Denver Nuggets: 2016-17 Season Outlook

Three Key Storylines: 3. Are The Nuggets The Real Western Dark Horse?

In terms of Western Conference dark horses, the Timberwolves are the popular pick to sneak into the playoffs. They’ve got the reigning unanimous Rookie of the Year in Karl-Anthony Towns, another former No. 1 pick in Andrew Wiggins, Ricky Rubio, Ricky Rubio’s potential replacement in Kris Dunn, and a head coach who’s going to whip that defense into shape.

But the Wolves only won 29 games last year, and even if Tom Thibodeau can transform the NBA’s 27th ranked defense overnight, making the playoffs and improving by that many games is a tall task.

I humbly suggest another option: the Denver Nuggets, who won 33 games last year and have very few new pieces to incorporate. They have the continuity factor in their favor as Malone enters his second season at the helm, and if Nurkic, Gallo and Chandler can just stay healthy, this is a versatile and extremely skilled team.

With so many players who can shoot and make plays off the dribble at different positions, the Nuggets’ best lineups could be downright amoebic in nature at their peak.

Last season, it only took 41 games to sneak into the playoffs out West. It’s unreasonable to expect that to happen again, but outside of the three locks in the conference — Golden State, San Antonio and Lob City — the other five playoff spots are virtually up for grabs in a Western bloodbath.

The Nuggets would need a big year from Mudiay, a significant leap from Jokic, more improvement from Harris and uncharacteristically great injury luck to get there, but don’t count them out of the playoff race too soon. This is a team that could surprise some people, and even if it doesn’t result in a postseason berth, that’s not the main goal of the 2016-17 campaign anyway.

Next: Best, Worst Case Scenarios