The Nuggets are still led by two veteran forwards in Danilo Gallinari and Wilson Chandler, but it is not clear how either factor into the team’s long-term plans. The Nuggets are in a strange place with a decent but poor-fitting collection of talent, and the right trades in February could easily set this team up with the pieces it wants around Mudiay. Nikola Jokic and Jusuf Nurkic are both still works-in-progress, while the experiement on Kenneth Faried largely seems to have run its course. The Nuggets still may be able to get a top-haul for Faried, Gallo and Chandler, but time is ticking and this team is not any real sort of contender for the postseason this year. The Nuggets just cannot defend well enough and still are awaiting on the quick maturation of what looks to be a “draft hit” in Jamal Murray. Murray is avearging 10 points per game in just 22 minutes a night and has put together a number of 20-plus point nights already.

The Miami Heat have dropped four-straight games to fall to 7-16 on the season and find itself double-digit (10 point) underdogs tonight in Chicago on NBA TV at 7 PM Central time. The Bulls are 12-10 SU and 6-3 SU at home this season, and the betting total for the game is set at 201 points according to NBA oddsmakers at bookmaker 5dimes.

Miami has most recently fallen to Portland, New York, Atlanta and Cleveland, and the Heat have lost 8 of its last 11 games overall SU. Miami has been strong defensively in allowing just 100.3 points per game, but the Heat have struggled to score in its own right, averaging just 96.7 points per game and ranking No. 28 in the Association. The Heat rank No. 14 in defensive rating while ranking No. 24 in offensive rating, and the Heat also play the No. 26 slowest pace in the NBA. 

The Heat are a team structured around the dominance of center Hassan Whiteside, but Miami could use a premier scoring wing player. The departure of Luol Deng left a void of production that second-year swingman Justise Winslow has not yet been able to fill. Winslow may always lack as an offensive player, even, and he is shooting just 33.6 percent from the field this season on 13.9 attempts per game. Winslow averages 11.6 points per game and four assists per night, but his offensive play has to progress much quicker if Miami is to win games this season at least. Wayne Ellington has filled in nicely with the stream of injuries in the Heat’s backcourt, but this team clearly misses the departed Dwyane Wade in a major way. The Heat are in a period of rebuild now mostly, with Wade gone and Chris Bosh forced into early retirement.
