Denver Nuggets 2022-23 regular season & Western Conference playoff seed race

Post #1 » by **THE J0KER** » Sat Oct 15, 2022 3:59 pm

Denver is listed by bookmakers and most of the experts as the #4 contender to reach WC #1 seed for the 2023 playoff, slightly ahead of the Lakers, Mavs, and Grizzlies, but (clearly) behind Warriors, Clippers, and Suns. Out of last season's contenders no more Utah Jazz team, but chances of the Timberwolves and Pelicans are very risen. The last 10th spot for the new 10-seed format playoff (7-10 seeds playing play-in tournament before the 8-seed playoff) should belong to Portland. From Kings, Jazz, Spurs, OKC, and Rockets many expect a tight TANK RACE for the 2023 draft with already very promising TOP2 picks.

If Jokic continues to play as a serious MVP contender, Murray and Porter are back to their best level after hard injuries, Hyland improves under expectations, and KCP and Brown successfully adapt their games to the Nuggets system - only sky is the limit for this team in 2023!

skywalker33 · Post #2 » by **skywalker33** » Mon Oct 17, 2022 2:30 am

Looks like Jamal will start opening night...YEAH !

Manolito · Post #3 » by **Manolito** » Mon Oct 17, 2022 8:24 pm

I do not know where to post this, is not anymore an offseason / roster thread?

After the last waives and roster changes, do we really keep jack White as second two way? The guy has zero upside (is 25yo) and brings nothing useful. He is a poor man Cancar.

I understand FO trust on Gillespie and want to wait for me to become Monte 2.0 in 2-3 years, but White??? Why are we wasting both two way slots?

skywalker33 · Post #4 » by **skywalker33** » Mon Oct 17, 2022 9:02 pm

Manolito wrote:I do not know where to post this, is not anymore an offseason / roster thread?

After the last waives and roster changes, do we really keep jack White as second two way? The guy has zero upside (is 25yo) and brings nothing useful. He is a poor man Cancar.

I understand FO trust on Gillespie and want to wait for me to become Monte 2.0 in 2-3 years, but White??? Why are we wasting both two way slots?

Interesting take, perhaps you can expound on this a bit. White was one of the best players on our Summer League team, proving himself as a potential 3-D (it was only SL, though). As a two-way player though, he probably not going to see much PT in the big leagues but might in the G-League.

And nobody could foresee the accident Gillespie had, kind of a freak thing. He was showing some good skills prior, so I don't see what issue you have with him.

Who would you like to see on our two-ways instead of these prospects ? And noting they are just prospects, seems exactly what a "two-way" is for, right. We have had some success with our 2-ways, i.e Reed, Dozier are just a couple of examples, so I am wondering what you would've liked to see ther.

Richard Miller · Post #5 » by **Richard Miller** » Mon Oct 17, 2022 11:54 pm

Manolito wrote:Why are we wasting both two way slots?

Two way slots are hardly important atm, even someone on roster like Watson is barely going to get minutes and the two-way is an afterthought.

Manolito · Post #6 » by **Manolito** » Tue Oct 18, 2022 5:25 am

White potential 3D? The guy has less than 30% career 3%PT, lol

I agree two way contracts are almost residual, but Nuggets has been successful with them, why "wasting" them this season.

Two way contract is as a lottery ticket, I would have preferred to give an opportunity to younger players. AJ Lawson, Gabe Brown, Charles Bassey...outcome might be the same but at least there is some slight upside

Richard Miller · Post #7 » by **Richard Miller** » Tue Oct 18, 2022 7:53 am

Well, they still have a bunch of guys on the G-league team, and whoever was signed on those two-way would spend most of the time in the G-league anyway

skywalker33 · Post #8 » by **skywalker33** » Sat Oct 29, 2022 3:55 am

Just saw Josh Primo was waived by the Spurs, would LOVE to see him in our G-League affiliate. Came out too early from college but he has some skills

skywalker33 · Post #9 » by **skywalker33** » Sun Oct 30, 2022 9:27 pm

skywalker33 wrote:Just saw Josh Primo was waived by the Spurs, would LOVE to see him in our G-League affiliate. Came out too early from college but he has some skills

Just saw the allegations with Primo, too bad, he's got talent at least below the shoulders. How come these situations are happening out of Texas ??? Guess it's an easy pass due to character concerns, just have to see what Watson will bring ??

skywalker33 · Post #10 » by **skywalker33** » Tue Nov 1, 2022 12:43 am

So, don't know about you guys but I'm ready for a 12-16 game winning streak. Not like we don't have the talent, and what's that's saying "PATIENCE MY ASS, I'M GONNA KILL SOMETHING !"

Richard Miller · Post #11 » by **Richard Miller** » Tue Nov 1, 2022 8:37 am

skywalker33 wrote:So, don't know about you guys but I'm ready for a 12-16 game winning streak.

It's going to be bumpy ride, the bigger picture approach

Read on Twitter

Post #12 » by **NuggetsWY** » Fri Nov 4, 2022 2:27 pm

Jokic's got some pretty good insight there. Only 3 of our top 10 players so far this year played for us last year -- ignoring Porter's meager minutes. It's going to take some time to meld this team together.

I will remain convinced that as currently composed, this team is going to be one of the most difficult teams in the league to beat -- once they meld together. "Most difficult" simply because no other team plays the same style because no other team has a player anything like Jokic.

Richard Miller · Post #13 » by **Richard Miller** » Fri Nov 4, 2022 10:38 pm

NuggetsWY wrote:Jokic's got some pretty good insight there. Only 3 of our top 10 players so far this year played for us last year -- ignoring Porter's meager minutes. It's going to take some time to meld this team together.

Yup, and now already they have 7 players averaging double digits in points - Brown, KCP, AG, MPJ, Jokic, Jamal, Bones (and Jeff not far behind with 8.6) so they are definitely going in the right direction.

skywalker33 · Post #14 » by **skywalker33** » Mon Nov 28, 2022 4:05 am

Only one game behind PHX for 1st place in the West, as it should be. PHX is playing well, even without CP3 but we're also playing well while MPJ and Murray are rounding into form from their injuries. Our depth is also getting valuable PT.

Post #15 » by **THE J0KER** » Tue Nov 29, 2022 12:25 am

If we beat twice b2b Houston at home, the November record will be 10-4 (14-7 overall) with Nuggets almost taking full advantage of an easy schedule and placing well for the TOP2 seed fight on the West. The fact that the Clippers and Warriors have a bad start makes this record look even better.

skywalker33 · Post #16 » by **skywalker33** » Fri Dec 9, 2022 6:51 pm

Got six of the next seven games at home, liking our chances in most if not all. MEM, POR and PHX will be our biggest challenges

Manolito · Post #17 » by **Manolito** » Wed Dec 21, 2022 2:23 pm

If Chicago goes into rebuilding mode...Caruso might be a good target. He fits into Monte's TPE but I don't see Kroenkes going so deep into the tax.

Caruso x Ish Smith + one of OKC's 2RP and DEN24 SRP

He could be a good substitute for BB when most likely he leaves next year and he is under control two more years. CHI would like to add Zeke into the trade though.

skywalker33 · Post #18 » by **skywalker33** » Thu Dec 22, 2022 5:09 am

Manolito wrote:If Chicago goes into rebuilding mode...Caruso might be a good target. He fits into Monte's TPE but I don't see Kroenkes going so deep into the tax.

Caruso x Ish Smith + one of OKC's 2RP and DEN24 SRP

He could be a good substitute for BB when most likely he leaves next year and he is under control two more years. CHI would like to add Zeke into the trade though.

Rather just find a way to keep Brown, younger, better and already has chemistry building with Jokic. Caruso isn't bad but Brown has already made a difference here.

Manolito · Post #19 » by **Manolito** » Thu Dec 22, 2022 5:11 pm

What is exactly the plan to keep BB?

Unless he accepts a huge paycut (we can only offer 120% of his current salary), or we go below the tax to offer him Mid Level money (still Big paycut), It is not possible to sign him at his fair value

Sent from my GM1913 using RealGM mobile app

skywalker33 · Post #20 » by **skywalker33** » Thu Dec 22, 2022 7:25 pm

Manolito wrote:What is exactly the plan to keep BB?

Unless he accepts a huge paycut (we can only offer 120% of his current salary), or we go below the tax to offer him Mid Level money (still Big paycut), It is not possible to sign him at his fair value

Sent from my GM1913 using RealGM mobile app

Well, never said I KNEW a way to keep him, but so far, but to my knowledge, nobody says he's leaving either....I seem to recall how excited he was to join the Nuggets when he signed.

I was surprised Brown’s free agency foray last offseason wasn’t more lucrative after a strong postseason showing with the Nets – he ended up signing a two-year deal with Denver for the taxpayer mid-level exception. It was rumored that he had higher offers and liked the fit with the Nuggets.

He's already putting up career numbers here in points and assists, he's easily thriving with the Nuggets and he knows he's a big part of that. It's not always about just the money.

First part of the plan is to win a championship.