Denver Nuggets 2024-25 Regular Season road to the 2025 playoff

[Maf]

if we want to trade Murray we will have to give Strawther or Watson for sure, I would try maybe with SAC and ATL, 3 team trade where Denver sends Murray, Strawther, Nnaji, Saric, 1st round 2031 and try to get Fox and Bogdanovic

I think Sacramento would have pretty good laugh about that offer.

[psimanic1]

if we want to trade Murray we will have to give Strawther or Watson for sure, I would try maybe with SAC and ATL, 3 team trade where Denver sends Murray, Strawther, Nnaji, Saric, 1st round 2031 and try to get Fox and Bogdanovic

I think Sacramento would have pretty good laugh about that offer.

Fox declined new contract if I'm correct, and if they are sure he won't be staying at any cost, maybe they would take Murray and Strawther or first or something, you never know if you don't try. There was some post on X about Nuggets having 4th highest chances when it comes to Fox, how, I don't know, but I'm sure there are teams that would give some value for Murray, question is just if there is someone that would give value Sac would be ok with, and are they going into rebuilding or are they looking to replace Fox with someone and try to reach POs...

[davoarid]

I'm a fairly casual fan--I still don't understand how NBA trades work, exactly, with the salary cap--but I my position is that it's way too early to panic, we'll be fine, we just need to tinker at the edges.

What we really need right now are just a couple extra NBA PLAYERS. We don't need to blow it up. We just need to stop giving minutes to Hunter Tyson and Dario Saric and DeAndre Jordan and Jaden Pickett and Zeke Nnaji.

In baseball it'd be easy: just send Tyson and Pickett to the G-League (minors) and sign old free agents who're just sitting around (Lonnie Walker, Dennis Smith Jr., etc) to take their spots.

Or if that doesn't work....trade Tyson and Pickett (and whatever salaries are needed to match) to lousy teams for their veterans who "won't be part of their next good team." And we're not even targeting GOOD player, just, rotation guys who won't embarrass us. So, EG, to the Wizards for Corey Kispert, to the Pistons for Malik Beasley, the Raptors for Olynyk, the Hawks for Nance, the Hornets for Martin.

A couple moves like that and I'd be feeling so much better. We just need some ACTUAL NBA PLAYERS to help in the non-Jokic minutes,

[TunaFish]

I'm a fairly casual fan--I still don't understand how NBA trades work, exactly, with the salary cap--but I my position is that it's way too early to panic, we'll be fine, we just need to tinker at the edges.

What we really need right now are just a couple extra NBA PLAYERS. We don't need to blow it up. We just need to stop giving minutes to Hunter Tyson and Dario Saric and DeAndre Jordan and Jaden Pickett and Zeke Nnaji.

In baseball it'd be easy: just send Tyson and Pickett to the G-League (minors) and sign old free agents who're just sitting around (Lonnie Walker, Dennis Smith Jr., etc) to take their spots.

Or if that doesn't work....trade Tyson and Pickett (and whatever salaries are needed to match) to lousy teams for their veterans who "won't be part of their next good team." And we're not even targeting GOOD player, just, rotation guys who won't embarrass us. So, EG, to the Wizards for Corey Kispert, to the Pistons for Malik Beasley, the Raptors for Olynyk, the Hawks for Nance, the Hornets for Martin.

A couple moves like that and I'd be feeling so much better. We just need some ACTUAL NBA PLAYERS to help in the non-Jokic minutes,

There are more knowledgeable fans of this board that might be better at an answering your question but I think you can't fairly compare the trading rules of baseball with the NBA. Baseball does not have a punitive salary cap like the NBA. Presently, the Nuggets are close to the 2nd apron and above the 1st and subject to salary restrictions that don't exist in any other sport. Trade restrictions begin at the 1st apron.

Because of their recent contract extensions both Gordon and Murray can not be traded until next off season.

When you have one super max contract, two max contracts and a large above average contract as your core four as the Nuggets have, then you have cap issues. You also may have a contract that you can't trade because of value.

[NuggetsWY]

I'm a fairly casual fan--I still don't understand how NBA trades work, exactly, with the salary cap--but I my position is that it's way too early to panic, we'll be fine, we just need to tinker at the edges.

What we really need right now are just a couple extra NBA PLAYERS. We don't need to blow it up. We just need to stop giving minutes to Hunter Tyson and Dario Saric and DeAndre Jordan and Jaden Pickett and Zeke Nnaji.

In baseball it'd be easy: just send Tyson and Pickett to the G-League (minors) and sign old free agents who're just sitting around (Lonnie Walker, Dennis Smith Jr., etc) to take their spots.

Or if that doesn't work....trade Tyson and Pickett (and whatever salaries are needed to match) to lousy teams for their veterans who "won't be part of their next good team." And we're not even targeting GOOD player, just, rotation guys who won't embarrass us. So, EG, to the Wizards for Corey Kispert, to the Pistons for Malik Beasley, the Raptors for Olynyk, the Hawks for Nance, the Hornets for Martin.

A couple moves like that and I'd be feeling so much better. We just need some ACTUAL NBA PLAYERS to help in the non-Jokic minutes,

There are more knowledgeable fans of this board that might be better at an answering your question but I think you can't fairly compare the trading rules of baseball with the NBA. Baseball does not have a punitive salary cap like the NBA. Presently, the Nuggets are close to the 2nd apron and above the 1st and subject to salary restrictions that don't exist in any other sport. Trade restrictions begin at the 1st apron.

Because of their recent contract extensions both Gordon and Murray can not be traded until next off season.

When you have one super max contract, two max contracts and a large above average contract as your core four as the Nuggets have, then you have cap issues. You also may have a contract that you can't trade because of value.

davoarid's post asks some fair questions and makes suggestions that aren't all that bad. The problem is cap issues. The Nuggets' front office is not going to have any interest in adding to their salary structure. So they'll have to be very careful. I'm not a cap expert but I don't believe sending a player to G-League eliminates their salary, assuming they have an NBA standard contract and not a two-way. Cutting players, for most contracts doesn't eliminate salary -- at least not all of it.

So we are left with trades. Our front-office does not have a history of making mid-season trades or signing free agents mid-season -- probably because our coach tends to not integrate new players until training camp. I think we'll have to live through this season as is and hope that coach finds a way to make things work --- and we don't have any season ending injuries.

Our core-four plus-1 young seems like the best starting lineup in the league, or at least top three. Coach likes an 8-9 man rotation and I have no doubt he's trying to figure out how to make that happen. We have some potential on our bench, if coach can open his eyes and his mind to see what he's got; and then figure out how to use what he's got. We don't need a lot from our bench -- but we definitely need more.

P.S. I suspect tunafish knows more about this than I do.

[THE J0KER]

Denver has a big problem with a short bench this season, but now that AG is injured this problem is even bigger, so Malone found an original solution to solve it. He promoted our 6th man Westbrook to the starter and even more prolonged playing time of all our starters but found a risky way to hold them fresh during the whole game by playing recreational defense except in the final quarter. Although we didn't play any single overtime, the average points per game in the last 4 Denver games are 263 (75 in Q1, 137 at HT)!? The average number of points per NBA game this season is around 226ppg (about 56 per quarter), so this 263ppg (or 75ppg average in 1st quarter) would be crazy even for legendary Doug Moe standards famous for "run and gun" high-scoring games in Denver's early 80'is era!

[HMFFL]

I think Michael Porter Jr needs to average more field goal attempts per game. He currently averages 13.8 per game. I think he should be #2 in attempts behind Jokic. Is there any particular reason he's been limited to 13 attempts per game in three straight seasons?


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[TunaFish]

I think Michael Porter Jr needs to average more field goal attempts per game. He currently averages 13.8 per game. I think he should be #2 in attempts behind Jokic. Is there any particular reason he's been limited to 13 attempts per game in three straight seasons?


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Although I agree with you, there is a complication. Jokic runs the show generally and he doesn't favor anyone in particular with his assists except for Murray. He likes Malone's two man game and the key for that play is to have a shooter creating space as an option.

MPJ routinely provides that outside shooting particularly when the two man game is well defended and when neither Braun nor Gordon are moving for a dunk. Most of us would like to see a few more screens to set MPJ up for more shots and increase his usage. However, that doesn't seem to be in Malone's plan, so far.

[HMFFL]

I think Michael Porter Jr needs to average more field goal attempts per game. He currently averages 13.8 per game. I think he should be #2 in attempts behind Jokic. Is there any particular reason he's been limited to 13 attempts per game in three straight seasons?


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Although I agree with you, there is a complication. Jokic runs the show generally and he doesn't favor anyone in particular with his assists except for Murray. He likes Malone's two man game and the key for that play is to have a shooter creating space as an option.

MPJ routinely provides that outside shooting particularly when the two man game is well defended and when neither Braun nor Gordon are moving for a dunk. Most of us would like to see a few more screens to set MPJ up for more shots and increase his usage. However, that doesn't seem to be in Malone's plan, so far.

Thank you for your response.
MPJ has proven himself to shoot at such a respectable rate that I wish Malone would give him more attempts. MPJ can be an all-star level talent.



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[THE J0KER]

At the half of the season, Denver was 25-16 (.610) which is the path to the 50-win season (previous season: 57 wins), a step back compared with the 28-13 record we had in the previous two seasons (both).

[THE J0KER]

Apart from another Jokic dominant MVP season arguably the best thing that happened to the Nuggets in 2024-25 is the improvement of Christian Braun (he doubled 7=>14 his points per game by skyrocketing his TS% from 56%TS% in the previous two seasons to current 66%TS%).

But all that improvement is now at risk with Malone's decision to move Braun back on the bench at the moment when he improved even more, so CB in the last 8 games as a starter scored 20+ points in 6 games while in both games he started from the bench he didn't score more than 15 points!

In normal circumstances moving the player to the bench is not a big deal for his production if you give him the same playing time, but in Christian Braun & Nuggets-2025 case, it will never work for two reasons. First, no way an SF will get full playing time from the bench in a team in which 5+3 basic lineups would be so unnaturally structured with 2xPG/2xPF/C starters and 3xSF as bench players. Even more importantly, Braun's best offense depends on elite passers around him, so as a starter, there will be Jokic, Murray, and Westbrook around (or Jokic and Murray if AG gets the starting role too), while coming from the bench there will be in most cases just one such guy (and he will play all minutes Jokic was on the bench, his favorite passer).

Malone, please don't do Malone things in this case!

[NuggetsWY]

...
Malone, please don't do Malone things in this case!

Sorry THE JOKER, Malone will do what Malone wants regardless of how it affects players. I've said it before and will say it again; he expects players to adjust to his system and he is not very flexible when it comes to utilizing players based on their skill set.

[TunaFish]

...
Malone, please don't do Malone things in this case!

Sorry THE JOKER, Malone will do what Malone wants regardless of how it affects players. I've said it before and will say it again; he expects players to adjust to his system and he is not very flexible when it comes to utilizing players based on their skill set.

There does appear to be a sync issue with this current Nuggets team. Not sure how you play Westbrook, Gordon and Braun with enough minutes as a starter or visa versa, who needs to play with the bench? Malone is in a tough spot without more resources on the bench but it is hard to keep Gordon out of the starting lineup. Same with Westbrook. Experience matters, but I agree that I liked Braun starting.

Now it appears that Watson will be out on extended injury leave to complicate the bench rotation further.

[THE J0KER]

...
Malone, please don't do Malone things in this case!

Sorry THE JOKER, Malone will do what Malone wants regardless of how it affects players. I've said it before and will say it again; he expects players to adjust to his system and he is not very flexible when it comes to utilizing players based on their skill set.

There does appear to be a sync issue with this current Nuggets team. Not sure how you play Westbrook, Gordon and Braun with enough minutes as a starter or visa versa, who needs to play with the bench? Malone is in a tough spot without more resources on the bench but it is hard to keep Gordon out of the starting lineup. Same with Westbrook. Experience matters, but I agree that I liked Braun starting.

Now it appears that Watson will be out on extended injury leave to complicate the bench rotation further.

C Jokic
PF Gordon (+C)
PF Porter (+SF)
PG Murray (+SG)
PG Westbrook
============
SF Braun (+SG)
SF Watson (+PF)
SF Strawther (+SG)

There is no way in this kind of 5+3 rotation SF-Braun will play much more than 25 minutes from the bench, but PG-Westbrook or PF-Gordon can play 30+ minutes (full playing time) from the bench without any positional "overlap" problem!

Malone with the reason started the season with Westbrook on the bench and Braun as the SG starter, and after the AG's injury, it turned out that Braun played even better as an SF starter. Once Gordon is back, Malone has to choose between Westbrook's returning to the 6th player role (the most natural solution) or Gordon being the new 6th man (maximizing Braun's productivity as the SF starter).

But Malone doesn't care what is best for the team, once Westbrook reaches the starter's role, Malone doesn't want to *confront* the former MVP and future HoF, nor Gordon as a proven "ring" starter who just signed a big contract with the team, despite in both cases they can play from the bench same playing time minutes (which is not the case with SF Braun - one of two main reasons why he MUST be a starter). So what he is doing - Malone downgraded Braun as a starter despite his breakthrough season and that CB is the best thing that happened to the Nuggets this season so far (together with already historic Jokic's season)!?

[TunaFish]

I think Michael Porter Jr needs to average more field goal attempts per game. He currently averages 13.8 per game. I think he should be #2 in attempts behind Jokic. Is there any particular reason he's been limited to 13 attempts per game in three straight seasons?


Sent from my SM-S928U1 using RealGM mobile app

Although I agree with you, there is a complication. Jokic runs the show generally and he doesn't favor anyone in particular with his assists except for Murray. He likes Malone's two man game and the key for that play is to have a shooter creating space as an option.

MPJ routinely provides that outside shooting particularly when the two man game is well defended and when neither Braun nor Gordon are moving for a dunk. Most of us would like to see a few more screens to set MPJ up for more shots and increase his usage. However, that doesn't seem to be in Malone's plan, so far.

Thank you for your response.
MPJ has proven himself to shoot at such a respectable rate that I wish Malone would give him more attempts. MPJ can be an all-star level talent.



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You seem to have stumbled over an issue that has recently been addressed. MPJ (although out last night) is averaging above 30 points a game for his last three games. Over this period there has been a shift by Jokic with more picks for MPJ and his teammates have responded by looking for him to shoot more. His overall game has also improved with more aggressive play.

The question now is whether this trend will continue.

[skywalker33]

With the MEM loss to LAC tonight, we're just 1/2 out of 2nd place in the Western Conference playoffs.....got'em right where we want'em.

[TunaFish]

With the MEM loss to LAC tonight, we're just 1/2 out of 2nd place in the Western Conference playoffs.....got'em right where we want'em.

Second seed seems likely.

We have Charlotte and the Lakers at home before a four game road trip with some tough opponents. This is a real test but the big test is March 9th with a back to back against OKC on the road. ABC is carrying the first game and the eyes of a national/international audience will be fixed.

I think they are good enough to win on any given night but there are some difficult challenges ahead.

[THE J0KER]

We started 2024-25 poorly with 16-13 (55%) but in 2nd third, we had a great 20-6 (77%) record, so our overall record is 36-19 (66%). Our goal should not be only to overtake #2 WC Memphis (67%), but also #2 EC Boston (71%), as a potential opponent in a big final.

[THE J0KER]

Call me crazy, but maybe we should play the very last game by resting our starters and purposely being 7th, which means home game vs Memphis in the play-in round, and if we win, Houston in the playoff 1st round, which is better playoff 1st round scenario than any we can get if we beat Rockets in Sunday! Lately Lakers and Warriors have become better teams after trading for Doncic and Butler, while for the Clippers same effect happened just by finally being healthy.

I would choose the Rockets any day ahead of these 3, but that said risk is if the Clippers beat the Warriors in San Francisco, we will finish as #6 and play the Lakers.

The best scenario with winning in Houston (which secured #2 seed and will probably play 2nd unit) is if at home GSW beats Clippers, so we will play in the PO 1st round with home court advantage as #4 seed!

[TunaFish]

It's hard to predict what opponent is better or worse. I would not like to see Denver fail to get the 4th seed at this point and if they beat the Rockets, let the chips fall as to who will be the next opponent.