Nikola Jokić didn’t wait long to remind everyone why the Nuggets can’t be written off.
In Denver’s preseason opener Sunday afternoon, Jokić uncorked a ridiculous behind-the-back pass from near the Jazz bench that traveled nearly 50 feet through the air and landed in Cameron Johnson’s hands in the opposite corner for a made 3. It happened midway through the first quarter of the exhibition against Utah at CU Events Center in Bolder, Colo., and it had the arena reacting immediately, including Colorado’s student section.
The play was pure Jokić: no look, crosscourt, behind the back, and delivered with enough pace and precision that Svi Mykhailiuk couldn’t close out in time. It was the kind of pass that makes everyone stop talking about roster concerns for a second and remember who is still steering the ship in Denver.
“He’s one of one who can make that pass,” Denver coach David Adelman said after the game.
That matters because the conversation around the Nuggets all offseason has been pretty bleak. Denver is the only NBA team operating in the second apron this season, and the front office had to move on from a few key pieces, including Peyton Watson, just to make the finances more manageable. On paper, this group looks thinner than the team that fell in the first round of the postseason last spring.
There are real questions here. Denver’s defense was a problem last season, especially in transition, and Adelman has already talked in training camp about schematic changes aimed at cleaning that up. The roster has also changed enough that some players have clear pressure on them right away.
DeMar DeRozan, newly signed, is coming off the bench, but at 37 he’s still a scorer who can get buckets. Christian Braun has not yet matched the level expected after his $125 million contract extension.
Johnson is still trying to prove Denver made the right call in swapping Michael Porter Jr. for him. Jamal Murray needs another All-Star-level season.
Still, Jokić doesn’t sound like someone looking at the Nuggets as a team in decline. At media day, he said, “I was here when we basically were a so-so team and we won a championship, and we still have capability and have an opportunity to compete on a high level, and to win a championship,”
And that’s the whole point. The Nuggets may not have the young depth of the Spurs or the roster strength of the Thunder, but they have Jokić. As long as that’s true, Denver has a path to another 50-win season and a real shot to matter when the postseason arrives.
In Other News...
Nuggets Bench Wings Are Making Denvers Rotation Battle Harder To Ignore
The Nuggets second preseason win over Utah offered another look at a bench group that is starting to make the back end of the rotation feel a little less settled. Denver beat the Jazz 117-106, and the wing depth was a major part of why the game had a different feel than a typical exhibition tune-up. Alpha Diallo brought energy on both ends, Cam Whitmore flashed the kind of impact the Nuggets want to see from reserve wings, and the second unit again looked like it can change the tone of a game.
Julian Strawther, meanwhile, kept building on an encouraging start to the preseason after another productive outing. For a team trying to sort out roles before the games count, those performances matter because they are happening in the right places: on the wing, in lineups where defense, spacing and shot-making all carry extra weight. Denver still has more decisions to make, and the bench wings are making those calls harder to ignore. [Read more 🡒]
Bruce Brown's Knicks Deal Says A Lot About Denver's New Reality
Bruce Brown is back in the kind of summer roster squeeze that has become common around the league, this time with the Knicks, who have signed several players to Exhibit 9 training camp deals as they sort through a crowded field for limited openings. New York values Brown for the same reasons many teams once did: versatility, experience and the ability to plug holes in a rotation without needing much time to adjust.
For Denver fans, the more telling part is the backdrop around his market. Brown said the teams interested in him "weren't many," and pointed to the second-apron salary cap rule as a frequent explanation, a reminder of how much the leagues spending limits can shape even familiar names. The Nuggets had room to add a veteran, but Brown never became a serious target there, a quiet sign of how different the roster-building reality is now compared with the one that once made him such a fit in Denver. [Read more 🡒]
Nuggets Suddenly Have A Guard Battle Fans Didn't See Coming
The Nuggets are using the preseason the way most teams use it this time of year, as a live audition for the bench, and head coach David Adelman has made it clear he wants to sort through the group before the games start counting. Denver has several new pieces in the mix, including DeMar DeRozan, Marvin Bagley III and Alpha Diallo, while the backcourt depth chart is still being sorted out behind the main rotation.
What makes the situation interesting is the squeeze it creates for the players fighting for backup guard minutes. Tyus Jones, Julian Strawther and Spencer Jones are all in the conversation, but every preseason run is carrying more weight than usual as Adelman and his staff try to decide who fits and who may be the odd man out once the roster gets trimmed down over the course of the season. [Read more 🡒]