The Best Lineup Denver Had Is Already One Man Short
Last season's top five-man Nuggets unit produced a plus-20.1 net rating, but the group that built it is not the group opening camp.
Denver's most efficient regular lineup from a season ago paired Nikola Jokić and Jamal Murray with Cameron Johnson, Peyton Watson and Spencer Jones for 171 minutes. Watson is no longer with the team, and the passing chemistry that produced it now has to be rebuilt with new pieces.
What's Left of the Best Five
Denver's most efficient lineup last season, by net rating, was Jokić, Murray, Johnson, Watson and Jones — plus-20.1 over 171 minutes, scoring at 136.7 points per hundred. The Athletic named Denver's trade of Watson among its favorite under-the-radar offseason moves; Johnson and Jones are still on the roster, but the exact five-man group that outscored teams by 20 points a night no longer exists.
Gordon's Status, Still Open
Aaron Gordon's designation flipped from day-to-day to cleared and back to day-to-day on September 13, and nothing has updated it since. A Hoops Rumors piece on September 19 raised camp questions involving Gordon and DeMar DeRozan without resolving it either. Denver's best lineups last season ran through five-man units that included Gordon; an unresolved health status this close to camp is the kind of thing that reshapes those groups before a game is played.
Whitmore In, Brown Out
Bruce Brown left for the Knicks on September 16. Two days later, Cam Whitmore signed a two-way deal with Denver, confirmed by Hoops Rumors via Shams Charania on September 18 — five days after Marc Stein had first reported Whitmore as a Denver target on September 15. Whitmore adds athleticism the Nuggets lacked off the bench, but two-way minutes are not the same as the read-and-react trust Brown had built.
The Clock Starts October 4
Preseason opens at home against the Jazz on October 4, with the regular-season opener set for October 22 at Oklahoma City on ESPN. Trevon Brazile, day-to-day with an undisclosed issue, has an estimated return of October 1 — in time for that first exhibition. Everything from here is about restitching the passing patterns before games count.
When do the Nuggets play their first preseason game?
October 4 at home against the Jazz, the first of four preseason games before the October 22 opener at Oklahoma City.
Is Aaron Gordon healthy heading into camp?
His status is unresolved — it moved from day-to-day to cleared and back to day-to-day on September 13, with no update since.
