How the Entire NBA Relates to the Nuggets

We set expectations for a loaded Denver season, explain why the offense could be historic, and map out which teams truly threaten a title run. Fresh rotations, a steadier bench, and a sharper defensive plan change the floor and raise the ceiling.

• lineup flexibility under Coach Adelman
• Big Val organizing the bench offense
• defensive tweaks with Jared Dudley
• shooters creating spacing and flow
• Christian Braun’s leap as a fifth starter
• Aaron Gordon’s confidence and health
• Jokic shifting to rebounds and assists
• Jamal Murray’s year-long star potential
• West threats: Thunder, Rockets, Wolves, Clippers
• East context and the Magic’s rise
• win total, seed, MVP, and playoff path predictions

If you can, you if you know any basketball fans and you think they would enjoy this show, please tell them. That's the best way for this podcast to grow.

Chapters

• 0:00 Season Hype And Nerves
• 1:17 New Coach, New Rotations
• 3:00 Bench Identity With Big Val
• 5:10 Shooters Finding Their Rhythm
• 7:10 Starters’ Fit And Ceiling Talk
• 9:20 Young Wings And Role Players
• 11:20 Jokic’s Effort And MVP Form
• 13:05 Jamal Murray’s Leap
• 15:20 League Tour: Team By Team
• 25:20 West Rivals And Real Threats

Transcript

Brian: 0:04

All right everyone, welcome back to Fandom from Afar. We are almost there. The season starts next week. And if you're anything like me, you say, Yes, I can't believe the season starts next week. And if you're anything like my wife, you might say something more along the lines of, what? Didn't the last season just end? But everybody celebrates in their own way, I guess. But I was excited about the nuggets going into the preseason. And now I have to admit I'm scared. I'm scared about how good I think the nuggets are going to be. I think they could be historically good. Everything has looked pretty, pretty nice. And so we'll go over kind of what we've seen so far in the preseason, and hopefully that will carry over into the regular season. And then after we do that, it is actually one of my favorite episodes to do every year. And we will go over all other 29 teams and discuss how they relate to the Nuggets going into this year. So let's cover the preseason and why I am so excited about the Nuggets. Coach Adelman was true to his word, and he has been trying different lineups. He's been trying different rotations, and really it just seems like an overall philosophy change, which I think is excellent. The Nugg did get kind of stale under Coach Michael Malone, and it's just been fun to watch the Nuggets try something new. They they really never tried anything new under Coach Malone. Now, Coach Adleman, he's trying different lineups with the bench. Obviously, he has a lot more flexibility because we are a lot deeper this year. He tried a lineup that had both Jokic and Valentunis in there together as the two big boys. He's trying things like 10th man, Spencer Jones at center. He's just trying whatever he can to see what works. Apparently, they're trying a new defensive strategy. Jared Dudley is our new defensive coach, and the players seem to really like not only the strategy, but to him as a coach as well. And everything just seems to be working. The guys seem to love each other. Obviously, you can't take anything away from wins or losses in the preseason, but everything seems to be going well. And I think the existing guys are energized by the new changes. They're energized by the new players, and then the new players seem to just be loving being a Denver nugget so far. So all thumbs up as far as uh Coach Adleman and everything he's been trying. Now, I mentioned that we obviously have a lot more depth than we did last year. It's hard to be flexible for Coach Malone when you really only have six NBA players on your team. We, I think, are going to be a good 11 guys deep this year, and that's not even counting if Daron Holmes can give us some quality minutes or even Julian Strather. And so this is the deepest I've I remember the nuggets being in a long, long time. And all the new faces are kind of showing why they were brought to Denver. I mentioned Valenciunas, or as I will probably call him for the rest of this podcast and many more episodes in the future. I'm gonna call him Big Val. It's just easier to say. And we also get to use the nickname that uh DNVR has given him and the rest of the bench unit, Val's pals. So we like Big Val. He has been kind of running the bench unit for a while when they were trying to see if they could stagger and not have Jamal Murray playing with the bench unit. Val was really getting the ball quite a bit, the ball was running through him, and it really didn't look that bad. There, there was some rough kind of stumbling out of the gates, but uh overall I think it works really well because he can pass, he can score, and he's just so big that you have to pay attention to him. And so big Val, definitely a thumbs up so far. And while the stagger without Jamal did not look great, they did end up staggering him in the last couple games. And Jamal Murray, of course, is looking awesome right now. We will go over that more in just a little bit. But he with Valentunas does especially look really nice, especially when you have a couple other shooters out there on the floor with them. And so I'm just very excited to see what Big Val and all of Val's pals can do this year coming off the bench. Bruce Brown, he seems to be more defensively focused this year so far. I love it. If he can be kind of a tear and make sure that the other team's not scoring, that would be a huge plus. And then as just a secondary ball handler or just kind of creating havoc on the offensive end, I think that'd be the perfect role for him. So he's looking good. Tim Hardaway Jr., he's getting wide open shots, whether he's playing with the starters or with the bench. And he's not hitting a ton of them now, but just the fact that they're this wide open already, and once he starts hitting them, the bench is really gonna start to become unstoppable because he's too good of a shooter to keep missing like this. Speaking of Cam Johnson, he is also getting wide open shots, like wide, wide open, and he is not making any of them. So hopefully he's just kind of getting that all out of the way. Once the season starts, he'll go back to being Cam Johnson and just knocking these down. But it's been really fun kind of watching him. He brings like a flow to the offense. He's always moving, he's cutting, he's not necessarily rebounding, which I kind of discussed a little bit once that trade went down. That's that's really the only thing that MPJ does noticeably different than Cam. But even that I think will come with time. Now, Cam Johnson, he's he's really just seeming like the missing piece because when the starters are all together, they all look locked in and they look unstoppable. Like, I really think the Nuggets might end up having one of the best offenses in NBA history this year just because they all fit so well together. All the guys are kind of peaking at the right time in their career, and it's just really exciting. Like, like I said, I really am scared that my expectations are so high because there's only one way to go, but you never know, it could happen. So, just some other guys, really quick points to see the starters and and some of the main guys have not played as much, but it's nice to see Peyton Watson out there. You can tell he's been working on some new skills. He seems like he's much better at dribbling and kind of playmaking this year, so that's exciting. Spencer Jones, like I said, he's been getting out there a little bit with with both the bench and even some of the starters, and he he is defensive only. Like, if you expect him to score right now, you're gonna be very disappointed. But he is built like a house, like he is a big boy and strong and quick and can play defense, and we need that. And so I love what I've seen from Spencer Jones. Christian Brown, he has gone to another level. I don't think I've seen him miss this preseason. His shot looks so perfect and just splashes the net every time he shoots. And his his dribbling, like his footwork, everything just looks so nice on Christian now. And I know he's playing for a new contract, but it really seems like Christian is leveled up. And if if our fifth starter can be that good, it again, it it's scary how good the Nuggets could possibly be this year. AG, what what can you say? I think this will be Aaron Gordon's best year of his career. He just seems like he is so confident right now, not only in his skills, but it looks like he's healthy again. He again, his shot just looks so perfect right now. He he he looks like he's one of our best shooters, and you definitely could not say that a couple years ago. So AG is looking so good, and like I said, we have so many guys kind of peaking in their mid to late 20s right now, and they all fit so well together that it's exciting. Jokic, what can you say? He looks happy, he looks like he is happy not to have to carry the load for the entire team like he's have to do the last couple years. A big part of that is Jamal, who we will talk about next. But I think Jokic loves this team, I think he loves how they play basketball, which I think is very important to Jokic. He wants to play basketball the right way or what he views as the right way. And so Jokic, I think, has maybe put forth 25% effort this preseason, and even still, he looks dominant. He is the best player in the world. All the media outlets have ranked him as the best player in the world. He is about to have a very interesting year, and by that I mean I think he's good enough right now where he could dominate and put up historic numbers, but I think he knows the team is good enough where he doesn't have to do that. And so I think he's going to score a lot less this year. He'll rebound more and he'll have more assists. So I would not be shocked to see him well below the 30 points that he averaged last year, but see his rebounds increase. And then I would love to see him get a lot more assists just with all these wide open shooters. Like I said, we have to talk about Jamal. We have spent so much time on this podcast just wishing Jamal would get in shape and wishing Jamal would put forth the effort. And even in the preseason so far, this has been the Jamal that we have always wanted to see. Now, obviously, we saw Peak Jamal in the 2023 playoffs on that championship run, and it looks like Jamal is ready to do that for an entire year this year. I really just I hope he can stay healthy and just show us and have one amazing career, a career year, and hopefully it will last multiple years. But if he can just give us one year because we know the talent is there, and this is the perfect team for him to show what he can do, whether he's with the starters or with Big Val on the bench, it would be amazing if the Jamal that we've seen in the preseason so far shows up for the regular season, and he is the main reason why I think there there is no ceiling for this team. They they could easily end up as the number one seed. Now, like I said, I can't wait for the season to start. Obviously, this will be my last show before the season officially starts. So after we go through the 29 other teams and how they relate to the Nuggets, we will do some predictions. As always, they are guaranteed to be wrong, but they are fun. And I'm thinking you might be able to guess how positive I'm going to be on the Nuggets after this last uh 10 minutes of going on and on about how good they look. So let's get into what everybody came here for. How do all the teams in the NBA relate to our beloved Denver Nuggets? Let's start with the Spurs. The Spurs were gifted Dylan Harper in the offseason. They had no business being the number two overall pick, and yet somehow the wonderful NBA lottery happened to give Victor Wembenyama the perfect running mate so he and Wemby can be so happy and so dominant for the next 15 years. Thanks, MBA. Speaking of thanks MBA, the Mavericks. They were gifted Cooper Flag this offseason. Oh, the NBA is so fun. Why would they ever send a good player to the Eastern Conference? Anytime the Eastern Conference has the number one pick, it's players like Zachary Ricochet, Anthony Bennett, or Alex Sarr. Whereas the West gets every generational prospect. Yay. The Memphis Grizzlies, they received KCP as part of the Desmond Bain trade. You know we love KCP on this podcast, and I hope he has a comeback year. I wouldn't even mind if the Grizzlies are terrible and they're looking to trade him or cut him at the end of or around the trade deadline, and he just happens to end up on the Denver Nuggets again. The Indiana Pacers. They are one of a few teams that are gonna wonder why all of a sudden Bruce Brown is good at basketball again. You may remember that Bruce left us after the championship year, signed a giant contract with Indiana, and did absolutely nothing. But he did collect those checks. And I heard he has built a nice big ranch outside of Denver. So thanks, Pacers. The Washington Wizards. This was tough. And by that I mean last year when I did the how does every team relate to the Denver Nuggets, I had such a hard time with the Brooklyn Nets. So I decided to say that the Brooklyn Nets had Nets on their basketball goals, and so did the Nuggets. It was a stretch, and the Wizards are this year's Nets. How do I relate the Wizards to the Denver Nuggets? Well, my son and daughter are Nuggets fans. They have both read the Harry Potter series, and Harry Potter is full of Wizards. There we go. Thanks, Wizards. The Celtics. The Celtics discovered what the Nuggets discovered after the 2023 season. It is very hard to defend your championship and go back to back. Celtics, obviously dealing with the Tatum injury, not expecting much this year either. But in today's NBA, it is incredibly difficult to keep a team together and to go back to back, and the Celtics discovered just that. The Sacramento Kings. They signed Russell Westbrook. I may be in the minority on this, but I loved having Russell Westbrook on the Nuggest last year. I think he brought a lot of qualities that the Nuggets needed. I wish he could have been on a team like we have this year, where it was a more talented, a deeper team. So we wouldn't have asked so much of Russell Westbrook. So I was really hoping the Nuggets could have been the team to bring him his championship and kind of be the crown jewel in a Hall of Fame career. It didn't work out. I wish him nothing but the best. I wish he didn't sign up the Kings because they're kind of a disaster. But we love you, Westbrook. The Jazz. So the Jazz have Lori Markinen, and he was on the team Finland that eliminated Jokic and Serbia from the Euro Cup this summer. I have a feeling anytime Jokic plays Lori Markinen this season, it will be revenge time. Not that the Jazz are good and that Jokic needs to try any harder than normal to get that revenge, but that's how the Jazz are related to our beloved Denver Nuggets. How about the Houston Rockets? I'm just categorizing them as a threat. Obviously, they just lost their point guard, Fred Van Vliet, but they still have so much talent and they have assets to trade for another point guard. I will be very interested to see what they do during the season and how they kind of gel around Kevin Durant. They they are a threat to the Nuggets. Obviously, the Thunder are going to be our biggest threat, but the the Rockets are extremely talented. The Bulls. For the Bulls. I have been asking nicely, even minding my manners and saying please the last couple years. So I will ask one more time. Please just give us AODesumo. We need another ball handler that can guard other point guards. So please give them to us. How about the Cavs? So for the Cavs, every time I think of the Cavs, I am reminded of Jamal Murray's 50-point game where he didn't even shoot a single free throw. As I was speaking about earlier, I am imagining Jamal doing that against every team this year. Why not? The year of Jamal. Pistons. The Pistons will miss Tim Hardaway Jr. Tim Hardaway, he will love Denver. He's not going to miss the Pistons. The Milwaukee Bucks. Giannis is an absolute fantastic basketball player. But he is torturing the Milwaukee fans. In kind of the opposite of Jokic, where when Jokic was asked during the preseason if he is going to sign his contract and if he's going to be going anywhere, he said, I want to be a Denver nugget forever. Whereas Giannis keeps putting out oh tweets and social media posts and just really anything he can, kind of saying, I don't want to leave, but if I did, I would go here. Or if the Bucs do this, I might stay. And so that's the reason why the Bucks signed both of his brothers, and they are eating all of Damian Lillard's salary and doing whatever they can because they are worried that Giannis is going to leave. Meanwhile, Jokic, a Nugget forever. Let's talk about the Hornets. My prediction is the Hornets will be this year's Washington Wizards. What I mean by that is the Nuggets are way better than that team, yet they will struggle in each of the two games that they match up this season. If you remember last year, the Nuggets couldn't even beat the Wizards with one of the greatest single performances by Jokic in his career. And it was just kind of a disaster both times we played. So my prediction, as much as I don't want to say it, is the Hornets will be that team this year where the Nuggets just will not be focused. It'll be a ride on the struggle bus, and hopefully we can eke out a win. Let's talk about the Atlanta Hawks. Jokic is going to challenge Trey Young for the assists per game title this year. I think Trey has won it each of the last couple years, and Trey is an amazing passer. But I think Jokic is coming for the title this year, and I hope he can take it from Mr. Trey Young. The Miami Heat. So the Magic, I have friends down here in Jacksonville, and they are Magic fans. And I've been telling them for years that the Magic remind me so much of the Nuggets from a couple years ago. And by that I mean that they are developing an awesome young core. They are not skipping steps. And I think they are ready to kind of take the leap this year with the development of their two-star players, Franz and Paolo. And then they traded for Desmond Bain. I love Desmond Bain. He's a great shooter. The Magic needed shooting. They also have some other young guys on the way up. They signed veteran guys like Tyus Jones that I think will be valuable. So I think the Magic are what the Nuggets were a few years ago, which is good news for Magic fans. Because if I haven't mentioned it, what, 27 times already? The Nuggets won the championship in 2023. Let's talk about the 76ers. Such a big rivalry for a little while. Jokic vs. Embiid. Embiid kind of fell off the map. But he's skinny Embiid now. Will he actually play in Denver? I would not bet on it. How about the Toronto Raptors? The Toronto Raptors are the second team in the category of hey, how come Bruce Brown is all of a sudden good at basketball again? If you'll remember, after doing nothing in Indiana, Bruce got traded to the Raptors, where he also did nothing. But it's gonna be amazing. He's gonna be good at basketball again. The New Jersey Nets. Oh, I'm sorry. That's a Freudian slip. They are no longer the New Jersey Nets, they are the Brooklyn Nets. That's how much I think about them. But this year, we traded them MPJ. And MPJ has been saying some wild stuff off the court, and that's even before the stress of a big losing season is happening. So it will be interesting to watch MPJ both on and off the court this year. And I actually do love MPJ, and I hope that he does amazing out there, but I kind of hope that he does just good enough where a contender will trade for him so that he gets to play real basketball again. The New York Knicks. Really, the only I think I think the Knicks are going to be good this year. My buddy Mason's a big Knicks fan. Like I hope they do well. Really, the only relation I could think of is I thought for sure they were going to sign Michael Malone as their coach. They fired Tibbs, and I think Malone would have been such a great fit, but I understand why the Knicks didn't want to go that direction because Michael Malone is so similar to Tibbs, and I'm sure the players were ready for somebody new. So we'll never know, but in an alternate universe, I could see him on the sidelines of Madison Square Garden, and I think he would have done really well. The Los Angeles Lakers. Fun fact about the Lakers, we own them. Some people think it's the Bus family, but no, it's the Denver Nuggets. The Suns. How quickly the Suns went to beating up on an injured Nuggets team and chanting Suns in four to becoming kind of a joke of a team. It makes me smile. The Clippers. The Clippers and the Nuggets had a great playoff series this past spring, and I think we're in their heads a little bit because they showed up to training camp with t-shirts they had made about the Nuggets. So that's cool. But I don't think it's going to help. I think they have a talented team, but you can never depend on a team right now that has James Harden and Kawhi Leonard as your two best players. The Golden State Warriors. So this offseason, I was really hoping the Nuggets would get Al Horford as our backup center. And he ended up going to the Warriors, but the Nuggets had already got Big Val as our backup center, which was an awesome surprise. And truthfully, I'd rather have Big Val. Horford is an amazing player. He is incredibly old. So he's going to fit in with the Warriors really well. Their best players could be grandpas. They are talented, but old. If they survive the regular season and make the playoffs healthy, they are going to be dangerous. But did I mention that they're old? The Trailblazers. This was another tough one. I'm just going to repeat what I said last year. Their head coach Chauncey Bills is from Denver. Chauncey is the man. He will always be the man. And the Thunder. I mentioned that the Rockets are a threat. Well, the Thunder are our biggest threat. They are bringing back pretty much their entire championship team. They are young, they are extremely talented, and they have a ton of assets to make a trade if they feel like they need anything. It is going to be fascinating to see how they stack up with the Nuggets this year, or I could even say how the Nuggets stack up with them. They are the defending champs. Now, as we spoke about with Boston, something seems to be happening the last couple years where the champs just can't repeat. So was last year's playoff run difficult enough where they don't have the same energy? Now that they've won one championship, will they still have the same drive they did last year? I think it's going to be fascinating to see. They they seem to have built themselves to go and become a dynasty. And I'm hoping the Nuggets can ruin that dynasty. The T-Wolves. You might have guessed. But they're the final participant in the hey, wait a minute. When did Bruce Brown become good at basketball again? After he didn't do anything in Indiana and then didn't do anything in Toronto. Bruce was traded to New Orleans, where you guessed it. He didn't do anything. So the Pelicans fans can sit at home and be like, that's weird. That's not the same guy that was on our team. How is Bruce Bound good at basketball again? And I have two words. Nikola Jokic. So that's all 29 teams and how they relate to the Nuggets going into the season. I know the whole basketball universe does revolve around the Nuggets, and it's just fun to think about. So let's knock out some predictions and we will get this season started. As you might have guessed, I am very high in the Nuggets. I think they are going to set a franchise record for wins in a season. My guess right now is 65, but you never know. Could go higher. I think they will get the number one seed. I don't think the Thunder are going to have the same drive as last year. I think the Thunder will still be amazing, maybe 61, 62 wins, but not good enough. I think they will be the two seed behind the Nuggets. And I think Jokic is going to win his fourth MVP. It's going to be a wonderful regular season, but make no doubt about it, I know that the Thunder, the T-Wolves, the Clippers, even the Lakers are going to be waiting in the playoffs, and it's going to be tough. The West is brutal. So, my prediction. First round, Nuggets will win over the Spurs. Second round, we will barely get by the Minnesota Timberwolves. Third round, the Western Conference Finals. The Nuggets will beat the Oklahoma City Thunder in a hard fought, one of the most well-played series that basketball will ever see. And then in the finals, it will be Nuggets over the Magic. I think the Magic are talented. I think they're ready to take the leap, and they play in a terrible, terrible Eastern conference. Truthfully, I don't think the series will be close. The Nuggets will be champions once again, and the discussion can start. Where in the top 10 of all time does Jokic rank? He is an all-time great. Alright, thanks everybody. I can't wait for the season to start. I appreciate you listening. If you can, you if you know any basketball fans and you think they would enjoy this show, please tell them. That's the best way for this podcast to grow. I love basketball. I love the nuggets, and I really appreciate you listening. Bye everyone.