2. Andre Iguodala
The second ex-76er, All-Star, Olympian “AI” to don a Nuggets jersey in the last seven years, this version is going to have the unenviable task of guarding the Western Conference’s elite offensive swing players such as Kobe Bryant, Kevin Durant, Manu Ginobili, Rudy Gay, O.J. Mayo, Klay Thompson and so on.
The Nuggets have been high on Iguodala for years, evident by Karl’s alleged willingness to part with Anthony years ago to acquire this defensively dynamic all-around player. Now Karl has his man and believes that Iguodala is the last piece needed to give the Nuggets a true stopper at the 2-guard position.
3. Improved 3-point shooting
The Nuggets shot a dreadful 33.2 percent from 3-point range last season, down 5 percentage points from the previous season. Yet they insisted on taking 20 threes a game. With numbers that bad, they can only go up, right?
Well, they should. Hamilton has been canning threes with regularity since Las Vegas Summer League, and it has carried over into the preseason. Gallinari has improved his marksmanship from the arc over the summer. And Iguodala made a career-best 39 percent of his threes for the 76ers last season, something the Nuggets hope continues this season.
4. January
The NBA schedule-makers did the Nuggets no favors by scheduling 22 of their first 32 games on the road. But if the Nuggets can stay afloat record-wise entering January, they will be in position to go on a run that could catapult them into the Western Conference’s top three. 
Twelve of Denver’s 15 January games are being played at Pepsi Center. Of those 12 home games, eight are against opponents who missed the playoffs last season.
5. New uniforms
As an alternative uniform to be worn 18 times this season, the Nuggets resuscitated their rainbow skyline jerseys (well, sort of) that will bring back fond memories of their second Golden Era from 1982-89, when they made eight straight playoff appearances under Doug Moe.
Like those great Nuggets teams of yesteryear, the 2012-13 version will be a deep, offensive-driven, up-tempo squad that will run opponents out of Denver – especially if the opposition is playing the second of a back-to-back.
Unfortunately, this Nuggets squad doesn’t have All-Stars on par with scorer supreme Alex English or triple-double machine Fat Lever. But Nuggets fans are hoping that Gallinari and/or Lawson can make that next leap to All-Star caliber level.
Season Preview Index
Andrew Feinstein is the founder of Denver Stiffs, an SB Nation blog covering the Denver Nuggets. He has done work for Turner Sports, Fox Sports, Warner Bros. and Nickelodeon. He also is the co-creator of Girls & Sports, a nationally syndicated comic strip. You can follow him on Twitter @denverstiffs