Hope you enjoy! Granted these predictions may not be all that bold among the Stiffs, but I certainly see these as attainable goals.
The rest of the league finally understands what we see in Gallo. Danilo Gallinari is poised for a break out year; he’ll be the focal point of the offense both for his scoring ability and his playmaking ability. Granted most people won’t be surprised if Gallo averages close to 20 points this season. However I have a feeling is increased assist numbers will be a revelation along with his ability to lead a young team.
Emmanuel Mudiay wins rookie of the year. I’ll admit not that bold, but from what we’ve seen in preseason it appears as though his biggest weakness (shooting) isn’t much of a weakness at all. Sure he’ll have a lot of turnovers but he could very easily average 15ppg, 8apg, and 4rpg while leading the surprising Nuggets team. Sure Okafor could be stiff competition, but I think the Nuggets will be much better than the sixers and if it’s at all close I think the player on the better team will get the award.
Michael Malone will be top 3 in coach of the year votes. His defense first focus will greatly improve a talented Nuggets team that greatly underperformed under Brian Shaw. The young talents on this team are going to shine under him and he’ll get credit for the quick development. The team however will miss the playoffs and thus he will likely end up losing the Award to Pop or Jason Kidd. This season should be enough to make him a contender to replace Coach K as the team USA coach after next summer.
The Most Improved Player of the year will be on the Nuggets roster. The Nuggets have a talented roster that was just completely wasted under Brian Shaw. We have a number of candidates for this award and it seems likely they can outpace last season’s production. Prime candidates are Gary Harris (my favorite), Joffrey Lauvergne, Jusuf Nurkic, and Kenneth Faried.
The Nuggets will win 40 games. It won’t be enough to get to the playoffs but it will be enough to show that this team has real talent. This season will prove that the future is very bright for the Nuggets and that they may have already found 2 or 3 key pieces to build on for the future. We might even become a more desirable location for free agents.
Thoughts? Predictions of your own?
