gobullschi wrote:The Rebel wrote:gobullschi wrote:
Neither of those quotes validate the point your emotionally trying to spew.
Saying OPJ does not make Denver a FA destination is irrelevant because that’s not what’s being suggested. The cap space gained gives Denver the possibility to sign a FA. I never said the trade made Denver a FA destination, I said the talent already on Denver did that.
Also, saying that Denver lives off the draft is good insight on the front office’s history, but it doesn’t mean that they abandon an entire avenue to roster construction.
I completely understand why Denver wouldn’t make the trade, but was curious if using free agency in 2021 was discussed on your board. I don’t really care if they got the cap space from an OPJ trade or with a different team all together. Thought it might lead to some interesting thoughts. Fell short.
Stay classy.
Reading through this thread it is obvious to me where the disconnect is coming from. You are under the assumption that we need another star, we don't see it that way. We have Jokic and Murray, with MPJ having an amazing chance to develop into a superstar. If he doesn't develop than we have Bol and Hampton, 2 guys that were in the top 5 of their college recruiting class and fell in the draft for various reasons. All 3 (especially MPJ and Hampton) have a ton of potential to become a 3rd star or better.
Guys like Paul George and that type all refuse to play in a system, they want their isos, they want their stats, and they want their glory, our team does not work that way. Every single guy on our team knows that Jokic and Murray run the offense, they get the ball to the hot hand, if there is no hot hand than they do it themselves. It works for us.
We also know that there has only been 1 time in the last 50 years that won anything with 4 stars, and that was the Warriors. That was a team that fit perfectly together and were all willing and able to put their stats aside to win. It rarely happen where you can find 4 players in the league that happily put aside their personal glory for the team.
Now 3 star teams with a good-great bench and role players that fit well while accepting their role, that is who wins championships, and we have a very very good shot at having a minimum of 3 stars right now. We are using the Spurs model, which led them to 5 championships while rarely signing any free agents. So why would we want another star in a year? IN a year MPJ, Bol, or Hampton might be the 3rd star. This team has been built through the draft and development, we know that and know that they will unlock at least 1 if not all 3 of those guys potential. We need role players and our bench fixed, which is what the front office has been trying to do this offseason.
Appreciate your response.
I guess the reason you would create that cap space to sign a third star is that you aren’t trading MPJ, Bol, or Hampton. Hence, you could end up with 4 potential stars. It’s extremely rare to even have the opportunity to potentially have 4 stars.
I have a ton of respect for Denver’s front office, so I completely understand why they would stand pat. (I wanted Bulls to draft MPJ) Thank you for providing some incredible insight on how your front office works. Hopefully AK is able to carry over that success from Denver to Chicago. If free agency isn’t how Chicago Bulls fans should expect to add an impact player, it sounds like trading OPJ for a draft asset is the more likely move. Just not to Denver

I posted on the Bulls board after you hired AK, and told them how the Nuggets have worked his entire time here. If you go back to the Rockets when he was there they always found a lot of value in unknown free agents and 2nd round picks.
From what I have read and seen it appears that Arturus is going to do similar things to what we have been doing in Denver. He went out and hired a coaching staff and development guys who are known for helping the young guys. He drafted guys who are late bloomers, very talented but likely a year or two away from contributing, and reportedly hard workers. He will continue to use the guys on your team, bring in good locker room guys as veterans, and as the young guys develop and earn minutes than the veterans will be traded. Those trades will usually be for future picks and a prospect that the team likes.
For the 1st 3-4 years after Connelly and AK were hired the Nuggets were picked as the team with no direction by national writers and fans of other teams, so I would not be surprised if you see the same thing in 2 years. Then 1 day you will look at the roster and realize that your team is one of the youngest in the league, and you are very competitive. While some will talk up how he found Jokic, Jokic is just 1 of the guys who the Nuggets got for cheap.
While AK was here we drafted
Nurkic, Jokic, Murray, Beasley, Harris, Juancho, Morris, and MPJ all playing quality minutes around the league and that is with Cancar and Bol unproven yet having been on the bench and gleague last year. While there have been some busts along the way, that is pretty damn impressive draft resume in 6 years, especially since we never blew up our team and tanked.
He will also likely find undrafted or throw in to other trade type of guys that can contribute. We signed Craig out of the Australian league. Barton was a throw in on the Afflalo for a 1st deal. Dozier and Goodwin (now with Hawks) were G League guys, Terrence Davis who was a rookie for the Raptors was an undrafted guy on our summer league and late cut from our training camp roster.
Overall it will take time, but I think he is starting off just like they did here.
Oh and 1 other thing, the last 2 times the Nuggets had a decent roster and cap space they signed Millsap who was coming off his 4th straight all star game, and Kenyon Martin who was also going into his 5th year coming off an all star game. It is not that we don't think we can get free agents, we just don't see the need to be messing up what we have so that maybe in a year or two we might get someone.