrook are not a solution when PO arrives, while Watson and Straugther should have played more, at least during the season. They need to have a bench of 5 reliable players with cutters and shooters, because the big guy is going to find them wherever they are.

I do not think they can make major trades that bring them interesting players, so they need to sign FAs.

What do you think of MPJ for Jrue and Sam Hausser?

Boston shaves a year off of Jrue’s deal, gets younger and can tank their season from jump as they could put “sprained tail” on an MPJ injury report and no one would bat an eye.

Denver gets the yin to Russ’ yang in Jrue, and a more appropriately priced shooter in Hausser.

I am pretty sure the Nuggets would do that, as they need some trades in which they get a 2X1. Watson can play as the starter SF and in Jrue and Houser they get to solid players.