Part 7 of offseason guides feature two teams that have had some tremendous playoff battles in recent years. However, they’ve gone their separate ways since their playoff series. The Denver Nuggets, who won the 2023 NBA championship and the Portland Trail Blazers, who have officially completed their first year of rebuilding.
The Denver Nuggets have had a slow offseason so far. They are handicapped by the tax threshold and were unable to sign Kentavious Caldwell-Pope as he went to the Orlando Magic on a 3-year 66 million dollar deal. They traded away Reggie Jackson and his 5.25 million dollar salary to Charlotte in order to make room for Caldwell-Pope, but it wasn’t enough. They also made some trades on draft night in order to get a player they believe will help right away in DaRon Holmes II. For Nuggets fans, this has been an unfortunate past two off seasons. They lost Bruce Brown, who is now on the trading block in Toronto and now they have lost Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, one of their best perimeter defenders along with being a good cutter and three point shooter. However, none of this might not matter because they have the best player in the league, by a wide margin in my opinion, in Nikola Jokic. He’s the best offensive creator in the league with either his own shot or at creating one for a teammate. He’s been serviceable on defense the past two seasons, an area of his game that was a glaring weak point. The Nuggets, however, saw improvement from him on this end of the court and it rewarded them by winning a championship in 2023. But, nothing compares to his offense. He has won MVP 3 of the last 4 years and his stats don’t do his on court play justice. He controls every aspect of the game and he is the best passer in the league right now. Everything about Jokic is methodical. He’s seen every coverage possible and every defense possible and nothing has been able to stop him. He is the reason why Nuggets management has felt comfortable the last two off seasons letting some of their better players walk in free agency and not getting into the first or second apron of the salary cap.
The Nuggets’ season was good, but coming off a championship title in 2023 I felt like they were the most likely team to repeat in the last 5 years. I mentioned they had Jokic, but they had the best starting lineup in the last 5 years as well. Jamal Murray, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Michael Porter Jr. Aaron Gordan, and Nikola Jokic had a plus/minus of +282 over the course of the regular season, one of the best in the league. For reference, the Celtics who won 64 games and went 80-21 overall on the year, only had a +150 with their starting five. However, the postseason was a completely different story and one of the reasons why the Nuggets lost to the Timberwolves in 7 games in the western conference semifinals. In the postseason, the Nuggets lineup had a plus/minus of -33, which was extremely alarming. Part of the reason why that number is bad is because of the Minnesota Timberwolves and their general manager Tim Connelly. Connelly was the previous GM of the Nuggets and helped build essentially the entire roster. He drafted both Jokic and Murray, the two cornerstone players of the current franchise. Overall, the Nuggets did have resolve in the postseason. They went down 2-0 to the Timberwolves after dropping both home games in the series, which was highlighted by a 106-80 thumping by the visiting Timberwolves. The game also saw Jamal Murray lose his temper, as he tossed a heating pack on the floor while the game was being played. From there, they ended up winning the next 3 games and saw Nikola Jokic deliver a masterpiece performance in game 5 with 40 points and 13 assists. However, they lost game 6 by 50 points and blew a 20 point lead in game 7 at home. I think a lot of Nuggets fans were in shock from the way the Nuggets lost.
The offseason right now for the Nuggets is essentially almost over. They were unable to sign Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, as alluded to earlier. The Nuggets had the chance to offer a 5 year, 84 million dollar deal, but were unable to convince themselves having him around for 5 years was best for the franchise. The main focus now shifts in Christian Braun. He will be tasked with stepping into the lineup for Caldwell-Pope and now taking on the better opponents on the defensive end. He fits great with Jokic as he’s a fantastic cutter and plays with lots of energy. However, he is not as good a shooter as KCP. This area of improvement would massively help build the gap between himself and Caldwell-Pope. Caldwell-Pope will be hard to replace, but placing anybody next to Jokic automatically can make them their best version. Murray, Gordon, and Porter Jr. taking some small steps forward would also help a lot, specifically Porter Jr.
Michael Porter Jr. is a 6’ 10 sniper for the Nuggets. He fits perfectly next to Jokic and is a perfect floor spacer for Murray and Gordon. He doesn’t totally feel like a finished product as he could improve on defense. Murray and Gordon are essentially the best versions of themselves. Porter Jr. taking some steps forward on the defensive end could result in taking some pressure off the rest of the lineup. In the last two playoffs, he’s shot the ball extremely well, most notably in the 2023 championship run. His defense and rebounding helped key the Nuggets as he played arguably his best stretch of defense the entire year. Him taking more steps forward on the defensive end with his size can help the Nuggets fill its KCP void.
Overall, the Nuggets are an organization who have always drafted well and developed their players. The only player they’ve traded for in the rotation is Aaron Gordon and it went notably well. Braun is the latest player to see his number called for the Nuggets. On top of Braun, the Nuggets also have Peyton Watson, who had a good year before a lackluster playoffs and Julian Strawther, who was playing well before the season ending injury to his ankle. He’s a 6’ 8 shooter for the Nuggets who can really help next season if he develops some more this offseason. Overall, the Nuggets are still in a competitive spot. They were 1 game away from the western conference finals after winning the championship the previous season. It doesn’t feel like anyone in the Western conference has passed them, but the West is always getting tougher and tougher with the developing teams and talent. It’ll be important for the youth of the Nuggets to provide much needed help this upcoming season.
The Portland Trail Blazers were a tough team to watch this season. They had by far the worst offense in the league, only averaging 106.5 ppg and 107.1 ppg per 100 possessions. Both stats were last in the league by a wide margin. The main reason for this is injuries and youth. Their best player, Anfernee Simons, suffered a wrist injury in the first game of the year that saw him miss close to 30 games. Their 3rd overall draft pick, Scoot Henderson, had a very bumpy rookie year as well. It’s typical that rookie point guards have slower starts to their careers than other positions given the importance of the point guard on the offensive end. He’s responsible for making sure everyone is in the correct positions. At first for a rookie this can be really hard considering the leadership and voice needed to make these corrections on the fly. I’m not alarmed by the season he had overall, however, his shooting and turnovers need to make some noticeable strides this offseason. He averaged 3.4 turnovers per game in only 28.5 minutes a game. The number is a little high for someone who doesn’t have a very high usage rate and his turnovers on top of that were caused by very bad lapses in judgment. He also only shot 38.5% from the field on 12 shots a game, but he only took 4 threes a game. Under the tutelage of Chauncy Billups, I feel confident he’ll be able to get the young point guard on track.
The Trail Blazers overall have a bunch of good, young talent. Along with Henderson, they have Anfernee Simons, who averaged 22.6 ppg after being the number 1 option for the first time in his career. Personally, I like Simons, but I don’t know that his ceiling is a number 1 option on a deep playoff team. He’s better off as a 3rd option at best. He's a potential trade asset that the Blazers could use in the future. They also acquired Deni Avjida in a trade earlier this offseason. Shaedon Sharpe was selected two seasons ago in the first round of the 2022 NBA draft. He’s 6’6” with a freakish amount of athleticism. He’s a great cutter off the ball and has tried to develop some type of on-ball game over the last two seasons. Both he and Henderson struggled from the floor this season, but what gives me confidence is that they both shot over 80% from the free throw line. They both have good shooting strokes and if they can find the confidence in games to develop their shot it will go a long way into improving themselves and their team.
The Blazers offseason was primarily focused on the draft and seeing what trade pieces they could acquire. They gained Deni Avjida through trading some draft capital, and 31 year old Malcolm Brogdan. However, they nailed their draft by selecting Donovan Clingan 7th overall. For a team that needs talent badly, I’m always in favor of a team drafting for best available versus best fit. Clingan was arguably a top 3 talent, but fell to the 7th pick in the Blazers. They drafted him without hesitation. He’s 7 '2 with great defensive and shot blocking instincts. He finished well around the basket and is a better lob threat than people think. I’m not sure how he’ll fit into the rotation with Ayton and Williams at the center spots, but it’ll be hard for the Blazers to not play him. This ultimately might see the Blazers potentially look for trade candidates for Ayton after acquiring him just last season.
It’s hard not to note the whole reason why the rebuild started was because franchise player Damian Lillard requested a trade last offseason. This led to the Blazers trading him away to the Bucks in exchange for Jrue Holiday. They then traded Holiday for some more draft assets and sound young players. I think they could have potentially gotten more in return for Lillard, but it’s over and done with. The Blazers are guard heavy currently, but building with Clingan in the future could see some success. I still think they are a sizable margin away from being good. Depending on how next season goes and some luck with the lottery, they could see themselves get a top 3 draft pick in the potentially loaded top end of the draft. Overall, the Blazers just need to continue to develop Henderson, Sharpe, and figure out the wings and center position. As of right now, they have an obvious direction and that is going into a rebuild which is good. The front office for the Trail Blazers has some interesting decisions to make with the roster and Chaucy Billups has to make sure he gets the best out of his concepts on both ends of the floor while developing the young guys. The franchise has obviously made a sizable change in their direction in the post Damian Lillard era. Hang in there, Blazers fans, it will be okay.
Any changes that happen after the posting of this article will be updated prior to the start of the season.
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