The Nuggets Are Not Messing Around

Here’s what the Nuggets have done over the first week of their first title defense in franchise history.

Facing a supremely motivated Lakers they swept during the conference finals? Dispatched with the same ease as in the playoffs. On the road against a Memphis team fighting to stay afloat without Ja Morant? Turned them into highlight fodder. In Oklahoma City to face an upstart Thunder team many expect to have a breakout season? Blowout win.

It’s been a businesslike start for the Nuggets to this season, and one that appears to be sending a firm and clear message: Denver will not be succumbing to any sort of championship hangover.

The Nugs were not quite a dominant regular-season team in 2022–23, in part because Jamal Murray was still working his way back into peak shape, the bench took a long time to find its footing and Nikola Jokić seemed to take his foot off the gas toward the end of the year in preparation for the playoffs. Denver still finished first in the West, but with a relatively pedestrian-for-the-1-seed 53 wins.

And the offseason created a new round of questions for the Nuggets. How would they deal with the losses of Bruce Brown and Jeff Green, vital members of the title run? And how soon would Jokić, fresh off partying to Serbia’s hottest club bangers, assume an MVP form? The early returns on both have been great.

Denver’s second unit has impressed. The five-man group of Murray, Reggie Jackson, Zeke Nnaji, Christian Braun and Peyton Watson is a plus-11 in its first 21 minutes of action. Late last year coach Michael Malone made the decision to eschew replacing the Joker with a traditional center in bench groups, and the Green–Aaron Gordon frontcourt combo helped solve a lot of Denver’s issues.

So far this year, Murray is the starter tasked with buoying the bench, while Nnaji and Watson are the athletic, rangy defenders in the frontcourt. It’s worked! While the group is still figuring things out offensively, it’s been stout defensively in this very early stage. Watson is someone to keep an eye on, especially if he can develop his shot. His 6'7", 200-pound frame makes him versatile as a defender. Against the Thunder on Sunday, he scored 17 points on 8-of-11 shooting.

Look, this second group will have its ups and downs. Twenty-one minutes is hardly a sample size, let alone a big one. Much will change between now and the postseason, and who is actually playoff-ready remains to be seen. But compared to bench units of yesteryear that instantly evaporated the leads created by the starters, the Nuggets’ new-look reserves have passed a couple of early tests.

Meanwhile, is it too early to talk MVP for Jokić? He is averaging 26.3 points, 13.0 rebounds and 7.7 assists a night while shooting 61.5% from the field through his first three games. He remains a paragon of efficiency and the most unstoppable offensive force in the NBA. Any fears that he would slow-play the start of the season after tasting championship success have been allayed, at least for now.

There will be lulls, and there’s a loooooong way to go until April. Still, it’s hard not to be impressed by the Nuggets. It would have been easy and frankly understandable for them to take their time getting into a rhythm. Instead, Denver looks every bit as frightening as it did when it raised the trophy in June.