Nuggets Roster

[NuggetsWY]

Center
Jokic + somebody - Nuggets still have the option of Hibbert but Plumlee seems like their best backup option. Malone has played Faried & Arthur at center at times, but that looked atrocious. Lyles is probably the best PF option as a backup center.

Power Forward
Millsap will start but who will be the primary backup? Probably Faried because he plays well with Jokic, so if Malone can manage to get that combination on the floor, it makes sense. Lyles is another possibility as the primary backup, but he hasn't shown that ability yet, so it seems doubtful. Waiting for leftover minutes behind Millsap, Faried, Lyles will be Arthur & Lydon; neither of whom are likely to see many minutes, especially if Malone decides to play Chandler & Hernangomez at the same time.

Small Forward
Chandler with Hernangomez and some minutes from Barton seems like this position is set.

Shooting Guard
Harris with Barton seems like the most likely combination to take most of the minutes with Barton getting a few SF minutes as well. Beasley and Murray will fill in here as needed.

Shooting Guard
Malone seems to trust Nelson but there have been hints that Murray will be the starter (hope so, but not so sure). Either way, they seem likely to play most of the PG minutes. Mudiay needs to get some minutes here as well. If they bump Murray to some SG minutes to give Mudiay PG minutes, that will push Beasley out of the picture.

Misc Thoughts
Far too many forwards but the quality/potential of the youth at guard positions probably results in guards having the most difficult decisions regarding playing time.

This off-season was supposed to address defense, but the only move there was to sign a great FA PF defensive player in Millsap (who can also play offense). Instead the Nuggets loaded up on power forwards and made no trades, leaving them with decent players or players with potential that will not see much playing time. Arthur is the prime example because of his salary. He could end up with very few minutes and while he's a true professional and makes no public complaints, there is no doubt his salary is being wasted. He could have been traded, any trade at all. He is being wasted on the Nuggets' bench - and he is not the only one.

The previously unknown Craig and 2nd round pick Morris will be on the new two-way contracts with the G-League. Apparently they will play a few games with the Nuggets, if Malone chooses. However, to join the roster for more than 45 days (not games), someone else will need to be released/traded.

[THE J0KER]

Correct analysis what we will see next season if no other roster changes. I really don't like what I see when we put every player to his most natural position, and that suggest me that some changes/corrections should be done.

C: Jokic, Plumlee
PF: Millsap, Faried, Hernangomez, Arthur, Lyles
SF: Chandler
SG: Harris, Murray, Barton, Beasly
PG: Mudiay, Nelson

[NuggetsWY]

Correct analysis what we will see next season if no other roster changes. I really don't like what I see when we put every player to his most natural position, and that suggest me that some changes/corrections should be done.

C: Jokic, Plumlee
PF: Millsap, Faried, Hernangomez, Arthur, Lyles
SF: Chandler
SG: Harris, Murray, Barton, Beasly
PG: Mudiay, Nelson

and like so many, you buy into the hype of Murray being a SG - as I have said before; he was a PG in high school and a PG on the Canadian National Team - his one year at Kentucky was played with the diminutive Ulis and since he is versatile and taller, he was made the SG --- I strongly believe that he will be a shooting PG in the mold of Curry, Irving, Lillard, Harden, Westbrook, Lowry, Wall, etc. and so on

Especially on a team with Jokic running the offense for 30 mpg - do not forget that last year, Jokic did not run the offense all of the time he was on the floor. Sometimes it was Nelson or Gallinari or even Barton. This year, hopefully, Jokic should be running the offense more often.

[skywalker33]

I do kinda wonder why we have no word on Plumlee yet ????

[NuggetsWY]

I do kinda wonder why we have no word on Plumlee yet ????

Do you think they're trying to drive down the price by showing him he isn't getting the money anywhere else? It seems like something the Nuggets would do; but then again, they certainly didn't do that with Faried & Arthur. Just doesn't make sense.

[NuggetsWY]

Roster appears set - let's see how close a guess I can make:

Starters
Jokic - Millsap - Chandler - Harris - Murray

Primary Bench Players
Plumlee - Faried - Hernangomez - Barton - Nelson

DNP-CD Candidates
Lyles - Lydon - Arthur - Beasley - Mudiay

Untouchables
Jokic - Millsap - Harris - Murray - Hernangomez

[skywalker33]

I do kinda wonder why we have no word on Plumlee yet ????

Do you think they're trying to drive down the price by showing him he isn't getting the money anywhere else? It seems like something the Nuggets would do; but then again, they certainly didn't do that with Faried & Arthur. Just doesn't make sense.

Guess not !

[MidMountain]

I do kinda wonder why we have no word on Plumlee yet ????

Do you think they're trying to drive down the price by showing him he isn't getting the money anywhere else? It seems like something the Nuggets would do; but then again, they certainly didn't do that with Faried & Arthur. Just doesn't make sense.

Guess not !

The reports going into the offseason suggested Plumlee would get $15+ per year. This contract is a bit less than that.

[The Rebel]

Do you think they're trying to drive down the price by showing him he isn't getting the money anywhere else? It seems like something the Nuggets would do; but then again, they certainly didn't do that with Faried & Arthur. Just doesn't make sense.

Guess not !

The reports going into the offseason suggested Plumlee would get $15+ per year. This contract is a bit less than that.

Very few guys got anywhere close to what the experts were expecting this offseason. We can try to spin it as much as anybody wants but we overpaid for a backup Center that cannot shoot, is an average defender, and is our 4th big, while we are signing guys like Josh Childress at SF.

[NuggetsWY]

Malone said he plans on using a 9 man rotation - that makes more sense than the confusion he's used in the last two years - players didn't know who was playing when or where.

Harris
Chandler
Millsap
Jokic --- his four locked-in starters

Probable backups
Plumlee & Barton & Hernangomez
with 2 of Murray, Nelson, Mudiay

That will leave Faried as the most notable out-of-the-loop player. So why did they keep him?

[skywalker33]

That will leave Faried as the most notable out-of-the-loop player. So why did they keep him?

They've been trying to trade him for FOUR years now, guess most teams want a pick or us to take back a bad contract, neither are really good ideas right now IMO.

[NuggetsWY]

That will leave Faried as the most notable out-of-the-loop player. So why did they keep him?

They've been trying to trade him for FOUR years now, guess most teams want a pick or us to take back a bad contract, neither are really good ideas right now IMO.

Not convinced our front office doesn't want too much for players. That can be OK, to a degree, but when you have too much depth and players become dissatisfied or they don't play, so their value drops - that does the team no favors.

[The Rebel]

That will leave Faried as the most notable out-of-the-loop player. So why did they keep him?

They've been trying to trade him for FOUR years now, guess most teams want a pick or us to take back a bad contract, neither are really good ideas right now IMO.

It has not been that teams don't want Faried they just ask to much. Every rumor I have seen about Faried is the front office asking for too much, off the top of my head they wanted the 9th overall pick from the Raptors a couple of years ago, they wanted Love for Faried and Harris this summer, they wanted the 2nd overall pick a few years ago.

[skywalker33]

Nuggets have picked up options of five players:

Emmanuel Mudiay (fourth year, $4,294,480)
Jamal Murray (third year, $3,499,800)
Trey Lyles (fourth year, $3,364,249)
Juan Hernangomez (third year, $2,166,360)
Malik Beasley (third year, $1,773,840)

With those five 2018/19 options exercised, the Nuggets now have approximately $73.4MM in guaranteed salaries on their cap for the ’18/19 season, per Basketball Insiders. That number isn’t exorbitant, but it could skyrocket before next July — it doesn’t include potential player options for Wilson Chandler ($12.8MM) or Darrell Arthur ($7.5MM) or possible extensions for Gary Harris or Will Barton.

That total for 2018/19 also doesn’t include Nikola Jokic. The Nuggets have an inexpensive team option on Jokic for next season, but may opt to turn it down and negotiate with him as a restricted free agent, rather than exercising it and having him reach unrestricted free agency a year later.

https://www.hoopsrumors.com/denver-nuggets/

[NuggetsWY]

Nuggets have picked up options of five players:

Emmanuel Mudiay (fourth year, $4,294,480)
Jamal Murray (third year, $3,499,800)
Trey Lyles (fourth year, $3,364,249)
Juan Hernangomez (third year, $2,166,360)
Malik Beasley (third year, $1,773,840)

With those five 2018/19 options exercised, the Nuggets now have approximately $73.4MM in guaranteed salaries on their cap for the ’18/19 season, per Basketball Insiders. That number isn’t exorbitant, but it could skyrocket before next July — it doesn’t include potential player options for Wilson Chandler ($12.8MM) or Darrell Arthur ($7.5MM) or possible extensions for Gary Harris or Will Barton.

That total for 2018/19 also doesn’t include Nikola Jokic. The Nuggets have an inexpensive team option on Jokic for next season, but may opt to turn it down and negotiate with him as a restricted free agent, rather than exercising it and having him reach unrestricted free agency a year later.

https://www.hoopsrumors.com/denver-nuggets/

None of those are bad choices, even if we didn't want some of them. They are cheap deals that can fill out a roster and maybe, just maybe some of them will work out - and we certainly do expect that from some of them.

[NuggetsWY]

I've been thinking about Malone's "9 man rotation" and basically he is saying:
Jokic - Millsap - Chandler - Harris - a PG
Plumlee - Hernangomez - Baron - a PG

The interesting thing is that leaves 6 players.

A PG
Beasley at SG
and 4 power forwards.

Yup, still laughing/crying regarding the roster they built this off-season. Every time I look at it, I shake my head and this was just another one of those "Why? Oh, Why? Oh, Why?" moments.

[HoopsMalone]

I don't understand why not keep Gallo over Plumlee and just draft a cheap backup big... And use arthur/faried at center too

I don't mind letting Gallo walk in a vacuum. But using the savings to splurge on Plumlee with a megadeal?

Sent from my SM-N920V using RealGM mobile app

[U hova]

It's because this Front Office is in love with Mason Plumlee and Trey Lyles

[skywalker33]

It's because this Front Office is in love with Mason Plumlee and Trey Lyles

I'm sure there are more important "loves" on this roster than Plumlee and Lyles, neither who have been on the team for more than nine months

[MidMountain]

It's because this Front Office is in love with Mason Plumlee and Trey Lyles

Mares reported that those two have been working well together so far in camp.