Northwest Division
Denver Nuggets
The Denver Nuggets remain largely intact from the surprising 54-28 record last season that carried them all the way to the second best record in the Western Conference, losing only two key pieces in Isaiah Thomas and Trey Lyles while adding Jerami Grant and Bol Bol, along with the expected return of Michael Porter Jr.
Led by Jamal Murray, Nikola Jokic, and Paul Millsap, the Nuggets are stacked with talent and a force to be reckoned with.
However, the Phoenix Suns are much improved over last season’s team, and the 2018-19 incarnation still managed to stay relatively competitive in a December game while stealing a win two weeks later – although sandwiched by two terribly embarrassing blowout losses including a 37-point laugher on January 25.
I want to predict that the Suns will win two games against Denver this season, and while I do think that is possible (and two wins against the Nuggets could be an indication that the season is irrefutably trending in a positive direction overall), I do not want to over-exaggerate how good Phoenix is even if they are much improved, and will call only one victory for the Suns.
*Note – as we do not have the team’s schedule yet, we do not know exactly how many games Phoenix will play against every non-Pacific Division team in the West as some teams they play three times and others they play four, which changes every year.
I will be basing my predictions on the schedule from last season in that Phoenix played Denver four times (they played each other only three times in 2017-18, for instance) and make similar predictions in that manner.