Another smart signing leaves Nuggets in unfamiliar territory

Denver signed Tim Hardaway, Jr. to a one-year contract on Tuesday. The 32-year-old guard started 77 games for the Detroit Pistons last season and made 168 three-pointers, which would have ranked second on last year's Nuggets team. 

Hardaway's addition follows Monday's signing of one-time Nugget Bruce Brown and the Nuggets' trade for forward Cam Johnson, and Tuesday's swap of little-used Dario Saric for veteran center Jonas Valanciunas.

None of these new Nuggets are superstars, but all four are reliable players with distinct NBA skills. That's a marked contrast to last season, when the Nuggets struggled to find reserves who they could trust with playing time in the postseason. 

Only six players even saw the floor in all 14 Nuggets playoff games and the team was forced to rely on 36-year-old Russell Westbrook for 36 minutes per game.

Valanciunas can score and rebound well enough to hold down the fort when Jokic rests, a time when the Nuggets often get killed by opponents. Brown adds on-ball defense, rebounding and smart cutting and passing. Hardaway and Johnson are excellent outside shooters for the often three-point-averse Nuggets, and will help take the pressure off emerging wings Julian Strawther and Jalen Pickett. Those two may be stretched as the seventh or eighth men on the roster, but should be solid as the ninth and 10th men.

And while this isn't a signing, the Nuggets got good news about 2024 first-round pick DaRon Holmes, who tore his Achilles in his first Summer League game and never saw the floor for the Nuggets. The Nuggets liked him enough to trade up to get him, and now he'll be able to come along slowly and perhaps provide a new dimension as a shot-blocker and lob threat.

With these additions, the Nuggets are firmly in the Western Conference's top three teams along with the Houston Rockets and the defending-champion Oklahoma City Thunder. Having Jokic gives the Nuggets the chance to upset anyone. Having actual depth will greatly bump up their odds of pulling it off.