The Grizzlies are contenders and the Nuggets are not
TRUEHOOP PODCAST: Also, Nic Claxton is excellent
Jarod Hector and David Thorpe on Ja Morant and Jaren Jackson Jr. <—listen right there or search the word “TrueHoop” wherever you listen to podcasts.
I understand the skepticism of the Nuggets defense, but they've been a top 10 defense over the last month. There may be some caveats to that given how many home games they've had recently and how many bad/wounded teams they've played. However, they did beat the Celtics and completely waxed the full strength Clippers. They've been steadily improving now that Murray and MPJ have been healthy and the team has gotten over a team wide bout with Covid. I would expect that the Nuggets should end up being the best offense in the league and a top 15 defense by season's end. Then the question becomes whether they can survive teams going at Jokic over and over in the playoffs. It seems like they should be able to given how easily they score and given how many great defenders they have around Jokic now (Gordon, KCP, Bruce Brown, Zeke Naji, Vlatko, Christian Braun).