skywalker33 wrote:THE J0KER wrote:
But the fact is that Connelly after just a few weeks with Wolves makes a way bigger blockbuster trade than any which make for years in Denver, and AK is a very aggressive GM in Chicago. That means the main reason why the Nuggets are so passive and conservative when it comes to trades past several seasons is Josh Kroenke, and I guess the reason why Booth was in a position to be very active lately was not Booth's aggressiveness but Kroenke is currently in honeymoon with Colorado Avalanche success. Also, he signed this summer a 5-year contract with NBA 2-time MVP, and Arsenal London soccer club signed a team-friendly contract with Brazilian striker Gabriel Jesus probably the best player they signed for years, so if Calvin Booth has some big idea about the Nuggets' current roster he must act very fast in next few days in the current transfer window because the old Josh will come back very soon once the honeymoon is over.
Well, that is your assumption which not sure I totally agree with. When most GM's/POBO's make a deal, I'm sure they have parameters set but their owners, even to the point of getting approval. It's not like they have carte blanche to do whatever they want, most all businesses have to work that way. However, with the way this team/roster was built, I feel we were never really in need of or in a position to make the types of blockbuster deal that you or many of the posters here expected. KSE's has shown the willingness to spend, not sure why everyone considers Kroenke and KSE as always being frugal. I always say err on the side of caution, especially when it comes to finances (hoping many others do as well), financial responsibility in today's world is a trait more people need to explore (I know, it's easier to spend other peoples money, so easy to criticize others when it doesn't come out of your own pocket).
The Kroenkes are known as cheap because for years they used draft picks to dump end of the bench salary and rarely used the TPEs created. We also have a long history of avoiding the luxury tax. Stan is also well known to be extremely cheap with the Arsenal, refusing to overspend.
That being said I think a big issue is how our own players are viewed. Partially because of the injuries, partially due to lack of media coverage, and partially due to drafting and developing our guys I think people dramatically underrate our guys.
Bones as a rookie was 2nd team all rookie despite playing out of position for 2/3rds of the season and having to earn his minutes on a good team. He put up 14 and 5 as backup PG on 60% TS% for the last 20 games of the season, there are a lot of teams that struggle to get that production out of their starting PG, and he is our 6th man.
Aaron Gordon was the 2nd best player on a team that made the playoffs in back to back years. I would take Gordon over Wiggins, I would take Gordon over D'angelo Russell, heck I would take Gordon over Horford or White or whoever you have as the 4th best on the Celtics. I would take Gordon over Covington or Jackson on the Clippers. He is the 4th best player on our roster, and he is better than the 4th guy on just about every team out there.
Murray was putting up 20 and 5 on elite shooting and was a positive defender when he got injured, he showed what he could do in the playoffs, and if he does fully recover he is a very good 2nd star or arguably the best 3rd star in the league.
We all know about Jokic.
The wildcard is MPJ, he put up 23 and 7 on elite efficiency as the 2nd option to Jokic in his 2nd year. He has the talent to be a true number 1 scorer in the NBA, a championship winning leading scorer, but his back is scary at best. To put it into perspective the only scorers that put up more than 20 ppg on better than 65% TS% that I can remember last season are Durant, Lebron, Jokic, Curry, and Towns.
If Murray or MPJ was with any of the media favorite teams many of the posters wanting us to trade for big names would be begging for us to trade for them as well. They would also be hugely popular, even just the overall numbers MPJ put up in his 2nd year would have had him all over the media as the next huge star.
Our biggest issue has long been perimeter defense, as Connelly is showing in Minny our front office always seemed to be finding defenders off the scrap heap. Even the good defenders we found off the scrap heap have left a ton to be desired on offense. We now have 2 elite perimeter defenders that we just added and we just drafted 2 guys with a ton of potential especially on defense. If we are healthy we have a very good chance to win a championship right now, we don't need big names, we need health.
