“Good grief.”
– Charlie Brown

I’ve watched every Denver Nuggets preseason game so far, and holy cow am I ready for basketball.

Ready for the sound of sneakers squeaking on hardwood. Ready for the next Nikola Jokic pass that makes me laugh out loud and rewind the broadcast three times to figure out how the hell he saw it. Ready for Jamal Murray to get that look in his eye when he’s about to go on a Murray Flurry, and for Aaron Gordon to remind some poor unsuspecting defender that gravity is more of a suggestion than a rule. And look out for those landings. Oof. Basketball is back, baby! And I am SO excited…

…

… I think.

See, there’s a new sort of a problem with being a Denver Nuggets fan these days. Not so much NuggLife. We’ve now gotten a taste of the sweetest thing a basketball fan can sink their teeth into, watching our beloved Nuggets win their first-ever NBA championship in 2023. It was glorious. Magical. A little hard to believe, even as we watched it happen. I actually got more emotional re-watching it six months later, as I was in something close to shock when it all finally became really real.

And since then, we’ve been chasing that feeling again, only to watch one season after another end a little earlier than we’d hoped. Decisions have been made, players have come and gone, injuries have taken their toll, and the salary cap has done a pretty good job of making sure the Nuggets can’t simply buy their way back to the top.

A couple months ago, I wrote about Denver losing altitude in the Jokic era, watching the Nuggets slip another rung down the championship ladder. I meant every word of it, and haven’t necessarily changed my mind. This offseason simply didn’t hold as much of the promise as last offseason did, in this one guy’s opinion.

But that was August. This is October. And there’s basketball on my television again.

This time of year always reminds me of Charlie Brown. Fall was always a particular moment for dear old Chuck. In the old Peanuts cartoons, if you read them, you might recall Lucy’s annual tradition of holding a football for Charlie Brown to kick, promising him that THIS time she wouldn’t pull it away at the last second. And every year, despite a mounting mountain of evidence suggesting otherwise, Charlie Brown would convince himself that this was finally going to be the year. Finally, his big kick. He’d charge toward the ball, swing his leg with all his might, and…

WHUMP. Whiff. Flat on his back. Again. It was hard not to harbor Lucy some ill will. Now, it’s one of my clearest emotional analogies every time life offer up another classic near-miss. WHUMP.

I find myself wondering if being a Nuggets fan is yet again going to feel a little like being Charlie Brown. Any longstanding Nuggets fans will recall years… decades… of WHUMP. WHUMP. WHUMP. And yet it’s hard not to harbor hope. I know how good this team can be. I’ve seen samples and examples of it this preseason. I’ve seen them win it all. I’ve watched them come agonizingly close to making another deep run, only to have the “football” yet again yanked away by injuries, roster shortcomings, or some other bit of basketball cruelty.

And yet, here I come again, running full speed toward that damned poignant pigskin. Pathetic. Both my inability to let that hope be tempered, and my messily mixed metaphors. The interesting thing is, this year’s preseason has given us a few reasons to think Lucy might actually leave it there.

Let’s start with Aaron Gordon.

Gordon has looked terrific through Denver’s first four preseason games, and his 25-point performance against the Chicago Bulls was a particularly encouraging something. He shot 9-of-12 from the floor, knocked down three of four three-pointers, and looked a whole lot more like the explosive, rim-rattling AG who helped Denver win that championship. If only he can do it for 90-some more games.

Head coach David Adelman noted that Gordon seemed to be playing with a confidence in his athleticism that wasn’t always there last season, when he was sometimes protecting his body rather than fully trusting it.

That’s a big deal. We spend so much time talking about Jokic and Murray as the engines of Denver’s success… but it’s still wildly easy to see just how important Gordon is to the whole contraption. It’s in the math of their wins and losses, almost as much as it is with Jokic. When Gordon is great, this Nuggets team is still nearly impossible to figure out.

AG defends, rebounds, finishes, shoots, and generally makes life miserable for anyone assigned to stop him. When healthy and playing at his best, the Nuggets become a much more difficult team to deal with. When he’s not, they lose a little of… almost everything.

And then there’s Jokic.

In Denver’s preseason opener against Utah, the three-time MVP scored all of three points on one shot attempt (!). He also dished out seven assists, including a ridiculous straight-back, cross-court pass that reminded everyone that the Serbian wizard is still capable of doing things that no one else can. Things that shouldn’t be physically or geometrically possible. Adelman explained afterward that Jokic had passed up several opportunities to score because the team was working on moving the ball and establishing an unselfish approach.

Imagine being so good at basketball that NOT shooting becomes part of your preseason development plan.

Jokic followed that up a couple games later with a triple-double against Chicago, because apparently he can still do that sort of thing while warming up for the actual season as well.

Murray returned against the Jazz in the second of their meetings after missing the opener and has shown encouraging flashes of his usual brilliance. Cam Johnson has also looked increasingly comfortable, knocking down four of five three-pointers against the Bulls. Christian Braun continues to bring the energy and athleticism that make him such a useful piece alongside Denver’s stars. So far, so good.

But, we talked about that offseason. And the most intriguing part of this Nuggets team might be the guys who weren’t here before.

DeMar DeRozan gives Denver a veteran scorer who can create his own offense when Jokic and Murray need a breather. Tyus Jones provides another experienced ballhandler and a potentially stabilizing influence on the second unit. Marvin Bagley III has shown some interesting chemistry with Jones, while young players like Trevon Brazile, Cam Whitmore, Ryan Nembhard, and Bryce Hopkins have all offered glimpses of what they might eventually contribute.

Brazile has been particularly interesting, showing off an athleticism and defensive presence that Denver hasn’t always enjoyed from its reserve big men. His blocked shot leading to a Julian Strawther three-pointer against Utah was the kind of sequence that makes you wonder whether this bench might have a little more juice than we’ve become accustomed to.

Do all of those pieces fit? It’s way too early to know, but there has been some impressive athleticism and some moments of greatness and… WHUMP. And that’s where my excitement starts running into a few questions.

Because we’ve seen flashes before. Promising youngsters, intriguing combinations, guys who look terrific in October before the rotation tightens and the games start counting.

Will Adelman actually be able to find meaningful minutes for these players? Can DeRozan become the offensive anchor of a second unit without disrupting the ball movement that makes Denver special? Can Jones provide enough stability to keep the Nuggets from falling apart whenever Jokic takes a seat? And can any of them defend? Anyone?

Please?

After Denver’s 122-110 preseason loss to the Clippers, Adelman pointed to the team’s transition defense as a work in progress. He also noted some unusually sloppy passing, with the Nuggets committing 17 turnovers that led to 27 Clippers points. Lose by 12. Hand over 27.

Ouch.

Denver was one of the league’s best teams at protecting the basketball last season, and that’s not an advantage they can afford to surrender. Especially if the defense is going to struggle getting back in transition, which can turn a bad pass into an easy basket before anyone has time to yell something unprintable at their television, as I have done a few times already. Murray, Jones, Jokic, and even DeRozan have all proven themselves reliable with handling the ball over time. There’s good reason to think this too shall pass. Or not pass. Whichever. As long as they don’t give it away.

The Nuggets have some athletic defenders on the roster, including newcomers who appear eager to make their mark on that end of the floor. Whether they can turn that individual energy into something resembling a consistently good team defense remains to be seen. They are taking a different tack at their defense this year to some degree, and it’s early to know if whatever that is is working.

There’s also the injury question, which has become an unfortunately familiar part of the Nuggets experience. Strawther suffered a knee injury against the Clippers, and while the extent of it remains unclear, it’s an unwelcome reminder of just how quickly Denver’s plans can change.

Four preseason games. Two wins, two losses. Some impressive performances, some ugly stretches, and a lot of questions that simply cannot be answered in games where the starters sometimes spend more time watching than playing. Which is probably why I shouldn’t be drawing too many conclusions about any of this.

And yet… I keep thinking about that Gordon performance. About Jokic making passes that defy explanation. About a bench that might actually have some options, and a coaching staff that seems willing to experiment with them. There’s a possibility that this team is better than I feared it would be back in August. Maybe a lot better. There’s also the possibility that the same weaknesses that have haunted Denver for the last few seasons are still lurking beneath the shiny new October optimism. We’re about to find out.

The Nuggets have one final preseason tune-up against the Lakers this weekend before opening the regular season next Thursday in Oklahoma City, against a division foe team that represents exactly the sort of challenge Denver will have to overcome if it hopes to return to the NBA’s mountaintop. The Thunder are a hell of a way to start a season.

But I think they can beat them.

In fact, I know they can, depending on which version of this team arrives to start the year. I’m not ready to predict another championship. I’m not even ready to say the Nuggets have solved the problems that have spelled out the three WHUMPs that followed that stunningly beautiful ring. But I’m ready to watch. Ready to cheer. Ready to believe, at least a little, that this might turn into something special.

And if Lucy pulls that football away again? Well, I suppose I’ll deal with that when I’m lying on my back. At least the clouds are usually pretty from that view. For now, the ball is sitting right there.

Ready or not, here I come.