Denver Nuggets
"Denver should finish last in the Northwest and go back to the lottery, but I don’t think they’ll be that far behind Minnesota. … They’re still waiting to hit that home run in the draft but they’ve hit a bunch of singles and doubles, and those can add up. … Gallinari, Chandler, Faried could all be traded. The start to their season will dictate their activity. … If they’re going to make the playoffs, it’s because Mudiay made a gigantic jump—like a Most Improved Player type of jump. Don’t be scared off by his growing pains. Some guys take a little longer. He’s had the chance to play through his mistakes and that will pay off. He’s great at applying constant pressure, kind of like Dragic. He needs to improve as a shooter but he’s big and physical on the ball. He has leadership potential. … People don’t hype up Harris because he doesn’t have a ton of flash to his game. He’s never going to be an All-Star but he’s a 10-year starter. … Harris complements Mudiay very well because of his shooting and they are interchangeable defensively. You wish you could fast forward three years and see where they are. … Drafting Murray gives them a really promising guard trio. Any two of those guys can play together. Big picture, those three guys are going to become their team identity. … Murray gets compared to CJ McCollum but that’s too aggressive. He’s not that good with the ball, but he can shoot and he can drive-and-kick. There will be a learning curve when they ask him to play point. ... Gallinari needs to prove he can make it through a season healthy and they should probably manage his minutes. He’s a tough mismatch because he can attack bigs off the dribble and he can post up smalls. If he’s healthy for 75 games they should have an above-average offensive ranking. … I think it’s time for them to move on from Chandler. Gallinari is better across the board. … Faried functions like a small ball five but he’s not a good enough defender to make that work. He has a reputation for energy and hustle but he’s lazy. He should be similar to a guy like Tristan Thompson, but Thompson is so much better defensively it’s not close. … You can’t pair Faried with anyone. You need an elite stretch five who can play defense to keep him on the court. Good luck finding that. … Jokic is ready to step in as a full-time starter. He should be their priority over Nurkic and Faried. He’s a fantastic passer and playmaker. I love the comparisons to the Gasol brothers. He has a great feel and huge basketball IQ. Great touch, great hands, great feet. I’d give him 82 starts and big minutes this year. … Nurkic is a more traditional center than Jokic. There’s not much there. He needs to evolve as a finisher but you can run a little offense through him in the post. You have to hide him defensively."
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