Just two days before Christmas, we – Nuggets fans – have been given a gift.
The Denver Nuggets, of course. A damn nice present for a damn nice city.
Santa Claus doesn’t visit Sacramento. There are no chimneys in Charlotte. Minnesota is cold enough to be the North Pole, but the best gifts ain’t anywhere near the Mall of America.
It’s good to be a fan of the Nuggets. They’re a legitimate title contender with not one, but two, legitimate NBA superstars. It feels a little like 2007 when Denver was the home of both Melo and The Answer. In 2021, Denver’s favorite sons will be Joker and the Blue Arrow, and by springtime, anything is possible.
No matter what, the Denver Nuggets are a very, very good team. Worthy of watching every single game.
What more could any good girl or boy want?
Santa: “You comfortable there, kid? You sure are fidgety…”
“Santa, you got a minute?”
Greatness.
Titles.
A dynasty.
Is that too much to ask? As much as we hate to get greedy, the time is now. When was the last time the Denver Nuggets employed the best center in the game? And when, exactly, has the team featured a point guard who was the best player in the postseason who didn’t win it all? The Bubble version of Jamal Murray was something we – or anyone – has never seen before. Boy oh boy, what a blessing!
Here’s the thing, Nuggets … errr, Santa: Don’t blow this.
If we’re being honest, the offseason felt a lot more like 2020 than the year where everything changed for the better. Sure, the Bubble proved that Jamal Murray is a bon-a-fide star and the offseason was short and sweet – we haven’t even had time to forget about the playoffs and how fun they were – but in that time when the rich (aka, the Lakers) were getting richer, it felt like old times. And by that, and for Nuggets fans, we mean, “like all those times when the Nuggets failed to improve throughout the offseason.”
It’s a moot point worrying about what and who the Nuggets lost this offseason, or who they didn’t sign. The Nuggets are good – really good – but they’re not better than last season (already). Whether Jerami Grant is now overpaid is beside the point. He’s gone; that’s the point.
Know what else? All of Grant’s minutes can now go to Michael Porter Jr (and that’s a great thing).
The beauty of that is that if the Nuggets are ever going to have a shot at a title – aka, be great – they’ll need that third superstar. And MPJ could be one.
There’s a problem – or at least a potential problem – looming though. During the preseason, Will Barton, a veteran guard who’d been hurt throughout the Nuggets run in Orlando, said he was a starter. And the next game, he started.
In place of Michael Porter Jr.
Not this again, Santa. Pretty please.
Now, perhaps we shouldn’t overreact Afterall, that was just preseason and it might have just been Malone’s way of getting Barton, who’d been hurt, back into playing shape. Then again, if you’ve been following the Nuggets, the situation surrounding Porter Jr.’s minutes is, well, a sensitive one. If you’re Malone, why not go all in on the kid? This no time to appease a veteran who’s good but not great
Coach, do you want to be good or great?
With all due respect to Nuggets president of basketball operations Tim Connelly, the offseason was filled with a lot of “good.” It was a good draft. JaMiychal Green is good signing. But, in general, the Nuggets offseason was uneventful, if not disappointing. They certainly didn’t get better.
And that’s why the development of Michael Porter Jr. is so important.
And the development of Will Barton…
…is not.
If the Nuggets are going to be great, MPJ must be great, too. Unless Connelly is going to pounce on the opportunity at hand (and clearly, right or wrong, he’s not willing to mortgage the present for the future), development is the only way to go. Barton is not a bad piece – at all – but if he was a key piece of a title-contending team, the Nuggets would have been where they went in the Bubble long before. Connelly and Co. must count on in-house improvement, and the only player on the roster that looks like he could make the difference between good and great, is Porter Jr.
If Malone is content with winning a lot of regular season games, then Barton is the move. If he wants more, then it’s time to give MPJ as much time and attention as possible – even if it means taking a step or two backwards before moving forward.
On the eve of the new NBA season, the Nuggets need only to answer one simple question:
Good or great?
They’re already good.
Great is attainable, but only for the bold.