2023 Offseason

[skywalker33]

Hey fellas, first of all, congrats on winning your first title and as a Suns fan, I sure hope to be in that club one day.

I'm curious to know your take on MPJ in relation to his production per dollar and long term plans with him. Over on the Suns board, there's been a lot of discussion about moving Ayton for depth pieces because DA on the max (similar to MPJ on the max) doesn't appear to be the best allocation of financial resources. Is he a long-term piece for you guys or is it a case of, if you can turn him into another starter and 1-2 rotation guys, you'd do that?

Well, obviously we'd like more consistency in his play, many expect his playoff dropoff to get better with better health this season, we'll have to see what turns up. But ask yourself why the hell would we consider DA when Jokic would be playing ahead of him ?? And with his poor playoff performance (even compared to MPJ's) I wouldn't touch Ayton, he just disappeared. Then you have to consider helping out a rival in the Western Conference, probably not gonna happen. There are plenty of teams that might be interested, but DEN isn't one of them

Oh this is not a trade idea/proposal. I just wanted to get your guys feeling of a player on a max contract who has been underwhelming and whether there's any thoughts of a better use of that salary.

Think we're pretty happy with the results of last season, feels like we'll roll into another one just like it.

[lilfishi22]

Well, obviously we'd like more consistency in his play, many expect his playoff dropoff to get better with better health this season, we'll have to see what turns up. But ask yourself why the hell would we consider DA when Jokic would be playing ahead of him ?? And with his poor playoff performance (even compared to MPJ's) I wouldn't touch Ayton, he just disappeared. Then you have to consider helping out a rival in the Western Conference, probably not gonna happen. There are plenty of teams that might be interested, but DEN isn't one of them

Oh this is not a trade idea/proposal. I just wanted to get your guys feeling of a player on a max contract who has been underwhelming and whether there's any thoughts of a better use of that salary.

Think we're pretty happy with the results of last season, feels like we'll roll into another one just like it.

yeah I mean that's understandable, don't fix what ain't broken. If you guys came up short, would there be a bigger conversation around what to do with MPJ?

[skywalker33]

Oh this is not a trade idea/proposal. I just wanted to get your guys feeling of a player on a max contract who has been underwhelming and whether there's any thoughts of a better use of that salary.

Think we're pretty happy with the results of last season, feels like we'll roll into another one just like it.

yeah I mean that's understandable, don't fix what ain't broken. If you guys came up short, would there be a bigger conversation around what to do with MPJ?

Your lips say "not interested in a trade, but your post say...DROOL" ....and WHO do you think is a better team than the Nuggets right now, your Suns ??? lmao...still no bench, even less chemistry, and still no heart, DA proves that

[lilfishi22]

Think we're pretty happy with the results of last season, feels like we'll roll into another one just like it.

yeah I mean that's understandable, don't fix what ain't broken. If you guys came up short, would there be a bigger conversation around what to do with MPJ?

Your lips say "not interested in a trade, but your post say...DROOL" ....and WHO do you think is a better team than the Nuggets right now, your Suns ??? lmao...still no bench, even less chemistry, and still no heart, DA proves that

lol wtf is your problem? So defensive......

I didn't come with a trade proposal/idea, I didn't say anything about the Suns being a better team (clearly one team won the chip) nor did I say anything negative about your team either.

All I wanted to know, because I thought perhaps there was some common ground with another fanbase of a team that has a 3rd option on a max contract and whether that was the best use of resources.

[skywalker33]

yeah I mean that's understandable, don't fix what ain't broken. If you guys came up short, would there be a bigger conversation around what to do with MPJ?

Your lips say "not interested in a trade, but your post say...DROOL" ....and WHO do you think is a better team than the Nuggets right now, your Suns ??? lmao...still no bench, even less chemistry, and still no heart, DA proves that

lol wtf is your problem? So defensive......

I didn't come with a trade proposal/idea, I didn't say anything about the Suns being a better team (clearly one team won the chip) nor did I say anything negative about your team either.

All I wanted to know, because I thought perhaps there was some common ground with another fanbase of a team that has a 3rd option on a max contract and whether that was the best use of resources.

I did answer your question a few posts ago, you keep coming back here, not sure why. Just seems like you want to find out something, just stating we're OK with MPJ and our team.

[lilfishi22]

Your lips say "not interested in a trade, but your post say...DROOL" ....and WHO do you think is a better team than the Nuggets right now, your Suns ??? lmao...still no bench, even less chemistry, and still no heart, DA proves that

lol wtf is your problem? So defensive......

I didn't come with a trade proposal/idea, I didn't say anything about the Suns being a better team (clearly one team won the chip) nor did I say anything negative about your team either.

All I wanted to know, because I thought perhaps there was some common ground with another fanbase of a team that has a 3rd option on a max contract and whether that was the best use of resources.

I did answer your question a few posts ago, you keep coming back here, not sure why. Just seems like you want to find out something, just stating we're OK with MPJ and our team.

Yeah I wanted to find out how you guys felt about MPJ and whether he's a long term guy for you. I wanted to know because I see parallels with Ayton who some fans want to keep and others want to turn him into depth pieces.

But alright mate, stay defensive

[skywalker33]

lol wtf is your problem? So defensive......

I didn't come with a trade proposal/idea, I didn't say anything about the Suns being a better team (clearly one team won the chip) nor did I say anything negative about your team either.

All I wanted to know, because I thought perhaps there was some common ground with another fanbase of a team that has a 3rd option on a max contract and whether that was the best use of resources.

I did answer your question a few posts ago, you keep coming back here, not sure why. Just seems like you want to find out something, just stating we're OK with MPJ and our team.

Yeah I wanted to find out how you guys felt about MPJ and whether he's a long term guy for you. I wanted to know because I see parallels with Ayton who some fans want to keep and others want to turn him into depth pieces.

But alright mate, stay defensive

Whatever, you made the assumption incorrectly, but have a nice day

[lilfishi22]

Thanks, appreciate the frosty welcome

[THE J0KER]

Hey fellas, first of all, congrats on winning your first title and as a Suns fan, I sure hope to be in that club one day.

I'm curious to know your take on MPJ in relation to his production per dollar and long term plans with him. Over on the Suns board, there's been a lot of discussion about moving Ayton for depth pieces because DA on the max (similar to MPJ on the max) doesn't appear to be the best allocation of financial resources. Is he a long-term piece for you guys or is it a case of, if you can turn him into another starter and 1-2 rotation guys, you'd do that?

After surgery and a long injury pause, there is no pressure on MPJ and Jamal Murray to produce even close to what is expected from max contract players during the first season after recovery, especially because already in February it was obvious Denver would take #1 seed in the West anyway, Gordon have career breakthrough season, KCP and Brown has great and fast integration into unique Denver offensive system around center-playmaker, and Jokic has another MVP season. Since the beginning of the playoff Murray turned into his best (RS: 20-4-6... , PO: 26-6-7), and while we are disappointed because MPJ trademark best weapon (threes) badly underperformed, he played at least career-best defense in PO (over 8 rebounds is huge for an SF behind dominant center) and all great frontcourt lineups we faced this playoff not produce their best numbers vs Jokic-Gordon-MPJ (KAT-Gobert, KD-Ayton, AD-LBJ, Adebayo-Butler). MPJ's threes will be back again if he stays healthy, so nobody pushed the panic button here about him.

Ayton's problem with the Suns is more fundamental because he lost much of his offensive role after Durant comes, and because he faced Jokic his defense looked really bad. The NBA market for centers like Ayton is bad while for tall SF good shooters were always good. Also, the MPJ contract will be a problem for Nuggets only if we go to give supermax to Murray which is a potential 2025 summer story, while Ayton's problem is urgent already right now. Phoenix was very happy with how they already solved the CP3 problem but in Ayton's case seems that his contract is some kind of negative asset. Good for him that he is the former #1 pick (that fame helped Wiggins deals twice), and that few badly managed teams in the league have salary cap holes. That seems to be the most logical destination for him, I'm confused about rumors connecting him to the Sixers or even the Suns giving up to get rid of him which would be a big mistake, he is not the type of the big man KD needs around. A cheaper defensive specialist is what the KD-Booker-Beal trio needs on the center spot. The big FO steps for Denver's 2023 title are not just because we added KCP and Brown to our roster, but also because we finally get rid of Will Barton, the player who never adjusted his game into our special point-center offensive schemes around Jokic.

[Wigginstime]

If Dillon Brooks effectively gets "black balled", would Denver be wise to offer him a 2 year min contract as a replace to brown should we loose him?

[mirmil]

If Dillon Brooks effectively gets "black balled", would Denver be wise to offer him a 2 year min contract as a replace to brown should we loose him?

I think they could, him and Mal are good related as far as I could see. Of course he would have to adapt to a 2nd unit here, I just dont see him better than KCP.

[skywalker33]

If Dillon Brooks effectively gets "black balled", would Denver be wise to offer him a 2 year min contract as a replace to brown should we loose him?

One of the characteristics the FO has made quite clear they are looking for is High Character, which, if you're getting black-balled, you obviously do not have. Also, with CB and Watson coming along, we should have enough defensive talent to suffice should we lose BB. Don't think either is as good all-around talent as Brown but we also wouldn't have to add more salary to an already tight Cap.

[lilfishi22]

Hey fellas, first of all, congrats on winning your first title and as a Suns fan, I sure hope to be in that club one day.

I'm curious to know your take on MPJ in relation to his production per dollar and long term plans with him. Over on the Suns board, there's been a lot of discussion about moving Ayton for depth pieces because DA on the max (similar to MPJ on the max) doesn't appear to be the best allocation of financial resources. Is he a long-term piece for you guys or is it a case of, if you can turn him into another starter and 1-2 rotation guys, you'd do that?

After surgery and a long injury pause, there is no pressure on MPJ and Jamal Murray to produce even close to what is expected from max contract players during the first season after recovery, especially because already in February it was obvious Denver would take #1 seed in the West anyway, Gordon have career breakthrough season, KCP and Brown has great and fast integration into unique Denver offensive system around center-playmaker, and Jokic has another MVP season. Since the beginning of the playoff Murray turned into his best (RS: 20-4-6... , PO: 26-6-7), and while we are disappointed because MPJ trademark best weapon (threes) badly underperformed, he played at least career-best defense in PO (over 8 rebounds is huge for an SF behind dominant center) and all great frontcourt lineups we faced this playoff not produce their best numbers vs Jokic-Gordon-MPJ (KAT-Gobert, KD-Ayton, AD-LBJ, Adebayo-Butler). MPJ's threes will be back again if he stays healthy, so nobody pushed the panic button here about him.

Ayton's problem with the Suns is more fundamental because he lost much of his offensive role after Durant comes, and because he faced Jokic his defense looked really bad. The NBA market for centers like Ayton is bad while for tall SF good shooters were always good. Also, the MPJ contract will be a problem for Nuggets only if we go to give supermax to Murray which is a potential 2025 summer story, while Ayton's problem is urgent already right now. Phoenix was very happy with how they already solved the CP3 problem but in Ayton's case seems that his contract is some kind of negative asset. Good for him that he is the former #1 pick (that fame helped Wiggins deals twice), and that few badly managed teams in the league have salary cap holes. That seems to be the most logical destination for him, I'm confused about rumors connecting him to the Sixers or even the Suns giving up to get rid of him which would be a big mistake, he is not the type of the big man KD needs around. A cheaper defensive specialist is what the KD-Booker-Beal trio needs on the center spot. The big FO steps for Denver's 2023 title are not just because we added KCP and Brown to our roster, but also because we finally get rid of Will Barton, the player who never adjusted his game into our special point-center offensive schemes around Jokic.

Yeah I certainly didn't think there was nearly as much urgency (if at all) to turn MPJ into multiple contributory pieces compared to the Suns current situation and in particular since you guys won the title, it's almost a stamp of approval that this group can get it done. You're 100% on point regarding DA. There's a lot of selective memory when it comes to DA on the Suns board. Those who are still supportive of him point to the 2021 playoffs where he did do well in making things tough for Jokic, although that was without any other healthy Denver scorers on the team and overall he was probably our tied 2nd best player in that run but in my view, DA's value is at an all-time low given that's two consecutive playoffs in a row where he didn't quite reach the height of the 2021 playoffs. DA's value was already shaky heading into the prior offseason with only a handful of teams sniffing around a S&T trade and ultimately only one team put their money where their mouth is and offered a real contract to DA.

And as you mentioned, the market is always higher on wings than C's just because there's so few C's who are actually really good whereas a good, but not great wing can still have plenty of impact. The rumors about the Harris/Suns connection were kind of left field. It was really odd and given no other details came out of it (ie third team involvement?) it's hard to really say where it's coming from and what was the motivation. I've had a think about it and Tobias just isn't a fit for the Suns so the only motivation I can think of is a straight salary dump for DA which flies into the face of everything our new owner Ishbia has been doing (spending). I probably wouldn't put too much energy into thinking about this rumor.

[THE J0KER]

Spoiler:

Hey fellas, first of all, congrats on winning your first title and as a Suns fan, I sure hope to be in that club one day.

I'm curious to know your take on MPJ in relation to his production per dollar and long term plans with him. Over on the Suns board, there's been a lot of discussion about moving Ayton for depth pieces because DA on the max (similar to MPJ on the max) doesn't appear to be the best allocation of financial resources. Is he a long-term piece for you guys or is it a case of, if you can turn him into another starter and 1-2 rotation guys, you'd do that?

After surgery and a long injury pause, there is no pressure on MPJ and Jamal Murray to produce even close to what is expected from max contract players during the first season after recovery, especially because already in February it was obvious Denver would take #1 seed in the West anyway, Gordon have career breakthrough season, KCP and Brown has great and fast integration into unique Denver offensive system around center-playmaker, and Jokic has another MVP season. Since the beginning of the playoff Murray turned into his best (RS: 20-4-6... , PO: 26-6-7), and while we are disappointed because MPJ trademark best weapon (threes) badly underperformed, he played at least career-best defense in PO (over 8 rebounds is huge for an SF behind dominant center) and all great frontcourt lineups we faced this playoff not produce their best numbers vs Jokic-Gordon-MPJ (KAT-Gobert, KD-Ayton, AD-LBJ, Adebayo-Butler). MPJ's threes will be back again if he stays healthy, so nobody pushed the panic button here about him.

Ayton's problem with the Suns is more fundamental because he lost much of his offensive role after Durant comes, and because he faced Jokic his defense looked really bad. The NBA market for centers like Ayton is bad while for tall SF good shooters were always good. Also, the MPJ contract will be a problem for Nuggets only if we go to give supermax to Murray which is a potential 2025 summer story, while Ayton's problem is urgent already right now. Phoenix was very happy with how they already solved the CP3 problem but in Ayton's case seems that his contract is some kind of negative asset. Good for him that he is the former #1 pick (that fame helped Wiggins deals twice), and that few badly managed teams in the league have salary cap holes. That seems to be the most logical destination for him, I'm confused about rumors connecting him to the Sixers or even the Suns giving up to get rid of him which would be a big mistake, he is not the type of the big man KD needs around. A cheaper defensive specialist is what the KD-Booker-Beal trio needs on the center spot. The big FO steps for Denver's 2023 title are not just because we added KCP and Brown to our roster, but also because we finally get rid of Will Barton, the player who never adjusted his game into our special point-center offensive schemes around Jokic.

Yeah I certainly didn't think there was nearly as much urgency (if at all) to turn MPJ into multiple contributory pieces compared to the Suns current situation and in particular since you guys won the title, it's almost a stamp of approval that this group can get it done. You're 100% on point regarding DA. There's a lot of selective memory when it comes to DA on the Suns board. Those who are still supportive of him point to the 2021 playoffs where he did do well in making things tough for Jokic, although that was without any other healthy Denver scorers on the team and overall he was probably our tied 2nd best player in that run but in my view, DA's value is at an all-time low given that's two consecutive playoffs in a row where he didn't quite reach the height of the 2021 playoffs. DA's value was already shaky heading into the prior offseason with only a handful of teams sniffing around a S&T trade and ultimately only one team put their money where their mouth is and offered a real contract to DA.

And as you mentioned, the market is always higher on wings than C's just because there's so few C's who are actually really good whereas a good, but not great wing can still have plenty of impact. The rumors about the Harris/Suns connection were kind of left field. It was really odd and given no other details came out of it (ie third team involvement?) it's hard to really say where it's coming from and what was the motivation. I've had a think about it and Tobias just isn't a fit for the Suns so the only motivation I can think of is a straight salary dump for DA which flies into the face of everything our new owner Ishbia has been doing (spending). I probably wouldn't put too much energy into thinking about this rumor.

John Collins's today's sad trade price (washed Rudy Gay and 2nd round pick) tells much about the current market value of decent but overplayed 15-10 big men. I don't think Hawks was desperate, they were just realistic that the main goal in his case is just to get rid of his contract.

[TunaFish]

Starting to look like a lot of positioning in terms of free agency. I don't think there is any chance that Denver makes a move except as to the Bruce Brown spot if needed.

[lilfishi22]

Spoiler:

After surgery and a long injury pause, there is no pressure on MPJ and Jamal Murray to produce even close to what is expected from max contract players during the first season after recovery, especially because already in February it was obvious Denver would take #1 seed in the West anyway, Gordon have career breakthrough season, KCP and Brown has great and fast integration into unique Denver offensive system around center-playmaker, and Jokic has another MVP season. Since the beginning of the playoff Murray turned into his best (RS: 20-4-6... , PO: 26-6-7), and while we are disappointed because MPJ trademark best weapon (threes) badly underperformed, he played at least career-best defense in PO (over 8 rebounds is huge for an SF behind dominant center) and all great frontcourt lineups we faced this playoff not produce their best numbers vs Jokic-Gordon-MPJ (KAT-Gobert, KD-Ayton, AD-LBJ, Adebayo-Butler). MPJ's threes will be back again if he stays healthy, so nobody pushed the panic button here about him.

Ayton's problem with the Suns is more fundamental because he lost much of his offensive role after Durant comes, and because he faced Jokic his defense looked really bad. The NBA market for centers like Ayton is bad while for tall SF good shooters were always good. Also, the MPJ contract will be a problem for Nuggets only if we go to give supermax to Murray which is a potential 2025 summer story, while Ayton's problem is urgent already right now. Phoenix was very happy with how they already solved the CP3 problem but in Ayton's case seems that his contract is some kind of negative asset. Good for him that he is the former #1 pick (that fame helped Wiggins deals twice), and that few badly managed teams in the league have salary cap holes. That seems to be the most logical destination for him, I'm confused about rumors connecting him to the Sixers or even the Suns giving up to get rid of him which would be a big mistake, he is not the type of the big man KD needs around. A cheaper defensive specialist is what the KD-Booker-Beal trio needs on the center spot. The big FO steps for Denver's 2023 title are not just because we added KCP and Brown to our roster, but also because we finally get rid of Will Barton, the player who never adjusted his game into our special point-center offensive schemes around Jokic.

Yeah I certainly didn't think there was nearly as much urgency (if at all) to turn MPJ into multiple contributory pieces compared to the Suns current situation and in particular since you guys won the title, it's almost a stamp of approval that this group can get it done. You're 100% on point regarding DA. There's a lot of selective memory when it comes to DA on the Suns board. Those who are still supportive of him point to the 2021 playoffs where he did do well in making things tough for Jokic, although that was without any other healthy Denver scorers on the team and overall he was probably our tied 2nd best player in that run but in my view, DA's value is at an all-time low given that's two consecutive playoffs in a row where he didn't quite reach the height of the 2021 playoffs. DA's value was already shaky heading into the prior offseason with only a handful of teams sniffing around a S&T trade and ultimately only one team put their money where their mouth is and offered a real contract to DA.

And as you mentioned, the market is always higher on wings than C's just because there's so few C's who are actually really good whereas a good, but not great wing can still have plenty of impact. The rumors about the Harris/Suns connection were kind of left field. It was really odd and given no other details came out of it (ie third team involvement?) it's hard to really say where it's coming from and what was the motivation. I've had a think about it and Tobias just isn't a fit for the Suns so the only motivation I can think of is a straight salary dump for DA which flies into the face of everything our new owner Ishbia has been doing (spending). I probably wouldn't put too much energy into thinking about this rumor.

John Collins's today's sad trade price (washed Rudy Gay and 2nd round pick) tells much about the current market value of decent but overplayed 15-10 big men. I don't think Hawks was desperate, they were just realistic that the main goal in his case is just to get rid of his contract.

There's no doubt DA's value took an indirect hit. Collins situation feels like DA's but like 2 years into the future where he's been on the block forever, no one seems to be super happy and eventually the player gets dumped for cap relief. I hope we can do better than that but at this stage, it does feel like we're going to keep DA just because there's no good deals out there to be made. I do hold out some hope that a week or so after FA opens up and teams that have missed out on the half dozen high value guys might start poking around DA again.

[Riko]

Oh this is not a trade idea/proposal. I just wanted to get your guys feeling of a player on a max contract who has been underwhelming and whether there's any thoughts of a better use of that salary.

Think we're pretty happy with the results of last season, feels like we'll roll into another one just like it.

yeah I mean that's understandable, don't fix what ain't broken. If you guys came up short, would there be a bigger conversation around what to do with MPJ?

Probably not, denver managment is the "patience type".
To be fair too, the next summer the managment have some calculation to make: with the new CBA, I don't think they can keep the starting five (especially in 2025-26). So after the 2023-24 season, imho, is either trade MPJ or losing KCP (summer 2024) or Gordon (summer 2025) o maybe both.

[lilfishi22]

Think we're pretty happy with the results of last season, feels like we'll roll into another one just like it.

yeah I mean that's understandable, don't fix what ain't broken. If you guys came up short, would there be a bigger conversation around what to do with MPJ?

Probably not, denver managment is the "patience type".
To be fair too, the next summer the managment have some calculation to make: with the new CBA, I don't think they can keep the starting five (especially in 2025-26). So after the 2023-24 season, imho, is either trade MPJ or losing KCP (summer 2024) or Gordon (summer 2025) o maybe both.

Makes a lot of sense and something I truly admire. There is a camp within the Suns fanbase that think we should've kept the core together with Book, Mikal and DA even after CP3 rolls off at some point. That is probably the most sustainable way to create a competitive team as your Nuggets have shown and the Warriors have done in the past and I think you can certainly go down that patience route especially when you have a great relationship with an MVP level guy who you're confident isn't going to run off when things get tough.

I think where I deviate from that camp is that while I would've been happy to have kept the ball rolling with the fellas, I do recognise we don't have a guy at a true MVP level like Jokic, like Steph or like Giannis. When you have one of those guys, it's a lot easier to be a contender every year even if you have to part ways with Brown for example. Book is great and he's a super star in my eyes but I also think he's a tier below true MVP's. And because of that, I think taking a punt on a guy like KD and Beal is the right risk to take even if it means taking the "impatient approach" on paper.

[Manolito]

In my opinion we have currently a 12 player roster + 2 two-ways (Gillespie & Tyson):

Murray Pickett
KCP Braun
MPJ Strawther Watson
Gordon Nnaji Cancar
Jokic Kamagate

14.25M$ below second apron.
If Bruce renews: 7.8M$ + 5M$ TMLE = 12.8M$
If Bruce is gone: we can use Monte's TPE to agree any sign and trade up to 9.1M$ + 5M$ = 14.1M$

Good news, we can go up to 9.1M$ to sign a player with S&T. We can additionally use the whole 5M$ TMLE
Bad news: we can not sign Jeff Green (minimum vet) unless one of Cancar or Nnaji are gone.

Apparently we will add 2 veterans this offseason.

[Riko]

yeah I mean that's understandable, don't fix what ain't broken. If you guys came up short, would there be a bigger conversation around what to do with MPJ?

Probably not, denver managment is the "patience type".
To be fair too, the next summer the managment have some calculation to make: with the new CBA, I don't think they can keep the starting five (especially in 2025-26). So after the 2023-24 season, imho, is either trade MPJ or losing KCP (summer 2024) or Gordon (summer 2025) o maybe both.

Makes a lot of sense and something I truly admire. There is a camp within the Suns fanbase that think we should've kept the core together with Book, Mikal and DA even after CP3 rolls off at some point. That is probably the most sustainable way to create a competitive team as your Nuggets have shown and the Warriors have done in the past and I think you can certainly go down that patience route especially when you have a great relationship with an MVP level guy who you're confident isn't going to run off when things get tough.

I think where I deviate from that camp is that while I would've been happy to have kept the ball rolling with the fellas, I do recognise we don't have a guy at a true MVP level like Jokic, like Steph or like Giannis. When you have one of those guys, it's a lot easier to be a contender every year even if you have to part ways with Brown for example. Book is great and he's a super star in my eyes but I also think he's a tier below true MVP's. And because of that, I think taking a punt on a guy like KD and Beal is the right risk to take even if it means taking the "impatient approach" on paper.

Imho your ship sailed when they decide to match DA but without really want him. Denver's managment never doubt Murray-MPJ, even when thet were both hurt. it has a lot to do with Jokic's way of "living" (he cares more about the team than winning or be a superstar) the team/league in comparison to booker (he had various interview about create a superteam in Phoenix).
Denver's organization wuoldn't have trade Bridges (especially with that good contract) but probably retool around Booker-Bridges.