Denver Nuggets: Complete grades for the 2019 NBA offseason

The Denver Nuggets returned to the postseason after a 5-year absence and, outside of 1 trade, appear ready to run it back in 2019-20.

After a five-year rebuild that included two straight seasons of missing the playoffs by a single game, the Denver Nuggets kicked down the door to the postseason in 2018-19, earning the No. 2 seed in the Western Conference and winning a series for the first time in 10 years along the way.

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Denver’s 54 wins matched the 1987-88 and 2008-09 editions of the Nuggets for the second-most since the team entered the NBA in 1976, trailing only the 57-25 mark by Denver in 2012-13, also the franchise’s last playoff appearance before last season.

By holding off the pesky San Antonio Spurs in a seven-game first-round battle, the Nuggets won a playoff series for the first time since the 2009 club went to the Western Conference Finals.

But their run ended in the Western Conference semifinals, collapsing under the weight of a 37.1 percent shooting night that included going just 2-for-19 from 3-point range in a 100-96 loss at home to the Portland Trail Blazers in Game 7 of the series.

The Nuggets did real work against All-NBA point guard Damian Lillard in Game 7, holding the superstar to just 13 points on 3-of-17 shooting, but couldn’t contain CJ McCollum, who went off for 37 points.

Denver guard Jamal Murray was 4-for-18 in the finale, while Paul Millsap was 3-for-13 and everyone not named Nikola Jokic combined to shoot 0-for-13 from deep.

But it doesn’t take away from the steps the Nuggets took last season under coach Mike Malone, a season highlighted by Jokic becoming the team’s first All-Star since Carmelo Anthony in 2011.

With a young core aside from Millsap, Denver president of basketball operations Tim Connolly made a couple of tweaks to the roster, but is essentially gearing up for another strong run in a wild and wide-open West in 2019-20.

Gone are free agents Trey Lyles, Isaiah Thomas, Tyler Lydon, while the Nuggets revoked their qualifying offer to Brandon Goodwin, who remains unsigned as a now-unrestricted free agent.

Lyles is off to the Spurs, Thomas signed with the Washington Wizards and Lydon — whose third-year option was declined by Denver last fall — inked a deal with the Sacramento Kings.

None of those losses will be hard to swallow. Lyles played the most of that quartet, logging 1,120 minutes in 64 games. Thomas only appeared in 12 games for 181 minutes, Lydon got 94 minutes in 25 appearances and Goodwin, a two-way player, appeared in 16 games for only 57 minutes.

No, it was not an active offseason for the Nuggets, but their moves were calculated at making the team stronger for 2019-20.

Here’s how their transactions graded out.