What is the probability of winning the championship? Send away the substitute core, the main force is difficult to stay +200 million to renew the contract, and the Nuggets will become the next bucks
The 2023~24 NBA season has come to an end, but the Denver Nuggets may fall out of the future championship team.
A few pieces of news: First, the Nuggets are negotiating a four-year contract extension with Murray worth more than $200 million.
Second, the Nuggets sent Reggie Jackson and multiple second-round picks to the Hornets as a way to clear the salary space barrier.
Third, Nuggets starting point guard Pope opted to jump out of his contract and become a free agent.
According to market feedback, multiple Magic-focused teams have the ability to offer Pope a contract with an annual salary of more than $20 million, which is significantly beyond what the Nuggets can offer.
When these three pieces of news are linked together, we can't help but sigh: As a small ball city, the Nuggets may not have the possibility of competing for the championship.
After winning the championship, his strength declined and he missed the opportunity to defend his title
The Denver Nuggets are a very good team. Since selecting Jokic in 2014, they have improved every year, finally breaking through last year to claim their first championship in franchise history.
The success of the Nuggets is inseparable from Jokic's cornerstone role, and more importantly, the Nuggets roster was very complete last year. They have the strongest starting five in the league, and they also have top players like Brown and Green on the bench.
Basketball is ultimately a team sport, though. Even though Jokic is the strongest player in basketball today, he is still hard to beat with two fists.
In this year's playoffs, the Nuggets' strength has dropped significantly, especially on the bench. In the Western Conference finals, the Nuggets were eliminated by the Timberwolves 4:3 and failed to defend their title.
If the Nuggets are fully healthy and make appropriate reinforcements, they will be at least in the top three, if not the league's strongest championship contenders.
However, the common problem of the small-ball market limits the Nuggets' ceiling. For example, the Bucks, who won the championship in 2021, have declined in competitiveness in recent years, lack of salary space, and lost many important players.
The Nuggets weren't spared, and an even bigger crisis still hits after Brown and Green leave.
The question of the core rotation going and staying
In the regular season this year, Nuggets scoring guard Pope averaged 10.1 points, 2.4 rebounds and 2.4 assists per game. He shot 40.6 percent from the field and averaged nearly two three-pointers per game. And the hit rate is as high as 40.6%.
Although Pope's playoff performance has dropped slightly, it still can't hide his excellent performance.
Pope is one of the top 3-and-ds in the league today. Not possessing the ball, strong space containment, and conscientious defense can greatly improve the team's outside defense level, which is a scarce resource for any championship team.
The Nuggets are not a team with strong defensive ability, and the lack of Pope will undoubtedly increase the defensive pressure on Murray, and Jokic on the inside will be more exposed to the opponent's offense.
Although the Nuggets bench Braun has defensive strength comparable to Pope's, the player is too young and lacks a consistent shooter, which will inevitably drag down space on the court.
To give or not to give Murray's contract?
This is followed by Murray, whose problems have had a greater impact. Because he's about the future of the Nuggets.
In this year's playoffs, Murray had the worst performance of his career, shooting just 40% from the field and less than 30% from three-point range, regardless of the points per game, which is a significant drop from his career average.
Especially in the Western Conference semifinals against the Timberwolves, Murray only played one good game. Facing the Lakers, the old rival of the Western Conference finals in the first round, Murray has also been looking for form to shoot, and the shooting rate is even only 30%.
Murray is perceived as the quintessential playoff star, and key games can often be trusted.
Murray had a poor playoff performance this year, and the team stopped in the second round.
Since suffering a major injury in the 2020~21 season, Murray has become a glass physique, and will miss 20~30 games almost every year, is it appropriate to give such a player a contract with an annual salary of more than 50 million?
Finally, there's Reggie Jackson, who has been the team's leading scorer on the bench over the past year, averaging nearly 11 points per game.
As a veteran, although Jackson's strength cannot be compared with before, he has rich game experience and strong offensive ability with the ball, which can greatly enrich the tactics and power of the Nuggets bench. The regular season is still worth reusing.
The Nuggets sent away Jackson and multiple draft picks without any valuable resources. And Jackson's contract is not too big, even if he is sent away, it will not alleviate the Nuggets' bloated salary space, which can be described as a palliative rather than a cure.
Also, can the Nuggets find a decent backup point guard on the free market? This is also a difficult problem.
The Nuggets are a bit embattled right now, and the competition in the West is getting fiercer, but they have been slow to strengthen their roster and will have to face serious personnel attrition.
Essentially, it was Jokic's overstrength that caused management to overestimate the future of the team. Porter Jr. and Murray's big contracts could crush the Nuggets' lifeline, and they won't have any room for trade or adjustment.
Jokic is in his prime. If his prime is wasted, the Nuggets will no longer be able to compete for a championship in the future.
Fans, how do you assess the current situation of the Nuggets? Welcome to leave a comment in the comment area related to the article.