Three big questions the Denver Nuggets must answer to get back to the NBA Finals

For the second straight season, the Denver Nuggets' championship hopes ended with a Game 7 loss in the second round of the playoffs. As a result, the Nuggets were surprisingly aggressive this summer, breaking up the core of their 2023 title team while bringing back an old favorite.

Nikola Jokic (29.6 points, 12.7 rebounds, 10.2 assists) had another MVP-caliber season — he finished second — but the Nuggets didn't have enough of a supporting cast around him to get back to the NBA Finals. But they shook up the roster, trading Michael Porter, Jr. for Cameron Johnson, trading Dario Saric for Jonas Valanciunas and signing Tim Hardaway, Jr. and former Nugget Bruce Brown.

With Jokic and Aaron Gordon now 30 years old, here are three big questions for the Nuggets as they try to keep up with the young upstarts of the Western Conference.

1. Do the Nuggets finally have a bench?

The Nuggets fired their head coach and general manager with three games to go in the season, in large part because they couldn't get on the same page about the bench. Coach Michael Malone leaned on veterans and didn't trust the young players acquired by GM Calvin Booth, and the young players Booth brought in were disappointing.

That's how 36-year-old Russell Westbrook ended up fifth on the team in minutes in 2023-24. This summer, the team brought in Brown, the sixth man from their 2023 title team, a competent backup center in Jonas Valanciunas and Hardaway, whose 168 three-pointers would have ranked second on the Nuggets last season.

By the time they lost to the Oklahoma City Thunder, the team's short rotation left them exhausted. New coach David Adelman should trust young players Peyton Watson, Julian Strawther and Jalen Pickett more than Malone did. It's not a perfect roster, but with DaRon Holmes back from last summer's injury, Denver should have 10-11 legitimate players this season.

2. Will Jamal Murray perform like a max player?

Jamal Murray played like a superstar during the Nuggets' playoff runs in 2020 (26.5 PPG) and 2023 (26.1 PPG), showing off an unstoppable two-man game with Jokic and showing a preternatural ability to go on back-breaking scoring runs.