What grade would you give the Nuggets this season...if the season is in fact over?

Each weekday, our DNVR Nuggets crew will be tackling one question about the Nuggets season in a round table format. Members, leave the questions that you’d like to see our writers answer in the comments section below and Harrison, Adam and Brendan will address them on an upcoming episode of the DNVR Nuggets Podcast.

What grade would you give the Nuggets this season…if the season is in fact over?

Harrison: B

The right answer here is obviously ‘Inc.’ because whether or not this Nuggets season was going to be a success or failure was always going to be determined by what happened in the playoffs. And with no playoffs (yours truly believes this season is a wrap), we’ll never be able to deliver this team a final grade. But looking back on what the Nuggets did accomplish, you find yourself examining a long list.

Denver could end the season with a 43-22 record, which was the Nuggets’ exact mark through 55 games a season ago when they won 54 games. The Nuggets were also running away with the Northwest Division crown (Denver is 10-1 in-division while Oklahoma City boasts the second-best Northwest Division mark at 7-4.) The Nuggets also collected both of what will likely go down as the top-2 wins of the Michael Malone era, when a seven-man skeleton crew beat the Jazz and in Milwaukee when Denver toppled presumptive MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo also with an shorthanded rotation.

But there was an undeniable dullness to this Nuggets season, especially compared to last year’s campaign where Denver came out of nowhere to take the West’s No. 2 seed. Some of that had to do with the fact that this roster with a playoff run under its belt was so obviously looking ahead to the postseason, probably from the day training camp broke in October.

Nikola Jokic was elite, once he decided to be elite. Jamal Murray posted very similar numbers to a season ago. Gary Harris took another step back on the offensive end of the floor but was still very good defensively. Will Barton rightfully returned to form. The Nuggets found an option in Jerami Grant at power forward who can give them reliable minutes for years to come.

The biggest disappointment? Denver saw what rookie Michael Porter Jr. could give them — brilliant offense and uncanny playmaking — but the Nuggets couldn’t carve out a consistent role for the rookie. The Nuggets were very good this season, but it didn’t feel like they took a considerable step forward.

Adam: B-

This question is obviously unfair since an NBA season is about the process of becoming great and any process that is stopped halfway through would look like a failure. So while exactly where Denver was in their process is difficult to suss out, I still feel like this season fell short in a couple of ways.

First, we still don’t quite know what to make of Michael Porter Jr because he didn’t play enough minutes to provide us with a significant sample size. Bringing along a talented young rookie is often like ripping off a band-aid; it might sting for awhile but you have to commit to it in order to get it over with. The Nuggets never did that this season, and with basketball on pause, the Nuggets forfeited some valuable time.

Second, Jamal Murray didn’t take the leap necessary for the Nuggets to become a serious contender. He had his moments and was playing some of the best basketball of his season right before it ended, but he remained inconsistent and attempted far too few three-pointers for the modern game.

Lastly, whether it was inevitable or not, the Nuggets lost a talented player in Malik Beasley and will only have a late first round pick to show for it.

The Nuggets were still on pace to win 54 games and were set to have home court advantage in the first round, but the long-term projection for the team took a slight hit with the lack of development from Porter and Murray, and a depleted war chest of young prospects.

Brendan: B-

It feels odd assigning a B- to one of the most successful regular-season teams in the organization’s history, but that speaks to the power of expectations. The Denver Nuggets spoke of deep playoff runs and championships on Media Day. They set their target higher than a second-round exit and a pat on the head from the national media, and from that perspective, the results are a little underwhelming.

There’s an unwritten list of the guys in the NBA, players that are essential to building a genuine contender, and Nikola Jokić is on that list. The Nuggets will be in the race as long as he’s in town, but the 2019-20 squad didn’t look ready to turn that final corner and separate from the pack.

To honestly believe this team has a shot, I need to see a big leap from Jamal Murray, and enough evidence to support a case that Michael Porter Jr. can swing a playoff series. While we’ve seen high peaks from Murray, and brief spurts of budding stardom from Porter Jr., consistency is still an issue for the former, while the latter can’t seem to buy any playing time.

There is a timeline in which the Nuggets both developed Michael Porter Jr., and increased their odds of a Western Conference Finals appearance. But we appear to be in one in which they accomplished neither. 

I believe a Jokić-led Nuggets team will crack the Western Conference Finals one day. I wouldn’t be surprised if they make their first Finals appearance in team history with him as their best player. But I don’t think we saw enough to say confidently that this team will, or would have done either in 2020.