This is a huge year for the Denver Nuggets. After an exciting offseason, this franchise is no longer in rebuilding mode; now, it’s all about development, and any misstep could be disastrous.
We need to see what this team will look like in two, three years. The image may be blurry and distorted, but it has to be there. By the end of the season, Denver needs to have more answers than question marks.
And if that ends up being the case, I can promise you that these next few months will be a blast for Nuggets fans. We may not walk away from 2016 with 40-plus wins and a playoff birth, but we’ll have something better than that: a foundation.
If everything pans out just right, Denver is set for the long haul.
Here are the three players you need to have your eyes glued to all season:
Honorable Mention: Gary Harris
Nuggets guard Gary Harris tops @bbdoolittle’s list of second-year breakout NBA players. http://t.co/aHD0m3JEup pic.twitter.com/RKjreDCEKB
— Greg Rosenstein (@grosenstein) October 13, 2015
Under Michael Malone, the Nuggets are going to ride and die with their young players, meaning that Harris is going to get ample opportunity to prove himself. If he can, the Nuggets will have plenty of talent, one through five, going forward.
3. Jusuf Nurkic
https://twitter.com/NuggetsHugeFans/status/653705733322616832
As we detailed earlier this week, Jusuf Nurkic is awesome. Not only is he good at basketball, he’s got swag out the wazoo, too — unlike that statement.
Unfortunately, Nurkic is expected to miss the start of the season with a knee injury that has put a speed bump in the way of the Bosnian big man’s development. Still, unless Nurkic pulls a Gallinari and just doesn’t come back for a year and a half, he should get plenty of the time to show Nuggets fans what he’s got up his sleeves.
Nurkic has the ability to be the centerpiece of a great defense, an idea that seems foreign in Denver, and he needs to start proving it in 2015-16.
2. Danilo Gallinari
Oh snap, Danilo Gallinari just fried Steph Curry http://t.co/bXvgyJJXjB pic.twitter.com/paDCfQ0sDU
— Friendly Bounce (@FriendlyBounce) October 14, 2015
Would you believe me if I told you that Danilo Gallinari just turned 27? I didn’t. For whatever reason, despite that baby face, it seems like Gallo has been in the NBA for a decade, and yet he’s only entering his seventh season.
We’ve seen the potential. We’ve seen Gallo average over 16 points on a great team. Now, we need to see that potential come to fruition.
Right now, there’s no question that Gallo is the best, most-important player on this Nuggets roster. Emmanuel Mudiay may be the future, but until that day comes, Gallo is still the man. And based off of his play down the stretch last season and through EuroBasket last month, I think he’s ready.
If Gallo can become the efficient, deadly weapon he’s capable of being, the Nuggets may be on a faster track to the playoffs than we thought.
1. Emmanuel Mudiay
The Nuggets are building. @teamziller and @Pflanns on a transition year in Denver: http://t.co/sxgW4KDE9c pic.twitter.com/eqBp9jZgWN
— SB Nation NBA (Click the pic to read 🔽) (@SBNationNBA) October 12, 2015
Of course it’s Emmanuel Mudiay!
If you’re not on the Mudiay bandwagon, then you’re the only one left at the station. In all honesty, I don’t think there’s been this much excitement surrounding a Nuggets draft pick since Carmelo Anthony, and the kid deserves it.
At just 19 years old, Mudiay checks off everything you could want in an elite point guard: size, strength, speed, court vision … and a somewhat kind-of promising jump shot.
If the Denver Nuggets are ever going to be a contender in the next decade, it’s going to be because of this guy. So make sure you’re watching this season, so you can say you’ve been there from the start.