Denver Nuggets Offseason Review

[Smitty731]

Current Salary Cap Status: viewtopic.php?f=2&t=1317313

Players Resigned: None

Additions: Arron Afflalo, Jerrelle Benimon, Erick Green, Gary Harris, Jusuf Nurkic, Marcus Williams

Subtractions: Aaron Brooks, Evan Fournier, Anthony Randolph, Jan Vesley


Predicted Opening Night Depth Chart (assumes a 15 man roster for all teams, new additions in bold):
PG: Ty Lawson, Nate Robinson, Erick Green
SG: Arron Afflalo, Randy Foye, Gary Harris
SF: Danilo Gallinari, Wilson Chandler,
PF: Kenneth Faried, Darrell Arthur, J.J. Hickson, Quincy Miller
C: JaVale McGee, Timofey Mozgoz, Jusuf Nurkic
Offseason Grade: B

Analysis: The biggest addition for Denver would be good health. They had so many guys in street clothes last year, it was like a fashion show at times. For real additions, Afflalo was a great pickup. He’s continued to be a very good defender, while growing his offensive game. He was successful in Denver before, and he’s a better play now. Great pickup. He’ll also take some of the scoring load of Gallinari. That should help Gallinari not have to carry the team offensively by himself. I love Gary Harris as a draftee. I like it even more now that he can play behind Afflalo and Foye and get his feet wet slowly. I think he’s going to be a very good SG for a long time. Nurkic is a project at center, but, like Harris, the Nuggets can bring him along slowly. If McGee, despite all his faults, is healthy, the Nuggets have good depth in the frontcourt. Beyond that, nothing really jumps out. They are still kind of hamstrung by a tough Cap situation. Improvement will have to come from within or through trades.

I think this team is a really interesting group. With better health, they are in the mix at the bottom of the Western Conference. They can score, defend and have a great home court advantage. I think Shaw is a good coach too. I want to see him get a chance with a reasonably healthy team to see what he can really do.

[skywalker33]

Interesting write up Smitty, everything you said was of a positive nature yet we only got a B, what else could we have done given our cap situation ? Do you think a trade of some sort should have/ could have been made ?

[HornetJail]

I wasn't a big fan of their draft this year, but the Afflalo heist bumps the offseason grade to a "B" alone. I don't know how they convinced Orlando that Fournier and cap space for Ben Gordon was worth more than the 24th pick and Gerald Henderson, but either way, Denver got a big lift with that deal.

Wish they'd done a little more to consolidate their pieces though, particularly up front. They've got four starting caliber bigs and none of them are above average. That needs to change. Ultimately all Denver did this offseason is pick up Afflalo, and then they held steady. With the amount of assets they have, they need to swing a trade for a big time player. Lawson can't do it alone.

[skywalker33]

I wasn't a big fan of their draft this year, but the Afflalo heist bumps the offseason grade to a "B" alone. I don't know how they convinced Orlando that Fournier and cap space for Ben Gordon was worth more than the 24th pick and Gerald Henderson, but either way, Denver got a big lift with that deal.

Wish they'd done a little more to consolidate their pieces though, particularly up front. They've got four starting caliber bigs and none of them are above average. That needs to change. Ultimately all Denver did this offseason is pick up Afflalo, and then they held steady. With the amount of assets they have, they need to swing a trade for a big time player. Lawson can't do it alone.

Well, many thought BOTH of our draft picks could've gone higher than they did, guess it's a matter of taste there. As for consolidating, while it sounds great, trades like that aren't always as easy as it sounds. I do expect at least one trade to get done before the trade deadline, we'll see what it brings back.

[Smitty731]

Interesting write up Smitty, everything you said was of a positive nature yet we only got a B, what else could we have done given our cap situation ? Do you think a trade of some sort should have/ could have been made ?

I would have liked to see them move McGee. I'm just not a fan of his at all. I think Mozgov, Hickson (even masquerading a C), and maybe even Nurkic are better basketball players. I think McGee is (was?) an athletic guy who, all these years later, still doesn't have a clue what he is doing on the court. And at this point we have no idea if he'll have the same athleticism or not.

As much as I like Harris, he and Nurkic are rookies. Rookies are always question marks until we see them do it. Nurkic especially. We have no idea if he will end up even in the league after his rookie deal or not.

So, for me, the offseason basically boiled down to Afflalo. He was a steal and that trade is still weird to me. Without Afflalo, I would have given them a C or C-. With him, the grade comes up to a B.

[skywalker33]

Interesting write up Smitty, everything you said was of a positive nature yet we only got a B, what else could we have done given our cap situation ? Do you think a trade of some sort should have/ could have been made ?

I would have liked to see them move McGee. I'm just not a fan of his at all. I think Mozgov, Hickson (even masquerading a C), and maybe even Nurkic are better basketball players. I think McGee is (was?) an athletic guy who, all these years later, still doesn't have a clue what he is doing on the court. And at this point we have no idea if he'll have the same athleticism or not.

As much as I like Harris, he and Nurkic are rookies. Rookies are always question marks until we see them do it. Nurkic especially. We have no idea if he will end up even in the league after his rookie deal or not.

So, for me, the offseason basically boiled down to Afflalo. He was a steal and that trade is still weird to me. Without Afflalo, I would have given them a C or C-. With him, the grade comes up to a B.

Well, McGee is still an enigma, but realistically there are three things that have kept him with the Nuggets:

1. He still has the potential. Shaw has had some major impact with big men such as Hibbert, West, Faried and Mozgov (to certain extents) in recent years, so I believe the FO (mostly) and Shaw are willing to take this year and see if they can harness some of that talent and put it on the court. Should they be able to do that (this experiment was supposed to take place last year), then the front court become lethal in Denver.

2. It takes two to tango. How many teams are willing to trade for McGee, how many trading partners are out there. With his injury that's a big risk for GM's to take on, let alone try to convince to actually do it. Which leads to the 3rd point.

3. Why trade him when his value is at it's lowest ? Given the two previous points, let's see if we can increase that value before the trade deadline. At worst case he is a decent backup while giving Mozgov breathing room as well as bringing Nurkic along at a slower pace. If he does start to see the light, we now have a more valuable asset and there could be quite a few playoff teams that could use an athletic big man in this league. If not, he'll become a big expiring next year, whether in trade or to come off the cap when Farieds deal kicks in.

[loserX]

Definitely like what Denver did this year (which I'm especially glad to see since I hated their offseason last year). I will be interested to see what happens when they get healthy, and even more so what becomes of Shaw's vision for the team. Injury woes aside, his intended style never seemed to quite mesh with the team's personnel (this from my outsider's perspective, of course). Will this group of players learn? Will Shaw change his approach? That's the question I'm excited to see answered.

[iMoreland]

Mozgov should be starting opening day. He and Faried played great together the final part of the season last year. Hickson should be the backup 4, getting 20 or so minutes a game. Other than that, health is our biggest addition this offseason. We're probably the deepest team in the league right now. I'm pretty excited for this season.

[nomansland]

Interesting write up Smitty, everything you said was of a positive nature yet we only got a B, what else could we have done given our cap situation ? Do you think a trade of some sort should have/ could have been made ?

I would have liked to see them move McGee. I'm just not a fan of his at all. I think Mozgov, Hickson (even masquerading a C), and maybe even Nurkic are better basketball players. I think McGee is (was?) an athletic guy who, all these years later, still doesn't have a clue what he is doing on the court. And at this point we have no idea if he'll have the same athleticism or not.

As much as I like Harris, he and Nurkic are rookies. Rookies are always question marks until we see them do it. Nurkic especially. We have no idea if he will end up even in the league after his rookie deal or not.

So, for me, the offseason basically boiled down to Afflalo. He was a steal and that trade is still weird to me. Without Afflalo, I would have given them a C or C-. With him, the grade comes up to a B.

Moving McGee would have left Denver awfully thin at the center spot. Nurkic is most likely not NBA ready and Hickson shouldn't be playing center.

Unless they could have replaced him with a very clear upgrade, I'm not sure what else they were supposed to do.

[Boarder Patrol]

Afflalo trade was a steal, no idea why Magic let that go through. I guess for whatever reason his value was way lower around the league than we thought.