The Denver Nuggets have plenty of work to do if they want to win another championship with Nikola Jokic at their core. While the team was decent during the 2023-24 season, there are plenty of glaring weaknesses that prevent them from being the best team they could be.
There are plenty of routes the team can take to retool the Nuggets and make a serious run for the championship next season. One intriguing avenue they can pursue is sending Michael Porter Jr. to another team in the hopes of getting a capable third star who can play without the ball in his hands.
Until they pull off such a trade, Nuggets fans can only focus on what their team did through the NBA Draft. They couldn’t hope to get a high-floor rookie with the 22nd overall pick, but Jaime Juaquez Jr. is a reminder that high-value players can still be found in the latter rounds of the Draft.
They selected DaRon Holmes with the selection. While the name may not stand out in a draft class deemed as one of the weakest in recent memory, there’s a reason why the selection would transform the Nuggets into a more exciting basketball team.
DaRon Holmes can provide the interior presence the Denver Nuggets badly needs
The Denver Nuggets may have one of the best offenses in the league, but their inability to be defensively solid hurt their chances. This proved to be the case as they failed to stop Anthony Edwards and the Minnesota Timberwolves from doing whatever they wanted in the paint.
The most impressive interior presence in the Denver roster last season was Peyton Watson, who averaged 1.1 blocks a game. Aside from him, there’s no steller defender who can stop opponents from rushing into the rim.
This is where DaRon Holmes comes in. He terrorized opponents in his final year at Dayton, averaging 2.1 blocks a game. He was also a great all-around performer, bagging 20.4 points, 8.5 rebounds, and 2.6 assists in 33 starts last season.
While it’s true that he played in a weaker conference, the numbers say a lot about what he can bring to the team. And the Nuggets were impressed with him enough that they moved up to get him.
It’s now up to Holmes to prove the Denver Nuggets’ faith in him as correct and have a strong rookie campaign.
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