As teams complete their season, ESPN Insider's NBA team will take a look at the offseason picture and priorities for all 30 teams. Below, Kevin Pelton offers a snapshot of the Denver Nuggets.
2014-15 record: 30-52
Pythagorean record: 32-50
Offensive rating: 101.6 (21st)
Defensive rating: 105.5 (26th)
Draft picks
Own first-round pick (5th entering lottery)
Clippers' second-round pick (57th or 58th, pending coin flip)
Projected cap space
Maximum: $15.4 million
Minimum: $0
Likely: $6.8 million
What's returning
The Nuggets still have intact the core of the team that won 57 games just two years ago, with three starters (Ty Lawson, Danilo Gallinari and Kenneth Faried) plus sixth man Wilson Chandler. Alas, Denver has struggled to match that success over the past two seasons, winning a combined 66 games. That cost coach Brian Shaw his job in early March. The Nuggets responded to the coaching change by winning six of their first eight games under interim replacement Melvin Hunt. They finished 10-13 under Hunt with a minus-0.3 point differential, which wasn't enough to secure Hunt the job on a permanent basis.
For the most part, the personnel on hand is suited to the up-tempo system that has usually yielded the best results in the Mile High City. Lawson is one of the league's quickest point guards, Chandler and Gallinari interchangeable as a forward pairing that can play inside and out, and Faried excels outrunning slower big men in transition.
The challenge is fitting center Jusuf Nurkic into the mix. Nurkic's physical post game works best in a half-court setting, and he got buried after the coaching change, averaging just 17 minutes per game under Hunt. At 20, Nurkic is Denver's most promising young player, and the Nuggets will need to find a way to highlight his skills.
Free agents
The Nuggets will have some decisions to make about the bench. Three players have non-guaranteed contracts, most notably Randy Foye, who was limited to 50 games by injuries and made just 38.8 percent of his 2-point attempts. Denver could clear $3.1 million in cap space by waiving Foye. That decision would be easier if veteran reserve Jameer Nelson exercises his $2.9 million option to stick around rather than hitting free agency for a second consecutive summer.
Acquired at the trade deadline as part of the deal that sent Arron Afflalo to the Portland Trail Blazers, Will Barton thrived at a faster pace with the Nuggets. Playing a similar role to the one Corey Brewer once filled for Denver's second unit, Barton posted a career-high .533 true shooting percentage after the trade and could be a candidate to return.
Biggest need: a coach who fits the personnel
It's a truism of pro sports that teams tend to pick the opposite of their previous coach. After George Karl's player-friendly, fast-paced system failed to translate into playoff success, the Nuggets tried to slow things down and get more defensive with Shaw. Since that effort failed, Denver now figures to go back the reverse direction. Former Phoenix Suns head coaches Mike D'Antoni -- who spent one season as the Nuggets' head coach long before he revolutionized the game in Phoenix -- and Alvin Gentry are likely candidates whose styles make more sense for a team with a unique home-court advantage at altitude.
Biggest question: Can Denver be good enough to make the playoffs?
Surely, the Nuggets will point to their strong stretch after changing coaches as evidence the core of a playoff team still exists in Denver. Squint hard and it's possible to see the Nuggets winning 45 games next season with a coaching upgrade and a healthy Gallinari playing a full season like he did after this year's All-Star break (18.6 points per game on .602 true shooting). The question is whether that will be enough to make the playoffs in a Western Conference that only figures to get more menacing given the other teams in the lottery. Denver must be realistic about where it stands relative to the competition.
Ideal offseason
D'Antoni arrives, reunited with the two forwards (Chandler and Gallinari) who once started for him in New York, and molds a competent enough defense that the Nuggets can outscore opponents in transition. They reach the playoffs as the seventh seed. Or Denver goes the opposite direction, tearing down to get as many picks as possible for Lawson, Gallinari, Chandler and Faried while turning the future over to Nurkic and a stockpile of draft choices.