Does Dario Saric help give the Denver Nuggets bench an identity?

Does Dario Saric help give the Denver Nuggets bench an identity?

world’s finest returns we’ll talk some more about the Dario sarich signing we’ll talk about the possibility of Russell Westbrook joining plus does the bench have an identity and we’ll get you set for the week ahead as the Nuggets prepare for summer league and more all that and more un locked on nuggets you are locked on nuggets your daily Denver Nuggets podcast part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day welcome to locked on nuggets your daily de nuggets podcast part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day thanks for joining and making this part of your day being with us and being in every day or joining us Monday through Friday whether on podcasts where you should give us a festar review or on youtube.com lockon nuggets the best way for you to support the show today’s show is brought to you by FanDuel make every moment more the playoffs have winded down but the sports are still sportsing you got sports like WNBA and baseball for you to bet on this summer FanDuel is hooking up all customers with a boost or bonus daily that’s right there’s something for everyone every day all summer long visit fanduel.com to get started my name’s Matt Mo I’m the senior NBA writer for the Action Network I’m joined by the glowing by the uh by the very Auburn Adam Mars Matt when you were you know like when you were in high school did you ever wonder like one day people will really care what I look like and comment on it a lot about your appearance when I was in high school no I did not think anyone would care about what you looked like no that’s accurate I did not no you too I’m just saying every time you do a podcast people are like oh new shirt man oh oh you got a beard going like it’s just you’re constantly here it is I had a great time though great time I’m I’m nice and 10 Adam’s back refreshed and rested from a weekend in the Wyoming Lakes the Great Lakes of Wyoming um I’ve just been around I cooked for 10 people on the 4th of July this week and it all came out absolutely perfect slow slow cooker ribs finished on the grill Mediterranean pasta salad some Mediterranean potatoes on the grill I did burgers and BRS I love this weekend man I say it every time every year I love for of July weekend I love it yeah it’s a really great it’s a really good time uh on today’s show we will talk about Dario sarch I hit on last night on the Saturday show but we’re going to get out thoughts on it plus we’re going to talk about whether the bench has an identity finally and we’ll talk a little bit about the week ahead as we continue to wait on Russell Westbrook to find someone to be willing to take on his contract and then wave him uh depending on what the Clippers are willing to give up let’s start here Adam so the Nuggets signed Dario sarich they landed their big man there were two Targets Harrison wind had reported that the two big targets W Russell Westbrook and Dario SAR they get their backup big man a lot of commentary on Twitter about how many like the the front court now has a lot of guys in it like they just there’s been like the list of how many guys are in the front court now uh Dario sarich is a skilled big man he can play small ball five he can spread the floor a lot of things that he can bring to the table I talked about some of how he’s kind of slid a little bit since 2021 but the last year he started turn a corner back the other way I I think it’s a pretty solid signing you seem to be even more optimistic what are your feelings on dariio sarus joining the Nuggets well what I’m optimistic about is I think think there’s a reason to to Hope or even be optimistic that this can be his best career season I mean it’s going to be his age3 season and when you look at it he tears his ACL at age 27 takes a year off and spends the last year recovering so you just think about logically players get better until about 30 or so and then the experience art keeps going up but the athleticism Mark starts going down he is at that nice cross-section right now age 30 where you would think that okay he should be at his Peak Skill form and reading the game form and athletically if he has fully recovered from the ACL he should still have enough in the tank to be you know the best version of himself he was never that great of an athlete but but for himself and I think when you go into the tape and look at it he’s one of those guys that has a skill set that I think is sort of team and system rep uh dependent I don’t think he’s just to stick the guy in the corner or stick him in the dunker spot guy and just you know fit him into whatever you’re doing but if you can play off of him he’s a skilled guy so I think there’s a upside play what I what that that’s how I feel about him is fit we’ll talk about all that here in a in segment two but just in terms of raw talent I think there’s an upside play here that he could be not just a guy you know not just a player but a guy that can help you win games and and maybe like give some identity to team so I think there’s an upside play here that I’m pretty excited about the money two years 10.3 I mean I think it’s a I think it’s really good value I think overall I think when you look at kind of what what the market is right now for NBA players V of various role fits I think it’s a really good value play in terms of what sarich brings to the table it’s position of need um I will ask kind of this question of because there’s kind of been this debate like I see him as a backup small ball five like that’s just where I see him me too and I see this comment here MZ is on record saying that backup center doesn’t matter that’s not it like I think that a small ball backup center is what matters I don’t think you need a if if people Dario sarich matters I don’t think you needed to go out and get a true Center and I think that’s what a lot of people were saying so it’s not that the position doesn’t matter I just think you can be small in that position uh little gaming moment says I’m sick of us giving out quote upside play guys a player option on their second year LOL yeah um I think the the thing there is you want to be able to give the player a little bit of sense of security and if it were to really bust out and not work you’d probably be able to move him I would say easier than he moved Reggie Jackson for whatever it is that went out in that deal there’s some interesting reporting we’ll try and sort that out here over the next couple of days um do you think that do you think that’s true by the way uh I haven’t checked on it yet I will try and figure out exactly where that landed well I mean more just this idea like do you think it’s a good deal or a bad deal like the secondy year player option because there are teams that get guys without it and it seems that Denver always has to throw that on um I think you know what’s typically honestly in my experience a lot of this comes into front offices have a policy like they’re are teams that are just like we don’t give player options period like we don’t do it like you either we’re either like we’ll sign you the full three years and no option for the fourth if you want the option to leave um or you know we’ like rather sign you for the four and some teams give them and so I I don’t necessarily mind it just from the perspective of with the cave I I think that almost any player can be traded Zeke nai’s testing that theory currently but I think almost any player can be traded I just think that always able to kind of find a way to be in order to get that into um into where you need it to be so I I don’t mind the player option I think it’s for a player like sarich that is likely looking for a little bit more security right could probably take a bigger deal couple million more maybe a million more from a team that’s really rebuilding like a lot of this is like guys are always trying to balance taking less money for teams where they can actually play meaningful basketball versus going and sitting through a miserable season with a bunch of 19-year-olds and that balance I think is always kind of difficult like I don’t think that the options for SAR were Denver or nothing like I think that he probably had a couple of offers and so the player option probably sweetens the deal and helps the Nuggets get their guy and some Tru centers got really good value like really good contracts go go baz got a good contract like there were some centers that got good contracts so you compare it to those I’d rather have sarich on his deal than baz day on what he got that being said I still look at it and I go the player option hurts in the same way it did with Reggie Jackson is that if he’s bad this year if Dario Sergeant’s bad this year he Ops into it and then you’re stuck with him for a second bad year if he’s good this year he Ops out of it you only had him for one year so it’s it’s one of those things the one plus one with the player option is the worst contract for a team in my opinion but that being said it could be a Bruce Brown situation where you get another guy in the door who recoups his value and then next year he ends up signing probably somewhere else but for a lot of money and it’s just another thing to say look Denver brings guys in and gets them paid and that that could be the case here but I just wanted to make that concession because I’m still waiting for the contract that comes through where I go wow Denver got the guy for that that’s incredible value I don’t remember the last one I had of those Paul Mills that I was it I thought it was at the time I mean he’s I think that one to me was a fair contract like it was it was perfectly fair I didn’t think Denver got a discount the real the real answer is Bruce brown but that was of course this scenario where it was the cheap to recoup value and obviously he went on uh on the other side we’ll talk a little bit more about this I want to ask Adam with the upside downside of sarich is like what’s the best case scenario and worst case scenario plus does the bench have an identity we’ll talk about that up next here on locked on nuggets gotta love sports sports in the summer nothing better than betting on sports in the summer and you can bet on the WNBA right now I’ve got a ticket on Angel Reese to win Rookie of the Year it’s pretty good value given that she keeps racking up these monster double double somebody called her Denise Rodman last tonight which I thought was really funny um also kind of starting to buy in on Minnesota links as a serious title Contender um my power ratings just keep kicking out like hey this is this team is really awesome and so I think that they’re probably live and they’re still like plus 750 the market refuses to get off the Aces and I’m not saying the aces aren’t going to win they’re really good Asia’s incredible I think there’s a little bit of value there with the Minnesota links you can also start betting stuff like NBA you can get on the Nuggets to win the division you can fade the Nuggets if you want to emotionally head yourself and go in that direction we’ll have more markets coming out win total should be out in about the next 10 days or so so lots of opportunities to bet you can do all that at FanDuel FanDuel is hooking up all customers this summer with a boost or bonus daily that’s right there’s something for everyone every day all summer long just h on over to fanduel.com and start making the most out of your summer FanDuel official sports betting partner of Major League Baseball we’ll be right back on locked on nuggets back here on lock on nuggets thanks for joining us and making this part of your day appreciate you guys being with us hurricane says that I’ve got Paul milap over sha all time not wrong love Paul milap I will always cap for Paul milap um Adam what is the absolute best case scenario with Dario sarich that the nuggets have their best bench of the yic era which is a low bar although I think as people have pointed out 2020 had a pretty good bench that year I think it was Monte Morris Mason plumbley Michael Porter was actually off the bench that year Jeremy Grant was there for you know 30 games or something like that that was a good bench but Denver hasn’t had great benches and the the best case scenario is that Dario sarich not only Gets You Through the regular season with a bench that doesn’t that allows the starters to not run themselves into the ground but maybe even as an option in a playoffs where it’s like hey the bench won you game four uh because they just stepped up on the road and came through that would be the best scenario and I think he’s possible of it because he’s a unique player and I think he is similar enough to joic that there might allow for some continuity and some blending of ations that worked in the plum era they find a lineup in the non- yogic minutes where it’s like oh like this really works like for whatever reason it just kind of all clicks together now I still wonder about that just from the perspective of um I was talking about this with Blackburn last night about I just would like to see Jamal use screeners more um like off ball you’re saying on ball it’s more of when I watch the Nuggets offense I think that it’s largely unstructured Ed I don’t think that the coaches have built a lot of structure into the bench unit and so you get to make reads just go out there and just kind of you know make make make reads re read offense and Jamal’s Reed is most often to ISO um I just have consistently seen that he doesn’t he like I wish he uses used DeAndre more just as a like hey just use this the big guy to get you yourself a screen if you’re gonna have him out there he might as well use him um let alone having like Mike come over instead of screen or something so but if Dario’s out there I do want to see at least pick and pop slip action with Dario sarage I would love the idea of him as a short roller if teams want to try and put two on Ball versus Jamal I love the idea of sarich as a short roller I good there he’s really good there I talked about this last night that I I actually really like the combo of blacko chanar who’s back with the nuggets and Dario sarich I kind of like the way that their skills play off one another like I actually think that those lineups with them at combo 4 five could actually work like I like the idea of a pton Watson blacko chanar Dario s front court and the bench unit I think that those could actually be viable in those times when you only have one starter on the floor which I know we want to see less of but in those minutes I think that that actually that combo might be pretty decent if you could just find some lineup just a few lineups that work that could really help because then it becomes okay you’re no longer losing the eight minutes per half when yic doesn’t doesn’t play you’re losing the four minutes per half that jic doesn’t play and that lineup isn’t on the floor just find something that works for a more sustainable period of time and that could really help yeah I mean that’s that’s exactly the hope I mean he’s a good player and he’s unique and I I do this all the time I was kind of joking about this over on dmvr but I compare guys when I like him to Boris di in that Boris di had teams he was on where he looked like he should not be in the league and he had teams he was on where he looked like the key piece of a championship I think Dario sarich has some of this the question is while Denver does have this built-in you know they play the yic system they have not necessarily done that lessly in the non-ic minutes and while I think that sarich is a guy that should be counted on to do that and that they can cultivate that it’s not a guarantee and Denver has a lack of shooting that I think could also put a put a wrench in all of this if you don’t have good lineups for him or if the ball is not in his hand or if he is not involved in the offense if you’re just using him as a spacer or a screener and roll and a dive guy I just you can like he’s not good at that and I think that’s why he has looked good in some teams and not good on other teams yeah he is not a like it makes a lot of sense that he wor that he had really good minutes um with Chris Paul and Phoenix like that makes a lot of sense to me of like a player that understands that understands when other players can see the floor right I think that that’s kind of like part of that combo there a lot of questions about sar’s defense which I look I totally get he’s not a an elite Defender he’s not great um I also think that you have so much athleticism and skill defensively you’ve got Watson I guess you lose Christian in some of those minutes but Christian probably staggers a little bit there um I still think that you got some defensive upside in that second unit and that kind of like that’s a really big question here for us Adam is like does the bench have an identity because the bench’s identity last year was bad but if you were to take about out that identity it was defense right it’s like yeah but I don’t think they had an identity I don’t think they did the idea was get stops rebound and run yeah that was the last two years that was what they tried to model and when they lost Bruce that really fell off um does this bench unit right now have an identity does Westbrook change that if he comes well Westbrook changes it when I referenced earlier is the ball going to be in sar’s hands Westbrook is a pretty ball dominant player and he’s best with the ball in his hands and I do Wonder as weird as it is and I’m excited about the potential yoke Westbrook Synergy if it’s a if sarit and Westbrook are more playing minutes together I don’t know what that looks like because is Westbrook getting the ball to sarich a lot is he trusting him and moving off ball so there are some questions there about what that fit would be like I do like almost Jaylen picket with him which I think is now out of the question I think if he moves down a spot almost no matter what but especially if you bring in Westbrook he moves down a spot so that’s part of what makes this such a huge question but I even go to this one Matt you said vaco chanar I mean first of all vaco chanar I don’t know if you saw the the highlights or anything of his Olympic qualifiers he looks like a guy that came off of AC ACL surgery 11 months ago he does not look like a guy that’s been off for a year and a half and rehabbed he looks rough and I look at that and I go I’m not actually sure right now who I would pencil in for the 34 five off of the bench with D or even not even Off the Bench just alongside Dario sarich in those minutes what is the ideal 345 you seem to think it’s vatco but are you worried at all that about him not being 100% for maybe half the season yeah although you know we’ll see if what this looks like when we get to because we still have three months before the season starts a little bit more time for him to maybe get back and and recover a little bit and amount that’s a meaningful amount of time yeah and often times honestly we’ve seen this before where the bench doesn’t really start to evolve until after January so he may not start the year he may play it may be Holmes and then Holmes gets himself into the dogghouse as all rookies do and then he winds up playing a few more minutes um to me hes October November slump is just I’m already ready for it the uh yeah I’m waiting for him to he’s going to come out and have like a great November and then and the show we’re all GNA do we’re all gonna do shows yeah we’re all gonna do shows on yeah the nuggets have found done it again another diamond in the rough what does Holmes mean for this team can he play in the playoff rotation and then by like February it’s like remember when when Holmes had like that great start to the year and he was playing and then he made four turnovers versus the Mavericks and we never saw him again um that’s and like hope it doesn’t happen I think that young guys should get some leash but especially with the approach that this front office is taking um I think one of the concerns we talk about like the downside it is kind of what you mentioned which is just sticking sarich in the corner so like a nightmare scenario for me would be that it’s well we don’t have a center we’re SAR at five isn’t working Zeke is still where Zeke is yeah we’re playing DJ again and it’s Russell Westbrook and DeAndre Jordan no no no but like we’ve got sarage out there as a connector and oh yeah he’s he’s the stretch four yeah at the stretch four sitting in the corner and then I’m I you know I’m just GNA be sitting at ball Arena like just doing I’m holding my head in my hands for those of you listening on podcast um just that to me is like the downside possibility yeah with where the roster is at I think so too and I do think there’s going to be a question about who is the four in those minutes because it is entirely possible that it’s Michael Porter that you’re just going that direction and and shortening the rotation from that spot it’s almost like you just move one guy down instead of oh now we don’t have a backup center it’s like oh we have a backup center we just don’t have a backup power forward now and none of those guys get trusted I think it is probably vatco as well but I do think vco might need some time to get into form and I do also think that both Zeke and donon Holmes are interesting I’m not saying they both will work out they have all of Denver’s moves this offseason have dis disaster potential more so than most years in my opinion so I want to talk about that next I want to get into this question which is just how tight of an do they have to thread the needle here because that to me is where I kind of keep coming back on this we’ll talk about that next here on locked on nuggets Today’s Show is brought to you by better help if you’re thinking of starting therapy give better help a try it’s really important for you to take care of yourself and that means all sorts of different things that means taking care of yourself by working out that means taking care of yourself by eating healthy that means taking care of yourself by good hygiene that means taking care of yourself like therap there’s a Rick and Morty episode I love where it talks about what therapy is which is just it’s the basic work of Maintenance and that’s really a lot of it it’s just like therapy is a important part of you taking care of yourself it’s entirely online designed to be convenient flexible and suit to your schedule at better help just fill out a brief questionnaire to get M mashed with a licensed therapist and switch therapist at any time for no additional charge stop comparing and start focusing with betterhelp visit betterhelp.com lockon MBA today to get 10% off your first month that’s better he hp.com lockon NBA we’ll be right back on locked on nuggets back here on lock on nuggets thanks for joining us and making us part of your day appreciate you guys being with us the usual crew here with us in the comments section on youtube.com lockon nuggets in the comments uh let me know your level of confidence in the bench unit next year on scale of one to five five being extremely confident one being not at all uh Adam so we’re talking about this before the the break you kind of hit on it um the the way to kind of look at this nugget season is if jic stays healthy and doesn’t fall off at all which that’s a that’s a that’s we can count on that I think that we can count on that if Jamal takes a step forward which is something that we don’t know because we have not seen it happen in the regular season If he if he takes an actual legitimate step toward Wards being an All-Star this season um if Dario sarich is the not solution but part of the solution at small wall 5 if Russell Westbrook actually works because that you know there’s a reason everyone uses the Arrested Development meme is it just Russ is I I’m of the opinion like Russ is never going to be different if joic gets Russ to be different I will sing his Praises Forever on that front as well as all the other ones but it’s a question here if Christian Brown’s ready to start at the two guard if Payton Watson takes a leap if Julian struther can actually you know make a jump into being a rotation player and be a big part of what everyone’s kind of pointing to like nuggets fans very correctly are like we are low on shooting and they’re not wrong like that’s a concern here I think I think the nuggets are low on shooting it seems like there’s all of these if if Malone can now navigate playing the young guys and the veterans and not playing the starters too much which was such a huge problem last year then the Nuggets can be right back in the title picture now the ceiling of that’s really good right like you I mean some of those ifs you threw out there though I feel like you’re I think a lot of people have been doing this over the summer and I’m I think you’re doing this as well where you’re like listing off some things as if it’s a million different ifs if yoke has a good year I mean that come on that’s like yeah you know what I mean like some of these are just things that we should pretend are not that big of IFS you could say that for Oklahoma City like if Shay is good next year you’re like well he’s probably going to be good we can count that in so I so I think the variables you’re talking about here I mean the Westbrook piece is hanging over this which by the way you know I have heard that’s still a deal that’s on but you never know until the deal gets happened you don’t you never know what happens things can happen another team comes in a team changes their mind who knows but um you know if he comes in he’s the volatile piece you are right about that and when you say can he change his game I don’t expect it either I don’t think Russ can change his game hope for him would be that yoke can change his game around you Russ that yoke is the type of player who can be anything around another guy and then you know the to me the biggest X Factor for Denver next year is Julian strw because as you said Denver needs shooting and they just don’t have a lot of guys that you can count on I don’t see them being a championship Contender Team without a handful of Shooters and Michael Porter’s one Jamal Murray’s another and then you have some decent guys like okay ones but I think you need a third shooter in your rotation on a night by Night basis and the only guy that’s a candidate for that in my opinion is Julian St so he gets elevated to this must playay guy and he’s completely unproven or almost completely unproven so to me he’s the big X Factor that I think swings Denver a lot and that’s scary for basically a red shirt rookie uh and then Marcus said this guys why not Gary Harris on that deal he signed one you really gota go look at Gary stats since I know we all remember the old Gary yeah but that he hasn’t been the same guy I also just genuinely think that Gary was happy in Orlando I think he found an organization that loves having him around he’s comfortable there I think he’s I think he’s happy there I think he likes being part of that team I don’t think he was necessarily looking to leave I don’t think the Nuggets were anxious to get him back for a number of reasons the other thing I’ll say go ahead well this is a good question do you have another thing before we go to this one I do but let’s hit this one first so hurricane asks what does changing his game mean for Russ I don’t expect him to be Curry all of a sudden but a reasonable change would be more of a passer here’s the thing Russ like James Harden has never been a guy that has been great at the nonon ball stuff and sometimes that’s just moving off ball that’s cutting off ball like he’s good at the balls in my hands that I know what to do or make a cut to a direct score but is he a good like yoke has the ball there’s things you have to do you have to cut just to open up a space you might have to screen you might have to do these other things you might have to be ready to catch and shoot which he sometimes isn’t if you watch Westbrook there’s often times when he is the wide open guy on the weak side but he’s not in the play so he’s not paying attention or he’s just like on his heels to me it would be hey you have to be an offb guy off of joic as much as an onb guy and I just don’t expect him to be that so I think yoke changes his game more but yoke I think is really good at being anything else you know being being anything he needs to be um going back to some of the other guys I think one of my questions oh what I was gonna ask is look I have very strong feelings about this player in particular um but I as always I can be wrong uh I want to he your thoughts on Gary Trent Jr because he’s been mentioned a lot by various people I mean like most people I’m thinking of what Gary Trent Jr was as the prospect like is the young guy which was to me a high upside guy with great defense incredible intensity and good three-point shooting but I was talking about this with some people the other day there’s got to be a reason nobody offer is offering him this and there’s got to be a reason he hasn’t popped more including in Toronto where you think that would have been a good opportunity for him to have some space to grow so I look at that and say he seems like a guy that we all thought should be better than is at this point I love the idea of him but the fact that nobody wants him tell should tell you something there was a lot of talk about him being very active in wanting a larger role a couple of seasons ago the trick there is that he is represented by an agency that is notorious for doing that that they will often let it be known that a player wants something and the players oftentimes are like that’s not what I want um OJ anobi is one where there was like talk that OG wanted to be the centerpiece of a team and like a 25 per night scorer and then he dropped that agency which is clutch by the way and then like told reporters in Canada yeah does that sound like me because I never wanted that um one one one other piece about this because I again I don’t know the you know about this specific part but nikil Alexander Walker this was the rep on him so clearly not a star player but a great role player and early in his career that was the knock on him was hey he wants to be us more active more role more touches this or that and one year he just decided no more of that and guess what he worked out so maybe Gary Trent’s one of those guys but I don’t know um yeah there’s a kind of assumption that that the nuggets are out of his price range I don’t like we’re getting to the end of it here like we’re getting to the end of of free agency and there’s just not a lot of money left in the market there’s just not a lot of teams that are that have an opportunity like you want to know what crazy a wild one Adam highest Jones is still on the market yeah that is crazy that’s nuts to me that’s absolutely Bonkers to me um so up coming this week the Nuggets announced their summer league roster all the guys you would expect to be on it or on it Jaylen picket hun Tyson Julian strawther is gonna be on Holmes will be on it everybody’s on everybody’s on it that you would expect um they’ll have practice this week and then they’ll head on out to Las Vegas for summer league does summer league feel important to you this year um yeah yes and that it it feels appropriately important like the right amount of important I want to see what Don Holmes looks like I want to see Jaylen pet play basketball again because we just haven’t seen him very much of that since last summer league and then I want to see Julian Str and Hunter Tyson shoot threes and hopefully make threes and look like they’re a more confident player so it’s not supremely important but it is something that I’m least interested in I’m excited for it yeah I think it um I want to see strawther in particular that’s the guy that really would like to see because that’s a good environment for guys like strawther to play in is summer league is a good environment for guys like strawther a second-year player who is an on ball guard that’s a good environment for Julian strawther yeah I agree so he he’s the guy of all of them that I think needs to to sort of stand out um do you have any idea what the hold up on Russ is I haven’t heard anything I don’t I don’t have anything to share no I mean you are likely waiting on a scenario where the Clippers the ball sort of in the Clippers court because my anticipation is that it’ll be a buyout and for him to become available that way so I think you’re waiting on on that to happen but like I said strange things can happen and this late into free agency to your point there’s not a lot of plan B’s left so it does become this game where you could expect things but until they’re signed you have to sit and worry I’m in a similar spot this year with the Nuggets that I was last year which is I was like they got worse I think other teams will will be better than them in the regular season Denver outperformed my expectation by quite a bit um by a lot by a ton this year Denver did yeah because if you remember like I had them like sub 50 and they won 57 oh yeah can’t I mean I’m I’m telling you my official stance on this last season though is that Denver was good enough to win a title this year oh yeah I think the Murray the late season Murray injury and maybe some of that sprinting down the the the stretch you know really killed him but I don’t think that that was like won it yeah I don’t I don’t think that series is definitive of anything I just don’t it’s a game seven 20-point lead stuff happens stuff happens um but I also say we’ll say this though that I’m entering this season kind of like I felt like they could win the title last year too I was like regular season I think other teams will be better than them that’s how I feel this year where it’s like I think that and like that list has grown when I started to do the the dive on a number of things but at the same time if the thing is though there’s nobody in the west that I legitimately think like Denver can’t beat that team not even yeah not not not a team they can’t beat but I do think this is the first year where I think Denver is in a lower tier than one team and that’s the Thunder I think that the Thunder are in the favorites tier by themselves and Denver is in that tier below him and you could say if you want to be generous one a and one B but Denver would still be one B to me or you know with like Dallas got better I mean they made some moves but I don’t think that they it’s like oh my God what do they do but I look at Oklahoma City and I go yeah that team’s probably going to win 60 games which I think they’re going to win the seed comfortably unless somebody gets hurt and in the playoffs they’re going to have a lot of Versatility that’s pretty scary so Denver’s for the first time in two years Denver chasing teams I feel rather than than being the team everyone’s gunning for this is a dumb question because they finished ahead of them in the standings but I do want to ask you this who do you think was the better regular season team last year the wolves or the Nuggets um they had the same record that is a good question that is a good question I’ll say the wolves did the their thing more repeatedly but I think that Denver’s regular season comes down to the fact that Jamal Murray got injured three times and I just think that when he was healthy the two times when he was healthiest Denver looked like by far the better team the start of the Season where they start nine and0 and then right out of the All-Star break 13- one or something like that like there was two stretches in that where they were you looked at them and you’re were like oh they’re better than the previous year I think my only thing there is I because I I deal with this with every fan base which is like oh but we had these injuries like if you if if you look at when they were healthy and I’m just like guys like I it’s all 30 like not 30 the not the Thunder last year right like that’s the catch with the Thunder is like look they were the healthiest team in the league last year Thunder fans would be like we were also the youngest team in the league so of course they were healthy the only the only difference is Denver was good in ways that we saw them win a title like we saw that that was transferable to the playoffs and they looked the exact same way that so you are right there are teams like a lot of teams do play that game like the Pelicans can make that case yeah you know if you looked at us but I just think it’s a little different with Denver because they look like the Champs all right I’ll do it last thing though nope one more thing as we preview this week you know what else we get this week what Nik yic playing basketball potentially Jamal Murray playing basketball this weekend both have friendlies that I believe will be televised in some form of fashion which is kind of fun summer basketball this is GNA be an incredible Olympics the groups are out um we’ll talk about that more this week we’ll break down the groups and who’s going to come out versus Serbia and Team USA in that group group that they’re in well they’ll both come out I think yeah we’ll talk about that who’s going to be on top I guess is the bigger question we’ll talk about that plus more this week uh we’ll have you set all throughout the week world’s finest again on Wednesday thanks for joining us we’ll see you guys again next time on lockdown nuggets

World’s Finest! Adam Mares and Matt Moore break down the Nuggets’ signing of Dario Saric, what the upside and downside is, plus the big question of whether Denver’s bench will have an identity this season.

Follow & Subscribe on all Podcast platforms…
🎧 https://link.chtbl.com/LONuggets?sid=YouTube

Locked On NBA League-Wide: Every Team, Fantasy, Draft, WNBA & More
🎧 https://linktr.ee/LockedOnNBA

#DenverNuggets #NikolaJokic #NBA