SI has their NBA Season Preview dropping, and the Behind Enemy Lines article features anonymous quotes dropping hot takes from anonymous scouts around the league. All 30 teams are featured and it’s a good way to get a behind-the-scenes look at the thoughts on local teams from a league-wide perspective.
The Denver Nuggets section is not hot-takey unless you’ve been sleeping on the Nuggets and their potential to do damage this year. Among the examples, beyond Murray potentially throwing his hat in the ring for Most Improved Player and a bunch of compliments about much of the roster:
I worry a little bit that they’ll get exposed as a regular-season team. They have a lot of minus defenders in their rotation and their offense can’t perform at an elite level when Nikola Jokic goes off the court. . . . They play through Jokic, whose presence makes everything go offensively. They can play shooters or a guy like Jamal Murray who isn’t a traditional point guard because Jokic is such a good passer and playmaker. He’s right there with Pau Gasol, Marc Gasol, Arvydas Sabonis as the best passing centers of all time. It’s not too soon to say that.
This is high praise nationally when talking about Jokic but what Nuggets fans have been saying about Joker for a while. That said it’s great to get a national perspective, and the only chance Denver will have to change the narrative about them being a “regular season team” that can’t win in the playoffs – something that’s been said since Carmelo Anthony’s rookie year – is to actually make the NBA playoffs. This would be a nice year to change some minds.
Check out the whole article!
