2010-2011 NBA ChampionsSTARTING LINEUP
[PG] - Tony Parker - $12,500,000 ||| $12,500,000
[SG] - Dwyane Wade - $15,691,000 ||| $17,182,000
[SF] - Wilson Chandler - $11,000,000 ||| $12,155,000 ||| $13,310,000
[PF] - Dirk Nowitzki - $19,092,873 ||| $20,907,128
[Cc] - Chris Kaman - $12,700,000 |||
BENCH
[PG/SG] - Louis Williams - $5,176,000 |||
[SF] - Grant Hill - $3,325,416 ||| $3,674,584
[PF/C] - Amir Johnson - $5,500,000 ||| $6,000,000 ||| $6,500,000
[Cc] - Jeff Foster - $1,500,000 |||
[SF/SG] - James Jones - $854,389 |||
[PF/C] - Kurt Thomas - $854,389 |||
[PG] - Mario Chalmers - $1,200,000 |||
DEPTH CHART
PG - Parker - Chalmers
SG - Wade - Williams
SF - Chandler - Hill - Jones
PF - Nowitzki - Johnson
Cc - Kaman - Foster - Thomas
DRAFT PICKS/TPE
- 2012 GSW 2ND
- 2014 MIL 1ST
- 6.4M TPE
Goal: When I took the Nuggets, I was looking for something different than the previous games.
The Nuggets team, unlike past teams I've taken was filled with good to very good assets, but none of which were near all-star status. I would like to emphasize that point because the Nuggets had:
a.) no franchise player, nor anyone remotely close enough to someone a team would want to build around.
And considering Afflalo, Smith, Chandler, and Nene were FA's that were to be paid (though Nene wasn't paid nearly as much as he was the last game) - their value was lesser than it should have been. Felton's play had started to drop, so his value wasn't as high as it was with the Knicks (lets be honest, RealGM is all about what you've done for me the last two weeks). So in essence, while they're all solid players, they had certain flaws with their value added onto the fact none of them were elite prospects/trading assets. Anyways, to cut it short, when we took the Nuggets, we wanted to turn solid assets into a team with exceptional talent that would claim to the best team in the NBA.
Why Should the Nuggets Be Ranked High? We accomplished that goal, the Nuggets were ranked as the 2010/2011 NBA Champions. The hardest thing to do in this game is trade for legitimate superstar players (there are only very few), while maintaining a solid well rounded supporting cast. With the Nuggets, we were able to get not only one, but TWO superstars in Wade and Nowitzki (Wade being one of the top 3 players in the game, and Dirk arguably being in the Top 5). And surrounding those two, we've got an all-star caliber PG that's proven he can thrive in a third option role in Parker (a definite top 10 PG in the league, I'd place him around #7).
At SF, we were able to trade back for Chandler, who I feel is a terrific fit in the starting lineup. He's young, can defend, create off the dribble, and help space the floor. Kaman isn't the most ideal fit, but it's undeniable he isn't a liability in our lineup. He can score in the post, shoot the mid-ranger, and has always been a good rebounder despite playing next to other very good rebounders. Hell, deserved or not, the man was an all-star caliber player just last season. Off the bench, we have one of the best true 6th men in Lou Williams (14 PPG in 23 mins extrapolates out to over 21 PPG PER36). In FA, we were able to acquire Grant Hill, who'll fill in minutes from anywhere from SG to PF depending on the matchup. His defensive stats were off the charts this season, and offensively, he's been revitalized scoring near 14 PPG this season. He's smart, and knows how to play the game. Then add Amir Johnson, who's another young gun that can rebound and block shots, with an ever improving offensive game, his per minute production makes him the perfect candidate to play both big man positions off the bench (13/9 with nearly 2 blocks PER36). With those three, we feel have one of the most productive trios off the bench to go along with our potent starting lineup.
Our fill in players are no joke either as all of them are contributing rotation players to playoff teams this season. Chalmers, and Jones have had huge games for the Heat in this post-season, Foster's elite rebounding, and hustle helped the Pacers make a competitive series with the Bulls. And even Kurt Thomas is still rebounding, defending, and knocking down the mid-ranger. There are no holes with this Nuggets team, and as GM, we wanted to build a team of this mold to bring the franchise their first championship.
Two superstars, an all-star caliber third option, and depth at every position, it's unlikely to have expected to maintain the Nuggets initial depth while adding players of Wade, Nowitzki and Parker's caliber, aforementioned, two of them being top five players in the game. That ultimately should be the reason we're ranked high.
Other details: With every other hardcore win now team, there are two major problems. We tend to forget about the salary cap, and the collective ages of our team.
We've tried to do as good a job as we could to avoid these two issues while maintaining one of the best teams in the NBA. We traded away the contract of Gooden late, and were able to get pure capspace later for Mike Miller. We're now under/around 90M ( --89M--). While that's hardly anything to brag about, the situation before FA looked like if we had used any of our MLE, we'd have been near the hardcap. So, to maintain a team with depth, that can and has already contended/won a championship, we feel the added payment isn't going to waste. Not to mention, the future salaries stay around the same, in fact they drop with our few expiring contracts. No on on the team would be classified as an undesirable contract.
As for our age, the ONLY four players above 30 years old on the roster are Dirk Nowitzki (who has shown no signs of slowing down), Grant Hill, Jeff Foster, and Kurt Thomas. THAT'S IT, and every contending team needs their slew of veterans.
The average age of our core eight guys is 28.6 years old. The average age for our extended rotation is 28.9 years old. And if it counts for ANYTHING, we have some flexibility for the future with TPE's, numerous 15 1st Rounders, Milwaukee's 14 1st rounder, and a few seconds here and there. Again, nothing to brag about, but some is better than none, lol.
Could probably go on a bit more, but will wrap it up. Vote Denver!
