Cleveland Cavaliers: Ranking the NBA’s best young cores

1. Denver Nuggets

Potential All-Stars: Nikola Jokic, Jamal Murray, Gary Harris, Michael Porter Jr. 

Finishing as the second seed in the West and falling one game short of reaching the Western Conference Finals last season, the Denver Nuggets have arrived.

Due to their success, you might forget this talented squad has an average age of just 24.72 years, making them the youngest team in the league.

Obviously, their age didn’t stop them from rampaging through the NBA last year. Led by big man Nikola Jokic, the Nuggets became a force to be reckoned with and proved to the world that they are a dynasty in the making.

Alongside the 24-year-old All-Star is an offensive driven guard in Jamal Murray and a two-way threat in Gary Harris. Together, these three won a total of 54 games last season and they are only getting started.

In the playoffs, Jokic blossomed into a borderline superstar. An unbelievable 27.1 points, 13.9 rebounds, 77 assists, 1.1 blocks and 1.0 steals per game performance against the Portland Trail-Blazers helped Jokic drag his team through a hard-fought seven-game series.

Though they weren’t able to punch their tickets to the WCF just yet, they are well on their way to reaching this milestone soon.

The talent we have already seen on the roster is enough to make them a longterm competitor. However, it is the prospects that we haven’t even seen yet that are the most intriguing. Take Michael Porter Jr. for example.

Before suffering a disheartening back injury, MPJ was the projected No. 1 overall pick in 2018 and had potential to be a franchise changing talent.

While he still hasn’t been able to play in an NBA game, he has youth on his side and could take the Nuggets to the next level if he ever returns to full strength. It’s impossible to predict if MPJ can make a successful return to the court, but if he does, he still has All-Star potential.

Then, we have to mention the biggest question mark of all, Bol Bol. Entering the 2019 NBA Draft, Bol was assumed to be a lottery pick. Somehow, he fell all the way to the 45th pick and landed directly in the Nuggets lap.

Bol is a skyscraping center with 3-point range and versatile ball handling. Though his lack of weight and history of injuries is a reason for concern, Bol certainly has an insane amount of potential in today’s league.

Whether or not MPJ or Bol play a  game for the Nuggets doesn’t matter. Denver has accumulated three of the most promising players in the entire league and will have a chance to be competitive for the next decade.

There is no doubt in my mind the Denver Nuggets have the best young core in the league.

Cavaliers takeaways:

Again, the Cleveland Cavaliers need to look at how a big man presence can change a team. Nikola Jokic is a rare breed, but the Cavs haven’t even drafted a big in the lottery since Tristan Thompson. Maybe it’s time they look for a dominant paint presence after all.