Post Mortem #26 - Denver Nuggets

Post #1 » by **Clav** » Mon May 19, 2025 1:04 am

In our third Game 7 of the playoffs the Nuggets fall to OKC, and exit the playoffs as our 26th team eliminated.

Previous Threads:

Spoiler:

Time of death: May 18, 2025
Record at elimination: 50-32 (7-7 in playoffs)
Head coach: David Aldeman (interim), Mike Malone (former, fired late in the season)

https://www.spotrac.com/nba/denver-nuggets/yearly
Contract summary:

Jokic - extension eligible, or 3yr/175M remain (final year 62M PO)
Murray – 4yr/207M contract begins nextseason with avg salary 51M
Michael Porter Jr - extension eligible, or 2yr/80M remain
Aaron Gordon – 4yr/140M remain (final year is 37M PO of his newest 3 year extension)
Zeke Nnaji – 3yr/24M remain (final year 7.4M PO)
Dario Saric – 5.4M PO
Westbrook – 3.4M PO
DeAndre Jordan – UFA
Vlatko Cancar - UFA

Rookie Scale/minimums (varies on 2-4 years remaining):
Christian Braun - extension eligible, or 5M QO
DaRon Holmes – 3yr remain (injured this season)
Julian Stawther – 2yr remain
Jalen Pickett – 2yr remain
Hunter Tyson – 2yr remain

TW
Trey Alexander
Spencer Jones
P.J. Hall
Dead-cap – None this season, non retained in the future

PICKS for 2025 draft:
None

A SMALL SEASON REVIEW:
https://www.espn.com/nba/team/schedule/_/name/den/seasontype/2

Denver's campaign to get back to 2023 Finals glory falls short after a very difficult 14 games in the playoffs. The maximum allotted in two rounds of action. Shocking stat for me is that their interim coach Adelman has more playoff wins than regular season wins - and he's had 2 game 7s to boot.

Jokic was again the star of the year. He averaged a triple double in both playoffs and regular season and for me is one of the most incredible players to watch for his awareness and touch as a big man. Despite heroics against OKC ultimately coming up short, he still retains his status as one of NBA's elite. Impressively, MPJ and Braun led the Nuggets in Games Played during the RS, but MPJ faced a shoulder ailment late on, and it definitely affected his shooting. Murray had a very inconsistent year as well and a big contract extension already signed for multiple years.

In the offseason, Denver didn't re-sign KCP, and this domino effect was on full display in round 2 as the functional depth was limited on the wing. MPJ, Braun, and Westbrook just couldn't solidify the wing rotation enough to get past OKC.

It has to be said that the R1 victory over the Clippers was impressive. Denver fought through a resurgent Kawhi and defensively sound LAC team to a G7 win. Matching up with the No. 1 seeded Thunder was a tall task, but Denver still won 3 games and showed clutch resolve to make it a competitive series. In the end, the season comes to a close for the Nuggets and they have questions to answer in the offseason.

Primarily, that there's no picks to utilise unless received in a trade. However, injured Da'Ron Holmes will be back next season and some players will be off the books as UFAs.

How did you see the season going for the Nuggets, and what will they do this offseason to get back to their championship pedigree?

jkvonny · Post #2 » by **jkvonny** » Mon May 19, 2025 1:15 am

Keep FO
Keep coach . Good interim coaching job
I'd say performed as expected

I'd say leaning towards treadmill team. Probably needs to upgrade their bench. Good bench players but may hv to strengthen it.
Otherwise core , starters are still contenders, championship pedigree.

Godymas · Post #3 » by **Godymas** » Mon May 19, 2025 1:30 am

So obviously they already cleared out the FO and coach, however I think Adelman is here to stay. He knows the guys, they know him, Denver was fine under him.

The obvious issue is the roster. Denver let pieces walk with no replacement and it’s finally caught up. However, Braun has been a revelation. Strawther is not too bad either.

Jamal Murray, I would not replace him. Jamal Murray is good people. You can’t ask for more. He shows up in the playoffs. Compare him to any second option in recent history. The KD era skewed people’s perception of what a second option is. Same with AD/ Heatles. Normal second options are Klay Thompson, Khris Middleton, Kyle Lowry, Jaylen Brown, and on that tier of guys I like Jamal Murray more than pretty much all of them, although Middleton had a peak in that playoff run.

Aaron Gordon, irreplaceable, works great with Jokic, heart of the team.

MPJ, needs to go. It’s ran its course. He’s not that bad, but he isn’t consistent enough. His money needs to be split into real depth.

Zeke Nnaji and Westbrook need to be out the door for anyone better. Throw in a second rounder, find your Rui Hachimura tier player.

This team achieved what it’s expectation was imo, now it needs to be tweaked.

MrGoat · Post #4 » by **MrGoat** » Mon May 19, 2025 1:40 am

Keep FO
Keep coach, you just fired one anyway
Performed as expected
Declining team, Jokic isn't getting any younger and they don't have many avenues for improvement

Marvin Martian · Post #5 » by **Marvin Martian** » Mon May 19, 2025 1:54 am

This is going to be a hot take, but DEN should trade Gordon while his value is high. He is a great player and has been amazing in the playoffs, but moving forward, I think DEN needs a 4 that can handle more responsibilities, especially when Jokic is off the floor

Alatan · Post #6 » by **Alatan** » Mon May 19, 2025 2:02 am

Blow it up.

Two albatros contracts in MPJ and Murray. No cap space. Braun and Watson entering their last year on a rookie contract. No bench depth. No 2nd round picks to trade. Very few distant first round picks to trade.

No GM can retool with that crater of a team.

Trade Jokic, Braun and Gordon and rebuild.
Waiting another season will just reduce the value of assets the team can get and waste another year of Jokics prime.

Blow it up!

ball_takes23 · Post #7 » by **ball_takes23** » Mon May 19, 2025 2:09 am

Alatan wrote:Blow it up.

Two albatros contracts in MPJ and Murray. No cap space. Braun and Watson entering their last year on a rookie contract. No bench depth. No 2nd round picks to trade. Very few distant first round picks to trade.

No GM can retool with that crater of a team.

Trade Jokic, Braun and Gordon and rebuild.
Waiting another season will just reduce the value of assets the team can get and waste another year of Jokics prime.

Blow it up!

there's pretty much one team in the league that can give you equal value for Jokic and OKC is not trading for him.

Wolfgang630 · Post #8 » by **Wolfgang630** » Mon May 19, 2025 2:22 am

ball_takes23 wrote:
Alatan wrote:Blow it up.

Two albatros contracts in MPJ and Murray. No cap space. Braun and Watson entering their last year on a rookie contract. No bench depth. No 2nd round picks to trade. Very few distant first round picks to trade.

No GM can retool with that crater of a team.

Trade Jokic, Braun and Gordon and rebuild.
Waiting another season will just reduce the value of assets the team can get and waste another year of Jokics prime.

Blow it up!

there's pretty much one team in the league that can give you equal value for Jokic and OKC is not trading for him.

OKC would trade for Jokic. Lol they’d win multiple championships with Jokic and Shai.

Mamba81p · Post #9 » by **Mamba81p** » Mon May 19, 2025 2:26 am

I don’t see a way to improve the team. They only have the tax mle and a bunch of pick swaps to trade and they are very close to second apron.
There is a separate thread about Murray and mpj so unless we see a miracle there they will be the same next year, maybe a bit better in RS just because of Adelman but same result in the playoffs

syrus3 · Post #10 » by **syrus3** » Mon May 19, 2025 2:26 am

Blow it up.

Jokic deserves better. Trade him to a team with actual depth. And send AG and Braun with him.

ball_takes23 · Post #11 » by **ball_takes23** » Mon May 19, 2025 2:35 am

Wolfgang630 wrote:
ball_takes23 wrote:
Alatan wrote:Blow it up.

Two albatros contracts in MPJ and Murray. No cap space. Braun and Watson entering their last year on a rookie contract. No bench depth. No 2nd round picks to trade. Very few distant first round picks to trade.

No GM can retool with that crater of a team.

Trade Jokic, Braun and Gordon and rebuild.
Waiting another season will just reduce the value of assets the team can get and waste another year of Jokics prime.

Blow it up!

there's pretty much one team in the league that can give you equal value for Jokic and OKC is not trading for him.

OKC would trade for Jokic. Lol they’d win multiple championships with Jokic and Shai.

they're probably winning multiple championships regardless, they have no reason to change anything

Wolfgang630 · Post #12 » by **Wolfgang630** » Mon May 19, 2025 2:35 am

syrus3 wrote:Blow it up.

Jokic deserves better. Trade him to a team with actual depth. And send AG and Braun with him.

I fear if they even get some depth next year they’ll fail because Jamal is still the number 2 guy and MPJ. At the end of the day they’re wayyyyyyy too inconsistent.

Mr Puddles · Post #13 » by **Mr Puddles** » Mon May 19, 2025 2:39 am

Honestly, I'm expecting maybe people to say the Nuggets should blow things up which I think is crazy.

Losing in 7 games against a 68 win team isn't reason to blow things up.

While Denver is in a tough spot, they do have some positive things going on.

Gordon's improvement and fit next to Jokic
Christian Braun is young and improving
While Murray is overpaid and has his flaws, the 2 man game between him and Jokic can be unstoppable at times.
They have a few of young guys who have shown flashes in Watson and Stawther and a wild card in Holmes.

To me, upgrading Porter + adding depth is enough to run it back next year. But ofcourse that's easier said than done.

Step 1: trade MPJ + Nnaji to Portland for Grant and Thybulle.

Step 2: convince atleast one of free agents Bruce Brown, Luke Kennard and Chris Paul to sign for the minimum.

1. Denver needs to do a better job at attracting free agents to take discounts for a year to increase their value. One thing the second apron has shows in that many rotational guys will not be getting the contracts they hope to get. Think Tyus Jones, Trent Jr., Achiuwa who all took discounts last year.
2. Bruce Brown, Luke Kennard and Chris Paul are all guys I'd target. Chris Paul could help stabilize a non-Jokic unit, Brown played his best ball next to Jokic, and Kennard's spacing would be insane next to Jokic.
3. The MPJ situation is a lot tougher, ideally the Nuggets can replace him with a 3&D guy but they hardly have assets to attach to him (ideally they would have included picks not players). A trade for Phoenix with KD would have made a lot of sense, if the Nuggets had had picks. Trade for Grant and Thybulle makes a ton of sense to me.

scrabbarista · Post #14 » by **scrabbarista** » Mon May 19, 2025 3:06 am

They tried hard, but in the end, Westbrook.

Bobbymcgee · Post #15 » by **Bobbymcgee** » Mon May 19, 2025 3:09 am

Trade for KD.

Castle Black · Post #16 » by **Castle Black** » Mon May 19, 2025 3:09 am

They're obv not going to blow it up, but Denver is pretty much cooked as they have no way of seriously improving this roster due to Murray and MPJ's horribly bloated contracts. Murray is wildly overpaid and MPJ is literally a negative asset making nearly $40M/year. Those two guys together take up over half of Denver's cap (!!) and Murray's Max Contract extension doesn't even kick in til next year. Just a nightmare cap situation for that organization right now. And they don't even have their First Round Pick this year (or next) to add a cheap, young rotational piece.

Realistically, they're going to try to add more Defense and shooting via Trade or Free Agency and just run it back in hopes that Jokic's greatness can carry them, but it won't be enough. We'll be right back here next year talking about how Jokic needs more help. They're going to continue to waste their generational player's prime and that's depressing. Reminds me a lot of David Robinson in the 90's before we finally landed Timmy.

And to top it off, they now have to worry about overpaying to keep Christian Braun when they have no cap space. What a mess.

Read on Twitter

NoDopeOnSundays · Post #17 » by **NoDopeOnSundays** » Mon May 19, 2025 3:13 am

Bobbymcgee wrote:Trade for KD.

I was going to say the same thing, give them Porter and some picks.

kodo · Post #18 » by **kodo** » Mon May 19, 2025 3:13 am

I'm surprised the vast majority of people thought Denver performed as expected.
I thought LAC was going to beat them, and after they got by LAC I thought OKC had a chance to sweep this 4-0 as a 68 win team and both MPJ & Gordon badly injured.

Wolfgang630 · Post #19 » by **Wolfgang630** » Mon May 19, 2025 3:14 am

Castle Black wrote:They're obv not going to blow it up, but Denver is pretty much cooked as they have no way of seriously improving this roster due to Murray and MPJ's horribly bloated contracts. Murray is wildly overpaid and MPJ is literally a negative asset making nearly $40M/year. Those two guys take up half of their cap and Murray's Max Contract extension doesn't even kick in til next year. Just a nightmare cap situation for that organization right now. And they don't even have their First Round Pick this year to add a cheap, young rotational piece.

Realistically, they're going to try to add more Defense and shooting via Free Agency and hope that Jokic's greatness can carry them, but it won't be enough. We'll be right back here next year talking about how Jokic needs more help. They're going to continue to waste their generational player's prime and that's depressing. Reminds me a lot of David Robinson in the 90's before they finally landed Timmy.

I agree. I feel like we’ll be here next year having the same conversations on how MPJ sucked. Murray is inconsistent, but the bench is better.

Castle Black · Post #20 » by **Castle Black** » Mon May 19, 2025 3:17 am

NoDopeOnSundays wrote:
Bobbymcgee wrote:Trade for KD.

I was going to say the same thing, give them Porter and some picks.

PHX laughs and hangs up the phone. They're not just going to give KD away for pennies on the dollar. Porter is literally a negative asset at the moment who is owed nearly $80M over the next 2 years. They would have to attach a sh*t-ton of draft capital that they don't even have just to have a chance at KD and even then, PHX could likely find a better offer. Denver doesn't own 2 of their next 3 First Round Picks. They're sitting ducks right now.

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