Nuggets fans — real, diehard, live-and-breath Nuggets fans — please feel free to tune out. This message isn’t for you.
This message is for everyone else, the casual Colorado sports fan who pops in when things are good and fades away when going gets tough — the bandwagoner, per se. And that’s not a bad thing! I get it, I really do. We’re all busy, and it’s not easy to carve out two or three hours every other night to watch a “mediocre” team.
But here’s why I’m writing this piece: The Nuggets are not “mediocre.” In fact, they’re pretty darn good, even better than many of us “diehards” expected.
Yes, they’re 3-4. And yes, after tonight’s matchup against the Golden State Warriors, they’ll likely be 3-5. But that doesn’t tell the whole story.
The Denver Nuggets were gifted one of the most difficult starts to a season I’ve ever seen. Not only were they forced to play six of their first seven games on the road, but they were forced to do so against five playoff teams from last year.
And who’s here to great them after their long-awaited return to the Pepsi Center? The Warriors!
To come out of that stretch without having imploded is impressive in and of itself, especially when you consider they were missing Gary Harris, Darrell Arthur and Will Barton for large stretches of that run.
More than that, though, the Nuggets should absolutely be sitting at 4-3, 5-2 or even 6-1. They handed over wins to the Trail Blazers and Grizzlies in games the Nuggets had no business losing, and they gave up a late six-point lead to the Raptors in Toronto, too.
Some may point to that as a sign that Michael Malone isn’t the man for the job or that this team doesn’t have the “it” factor. I call baloney!
Remember, the Nuggets were picked to win 37.5 games by Vegas this season. That’s about what they’re on pace for right now, even after being handed a murder’s row to start the year.
This is a growing team, a young team. Four of their five starters are under the age of 23, and their “veterans” aren’t that much older. Plus, it’s going to take awhile for Malone to craft a rotation that uses all of this talent to its fullest extent — that’s not a knock on him, either; it’s simply a difficult problem to solve.
They’re going to get better. This is the worst version of this team you’ll see all season, and you know what? They’re already better than the team we saw last year.
It’s only seven games, but the Nuggets are shooting a higher percentage from three (35.0% vs. 33.8%) and scoring almost four more points per game (105.7 vs. 101.9). Even better their defensive rating has dropped by over four points (106.4 to 102.1), which is largely due to the Nuggets’ ability to defend the three-point line.
Last season, the Nuggets gave up the 12th most three-point attempts in the NBA, allowing opponents to convert on 37.1 percent of those attempts (third worst in the NBA). This season, the Nuggets are giving up the fifth fewest amount of attempts and holding opponents to just 30.4 percent from behind the line (fourth lowest).
Defending the three point line was a huge point of emphasis for Malone and the Nuggets, and the improvement so far has been spectacular — small sample size, but still.
If the Nuggets can keep up the defensive growth, as well as figure out the best way to utilize this all-too-talented corps of players, they’ll be well on their way. And with nine of their next 12 games at home, they should have an opportunity to make a statement in the Western Conference playoff race.
This is the time to be jumping on the Nuggets bandwagon, not off it.
It’s going to be fun!
