The Denver Nuggets might not have the same upside the Minnesota Timberwolves possess, but they join the T-Wolves as a non-playoff organization which died a very good death in 2016.
Most of the non-playoff organizations in the NBA — not to mention their fans — cannot be very happy right now. The Sixers, Nets, Lakers, Pelicans, Wizards, Knicks, Kings, and Bulls (assuming they’re officially eliminated in the coming days) have endured dreadful seasons. Doubt, rather than hope, colors the future. The Rockets will join this list if they can’t overtake Utah for eighth in the West.
The non-playoff organization with optimism is the minority group in the NBA. The Phoenix Suns straddle this boundary — they’re in a position to stockpile talent, but their owner is a fool. The Orlando Magic and Milwaukee Bucks should be cautiously optimistic about the future, but they will indeed have to prove themselves next season.
The two non-playoff teams with the brightest futures are both in the Northwest Division. The Minnesota Timberwolves have the greatest abundance of high-end, likely-to-become-superstar talent among current non-playoff organizations. They hold that advantage over all others.
What the Denver Nuggets have — and the Timberwolves currently lack — is a quality coach. One can therefore make the case that the Nuggets’ forecast includes more sunshine than any other franchise in the league.
Michael Malone was wronged by the Sacramento Kings, as one would expect from an organization which doesn’t have a dadgum clue of how to make sensible decisions. Malone had begun to lift the Kings out of a prolonged malaise when he was fired in December of 2014, not even 30 games into the regular season.
The Nuggets had made the reasonable-at-the-time decision to hire Brian Shaw as the replacement for George Karl (funny how the Nuggets and Kings have come full-circle relative to both Karl and Malone…). Yet, Shaw — whom everyone in the league felt was deserving of a chance to run his own ship — failed spectacularly. The Nuggets needed a repairman, and Malone came across as a natural choice, not only because of what he had begun to do in Sacramento, but because his experience with the Kings made him hungry to show he could succeed if only he was given another chance.
This combination of hunger and drive certainly seems to be leading the Nuggets in the right direction.
The Nuggets didn’t come particularly close to a playoff berth in 2016, but with that having been acknowledged, it’s not as though this extremely young team cratered. The Nuggets eclipsed the 30-win mark and offered plenty of signs — even at this early stage in their evolution — that they’ll be a tough out in future NBA seasons.
Consider this about the Nuggets: They went 0-3 against the Kings and 0-2 against the Brooklyn Nets. Then realize that Denver also lost twice to both Phoenix and New Orleans. This team often played to the level of its competition, which is very much in the nature of a young team to do. The pups on the Nuggets’ roster got up for the big boys, and took their eyes off the ball against many of the league’s lesser lights.
Friday night, the Nuggets — even though competing against a hollowed-out version of the San Antonio Spurs — nevertheless registered this achievement:
#Nuggets beat #Spurs as Jusuf Nurkic, Nikola Jokic combo gets extended look https://t.co/0atxKc23Am @dempseypost pic.twitter.com/6Bowl0kBLz
— Denver Post Sports (@DPostSports) April 9, 2016
With maturity — which only comes through accumulated experience — the Nuggets won’t lose as many of those games to the Sacramentos and Brooklyns of the world. A .500 season is an entirely realistic goal for 2017. When one contemplates the possibility that both Memphis and Dallas will either be creaky past the point of functionality, or in need of a reboot (or both), it’s hardly a reach to say the Nuggets will be a contender for a playoff berth next season.
The key insight to make is that the plan is coming together in the best possible fashion: The organization is giving its foremost young players the on-the-job training they need, instead of chasing win-now deals such as the Blake Griffin trade floated during the middle of the season.
Of the Nuggets’ five main starters this season, three of them — Gary Harris, Nikola Jokic, and Emmanuel Mudiay — are not yet 22 years old. As is the case with the Timberwolves, the Nuggets are putting their youngsters in the fire pit and forcing them to learn how to become well-rounded professionals. If the Timberwolves have Kevin Garnett on hand to teach Karl-Anthony Towns how to play in the post, the Nuggets have Jameer Nelson on the roster to teach the game to Mudiay at the point-guard position. The late-season use of Jokic with teammate Jusuf Nurkic (referenced in the linked/tweeted story above) is giving Malone and the rest of the organization an added sense of how the 2017 rotation can work. With Will Barton becoming one of the best sixth men in the league, Denver’s ability to mix and match various lineup combinations is improving with each week.
Pieces and possibilities are slowly being assembled by an organization and a coach who both seem to know what they’re doing.
The Nuggets took a wrong turn when they fired George Karl. The Sacramento Kings made a wrong turn when they hired Karl.
Michael Malone has wound up in a better situation. He and Denver have a lot to look forward to — next year, and in the rest of this calendar decade.
