SUMMARY
- The Nuggets need to make adjustments to their bench lineup, possibly bringing someone more reliable on the offensively end.
- The Nuggets starting lineup could be one of the best in the league even now, despite losing to the Timberwolves.
The Denver Nuggets faced an upsetting loss against the Minnesota Timberwolves in Game 7 of the Western Conference Finals. This is something not everybody expected to witness especially since the Nuggets were defending their title this year. But Minnesota has the number one defense in the league for a massive reason, as it managed to shut down the best offensive team on paper during the first round.
Following the game, Nikola Jokic spoke about what the Nuggets need to do this off-season to back into title contention and win another championship. But his comments weren’t too uplifting considering history has never allowed too many teams to repeat title reigns.
“Some teams never win the championship again. So, I’m just glad that we had [the] opportunity this year… We will see, getting better personnel-wise, getting better coaching-wise… especially right now, how many talented [teams are] in the league. You need to be basically perfect to win a championship,” he said during the post-game press conference. So what do the Nuggets need to do to compete for the title again?
The Nuggets’ depth was a huge factor in their downfall at times
If there’s anything that the Nuggets vs Timberwolves series proved, it was that Denver’s bench might be one of the weakest lineups in the league. In 7 games, the Timberwolves’ bench consistently averaged 24 points per game. While the Nuggets’ bench lineup only faired 16.9 points per game through the series. Defensively, they do a fairly good job like they did through Games 3 and 5.
However, unlike the Timberwolves, Michael Malone’s bench isn’t filled with players like Nickeil Alexander-Walker, Naz Reid, or Kyle Anderson. In Game 7, both teams only used three players off the bench and the Wolves scored 13 points while the Nuggets’ bench had only 5 points in the game. Offensively, the Nuggets’ bench is simply unreliable.
Denver should attempt to bring back Bruce Brown Jr. to the roster to provide some offensive upliftment alongside Reggie Jackson. Brown averaged 12.1 points this season but had to deal with injuries. He could certainly be a great addition to the roster rather than relying on a good chunk of what they have right now.
Where does the Nuggets starting lineup rank amongst other teams?
In all honestly, the Nuggets have a fairly good roster that easily ranks amongst the top five at least. Jokic’s squad has been together through some incredible playoff runs over the years and his partnership with Jamal Murray needs to be maintained well. During the playoffs, it seemed as if Michael Porter Jr. was their biggest weapon to lead them through the second round. However, the 25-year-old flaked against the Wolves averaging only 10.7 points from putting up 22.8 points in the first round.
What a first half from Jamal 🏹
24 PTS (3 3PM / 53.3 FG%)
1 REB
2 AST pic.twitter.com/8WicVmVAdY— Denver Nuggets (@nuggets) May 20, 2024
Porter Jr. has to focus on maintaining consistency, which will certainly be hard to deal with but not impossible to do. Defensively, there isn’t much to complain about either. Their bench will certainly need to be taken care of during the off-season. Upgrading their bench would help them fill the gaps and make them “perfect” as Jokic stated is what they have to be in order to win another title.