The 2019 NBA offseason was one to remember.
After an unprecedented amount of player movement, several top contending teams will present new challenges for the Denver Nuggets. Now, it’s all about the dynamic duos in the Western Conference. From Paul George and Kawhi Leonard teaming up on the L.A. Clippers to LeBron James and Anthony Davis sharing the same arena as members of the Lakers, the Western Conference now has several teams that can claim a shot at the NBA Finals.
Those moves don’t even include Russell Westbrook joining forces with longtime friend James Harden in Houston, or the Utah Jazz adding Mike Conley and Bojan Bogdanovic (among others) to bolster their offense. For the Nuggets, the offseason represented an opportunity to yet again add to their dynamic young core through the draft and to sharpen the team’s versatility and depth through a trade.
The first addition came in the form of Bol Bol, the talented, 7’2” big man from the University of Oregon. “With Bol, at 44 it’s almost laughable at how much of a no-brainer it was,” Nuggets VP of Strategy & Analytics Tommy Balcetis told Nuggets.com. “He’s a tremendous talent and from what we’ve seen, a very good guy. We all collectively had him very high. Layne’s (Senior Analyst Layne Vashro) model had him high, while our scouts and basketball people had him high as well. It was shocking to us how far he fell.”
The Nuggets entered the 2019 draft without a draft pick but were certainly eager to get into the action as Bol continued to fall. The 19-year-old big man averaged 21 points, 9.6 rebounds and 2.7 blocks per game in limited collegiate action. With Bol’s ability to space the floor (he shot 52 percent from beyond the arc at Oregon), he certainly has a varied offensive game that should serve him well moving forward.
“We were trying to get into the draft earlier to try and get him but we ended up getting him at 44,” Balcetis revealed. “We were completely overjoyed. We are excited for him. There’s no rush to integrate him, so we’ll see what his role is.”
While fans are certainly eager to see Bol take the floor, with Nikola Jokić and Mason Plumlee holding down the fort at the center position for the upcoming season (not to mention any potential small-ball minutes for Paul Millsap and Denver’s other offseason addition), there certainly is no pressure for Bol to contribute in the immediate future.
While the addition of Bol may not bear fruit right away, Denver made sure to add a dynamic, defensive-minded wing to the fold in the form of a July trade for Jerami Grant. The 25-year-old is coming off a career year for the Oklahoma City Thunder in which he averaged 13.6 points, 5.2 rebounds and 1.3 blocks per game.
“Jerami Grant was another guy who almost fits the way we play to a T,” Balcetis said. “He’s a low-usage, high-efficiency guy who really developed his 3-point shot during his career. He can guard multiple positions and from what we know, he’s an outstanding person, which is very important for chemistry in the locker room.”
With the majority of this Nuggets core having spent multiple seasons together, adding a player like Grant to the locker room is sure to keep the dynamic going in the locker room, which as Balcetis explained, tends to be an emphasis for Denver’s front office. “We tend to prefer guys who are going to be great locker room people, and I think we’ve got a group that likes each other and Jerami will fit right in.”
Given Denver’s defensive improvement last season, the roster is even more equipped to handle the toughest defensive assignments in the conference. It also doesn’t hurt that at 25, Grant can fit into Denver’s long-term plans.
“His age curve works with some of the guys we have,” Balcetis said. “It’s not to say we’re just targeting young guys, because we’ve got a nice mix of veterans and young players. If you just look at the way he plays, he just fits our system extremely well.” Grant’s potential fit was so positive that Balcetis revealed that the 6’9 forward was identified as a potential target by both the coaching staff and the front office on separate occasions.
With Grant in the fold and sure to make an impact on both ends of the floor in the upcoming season, Denver is poised to continue growing as a team. Continuity was a point of emphasis for the Nuggets throughout the summer, as it should provide an early season boost that most other Western Conference contenders can’t afford.
“I’m excited for the continuity aspect,” Balcetis said. “We’re bringing almost the same group back, so I’m excited that it’s mostly the same people and I think we got better on the margins. Most of our guys were very productive already and we’re still a young team. We also have pretty much the same coaching staff and front office. There’s a lot to be excited about.”
However, it isn’t just the idea of continuity that is providing optimism within the Nuggets front office. The team can also claim to be one of, if not the deepest team in the league in the 2019-20 season. Throughout the course of an 82-game grind in the regular season, having healthy and able bodies can make the difference, especially in a conference that should be as competitive as the West projects to be next season.
“Expectations are scary, but we deserve them, so let’s do it,” said Layne Vashro, the newest addition to the Nuggets’ analytics department. “The West is going to be tough, which is scary. But unlike the other teams, we had a very good season last year and we had some guys miss time with injury. In an environment where one little thing going wrong can cause a big slip because of the number of good teams, we may have the best depth and context to survive.”
Denver’s cohesiveness on the court will also serve them well. There is a strong connection between the players, coaching staff and front office in terms of the team’s style of play, which while guided by the analytics, isn’t always all-in on what the data represents.
“Our style of play is very fun to watch, we're a great passing team,” Balcetis said. “We're not the quickest pace team, but in terms of player movement and ball movement I think we're still near the top, which you can say are analytics friendly. Again, the shots we prefer and the way we want to play match the trend with where the analytics are going.”
Given the roster continuity, the contributions that Denver should receive from players like Grant and Michael Porter Jr. and the expected development from the Nuggets’ young core, there is reason for optimism in Denver. The Nuggets possess one of the elite offensive squads in the league and plenty of depth, which should lead to consistent success throughout the season.
Moving forward, as the team looks to build on the success they enjoyed in 2018-19, analytics will continue to play a key role in the decision-making process. In that regard, the Nuggets know they are in safe hands with Tommy Balcetis and Layne Vashro leading the way.