Is it time to move Juancho ?

[skywalker33]

Let me start by saying I like Juancho, but it appears he's already moved out of the rotation. Yes we picked up his option but that is to keep him cost controlled IMO (making him reasonable trade bait). It seems to me with Barton injured, the question of WHY Craig is getting time and Hernangomez sits stands out. We could definitely use his shooting, he's a much better shooter than Craig while Craig is the better defender. In fact, Juancho isn't even getting the BACKUP SF mins. yet another mystery to me.

Why are we keeping what a valuable commodity on the bench or not giving him more development time ?? Does he have any trade value ?

[NuggetsWY]

Let me start by saying I like Juancho, but it appears he's already moved out of the rotation. Yes we picked up his option but that is to keep him cost controlled IMO (making him reasonable trade bait). It seems to me with Barton injured, the question of WHY Craig is getting time and Hernangomez sits stands out. We could definitely use his shooting, he's a much better shooter than Craig while Craig is the better defender. In fact, Juancho isn't even getting the BACKUP SF mins. yet another mystery to me.

Why are we keeping what a valuable commodity on the bench or not giving him more development time ?? Does he have any trade value ?

I love Hernangomez and would love to keep him IF our coach would use him. I do not understand why he is not seeing playing time but (I hate to admit it) I can almost justify not playing him.

Unfortunately, not playing him reduces his value because it shows other teams that either he's damaged or he can't be trusted - or at least that we don't value him. Therefore they will not want to pay much for him. That's not terrible for us, since his value probably isn't fantastic anyway. But if we aren't going to use him, why not give him a shot somewhere else - that's respect.

Of course we are now one more forward injury away from Hernangomez seeing serious playing time, so ...

[THE J0KER]

I will wait until Barton comeback to say more about this subject. Couple teams have tall SF players, so Malone will not be always in the position to play Beasley and Harris as small forwards. And we will see more from Juancho. We know Malone is stubborn in such cases, last season he didn't want to give any chance to Faried despite Millsap missed 44 games, and Jokic/Plumlee duo didn't work well together. If Juancho is done for Malone, better to trade him already, than killing his trade value as we do in Nurkic, Mudiay, and Faried cases in near past.

[skywalker33]

See, just proves Juancho is on RealGM. I bring up a trade potentential and he has to go out and have a really nice game

[youngthegiant]

It's ridiculous that Craig is still starting. Juancho has a game saving block. Wakes up the entire team on a road game that was heading for disaster. What does he need to do to get Malone's trust. Juancho had a role on this team last season but Malone didn't want to give him a chance. It's clear that Malone is playing favorites. Craig isn't good enough defensively to be playing 4 on 5 on offense and sometimes even 3 on 5 with how Millsap has been shooting the 3.
Someone needs to step in from the front office and tell Malone Craig is a borderline NBA player. I've been saying this since last season, Craig is just a crutch on this team. Even Beasley has proven to be a more valuable player on the floor. Malone trusts Craig because he doesn't make mistakes. Well guess what, he does nothing but rebound offensively, he doesn't make mistakes because he literally never has to make any kind of decision. Juancho can play and is a great fit with the starting unit. That extra spacing is going to help Murray and Harris so much.

[The Rebel]

I think if anything Juancho and Beasley both have proven that they deserve minutes over Craig, and I would have said the same thing before last night. Craig is okay as a hustle player for a few a minutes a night, but he is not a rotation player, he just is not good enough on either end. Personally I am of the opinion that he and Lydon should be packaged for an expiring veteran 5th big that can play center, we have the exceptions so it is not like salaries have to match.

[NuggetsWY]

I love Craig - off the bench. He is indeed a decent, better than average defender and when he cuts to the hoop, he can score against almost anyone. That's a nice bench player.

Playing with the starters, we need spacing and Hernangomez provides that.

Balance is important. Jokic, Millsap, Hernangomez, Harris, Murray makes a nice, balanced starting lineup.

Think about a bench consisting of Plumlee, Lyles, Craig, Beasley, Morris. They seem like a nice fit. Better when Thomas & Barton are back. How about a bench of Plumlee, Lyles, Barton, Morris, Thomas. Then we have a real issue because we are leaving out Beasley (hate that) and Craig.

We have loads of options and frankly, Malone can't keep everyone happy (players or fans). How he uses those players is more important than which ones he puts on the court - but that's just my opinion.

((( Oh, oh; I forgot Porter & Vanderbilt. Not! That's 14 players that seem like they can be a top-9 player. Now, can we trade three or four of those to grab a pretty good player? We can make the playoffs this year if we get it all together but trading someone like Hernangomez plus one or two of our other young players, could elevate us into serious contenders. )))

[skywalker33]

It's ridiculous that Craig is still starting. Juancho has a game saving block. Wakes up the entire team on a road game that was heading for disaster. What does he need to do to get Malone's trust. Juancho had a role on this team last season but Malone didn't want to give him a chance. It's clear that Malone is playing favorites. Craig isn't good enough defensively to be playing 4 on 5 on offense and sometimes even 3 on 5 with how Millsap has been shooting the 3.
Someone needs to step in from the front office and tell Malone Craig is a borderline NBA player. I've been saying this since last season, Craig is just a crutch on this team. Even Beasley has proven to be a more valuable player on the floor. Malone trusts Craig because he doesn't make mistakes. Well guess what, he does nothing but rebound offensively, he doesn't make mistakes because he literally never has to make any kind of decision. Juancho can play and is a great fit with the starting unit. That extra spacing is going to help Murray and Harris so much.

You're HILARIOUS !! You make it sound as if Juancho is the ENTIRE reason we are 7-1 this season with your love for the guy. And just so happens you pop up after he played one of his unexpected great games

The thing is I agree with you right now. Juancho's sporadical play is popping up more and more, he looks like the player we expected when we drafted him 15th overall. It also appears that the more he plays the better he looks, will that continue with more consistent minutes ??? That would be nice giving Barton more time to recover (or head back to the bench ), provide more spacing and make the offense more potent again, even giving us a different look. On the flip side, Craig is the better defender so the rest of the starter, including Juancho will need to step up their games. Not sure how well he'll fare against quicker SF's but he does have some size we can utilize.

[NuggetsWY]

It's ridiculous that Craig is still starting. Juancho has a game saving block. Wakes up the entire team on a road game that was heading for disaster. What does he need to do to get Malone's trust. Juancho had a role on this team last season but Malone didn't want to give him a chance. It's clear that Malone is playing favorites. Craig isn't good enough defensively to be playing 4 on 5 on offense and sometimes even 3 on 5 with how Millsap has been shooting the 3.
Someone needs to step in from the front office and tell Malone Craig is a borderline NBA player. I've been saying this since last season, Craig is just a crutch on this team. Even Beasley has proven to be a more valuable player on the floor. Malone trusts Craig because he doesn't make mistakes. Well guess what, he does nothing but rebound offensively, he doesn't make mistakes because he literally never has to make any kind of decision. Juancho can play and is a great fit with the starting unit. That extra spacing is going to help Murray and Harris so much.

You're HILARIOUS !! You make it sound as if Juancho is the ENTIRE reason we are 7-1 this season with your love for the guy. And just so happens you pop up after he played one of his unexpected great games

The thing is I agree with you right now. Juancho's sporadical play is popping up more and more, he looks like the player we expected when we drafted him 15th overall. It also appears that the more he plays the better he looks, will that continue with more consistent minutes ??? That would be nice giving Barton more time to recover (or head back to the bench ), provide more spacing and make the offense more potent again, even giving us a different look. On the flip side, Craig is the better defender so the rest of the starter, including Juancho will need to step up their games. Not sure how well he'll fare against quicker SF's but he does have some size we can utilize.

Young = Sporadic
When it becomes consistent, that's starter or serious bench minutes = Top-9
Hernangomez is closer to the later these days --- or so it seems

[e_l_f_o]

He loves it in Denver ; would always like to have someone with his mentaility in my team

https://as.com/baloncesto/2018/11/02/videos/1541160834_391177.html?autoplay=1

[TunaFish]

That was a great game he played in Cleveland. He is a natural shooter and improving defense. You develop a talent like this.

[U hova]

The last time we moved a talent on the bench we got back Plumlee...

[skywalker33]

The last time we moved a talent on the bench we got back Plumlee...

And yet we got rid of a cancer and have a very good fit at backup center

[The Rebel]

For those talking about trading for a superstar the question is overall cost. Teams are not going to give a superstar for Juancho, you will be lucky to get a guy as good as he should be in a year. For a star you are looking at a lot of the young guys, and going all in like the Twolves did a little over a year ago. The issue is that I do not see this team as being ready for that. I think we are a year away from a move like that, we should easily be a playoff team with or without that guy, but our young guys need at least a year to figure out how to play in the playoffs. If they do well you go all in on your extra young guys and get that guy.

That being said if you could trade something like Barton and Juancho for Butler, that is worth a discussion. We have the room under the tax to extend him to a max if we opt out of Millsap's deal and pay him less or Lyles is the starter for now. We already have MPJ and Vanderbilt who should be ready to start playing. I think our team is full of hard workers and guys who take the game very serious so Butler may see the opportunity here.

Overall without getting a star level player for cheap I see no reason to trade Juancho. He is not a selfish player, he moves well off the ball, he shoots well, and while he is not great he is a solid defender what more do we need from a 5th starter? Even if Juancho is inconsistent he only has to go off once in a while and defenses will respect him enough to spread the floor. If he develops into more than that then we are good, if not he will become the bench guy behind MPJ in a couple of years.

[skywalker33]

Well my premise is if you’re not going to play him, then you should try to recoup some future value if possible

[eathb_au]

I think eventually we'll need to move Juancho, Beasley or Lyles.

Barton coming back moves one of them to third string, and ideally, MPJ will need minutes as soon as he's ready (too good talent to let rot on the bench).

We're winning so it's all cool now but reality is that Lyles has only had 1 or 2 good months as a Nugget.

[NuggetsWY]

I think eventually we'll need to move Juancho, Beasley or Lyles.

Barton coming back moves one of them to third string, and ideally, MPJ will need minutes as soon as he's ready (too good talent to let rot on the bench).

We're winning so it's all cool now but reality is that Lyles has only had 1 or 2 good months as a Nugget.

But trading one of them for another player, even a draft pick, isn't going to help much. The way I see it, we have too many good players, but could use another great player. Malone likes nine players and of course there's always injuries. But right now we've got 15 players that all seem deserving of PT. Clearly we have center & both guard slots set. So forward is what we should be looking for. We have some good ones or so it seems, but we could consider a trade.

Millsap is a good trading option and if we add one or two of our young players, we might be able to get a top notch forward.

Thomas might be a trade option if someone wants a PG as a rental; again, if we add one or two young players.

Barton might be the best trading option and if we add a young player or two, we could pick up a top forward.

Now - how do we find the right trading partner? (((BTW, I'd prefer to gamble on what we have. )))

[euroleague]

Millsap and Juancho for Butler?

[NuggetsWY]

Millsap and Juancho for Butler?

Yeah, it's not a terrible idea but the salary issues prohibit this one. So then we ask, what does Minnesota need? No doubt they'd want Gary Harris but that isn't happening. They use Butler at SF but they have Wiggins plus others there.

Would they be interested in Morris? Or Beasley? Or Hernangomez? Or Barton? Or Lyles? Hmmm, let's no forget they already have a full roster so the two-for-one type trades mean they eat a salary (never good, but not always bad). Then there's the issue of Butler as an expiring.

If we eat Dieng's contract and Butler says he'll re-sign here. Then Millsap + Beasley might be attractive to them. It's going to be tough to work out a deal mostly because of Butler's expiring (player option). Millsap has a team option, so it's not quite as bad.

[skywalker33]

Millsap and Juancho for Butler?

Yeah, it's not a terrible idea but the salary issues prohibit this one. So then we ask, what does Minnesota need? No doubt they'd want Gary Harris but that isn't happening. They use Butler at SF but they have Wiggins plus others there.

Would they be interested in Morris? Or Beasley? Or Hernangomez? Or Barton? Or Lyles? Hmmm, let's no forget they already have a full roster so the two-for-one type trades mean they eat a salary (never good, but not always bad). Then there's the issue of Butler as an expiring.

If we eat Dieng's contract and Butler says he'll re-sign here. Then Millsap + Beasley might be attractive to them. It's going to be tough to work out a deal mostly because of Butler's expiring (player option). Millsap has a team option, so it's not quite as bad.

Clear overpayment considering the position Butler has put the Wolves in