Nuggets Trades

[Mickey8]

You need another big time player because you need those ref calls in the play off's Denver was screwed by those refs in the WCF, Murray still doesn't have enough credit with them , even Jokic was mistreated. As for Atlanta guys, all their stats were kind of inflated, their team have sucked badly , they were lottery team. I know Collins always have a huge games against Denver but I am not yet sold on him, and I don't think he would make Denver an instant top contender , I would rather keep Porter for the time being.

[The Rebel]

Atlanta in MPJ, Bol, Barton and Millsap for Collins, Hunter, Snell

In normal circumstances, this would be a bad deal for Denver, I see only Porter as a future all-star in this group. But I'm afraid that Bol's destiny in Malone's Denver if we not trade him on time will be similar to Nurkic, Beasley, Juancho cases. We will develop him into a good player, never using his full potential and losing him for nothing at the end. Barton's case is the opposite, he can get a chance and minutes from Malone but as a bad fit for Jokic-system, he will never reach his potential here. Millsap declining year by year so no guarantee he will be still 10M worthy next season at 37. The good thing about trading Porter to Atlanta is because Porter is Trae Young good friend, so like in the Minnesota-Angelo-Towns case

But after such a trade starters around Jokic and Murray will not support enough theirs offensive creativity, and the team will suddenly miss good 3-point shooters. So together with Millsap and Bol, another player should not use the no-trade clause, Bogdan Bogdanovic! It is no secret that he actually wanted this season to join title contenders Bucks or Lakers, so he would join Nuggets as title contender even without "Serbian Connection" with Jokic. So here is my correction of the deal which will work better:

Denver trades Porter Jr, Bol, Harris, Barton, Millsap, and Dozier for Atlanta's Collins, Hunter, Bogdanovic, and Huerter.

But note that Bogdan's contract is 72/4 while Collins and Hunter's new deal will be at least the same (with Huerter around 10M per year). So this deal makes sense only if Kroenke agrees to jump into luxury tax territory for the NBA ring's sake in the next few years.

20
That deal is a pass for me.

We are left with no perimeter defense at the 2 and a bunch of scorers. I don't think we need to totally change the roster, I think we need a spread 4 that can defend and a defensive 3 that can shoot.

Also Bogdanovic cannot be traded anytime soon, under the restrictions. Also the Hawks are not going to trade him, they brought him and Gallo in because they fit with Young.

[The Rebel]

You need another big time player because you need those ref calls in the play off's Denver was screwed by those refs in the WCF, Murray still doesn't have enough credit with them , even Jokic was mistreated. As for Atlanta guys, all their stats were kind of inflated, their team have sucked badly , they were lottery team. I know Collins always have a huge games against Denver but I am not yet sold on him, and I don't think he would make Denver an instant top contender , I would rather keep Porter for the time being.

You mean like when the refs had Millsap, Murray, Jokic, and Grant all in foul trouble?

When the refs decide to screw you it does not matter how many big names you have on the roster, they will just make sure they sit them all down.

I am sure the Hawks players have inflated offensive stats, but I am less concerned about their offensive stats other than their ability to shoot, which is not going ot change whether they are with the Hawks or any other team. The stats I am worried about are their defensive stats, and considering how bad the other Hawks starters in Trae Young, Kevin Huerter, and Jabari Parker graded out on defense the fact that Collins and Hunter were even close to positive is very impressive.

If you do not know Trae Young was graded as the worst defender in the league last year by stats like Real Plus minus, Dbpm, PIPM, and many more.

[THE J0KER]

Denver trades Porter Jr, Bol, Harris, Barton, Millsap, and Dozier for Atlanta's Collins, Hunter, Bogdanovic, and Huerter.

But note that Bogdan's contract is 72/4 while Collins and Hunter's new deal will be at least the same (with Huerter around 10M per year). So this deal makes sense only if Kroenke agrees to jump into luxury tax territory for the NBA ring's sake in the next few years.

The Nuggets already have 7 new guys (at least 3 will be getting regular minutes) and they should get 4 more? Malone would get a heart attack That would pretty much deconstruct everything they were building for the last few years since basically only Jokic/Murray/Morris would remain. I'd say 0 chance of happening.

Look, if you decide to build a champions team around Jokic and Murray do whatever you think you need to do better sooner than later.

How many players in Lakers 2019-20 winning team build around James and Davis started with Lakers previous 2018-19 season?? Toronto rented Kawhi Leonard for just one single 2018-19 season, but how many Raptors players which finished the previous 2017-18 season in Toronto at the end of the very next season get a ring? Just a few in both cases!

[Richard Miller]

Denver trades Porter Jr, Bol, Harris, Barton, Millsap, and Dozier for Atlanta's Collins, Hunter, Bogdanovic, and Huerter.

But note that Bogdan's contract is 72/4 while Collins and Hunter's new deal will be at least the same (with Huerter around 10M per year). So this deal makes sense only if Kroenke agrees to jump into luxury tax territory for the NBA ring's sake in the next few years.

The Nuggets already have 7 new guys (at least 3 will be getting regular minutes) and they should get 4 more? Malone would get a heart attack That would pretty much deconstruct everything they were building for the last few years since basically only Jokic/Murray/Morris would remain. I'd say 0 chance of happening.

Look, if you decide to build a champions team around Jokic and Murray do whatever you think you need to do better sooner than later.

How many players in Lakers 2019-20 winning team build around James and Davis started with Lakers previous 2018-19 season?? Toronto rented Kawhi Leonard for just one single 2018-19 season, but how many Raptors players which finished the previous 2017-18 season in Toronto at the end of the very next season get a ring? Just a few in both cases!

There's no indication that they would be better with those 4 guys. To make things simple, let's assume that roughly Jamal and Trae are interchangeable, it's basically saying that Atlanta with Jokic would be a championship team. If they are supposed to put the Nuggets over the hump, then Atlanta shouldn't have been one of the worst teams in the league last season.

[THE J0KER]

The Nuggets already have 7 new guys (at least 3 will be getting regular minutes) and they should get 4 more? Malone would get a heart attack That would pretty much deconstruct everything they were building for the last few years since basically only Jokic/Murray/Morris would remain. I'd say 0 chance of happening.

Look, if you decide to build a champions team around Jokic and Murray do whatever you think you need to do better sooner than later.

How many players in Lakers 2019-20 winning team build around James and Davis started with Lakers previous 2018-19 season?? Toronto rented Kawhi Leonard for just one single 2018-19 season, but how many Raptors players which finished the previous 2017-18 season in Toronto at the end of the very next season get a ring? Just a few in both cases!

There's no indication that they would be better with those 4 guys. To make things simple, let's assume that roughly Jamal and Trae are interchangeable, it's basically saying that Atlanta with Jokic would be a championship team. If they are supposed to put the Nuggets over the hump, then Atlanta shouldn't have been one of the worst teams in the league last season.

It is not that simple like it seems, because Atlanta19/20 and Atlanta20/21 are in reality very different teams. Talking about players involved in this eventual deal, in Atlanta19/20 Bogdanovic didn't play, Collins was suspended in 25 out of 67 games, Hunter was a rookie...

Atlanta20/21 is a legit playoff contender, but I agree that with added Jokic they still will not be a TOP contender for the title, for several reasons. The two biggest reasons are that with Jokic coming value of this Atlanta important piece, center Capela will be annihilated (we know from Nurkic, Plumlee, and Serbian NT examples that Jokic at PF is a very bad idea). And more important is that for title purposes Murray is clearly better than Young. It is like comparing prime-Westbrook with prime-Curry where Westbrook will be more helpful to make a playoff team from a mediocre team while Curry is much helpful to make a contender team from a playoff team. And Murray's combo-guard game style arguably much better suits to Jokic point-center game than Young's point-guard game builder around him. I'm very suspicious about the ability 6'1 tall player without defense to be a key player of the finalist. Don't forget that John Stockton was a 5-time member of the NBA all-defensive team and Allen Iverson was a three-time NBA leader in steals.

[Alatan]

I love the idea of Collins next to Jokic offensively as much as i fear it defensively. Jokic NEEDS a rim protector/help defender next to him at the 4 spot. Everything else is a bonus. If both the 4 and the 5 are bad rim protectors that is not a championship team. All the opposition has to do is attack the paint and they will score or will make our D collapse on itself freeing up easy threes. I dont know how good a defender Collins is but if he is not a smart rim protector he would be a pass.

[The Rebel]

I love the idea of Collins next to Jokic offensively as much as i fear it defensively. Jokic NEEDS a rim protector/help defender next to him at the 4 spot. Everything else is a bonus. If both the 4 and the 5 are bad rim protectors that is not a championship team. All the opposition has to do is attack the paint and they will score or will make our D collapse on itself freeing up easy threes. I dont know how good a defender Collins is but if he is not a smart rim protector he would be a pass.

I would argue that we just need an average help defender at PF but what we desperately need is a guy who can cover the young hyper athletic bigs that are around the league.

Our system depends heavily on the forwards getting to the rim when Jokic is out on the pick and roll, since Jokic and last year Plumlee both hedged most pick and rolls. The hedge gives the forwards the extra second to recognize and get there. Millsap is not the fastest but he made it plenty, Barton and MPJ were actually pretty good at it as well. Grant who you would think would be the best, struggled and never seemed to figure it out until halfway through the playoffs. Collins to me just has a bit of a slow reaction, he is athletic enough and gives the effort, I think he would be good in our system since we hedge so well.

To me Hunter and Collins can cover all these athletic stretch 4s, it seems like the last couple of years those are the guys who have given us problems.

The other thing is if we keep Nnaji than I think he is a great long term fit, so I think in a year we could have a 3 big rotation of Jokic, Collins, and Nnaji. To me the deal is a try out for a year with Collins which I think is a huge upgrade this year plus Hunter long term, who I think is the perfect fit for what we need at SF which is a 3 and D guy that can create for himself in the right matchups. Worst case scenario is that in a year we sign and trade Collins somewhere else and pick up a 1st since he will be restricted.

[skywalker33]

I love the idea of Collins next to Jokic offensively as much as i fear it defensively. Jokic NEEDS a rim protector/help defender next to him at the 4 spot. Everything else is a bonus. If both the 4 and the 5 are bad rim protectors that is not a championship team. All the opposition has to do is attack the paint and they will score or will make our D collapse on itself freeing up easy threes. I dont know how good a defender Collins is but if he is not a smart rim protector he would be a pass.

I would argue that we just need an average help defender at PF but what we desperately need is a guy who can cover the young hyper athletic bigs that are around the league.

Our system depends heavily on the forwards getting to the rim when Jokic is out on the pick and roll, since Jokic and last year Plumlee both hedged most pick and rolls. The hedge gives the forwards the extra second to recognize and get there. Millsap is not the fastest but he made it plenty, Barton and MPJ were actually pretty good at it as well. Grant who you would think would be the best, struggled and never seemed to figure it out until halfway through the playoffs. Collins to me just has a bit of a slow reaction, he is athletic enough and gives the effort, I think he would be good in our system since we hedge so well.

To me Hunter and Collins can cover all these athletic stretch 4s, it seems like the last couple of years those are the guys who have given us problems.

The other thing is if we keep Nnaji than I think he is a great long term fit, so I think in a year we could have a 3 big rotation of Jokic, Collins, and Nnaji. To me the deal is a try out for a year with Collins which I think is a huge upgrade this year plus Hunter long term, who I think is the perfect fit for what we need at SF which is a 3 and D guy that can create for himself in the right matchups. Worst case scenario is that in a year we sign and trade Collins somewhere else and pick up a 1st since he will be restricted.

Woukd say it's early, but couldn't Zeke fill that role? He looked active on D, just needs to learn his positioning better.

[The Rebel]

Spoiler:

I love the idea of Collins next to Jokic offensively as much as i fear it defensively. Jokic NEEDS a rim protector/help defender next to him at the 4 spot. Everything else is a bonus. If both the 4 and the 5 are bad rim protectors that is not a championship team. All the opposition has to do is attack the paint and they will score or will make our D collapse on itself freeing up easy threes. I dont know how good a defender Collins is but if he is not a smart rim protector he would be a pass.

I would argue that we just need an average help defender at PF but what we desperately need is a guy who can cover the young hyper athletic bigs that are around the league.

Our system depends heavily on the forwards getting to the rim when Jokic is out on the pick and roll, since Jokic and last year Plumlee both hedged most pick and rolls. The hedge gives the forwards the extra second to recognize and get there. Millsap is not the fastest but he made it plenty, Barton and MPJ were actually pretty good at it as well. Grant who you would think would be the best, struggled and never seemed to figure it out until halfway through the playoffs. Collins to me just has a bit of a slow reaction, he is athletic enough and gives the effort, I think he would be good in our system since we hedge so well.

To me Hunter and Collins can cover all these athletic stretch 4s, it seems like the last couple of years those are the guys who have given us problems.

The other thing is if we keep Nnaji than I think he is a great long term fit, so I think in a year we could have a 3 big rotation of Jokic, Collins, and Nnaji. To me the deal is a try out for a year with Collins which I think is a huge upgrade this year plus Hunter long term, who I think is the perfect fit for what we need at SF which is a 3 and D guy that can create for himself in the right matchups. Worst case scenario is that in a year we sign and trade Collins somewhere else and pick up a 1st since he will be restricted.

Woukd say it's early, but couldn't Zeke fill that role? He looked active on D, just needs to learn his positioning better.

Well according to the mods and a few others around here Nnaji is a rookie so he will not be played, at least as long as he is still young. He is just here to play piano for the team on road trips.


I think Millsap is about done, he is a good guy and he still is a good man to man defender, but he looked the same as he did in the bubble in the 1st preseason game and that was not real inspiring to me. I think Green will be fine but he is more of a small ball center these days. I like Hartenstein but he is not going to be someone you want guarding guys like Davis, JJJ. Siakam, or those types even for spot minutes. Collins does okay against those types and Hunter while still learning actually did very gppd as a rookie last year against the bigger small forwards and that was being on one of the worst defensive teams in the league.

[NuggetsWY]

Spoiler:

I would argue that we just need an average help defender at PF but what we desperately need is a guy who can cover the young hyper athletic bigs that are around the league.

Our system depends heavily on the forwards getting to the rim when Jokic is out on the pick and roll, since Jokic and last year Plumlee both hedged most pick and rolls. The hedge gives the forwards the extra second to recognize and get there. Millsap is not the fastest but he made it plenty, Barton and MPJ were actually pretty good at it as well. Grant who you would think would be the best, struggled and never seemed to figure it out until halfway through the playoffs. Collins to me just has a bit of a slow reaction, he is athletic enough and gives the effort, I think he would be good in our system since we hedge so well.

To me Hunter and Collins can cover all these athletic stretch 4s, it seems like the last couple of years those are the guys who have given us problems.

The other thing is if we keep Nnaji than I think he is a great long term fit, so I think in a year we could have a 3 big rotation of Jokic, Collins, and Nnaji. To me the deal is a try out for a year with Collins which I think is a huge upgrade this year plus Hunter long term, who I think is the perfect fit for what we need at SF which is a 3 and D guy that can create for himself in the right matchups. Worst case scenario is that in a year we sign and trade Collins somewhere else and pick up a 1st since he will be restricted.

Woukd say it's early, but couldn't Zeke fill that role? He looked active on D, just needs to learn his positioning better.

Well according to the mods and a few others around here Nnaji is a rookie so he will not be played, at least as long as he is still young. He is just here to play piano for the team on road trips.

I think Millsap is about done, he is a good guy and he still is a good man to man defender, but he looked the same as he did in the bubble in the 1st preseason game and that was not real inspiring to me. I think Green will be fine but he is more of a small ball center these days. I like Hartenstein but he is not going to be someone you want guarding guys like Davis, JJJ. Siakam, or those types even for spot minutes. Collins does okay against those types and Hunter while still learning actually did very gppd as a rookie last year against the bigger small forwards and that was being on one of the worst defensive teams in the league.

Power Forward is still our biggest question or at least the question that seems least resolved - compared to SF & SG for example. While I am not opposed to the right trade, and there have been some good suggestions, the Nuggets have several choices at PF. Which means I hope they don't make the wrong trade, if they make one.

Green seems likely to play the most minutes at PF.

Millsap looks like a veteran nearing the end of his career. He should be a great help for the team in many respects, but I do not see him playing major minutes - especially when you consider he played just 38 games in 17-18, 70 games in 18-19, 51 games last year.

Hartenstein seems like he's mostly a center and I'm not convinced he fits well next to Jokic, so I see limited minutes for him - especially alongside Jokic.

Bol is the unknown option. Malone doesn't typically like to play young players and Bol is very much a non-traditional player at any position. But having adapted to Jokic's uniqueness, will Malone be more willing to play Bol?

Nnaji is a rookie and Malone tends to not play rookies much. But if other options don't work out, maybe ...

Porter could be the wild card at PF. If Malone doesn't like any other options, he has tended to play a lot of small ball. Could he make Porter the PF and start Barton at SF?

[The Rebel]

Spoiler:

Woukd say it's early, but couldn't Zeke fill that role? He looked active on D, just needs to learn his positioning better.

Well according to the mods and a few others around here Nnaji is a rookie so he will not be played, at least as long as he is still young. He is just here to play piano for the team on road trips.

I think Millsap is about done, he is a good guy and he still is a good man to man defender, but he looked the same as he did in the bubble in the 1st preseason game and that was not real inspiring to me. I think Green will be fine but he is more of a small ball center these days. I like Hartenstein but he is not going to be someone you want guarding guys like Davis, JJJ. Siakam, or those types even for spot minutes. Collins does okay against those types and Hunter while still learning actually did very gppd as a rookie last year against the bigger small forwards and that was being on one of the worst defensive teams in the league.

Power Forward is still our biggest question or at least the question that seems least resolved - compared to SF & SG for example. While I am not opposed to the right trade, and there have been some good suggestions, the Nuggets have several choices at PF. Which means I hope they don't make the wrong trade, if they make one.

Green seems likely to play the most minutes at PF.

Millsap looks like a veteran nearing the end of his career. He should be a great help for the team in many respects, but I do not see him playing major minutes - especially when you consider he played just 38 games in 17-18, 70 games in 18-19, 51 games last year.

Hartenstein seems like he's mostly a center and I'm not convinced he fits well next to Jokic, so I see limited minutes for him - especially alongside Jokic.

Bol is the unknown option. Malone doesn't typically like to play young players and Bol is very much a non-traditional player at any position. But having adapted to Jokic's uniqueness, will Malone be more willing to play Bol?

Nnaji is a rookie and Malone tends to not play rookies much. But if other options don't work out, maybe ...

Porter could be the wild card at PF. If Malone doesn't like any other options, he has tended to play a lot of small ball. Could he make Porter the PF and start Barton at SF?

Like clockwork.

Did you know that
Murray played 82 games at 21 mpg his rookie year?

Juancho played 62 games at 13 mpg his rookie year.

Craig played 39 games at 16.1 mpg as a rookie on a 2 way deal

Jokic played 80 games at 21.7 mpg as a rookie

Morris played 82 games at 24 mpg his 1st year on an NBA contract

Mudiay played 60 games at 30 mpg his rookie year

Harris after a disastrous rookie year started 76 games with 32 mpg in his 2nd year with it being Malone's 1st year here.

MPJ played 55 games at 16.4 mpg in a 73 game season as a rookie with another 7 games missed due to injury, despite missing basically 2 full years of basketball. He was also in the rotation in the playoffs.

Despite not even being cleared to play until late December after a major injury in college and spending 2 months in the Gleague, Beasley played in 22 games and 7.5 mpg as a rookie.

You know who didn't play as rookies?

Tyler Lydon, Thomas Welsh, Erick Green, and Axel Toupane who are all out of the league right now.

Jarred Vanderbilt who cannot get minutes on 1 of the worst teams in the league and will likely be out of the league after his contract expires this year.

Bol Bol, who was not physically able to play until December and got hurt in the Gleague. and is being allowed to compete for minutes in training camp right now.

So where do you guys get that Malone will not play rookies or young players? I would say that if a rookie or young player cannot get minutes from Malone than that says more about them as a player than it does Malone.

[Richard Miller]

The Nuggets paid Green + Millsap almost 30 million combined, they will play for sure barring injury.

[NuggetsWY]

Spoiler:

Well according to the mods and a few others around here Nnaji is a rookie so he will not be played, at least as long as he is still young. He is just here to play piano for the team on road trips.

I think Millsap is about done, he is a good guy and he still is a good man to man defender, but he looked the same as he did in the bubble in the 1st preseason game and that was not real inspiring to me. I think Green will be fine but he is more of a small ball center these days. I like Hartenstein but he is not going to be someone you want guarding guys like Davis, JJJ. Siakam, or those types even for spot minutes. Collins does okay against those types and Hunter while still learning actually did very gppd as a rookie last year against the bigger small forwards and that was being on one of the worst defensive teams in the league.

Power Forward is still our biggest question or at least the question that seems least resolved - compared to SF & SG for example. While I am not opposed to the right trade, and there have been some good suggestions, the Nuggets have several choices at PF. Which means I hope they don't make the wrong trade, if they make one.

Green seems likely to play the most minutes at PF.

Millsap looks like a veteran nearing the end of his career. He should be a great help for the team in many respects, but I do not see him playing major minutes - especially when you consider he played just 38 games in 17-18, 70 games in 18-19, 51 games last year.

Hartenstein seems like he's mostly a center and I'm not convinced he fits well next to Jokic, so I see limited minutes for him - especially alongside Jokic.

Bol is the unknown option. Malone doesn't typically like to play young players and Bol is very much a non-traditional player at any position. But having adapted to Jokic's uniqueness, will Malone be more willing to play Bol?

Nnaji is a rookie and Malone tends to not play rookies much. But if other options don't work out, maybe ...

Porter could be the wild card at PF. If Malone doesn't like any other options, he has tended to play a lot of small ball. Could he make Porter the PF and start Barton at SF?

Like clockwork.

Did you know that
Murray played 82 games at 21 mpg his rookie year?

Juancho played 62 games at 13 mpg his rookie year.

Craig played 39 games at 16.1 mpg as a rookie on a 2 way deal

Jokic played 80 games at 21.7 mpg as a rookie

Morris played 82 games at 24 mpg his 1st year on an NBA contract

Mudiay played 60 games at 30 mpg his rookie year

Harris after a disastrous rookie year started 76 games with 32 mpg in his 2nd year with it being Malone's 1st year here.

MPJ played 55 games at 16.4 mpg in a 73 game season as a rookie with another 7 games missed due to injury, despite missing basically 2 full years of basketball. He was also in the rotation in the playoffs.

Despite not even being cleared to play until late December after a major injury in college and spending 2 months in the Gleague, Beasley played in 22 games and 7.5 mpg as a rookie.

You know who didn't play as rookies?

Tyler Lydon, Thomas Welsh, Erick Green, and Axel Toupane who are all out of the league right now.

Jarred Vanderbilt who cannot get minutes on 1 of the worst teams in the league and will likely be out of the league after his contract expires this year.

Bol Bol, who was not physically able to play until December and got hurt in the Gleague. and is being allowed to compete for minutes in training camp right now.

So where do you guys get that Malone will not play rookies or young players? I would say that if a rookie or young player cannot get minutes from Malone than that says more about them as a player than it does Malone.

Yes, I am aware of those numbers. You've brought them up before.
Adjusting Harris' for his rookie year and taking just the 9 players you listed, they averaged less than 20 mpg.

Muddiay & Murray were high draft picks and probably were expected to play reasonable minutes, and they did.
Craig was a 27 yr old rookie.
Morris had 4 yrs of college plus 1 yr of G-League.
Jokic & Juancho played international ball which is more competitive than American college ball.

There is no doubt Malone prefers more experienced players and/or elite talent --- which makes sense.

You seem to think every post is belittling Malone's tendency to not play young players. I do believe he tends to play young players less than many coaches, but not less than all coaches.

This particular post was only talking about a mix of options at PF:
Rookie: Nnaji
2-3 years: Porter, Bol, Hartenstein
30 yr+: Millsap, Green

Malone's usage of young players is an area where we disagree; this was probably the wrong post to respond to that --- at least my prior post. However, the topic continues to arise, so we'll have to agree that we disagree.

and I suggested that the rookie had an outside shot at decent playing time
and I suggested Malone might use Porter with only 55 games at 16.4 mpg
and I suggested Malone might use Bol with only 7 games at 12.4 mpg

[NuggetsWY]

The Nuggets paid Green + Millsap almost 30 million combined, they will play for sure barring injury.

Yeah, that makes sense, but there are times when I wonder how much the front office tries to dictate to Malone. There are no major examples where they disagree, but Malone seems to be given most of the control.

[The Rebel]

Power Forward is still our biggest question or at least the question that seems least resolved - compared to SF & SG for example. While I am not opposed to the right trade, and there have been some good suggestions, the Nuggets have several choices at PF. Which means I hope they don't make the wrong trade, if they make one.

Green seems likely to play the most minutes at PF.

Millsap looks like a veteran nearing the end of his career. He should be a great help for the team in many respects, but I do not see him playing major minutes - especially when you consider he played just 38 games in 17-18, 70 games in 18-19, 51 games last year.

Hartenstein seems like he's mostly a center and I'm not convinced he fits well next to Jokic, so I see limited minutes for him - especially alongside Jokic.

Bol is the unknown option. Malone doesn't typically like to play young players and Bol is very much a non-traditional player at any position. But having adapted to Jokic's uniqueness, will Malone be more willing to play Bol?

Nnaji is a rookie and Malone tends to not play rookies much. But if other options don't work out, maybe ...

Porter could be the wild card at PF. If Malone doesn't like any other options, he has tended to play a lot of small ball. Could he make Porter the PF and start Barton at SF?

Like clockwork.

Did you know that
Murray played 82 games at 21 mpg his rookie year?

Juancho played 62 games at 13 mpg his rookie year.

Craig played 39 games at 16.1 mpg as a rookie on a 2 way deal

Jokic played 80 games at 21.7 mpg as a rookie

Morris played 82 games at 24 mpg his 1st year on an NBA contract

Mudiay played 60 games at 30 mpg his rookie year

Harris after a disastrous rookie year started 76 games with 32 mpg in his 2nd year with it being Malone's 1st year here.

MPJ played 55 games at 16.4 mpg in a 73 game season as a rookie with another 7 games missed due to injury, despite missing basically 2 full years of basketball. He was also in the rotation in the playoffs.

Despite not even being cleared to play until late December after a major injury in college and spending 2 months in the Gleague, Beasley played in 22 games and 7.5 mpg as a rookie.

You know who didn't play as rookies?

Tyler Lydon, Thomas Welsh, Erick Green, and Axel Toupane who are all out of the league right now.

Jarred Vanderbilt who cannot get minutes on 1 of the worst teams in the league and will likely be out of the league after his contract expires this year.

Bol Bol, who was not physically able to play until December and got hurt in the Gleague. and is being allowed to compete for minutes in training camp right now.

So where do you guys get that Malone will not play rookies or young players? I would say that if a rookie or young player cannot get minutes from Malone than that says more about them as a player than it does Malone.

Yes, I am aware of those numbers. You've brought them up before.
Adjusting Harris' for his rookie year and taking just the 9 players you listed, they averaged less than 20 mpg.

Muddiay & Murray were high draft picks and probably were expected to play reasonable minutes, and they did.
Craig was a 27 yr old rookie.
Morris had 4 yrs of college plus 1 yr of G-League.
Jokic & Juancho played international ball which is more competitive than American college ball.

There is no doubt Malone prefers more experienced players and/or elite talent --- which makes sense.

You seem to think every post is belittling Malone's tendency to not play young players. I do believe he tends to play young players less than many coaches, but not less than all coaches.

This particular post was only talking about a mix of options at PF:
Rookie: Nnaji
2-3 years: Porter, Bol, Hartenstein
30 yr+: Millsap, Green

Malone's usage of young players is an area where we disagree; this was probably the wrong post to respond to that --- at least my prior post. However, the topic continues to arise, so we'll have to agree that we disagree.

and I suggested that the rookie had an outside shot at decent playing time
and I suggested Malone might use Porter with only 55 games at 16.4 mpg
and I suggested Malone might use Bol with only 7 games at 12.4 mpg

Maybe you should go read through some of these threads, every time the subject of a young player getting playing time comes up, you post that Malone doesn't play rookies. Which is not only blatantly false, you even admit you know he plays them in this very post. YOU KNOW he plays rookies and young players so why keep repeating a complete falsehood every chance you get?

We were the 4th youngest team in league history to get to the 2nd round 2 years ago, with Millsap raising the average age on the roster by a half of year by himself. The one thing Malone has done as well as anybody in the league is develop young talent, it is ridiculous to pretend otherwise.

We will have a backup PG, SG, SF, PF, and C in their 1st 3 years in the league that will likely being getting minutes, not a single contending team plays that many young players. IF you look around the league a team playing 7 guys in the rotation that have been in the league 4 years or less you will find that they are one of the worst teams in the league.

Of course Malone is going to prefer to play veterans if the abilities are close. We are a contender, every contender prefers to play the guys that they know what they are going to get out of them. Young players are notoriously inconsistent, yet we continue to build around young guys and develop young guys.

There is plenty to bitch about Malone. His over reliance on guys like Craig and Plumlee, his seeming to hold different guys to different standards, clock and game management, but developing young players is the last 1 he should be criticized for.

I am not trying to go off about this, but it is tiring when it is in in every thread about young players.

To me 1 reason that it drives me crazy is that it contributes to how very few realize what this team has accomplished as such a young team. Do you realize that the Thunder team that made it to the finals and that everybody talks about being so young was over 3 years older on average than the Nuggets team that made it to the western conference finals last year? The Celtics that made the conference finals 3 years ago and everybody was talking about how young they were, we were almost a full year younger on average than that team. The youngest team to make the Finals was the 77 Trailblazers where the average age was just under 25 years old, which if we make the finals this year we will basically match their age. If you weight it for minutes played we are the 2nd youngest team I can find that has made a conference finals. Why say Malone won't play young players, when we have a historic young team and nobody even realizes it.

[The Rebel]

The Nuggets paid Green + Millsap almost 30 million combined, they will play for sure barring injury.

The sat Faried and Arthur when they decided that they were not a fit with what Malone wanted, and everybody knew that Faried would be a problem when they did it. So I don't think that the money will be that strong of a factor.

That being said I think Millsap starts and plays 15-25 mpg depending on matchups. He is still an elite defender but his offense is so bad that he will hurt us on the nights the opposing team does not have a great big.

I think Green will be used as our 4th big, either with Hartenstein, Bol, or NNaji depending on who earns the minutes. Green is a good defender against true bigs and he is a solid help defender with some attitude, but he is not a guy you guarantee much more than a 4th big type of role.

[Richard Miller]

The Nuggets paid Green + Millsap almost 30 million combined, they will play for sure barring injury.

The sat Faried and Arthur when they decided that they were not a fit with what Malone wanted, and everybody knew that Faried would be a problem when they did it. So I don't think that the money will be that strong of a factor.

Yea, but Faried was signed before Malone came and before 'Jokic era', so that's not really the same situation. At this point I'd expect they know exactly what they are getting from Millsap and why did they sign him.

[The Rebel]

The Nuggets paid Green + Millsap almost 30 million combined, they will play for sure barring injury.

The sat Faried and Arthur when they decided that they were not a fit with what Malone wanted, and everybody knew that Faried would be a problem when they did it. So I don't think that the money will be that strong of a factor.

Yea, but Faried was signed before Malone came and before 'Jokic era', so that's not really the same situation. At this point I'd expect they know exactly what they are getting from Millsap and why did they sign him.

I actually think Millsap was a panic signing, I think when they figured out that Grant was leaving they went and overpaid for Millsap so we would have a starting quality player at PF.

[THE J0KER]

The Nuggets paid Green + Millsap almost 30 million combined, they will play for sure barring injury.

The sat Faried and Arthur when they decided that they were not a fit with what Malone wanted, and everybody knew that Faried would be a problem when they did it. So I don't think that the money will be that strong of a factor.

Yea, but Faried was signed before Malone came and before 'Jokic era', so that's not really the same situation. At this point I'd expect they know exactly what they are getting from Millsap and why did they sign him.

I'm pretty sure Nuggets didn't want to re-sign Millsap this season. He becomes a late plan-B option after Jeramy Grant declined Nuggets' offer and signed with the Pistons.