The Denver Dig: Deeper Coverage Of The Denver Nuggets

Plus, why Denver's problems aren't simple

Photo by Hennie Stander on Unsplash

When I moved to Colorado in the summer of 2012, the Nuggets were a big part of the equation for our decision.

I needed an NBA city for me to cover the league in person. I wanted a team that was under the radar and interesting, with a good chance of being competitive for the foreseeable future without the risk of high competition due to superstardom.

I hyped the situation to my wife, saying “Masai Ujiri is one of the best GMs in the league. H’e’ll be there for at least a decade. George Karl is a legend, he’s not going anywhere. They made the Melo trade last year, they’ve got all these great young players and trade components!”

I covered a 57-win team in my first season.

And then, well…

The Warriors became the Warriors by upsetting Denver in the first round. (Fun stat: Draymond Green had a season eFG% of 35% in the regular season… and 70.4% vs. the Nuggets in that series. I’m not saying it was a fluke… but it wasn’t serious.) Karl was fired, Ujiri left for the Raptors, and the rebuild was on.

So much for the stability and sustainable success I expected. Instead, I watched the foibles of a team lost under Brian Shaw, the Kenneth Faried star era, the fall of Ty Lawson, and the early mistakes of a young executive in Tim Connelly. (People forget his first attempt at assembling a competitive roster, which included Nate Robinson and J.J. Hickson.)

And then, during a Taco Bell commercial on the broadcast, the Nuggets drafted a goofy-looking center from Serbia, and nothing would be the same ever again.

Not that I knew it for a long time

None of us in the press room asked about Jokic on draft night 2014. He wasn’t a big topic of conversation on media day in 2015 after his last year with Mega Basket. He showed some things in Summer League, was a little interesting, but come on. A passing center in the era of 3-point explosion?

I was a huge Jokic skeptic that rookie season and focused in on all the things he hadn’t learned how to do yet. By the end of the season, I was a convert; it was undeniable by any approach.

Since then, I’ve watched Denver fall one game short of a playoff spot in the game 82 loss to the Wolves, come back determined to make the playoffs and land a top-3 seed, battle with the Spurs in their first playoff series, come back from down 3-1 twice in the Bubble, lose Murray for a season and a half, Jokic win two controversial MVPs, the Nuggets win their first title in franchise history and Jokic win another MVP.

It’s only been 12 years, but I’ve seen incredible basketball stories play out.

But there’s a lot more there.

With new opportunities, I want to write more about this team. I want to share stories of the people behind the scenes. I want to write more about what it’s like covering a three-time MVP in his prime and what comes after. I want to cover the team in a more complete way.

That’s what this site is about.

Here, you’ll find in-depth coverage and analysis. Not just quotes from players and coaches, but what they mean in the context of the season and their careers. You’ll find interviews with people you don’t know who provide the backbone of the Nuggets. You’ll find statistical and film analysis of what makes this team great, and what makes them vulnerable.

There’s great Nuggets coverage in Denver. There can be more, and I want to work for it, to dig for what’s beneath the surface of the greatest era in Nuggets basketball and beyond.

This is the Denver Dig.