How defending champs can improve

Happy 2024, Nuggets fans. To ring in the new calendar, here are our New Year’s Resolutions for the defending champions as they try to repeat the glory of 2023.

Kentavious Caldwell-Pope: First-team All-Defense. His teammates are still capitalizing on every possible excuse to chant “first team!” at him in the locker room. Michael Malone even campaigned on Caldwell-Pope’s behalf during an ESPN sideline interview between quarters on Christmas Day, taking advantage of likely the biggest audience the Nuggets will have in any regular-season game. Entering Friday night, KCP was still second in the NBA in defensive field goal percentage (minimum 200 shot attempts against) at 40.2% on 301 attempts. Kyle Anderson was the only player ahead of him (39.8%) on 52 fewer shots faced. Caldwell-Pope also remains top-10 in steals (1.4).

Nikola Jokic: Buy the referees dinner. Now that he’s cashing endorsement checks, might as well find something productive to do with the money. If he’s nice enough, maybe Jokic will get more warning before he’s tossed next time. Avoiding ejections in 2024 is a resolution easier said than done when one technical is all it takes. In a non-officiating context, Jokic is the most difficult Nugget to assign a resolution; he has the least to prove and the least room to improve. A third MVP? He doesn’t care. Average a triple-double? Sure, but if opponents single-cover him, he’s not going to pass just for the assists. Finishing around the rim is the most legitimate topic. He’s shooting 63.2% inside 5 feet as opposed to 72.8% last season. Then again, when he misses a shot because his arm is getting clawed, it only counts as a missed attempt if a ref doesn’t call a foul.

Aaron Gordon: Make opponents respect the three again. Gordon’s ability to knock down the open 3-pointer was a huge reason for the Nuggets’ success last year. He was a respectable 35% in the regular season and 39% in the playoffs. In his first 28 games of the title defense, however, he’s 25%. When Gordon’s not making that shot, he’s the only player in the starting five worth the risk of abandoning on the perimeter in order to double Jokic in the post. On Christmas, the Warriors dared him with open looks from the opening tip. If he gets back to being a moderate threat, it can change how opponents defend, opening up the paint and dunker spot for Gordon even more.

Jamal Murray: Join the 50-40-90 club. Too ambitious? Not for the version of Murray who dominated December (not to mention the 2023 playoffs). In his first 11 games after returning from an ankle sprain and hamstring strain, Murray averaged 22.6 points on 52.2% shooting from the field, 48.4% beyond the arc and 93.3% from the stripe. So much for that slow start. Murray’s All-NBA chances have been dragged down by the 14 games he missed and the facilitate-first, score-second mindset with which he operated (brilliantly) before those injuries. But if he met the criteria for an exclusive, historic club — only nine players have ever attained all three shooting benchmarks in a season — while making it to 65 games, maybe there would be a case for Murray after all, even with pure scoring numbers lower than a typical All-NBA player. Accolades aside, anything in the ballpark of 50-40-90 would be a massive achievement.

Michael Porter Jr.: Dispose of injury-prone reputation once and for all. A fortune teller gazes into the crystal ball after Denver’s preseason and tells you exactly one Nuggets starter will play every game through the end of 2023. The other starters will all miss at least one between opening night and Jan. 1, 2024. Which player are you predicting has perfect attendance? Porter might’ve been your last guess. Especially after he missed the whole preseason with an ankle sprain, adding to the general anxiety surrounding his durability. Even last season, when he played a career-high 62 games, he missed a full month. This is Porter’s seventh year. He probably shouldn’t play all 82, but he can distance himself from questions about his health more with every night he does suit up.

Reggie Jackson: Get a second ring that means more than the first. 2023 was a dream year. Jackson moved an hour’s drive away from his old stomping grounds midseason, then won his first career championship. How does he top that? Well, only one thing was missing: Jackson wasn’t part of Denver’s rotation. He appeared in six playoff games, never exceeding five minutes.

Christian Braun: Slow down, appreciate the small things in life. The Nuggets want Braun playing to his identity, which is to say, full-speed ahead. But a little deceleration or hesitation occasionally in his drives might go a long way toward helping his downhill efficiency. His handle has clearly improved, having played more backup point guard than expected with Murray out. So has his 3-point shooting (41.7%). In his first 30 games tracked by the league, though, he was 28-of-67 shooting on drives (41.8%), barely better than his 3-point rate.

Peyton Watson: Become a feared matchup league-wide. Watson has not-so-discreetly checked off all his 2024 resolutions in the last month of 2023, earning All-NBA-caliber defensive assignments while also making huge offensive strides. This is more of a “keep it up” situation. The next step is guarding consistently enough to expand his reputation and become known as a bona fide lock-down player.