The Denver Nuggets absolutely need to make some kind of jump this year. After finishing 9th for two consecutive years and missing the playoffs in the 80th and 82nd games of the season, it's time for the Nuggets to prove that they can finally make it to the postseason with this crew. And the chances of that happening–and potentially more–are looking really good.

Of course, it's Nikola Jokic, Jamal Murray, Gary Harris, Will Barton, and Paul Millsap who'll shoulder the brunt of the weight this year, but the development from everyone on the bench is what has the potential to push them even further this year. For the first time in this current era, the team not only appears appears to have a rotation that extends past eight guys, but one that can throw out a variety of different looks.

Their biggest issue for the past few years has been that they just haven't had enough athletic and versatile defenders to keep up with the demands of the modern NBA. They've had some guys, sure–Wilson Chandler, Millsap, and Mason Plumlee come to mind here–but overall that's been a huge void in the roster. But with the development of Juancho Hernangomez, Malik Beasley, Trey Lyles, and Torrey Craig, that problem could be solved to some extent.

Each of those guys has the ranginess and basketball IQ to cover multiple positions defensively and could all help prevent the team from getting battered on the wings on a nightly basis. That doesn't sound like a lot, but throughout this current run that's pretty much been the difference between going to the playoffs and sitting on the couch. By merely giving those guys a few more minutes per game, Denver could be on their way to solving the most damaging problem they've had in this current run.

The impact of the quartet's evident improvement, however, extends way past just giving the team a couple more looks on defense; it opens up doors for the team to start winning games in different ways. Part of the issue with the Nuggets as a whole last year, was that they never really had enough pieces around their starters who could consistently make a positive impact and pick up the slack when the starters weren't feeling it.

If you want some evidence, look no further than the stretch towards the end of the season where Denver lost Gary Harris and at times looked legitimately lost without him. Granted, they won seven of those ten games but they were arguably in control for maybe two of them and needed some late-game heroics to win the others–and you can't count on that for a full year. Already in the preseason, we've seen the Nuggets bench bail the team out and get them back into games they wouldn't have been in just a year prior.

Furthermore, the newfound depth is likely going to help them win games by winning the war of attrition. Because their rotation goes so deep, they have enough pieces to be able to wear down their opponents–especially at home–and win just because of sheer volume. It's not necessarily like they've been missing that element, but it'll definitely help.

Obviously, there's a limit to the kind of impact that average rotation players can actually provide in a team context and it's not like Beasely, Craig, and Hernangomez are going to turn the Nuggets into a top five team in the league, but the depth they add and the looks they open up for the Nuggets are going to be vital for a team looking to make a leap and establish itself as a force to be reckoned with in the Western Conference.