Training Camp Is Coming. Denver's Frontcourt Depth Is Not.

The Nuggets head into training camp with their core intact and their depth chart looking thin in the places that hurt them last spring. Watson is gone to Cleveland. Valanciunas is in Lithuania. Aaron Gordon and Trevon Brazile are both day-to-day, which at this point in the offseason is a phrase that has worn out its reassurance. Denver is leaning on DeRozan for perimeter creation and Spencer Jones for wing spacing, and that is a reasonable answer to one set of questions. The frontcourt questions are a different matter.

I noted after the DeRozan signing that the hole behind Jokic stayed open. It has stayed open. There is no obvious backup center on this roster, which means any stretch where Jokic needs rest or picks up foul trouble becomes a genuine problem rather than a managed inconvenience. Last season, Denver leaned harder on Valanciunas late in the year than was ideal — his minutes jumped and his efficiency fell — and he is no longer here to absorb even that imperfect role.

The Murray-Jokic core is still good enough to win a lot of regular-season games. That was never the doubt. The doubt, going back to the Minnesota series, was always about what happens when the margin shrinks and the roster has to hold. Right now, with Gordon and Brazile's availability uncertain and no true backup five on the books, that margin looks about the same as it did in May — which is to say, not very wide.