Denver Nuggets: What Happened To The Nuggets?

During the mid-2000s, the Denver Nuggets were one of the most consistently successful teams in the Western Conference. They made the playoffs every year from 2004 to 2013, and were one of the few teams in the league to do so. Their success peaked in the 2012-13 season, when they posted a franchise record 57 wins and went into the playoffs as the third seed.

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During the 2012-13 season, the Nuggets were a force to be reckoned with. They lost just three games at home the entire season, and played a fast-paced offense that, when combined with the high altitude in Denver, made it hard for teams to defend against.

After trading away Carmelo Anthony in 2010, the Nuggets decided to retool the roster and take the unconventional method of creating a team without a superstar. The biggest name on the 2012 roster was Andre Iguodala, and he was a name that many casual fans weren’t familiar with. Led by George Karl, the Nuggets surprised everyone on their way to a third seed, only to fall at the hands of the Golden State Warriors in a first-round upset.

Looking back, the Nuggets were on the right track in terms of creating a contender. While the first-round exit was a disappointment, the team had built a strong foundation and a core that could improve over time. Last season’s Nuggets do not resemble a team that had made the playoffs as the third seed in the competitive Western Conference just two seasons ago.

So, what happened?

While some will blame injuries and the subsequent departure of Iguodala as the main culprit, the first domino to fall was the firing of George Karl. Despite giving the Nuggets 57 wins in the regular season, the front office was unhappy with his style of play and preferred a slower and more half-court-based offense.

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In theory, it made sense. The pace of the game slows down in the postseason, so a team well-versed in the half-court offense would trump an equally-talented team that preferred to run an up-tempo offense. However, a look at the Nuggets’ personnel challenges that theory. With Kosta Koufos, Kenneth Faried, Ty Lawson and Danilo Gallinari as their starters, an up-tempo offense played to their strengths. Gallinari was the best shooter of the lot, and outside of Lawson, there was little range within the starters.

The front office was also reportedly unhappy with Karl’s unwillingness to start JaVale McGee. The franchise valued McGee, and even offered him a hefty $44 million contract extension over four years in 2012. He spent the first year of that extension coming off the bench, which probably rubbed the front office the wrong way.

So, with Karl gone, the Nuggets hired first-time head coach Brian Shaw. Shaw was a successful assistant coach with the Indiana Pacers, but had yet to lead his own group. He was known for his defensive mindset, but his offensive philosophy was a virtual unknown. The front office followed up by trading away Kosta Koufos to push McGee as a starter. Iguodala and Corey Brewer left, and the core rotation was suddenly drastically different.

Shaw was dealt a horrible hand: his biggest star (Gallinari) was projected to miss the entire season due to a complication in the surgery he had the season before to repair his torn ACL and had to rework the team’s offense while earning their trust, all the while balancing the steep learning curve that is being a NBA head coach.

His first season was disastrous. McGee, the front office’s favorite son, was the first of many to suffer a season-ending injury. J.J Hickson, Nate Robinson, Gallinari and McGee all suffered season-ending injuries in the 2013-14 season, and by the end of March, the Nuggets were content to just put up a healthy starting five on the court.

As it was revealed midway through last season, Shaw never gained the trust of the locker room. He admitted that he struggled to relate to the team’s young roster, and things got out of hand quick. The Nuggets eventually let him go, ending a tumultuous 21-month reign as Nuggets’ head coach.

Looking back, it’s easy to blame the front office for the Nuggets’ demise. They fired the Coach of the Year, tore up a 57-win team, meddled in the coaching decisions, and ultimately, wrote the script to their own fall. The hope is that they have learned their lesson from this, and will leave the coaching to the coaches.

If not, we could be looking at history repeating itself very, very soon.

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What Happened To The Denver Nuggets?

By Greg Chin | Jul 26, 2015

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