Patches Perry wrote:Domejandro wrote:firedavidkahn wrote: it isn't the same roster
People don't appreciate how big looking Bruce Brown and Jeff Green is, especially with Deandre Jordan and Reggie Jackson getting a year older. Denver has zero depth, it is a serious problem.
Part of it is by design. The cap just squeezes good teams and brings them back down the earth. Denver has $135m tied up in Jokic, Murray, MPJ and Gordon. Once you put a team together, you have a small window where your team is developed and talented enough to win, but also not so top heavy with contracts that you can't fill out your starting lineup and bench.
Minnesota is a year or two behind Denver with the same problem. Let's say they win the chip this year, they've got so much money tied up in their top 4 that it'll be difficult to keep key pieces like Reid and NAW. Even Gobert will be hard to retain beyond next season unless he takes a huge paycut.
I'd argue it might be harder to stay a champion than to become a champion.
This always seems to be missed when talking about team building and teams making runs.
The Nuggets aren’t deliberately making their bench ****.
The cap makes it so you’re always going to have more depth early in the midst of a run.
You’ve got draft picks on cheaper contracts, potentially players who signed at a discount and then you’ve got star players whose deals will increase.
