Basketball season finally, unofficially tips off Monday when the Nuggets report to Ball Arena ahead of training camp. After they begin the week with media day, they’ll head to Boulder for a few days of training camp starting Tuesday.
This is an unusual moment for Denver. Outside expectations for the franchise are at their lowest in years after a first-round playoff exit and an uncomfortable offseason. Still, the Nuggets are returning one of the NBA’s best starting lineups, led by a perennial MVP candidate — who’s entering the last guaranteed year on his contract.
Here are five big storylines to watch as camp begins.
Is Nikola Jokic ready for the noise?
Perhaps no superstar athlete on the planet is more prepared to tune out rampant speculation than Jokic, who isn’t on social media and has expressed open contempt for his own fame.
But his decision not to sign a contract extension this summer may have a sizable impact on the people around him in Denver for the next nine months, even if he’s a master at practicing blissful ignorance. Antennas will raise in rival front offices every time the Nuggets stumble through a road trip, every time Jokic makes a semi-frustrated postgame comment about turnovers in his usual blunt tone. He will be an unrestricted free agent next summer if and when he declines his player option, which he says he plans to do in order to sign a more lucrative five-year extension with Denver.
He’s likely to reaffirm that “Nuggets forever” commitment next Monday, when he speaks to American reporters for the first time since April. But will that be enough to stop his contract status from becoming a distraction at any point this season?
Does Christian Braun have his bounce back?
“I was rewarded for my work on my rookie deal, so I understand the expectations are higher, and I need to be better,” Braun told The Denver Post after limping away from a season-ending loss to Minnesota. “That just is what it is. So as an individual, I understand I need to get better. I need to play better. I’ve got to get healthy, first and foremost. But there is no excuse.”
So much of Braun’s game relies on his explosiveness at the rim, an attribute that disappeared entirely last season after he tore ligaments on the inside and outside of his left ankle. How will he feel next week as he goes through training camp? Will he be able to display any of his usual bounce when the Nuggets take the court for their first preseason game? The 25-year-old guard is under contract through 2031, longer than anyone else on the roster. Denver’s investment in him needs to start showing returns this season.
Is Julian Strawther Denver’s 8th man?
There was a lot of buzz out of training camp last October that Spencer Jones had made a strong impression on the coaching staff. It might’ve seemed like lip service toward a young bench warmer at the time, but within a few months, Jones’ two-way contract had been converted to a standard NBA deal. Now he’s been signed to an extension and will be one of Denver’s most important bench pieces.
Strawther is already on the 15-man roster, of course. He’s even had a few memorable performances sprinkled throughout his three-year NBA career, most notably a Game 6 heat check against Oklahoma City.
But if he’s ever going to evolve into a mainstay on this team, he’s running out of time (literally, as this will be the last season of his rookie contract). It would be an encouraging sign if he can earn some of the same training camp hype that Jones got last year. Strawther has been lauded as a hard worker by both head coaches he’s played for in Denver, but consistent production has eluded him. The Nuggets are entering camp with seven players they know they can trust for playoff minutes next April — Jones and DeMar DeRozan being the reserves. They need an eighth man (at least) to emerge eventually.
Will anyone snatch Denver’s 15th roster spot?
The Nuggets appear to be inviting competition this preseason. With Cam Whitmore on a two-way contract and Lonnie Walker IV on an Exhibit 9 invite, there will be some compelling talent on the floor at training camp. Maybe Denver is dangling that vacant 15th roster spot to lure in candidates, but filling it might be complicated. This is still the only second-apron payroll in the NBA as of late September, and the tax implications of adding another player, even for the veteran minimum, would be severe.
Last season could be a template for how the Nuggets want to handle this. They entered the season with an open roster spot and a payroll that narrowly exceeded the luxury tax. They waited. for the trade deadline to dump a rookie-scale salary from the back end of their roster, then they signed two new players (Spencer Jones and Tyus Jones) to reach 15 without going back into the tax. By leaving the roster spot open for several months, they were able to limit the newcomers’ salary cap hits, owing a prorated amount for the rest of the season.
Will they replicate that strategy this year, or if someone like Walker or Whitmore stands out in camp, will they pay the price now and deal with the apron later?
Paint penetration off the dribble will be a skill Denver sorely needs from one of these players if they’re going to earn a promotion.
What else can Nuggets try defensively?
After two consecutive years ranking in the bottom 10 — under two different head coaches and two different defensive coordinators — it’s getting harder to escape a feeling of helplessness about the current iteration of the Nuggets defensively. Braun, Jones and Aaron Gordon will need to be healthy for Denver to have a fighting chance. Then there’s the perpetual puzzle that is protecting the rim without a rim protector at center.
Adelman and assistant coach Jared Dudley tried to get more schematically diverse last season with zones, drops, cross-matches and other ways to reduce Jokic’s workload at his weak end of the floor. It stood in contrast to the base coverage Denver had played for years with Jokic “up to touch,” a more aggressive (and taxing) position meant to utilize Jokic’s quick hands and crafty intuition against the pick-and-roll.
What else can Denver try? The hiring of lead assistant coach Dave Joerger could help add new ideas to the mix. But with Peyton Watson gone, this roster might be even more limited in defense-first personnel than last season. Part of the Nuggets’ goal will surely be to support their defense with cleaner offense — limiting turnovers to shut down transition opportunities. But their defensive philosophy in the halfcourt will be fascinating to watch develop in a new preseason.
