I predict that Kenneth Faried will have his best season ever. I actually already hinted at this before the preseason began but after watching a rejuvenated Manimal under the tutelage of Michael Malone, I feel fairly confident saying that Faried will be at his best this season. From switching screens on defense and shutting down guards in isolation, to rolling hard to the rim on every high pick and roll, he'll look like a whole new player.
I predict the Nuggets will NOT lose a game by 43 points like they did last year to the Golden State Warriors. Nor will they mutiny against their coach, chant "six weeks" during a timeout in a blowout loss, or give up 84 points in a half at home.
I predict that Emmanuel Mudiay's ball handling against pressure will be a bigger cause for concern in the first quarter of the season than his shooting or scoring at the rim. He's struggled against pressure in both summer league and preseason and it is a weakness that teams will look to exploit every night. However, I predict that by midseason he has figured out the speed and pace of NBA defenders and his ball handling will improve dramatically.
I predict that Mudiay will make SportsCenter's top 10 list at least once this year. Faried and Gallo will make it a time or two as well.

I predict that Jusuf Nurkic will struggle to grasp some of Malone's philosophies and defensive principles once he returns to the court but that by the end of the year he will be among the best rim protectors in the league. In a press conference earlier this year, Malone admitted that the defensive framework would've been slightly different in training camp had the Bosnian Beast been healthy. Nurkic's size and defensive instincts allow the defense to do things like pressure the ball more aggressively and funnel driving guards toward the paint in ways that the team won't be able to without him on the court. I think that that adjustment period will take some getting used to, for both Malone and for Nurkic once he returns to the court.
I predict that the Nuggets will have a lot of beautiful offensive possessions, with crisp ball movement and active off-ball cutters. And although not all of those possessions will lead to open shots, it will be a sign of a team that is learning to play a fun and beautiful style of basketball that will pay off in the years to come.
I predict that the Lakers vs the Nuggets will be some of the best games of the year. Not one of the best Nuggets games, one of the best NBA games. Mudiay and D'Angelo Russell are already natural rivals having been picked as the 1st and 2nd point guards in this year's draft. Watching them go head-to-head will make for some of the best theater in the league this year.
I predict that Wilson Chandler and Danilo Gallinari will be hot names in trade talks all season long as plenty of teams and fanbases begin to dream up scenarios for landing them on their team.
I predict that both of them will still be Denver Nuggets on March 1st.

I predict that this season will be the most fun I've had watching the Nuggets in a long time.

Lastly, I predict that I'll remember this season as the first NBA season I ever watched alongside my daughter. She was born in late February last year and by the time the NBA Finals ended, she was still too young to sit upright on her own. As I write this, some 4 months since then, she is crawling around on the floor grabbing everything in sight.

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It's weird to think that by the time the playoffs begin, she will be walking, saying her first words, giving high fives, and possibly, just maybe, she'll be rooting for the Nuggets alongside me for the short, 5-second intervals that something as boring as TV can hold her attention.
The NBA season is long and at times it can feel like it's crawling along with no end in sight. This season will be different. It will fly by. Every day with her flies by in a way that is a bit sad and incredibly terrifying. Life never moves so fast as it does once you have a kid. Thankfully, at night when I am sitting down to watch the games, or in the morning when I am studying film for an article, I'll be sitting beside her as she grows like a weed. I'll be trying to influence her first words to be "Ice" or "Horns."
At some point she'll find her own hobbies that might not be watching NBA basketball and inevitably, those hobbies will become my own as well. But this year, this season, it will be me and her cuddled up on the couch, watching game after game as we play with her toys, read books, and play peek-a-boo.
And I predict it is all going to be amazing.

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