Denver Nuggets Season Preview – NBA Predictions
There is going to be a different flavour to things in Denver this season with George Karl out at coach. In is Brian Shaw, who has been well schooled in the Phil Jackson way of the force but has no head coaching experience.
Denver Nuggets
Western Conference
2012-2013 Record: 57-25
Odds to win 2014 Title: 50/1
Odds to win Conference: 18/1 [dfads params=’groups=63740&limit=1&return_javascript=0′]
Denver Nuggets
Karl was able to get this team to be more than the sum of its parts by playing super athletic style that created a huge homecourt advantage. It remains to be seen if Shaw can be as successful.
Key Losses:
G/F Andre Iguodala – The versatile wing has always been a good defensive player. Offensively he never developed into a star but he could hurt you in different ways and was an unselfish player. He might not have fit into the new system as well as he fit into the old.
Top Newcomers:
G Randy Foye – Loved Foye at Villanova but he has never really caught on in the NBA as teams seem to never be able to figure out what they want from him. With the talent on this team he shouldn’t be asked to play much point guard which is good.
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F J.J. Hickson – Enigmatic forward has nice physical tools. He seems to be coasting through the NBA waiting for the right coach and system to unlock his potential.
G Nate Robinson – Under the old regime he might have become one of the most exciting players in the league. Under this one who knows, though he proved last season that he can be effective in a more traditional role.
Top Players:
PG Ty Lawson – The triangle offense doesn’t rely on speed so it will be interesting to see how this burner adjusts his game and if it works. It wouldn’t shock is Shaw things veteran Andre Miller is more what he has in mind for the position.
SF Danilo Gallinari – Set a career scoring high last year as a big with some serious range. He should work well as one of the interchangeable parts of the new offense and could see his ppg take another bump.
PF Kenneth Faried – High energy type who will get after the ball wherever it is. If he is given full starter’s minutes he will have a double-double average and maybe make an all star team. Going to back to past Triangle offenses Dennis Rodman fit in just fine. So should Faried.
There are some nice pieces on the Denver roster but they are going from a pretty unstructured style to one that is just the opposite. It remains to be seen how it all fits together but there is enough talent to return to the playoffs, though likely as a lower seed because there are bound to be some growing pains during the regular season. [ad-6571516]
Strengths:
This should be a good defensive team, especially in the post. Faried does not give an inch to anybody and Jevale McGee in the middle is pretty good at erasing shots at the rim. Lawson may not be the biggest point guard but he has the speed to stay in front of anybody. They used to press to create tempo and it worked well, especially at home.
Odds are Shaw won’t do that so we will have to wait and see just how this team plays defense.
Weaknesses:
The Triangle run by the Jordan Bulls was a thing of beauty but they also had tremendous one on one players in Jordan and Pippen for when things broke down. Denver has some some small guards who can beat guys off the dribble but they are not going to finish at the rim with the kind of efficiency needed to be great offensive threats.
After being one of the top scoring teams in the Karl era I wonder if these Nuggets are going to be able to score enough to win regularly.
Situations to Look For:
In betting teams it is easy to get caught up in old assumptions and statistics. This year the expectation is that the Nuggets will play at a slower pace, which means that betting overs in most cases may be a thing of the past. The Nuggets should still have be very good at home no matter what system they are playing.
They won 90% SU and 64% ATS last season.
One reply on “Denver Nuggets Predictions: 2013 NBA Future Lines & Gambling Analysis”
I don’t reckon this is going to work because a lot of teams in the NBA have good IQ and we lack that in the starting with at the moment Randy Foye and Jordan Hamilton and in the middle Javale Mcgee is getting better but we really need more play makers at a taller height and that can acturally talk well on defence and shoot the three but because Andre left now Ty Lawson is on his own so please do something in the 2014 free agency like adding someone like nick young and tyreke evens for example because they match Andre Igudola and can pass well and arn’t afraid to take it to the rim and are great defenders those are the player we need not jordan hamilton and Quicy Miller that don’t even have enough IQ to be on this team and Randy Foye won’t start a fast break and finish around the rim and isn’t physical but he can work possible being a back up.