After winning the Finals this year, the nuggets are pretty much bringing back the same team without Bruce brown but other teams like the bucks, Celtics and suns have improved. Imo I think the next 2-3 championships will be won by either the Bucks or Celtics and I think the Nuggets will make the finals again this year but the only way they might win again in the future is to either make a trade for a 3rd star or get much better depth.
Nuggets already had “not enough depth” to win, and they did. If their bench can do that much better in playoffs than on an average day in the season in 2023, then their next bench can do it in 2024. I just don’t know how likely it is.
I feel pretty strong about them. Unlike most champions recently, they still have some distance to grow. And as far as Bruce Brown was great in playoffs, he was not a unique player overall, and compared to other teams, it’s not the biggest lost ever. It’s important to have 5 guys that seem happy in their role and their contract, that is not common. Jokić has been historically amazing a few years ago, and then made wild progress every year - necessary in current times when others also do, but a sign that they can keep doing it.
Most of the serial winners started winning exactly at the age of 28, so this team really fits the profile.
It’s still hard to bet on something that is decided by a few games in one specific moment of the whole year, so it’s a coin toss for me at most. But yeah, over the next three years, I would bet on Nuggets winnnig one at least.