Timberwolves ranking in Western Conference – Part One

Mar 4, 2015; Minneapolis, MN, USA; Denver Nuggets forward

(35) attempts to keep the ball away from Minnesota Timberwolves center

(14) in the second half at Target Center. The Nuggets won 100-85. Mandatory Credit: Jesse Johnson-USA TODAY Sports

15. Denver Nuggets

It’s quite obvious that the Nuggets have the least amount of talent in the West.

Losing Ty Lawson to Houston has left Denver with rookie point guard Emmanuel Mudiay as the starter, whether he’s ready to compete at this level or not. General Manager Tim Connelly has finally addressed that his team is in rebuilding mode, but sending away Lawson for Nick Johnson, Kostas Papanikolaou, Pablo Prigioni, and Joey Dorsey (the latter two aren’t even on the team) wasn’t exactly making the most out of a former All-Star guard.

And — for a rebuilding team, anyway — the Nuggets lack young talent as they gave most of it to Houston in the off-season. Gary Harris is a good defensive wing, but he’s not a future star. Jusuf Nurkic showed a decent amount of potential last year, but, for now, he’s a limited offensive player who can rebound at a decent rate (and is rehabbing a knee he surgically repaired towards the end of last season).

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Johnson showed he could play at the Summer League and D-League level last year, but it’s questionable whether that will translate to the big leagues. In fact, the only real talent Denver does have is Emmanuel Mudiay, the seventh-overall pick from the 2015 draft. The rookie has incredible athleticism — which has brought upon him an unfair comparison to John Wall — but it’s going to take him time to develop into the star they hope he’ll become.

Aside from their lack of young talent, however, the Nuggets lack just as much in overall talent. The team’s former “franchise centerpiece,” Kenneth Faried, took a big step back last season, showing analysts and executives exactly what we thought he’d be coming out of college — an energy guy that can rebound, run in transition, and dunk the basketball. Denver will go nowhere with him as their best player.

I do have very high regard for head coach Mike Malone, but with the little amount of skill the team does have, he won’t be too effective in his first year in Denver.

Things are rough now for the Nuggets, but unless Gregg Popovich is coaching your team, you’ve felt this before. It’ll take time for the team to find prominence once again, and we don’t know how long that’ll take, but Mudiay and Faried should be fun — for now. Expect a rocky road in 2016 for the Denver Nuggets.

Next: #14 - Blazing a Trail of Mediocrity