By Jordan Long
The Denver Nuggets promising season ended in a sweep at the hands of the Phoenix Suns. The Nuggets now are into the offseason and have decisions to make. They will look at areas to improve the team.
Denver ended the regular season at 47-25, 3rd in the Western Conference. This was an impressive record considering they lost starter and “superstar” point guard Jamal Murray to an ACL injury on April 13th, against the Golden State Warriors with 50 seconds left. There are many questions on whether Murray should have been in the game since it was already decided. The Nuggets at the time were 34-20. Denver finished the rest of the regular season without Murray at 13-5.
Denver made a trade at the deadline to acquire a better defensive player, Aaron Gordon from the Orlando Magic. Gordon was traded to the Denver Nuggets along with Gary Clark who was later waived. Orlando received Gary Harris, rookie guard R.J. Hampton, and a 2025 first-round pick. Gordon was going to help the Nuggets defense since he would guard the opponents’ best player. Gordon was not much of an offensive player but he improved their defense and Denver ended up as the 3 seed in the West.
Without Murray it was impressive Denver played well. They even had home court advantage in the 1st-round of the NBA playoffs against the Portland Trailblazers. Denver ended up winning that hard fought series in 6.
The 2nd-round is where the year would end. The Suns beat the Nuggets in a sweep. The Suns’ defense set the tone in the series. Phoenix would go to a 2-3 zone or even on man-to-man which clogged the lane. This forced Denver to try and hit outside shots. The Suns didn’t want Nikola Jokic to beat them. In the end, Denver couldn’t hit a wide open shot, shooting 43.5% in the series. From 3, Denver was a disappointing 34.8%.
Decisions need to be made for next year. The first is to figure out which free agents to keep or let go. Denver doesn’t have many. The free agents are point guards Austin Rivers and Shaq Harrison, center JaVale McGee, and power forward Paul Millsap. Denver should sign Rivers and Harrison. Rivers gave the Nuggets a veteran point guard and Harrison wasn’t a bad shooter off the bench. McGee didn’t play that much and didn’t produce. It wouldn’t be a surprise to see the Nuggets let him test free agency. Millsap is 36 years old. Denver may keep him because of his leadership. $10 million is what it cost this past year and it might be that much or a little less.
The Nuggets will look at free agents. They need shooters. It showed in the Suns series they couldn’t hit the outside shot. Players they could be interested in are J.J. Redick and Evan Fournier among other free agents. Redick has been in the NBA for 18 years. He would be entering his 19th NBA season. He has shown throughout his NBA career he can hit the outside shot, shooting 41.5% from the arc. It couldn’t hurt once free agency opens on August 2nd to give him a call. He would be an option off the bench. His age could be a concern since Redick will be 37 once the season begins.
Fournier is younger at 28 years old. The Nuggets are familiar with him since he played for them from 2012 to 2014. Fournier is a shooter but can’t shoot the basketball as well as Redick from 3. He is a career 37.9% shooter from deep.
Denver will do what is best for the team in the offseason. This is still a franchise who has a young core in Nikola Jokic, Michael Porter Jr., and Jamal Murray. Free agents should want to play with them because they are only going to improve their game. With them on the team, Denver could be in the conversation to win an NBA title for years to come. That should be more than enough to sign free agents. Hopefully, Denver upgrades the team for the 2021-2022 season making an even deeper run in the postseason.
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