Nuggets Bench

[NuggetsWY]

What does the Nuggets' bench look like?

Center? --- Without Plumlee? Very short/light. With Plumlee? Not deep enough if Jokic or Plumlee is injured.

PF? - Too deep So who plays? Or, who doesn't? Faried has lost minutes under Malone. Arthur seems perpetually injured. Lyles? The front office says, "We wanted to draft him." But he didn't get much PT at Utah. Lydon? Doubtful. Hernangomez? Seems the best probability.

SF? - Chandler is our only true SF, even though he played more PF last year. Hernangomez seems questionable here, but they're saying he's the backup for now. While Hernangomez seems likely to be a little slow at SF (especially when switching onto guards), Barton would seem to be too light to play against many SFs. It's not too bad, but it's a questionable lineup IMO.

SG - Barton is likely the first man off the bench at guard with Beasley getting some minutes and Murray sliding over in case of major injuries - it seems to be our deepest spot - perhaps not in numbers but in quality combined with numbers.

PG - Murray appears to be the starter. So that brings Nelson as the backup PG and Mudiay taking whatever minutes he can get. This might be our weakest spot overall.

Bench
Plumlee
Hernangomez - Faried - Lyles
Hernangomez - Barton
Barton - Beasley
Nelson - Mudiay

I hate to suggest this, but if Nelson starts - Murray might be a better fit with our bench players than Nelson. If Nelson starts, I do hope Murray gets more minutes than Nelson. Think about this bench-5:

Plumlee - Faried - Hernangomez - Barton - Murray ----- Without Jokic on the floor, that lineup looks like the best bench we have IMO.

[The Rebel]

I think Faried is going to be used as a small ball center with a 3 big rotation of Jokic, Millsap, and Faried. If Plumlee is brought back than he will be more of the 4th big. So I can see Millsap getting 32 minutes at Pf, Jokic getting 32 minutes at Center, Faried getting 22 mpg at Pf and C, and Plumlee getting about 10 mpg. The other young guys are only likely to get a few minutes in the case of injury, so I fully expect Lydon to be in the Dleague most of the year.

If Barton ends up getting most of the minutes as the backup SG than we will need Hernangomez's shooting at SF, especially if Plumlee comes back and Faried and Plumlee are the primary backup bigs, someone has to spread the floor. The real issue to me is if Chandler misses real time this year, if he does than the rotation will likely be Juancho and Barton at SF and that is not going to work against teams with good sfs.

PG is a weird position for this team. I cannot see Nelson having much value as a starter or primary backup PG, but if the plan is to have a bench rotation of Barton, Hernangomez, Faried, and Plumlee than Mudiay is not going to be very effective which means that Murray or Nelson is going to be best for the bench. Personally I would like to see Mudiay given the starter role (he was actually decent with Harris and Jokic on the court with him) and play 20-22 mpg while Murray comes off the bench and gets 26-28 mpg at PG and 4-6 mpg at Sg.

I am still of the opinion that Barton and Faried or one of the young PFs need to be traded for a decent SG/SF that is capable at playing both spots and can hit outside shots.

[Alatan]

I think Faried is going to be used as a small ball center with a 3 big rotation of Jokic, Millsap, and Faried. If Plumlee is brought back than he will be more of the 4th big. So I can see Millsap getting 32 minutes at Pf, Jokic getting 32 minutes at Center, Faried getting 22 mpg at Pf and C, and Plumlee getting about 10 mpg. The other young guys are only likely to get a few minutes in the case of injury, so I fully expect Lydon to be in the Dleague most of the year.

If Barton ends up getting most of the minutes as the backup SG than we will need Hernangomez's shooting at SF, especially if Plumlee comes back and Faried and Plumlee are the primary backup bigs, someone has to spread the floor. The real issue to me is if Chandler misses real time this year, if he does than the rotation will likely be Juancho and Barton at SF and that is not going to work against teams with good sfs.

PG is a weird position for this team. I cannot see Nelson having much value as a starter or primary backup PG, but if the plan is to have a bench rotation of Barton, Hernangomez, Faried, and Plumlee than Mudiay is not going to be very effective which means that Murray or Nelson is going to be best for the bench. Personally I would like to see Mudiay given the starter role (he was actually decent with Harris and Jokic on the court with him) and play 20-22 mpg while Murray comes off the bench and gets 26-28 mpg at PG and 4-6 mpg at Sg.

I am still of the opinion that Barton and Faried or one of the young PFs need to be traded for a decent SG/SF that is capable at playing both spots and can hit outside shots.

Mudiay doesnt deserve a starter position. If you are an athletic 6 5 guy who struggles finishing you belong in the D league. Plumlee deserves more than 10 mpg, around 20 i think is good. SF is thin and i can see Hernangomez, Lyles and Barton sharing the backup minutes there. Nelson should be a backup to Murray or maybe share minutes with Mudiay if he shows that he improved considerably.

[TunaFish]

I think Faried is going to be used as a small ball center with a 3 big rotation of Jokic, Millsap, and Faried. If Plumlee is brought back than he will be more of the 4th big. So I can see Millsap getting 32 minutes at Pf, Jokic getting 32 minutes at Center, Faried getting 22 mpg at Pf and C, and Plumlee getting about 10 mpg. The other young guys are only likely to get a few minutes in the case of injury, so I fully expect Lydon to be in the Dleague most of the year.

If Barton ends up getting most of the minutes as the backup SG than we will need Hernangomez's shooting at SF, especially if Plumlee comes back and Faried and Plumlee are the primary backup bigs, someone has to spread the floor. The real issue to me is if Chandler misses real time this year, if he does than the rotation will likely be Juancho and Barton at SF and that is not going to work against teams with good sfs.

PG is a weird position for this team. I cannot see Nelson having much value as a starter or primary backup PG, but if the plan is to have a bench rotation of Barton, Hernangomez, Faried, and Plumlee than Mudiay is not going to be very effective which means that Murray or Nelson is going to be best for the bench. Personally I would like to see Mudiay given the starter role (he was actually decent with Harris and Jokic on the court with him) and play 20-22 mpg while Murray comes off the bench and gets 26-28 mpg at PG and 4-6 mpg at Sg.

I am still of the opinion that Barton and Faried or one of the young PFs need to be traded for a decent SG/SF that is capable at playing both spots and can hit outside shots.

Mudiay doesnt deserve a starter position. If you are an athletic 6 5 guy who struggles finishing you belong in the D league. Plumlee deserves more than 10 mpg, around 20 i think is good. SF is thin and i can see Hernangomez, Lyles and Barton sharing the backup minutes there. Nelson should be a backup to Murray or maybe share minutes with Mudiay if he shows that he improved considerably.

If you had a chance to hear Coach Malone during a broadcast during a summer league game, you would have heard him make the case that Mudiay was injured last season and slow to recover. Mudiay was the starter at the beginning of the season and if you take a moment to review the Nuggets/Celtics game in Boston last year you can see how Mudiay flashed some strong point guard skills (he was probably the best player in that game). This is an important season for Mudiay because he has been plagued by inconsistency. He has shown some interesting point guard skills but his back injuries are concerning. He played very well in the World vs. Africa game with a number of top pros. Too soon to be giving up on Mudiay and I get the sense that he will be the starter.

[Alatan]

I think Faried is going to be used as a small ball center with a 3 big rotation of Jokic, Millsap, and Faried. If Plumlee is brought back than he will be more of the 4th big. So I can see Millsap getting 32 minutes at Pf, Jokic getting 32 minutes at Center, Faried getting 22 mpg at Pf and C, and Plumlee getting about 10 mpg. The other young guys are only likely to get a few minutes in the case of injury, so I fully expect Lydon to be in the Dleague most of the year.

If Barton ends up getting most of the minutes as the backup SG than we will need Hernangomez's shooting at SF, especially if Plumlee comes back and Faried and Plumlee are the primary backup bigs, someone has to spread the floor. The real issue to me is if Chandler misses real time this year, if he does than the rotation will likely be Juancho and Barton at SF and that is not going to work against teams with good sfs.

PG is a weird position for this team. I cannot see Nelson having much value as a starter or primary backup PG, but if the plan is to have a bench rotation of Barton, Hernangomez, Faried, and Plumlee than Mudiay is not going to be very effective which means that Murray or Nelson is going to be best for the bench. Personally I would like to see Mudiay given the starter role (he was actually decent with Harris and Jokic on the court with him) and play 20-22 mpg while Murray comes off the bench and gets 26-28 mpg at PG and 4-6 mpg at Sg.

I am still of the opinion that Barton and Faried or one of the young PFs need to be traded for a decent SG/SF that is capable at playing both spots and can hit outside shots.

Mudiay doesnt deserve a starter position. If you are an athletic 6 5 guy who struggles finishing you belong in the D league. Plumlee deserves more than 10 mpg, around 20 i think is good. SF is thin and i can see Hernangomez, Lyles and Barton sharing the backup minutes there. Nelson should be a backup to Murray or maybe share minutes with Mudiay if he shows that he improved considerably.

If you had a chance to hear Coach Malone during a broadcast during a summer league game, you would have heard him make the case that Mudiay was injured last season and slow to recover. Mudiay was the starter at the beginning of the season and if you take a moment to review the Nuggets/Celtics game in Boston last year you can see how Mudiay flashed some strong point guard skills (he was probably the best player in that game). This is an important season for Mudiay because he has been plagued by inconsistency. He has shown some interesting point guard skills but his back injuries are concerning. He played very well in the World vs. Africa game with a number of top pros. Too soon to be giving up on Mudiay and I get the sense that he will be the starter.

To be honest i dont see that much potential in Mudiay. You think he was hurt and shows potential but i didnt see him having a problem jumping, running etc. I just see a guy who has 0 touch around the basket. His layups and shots are so raw. His ballhandling is average, his shooting is bad, etc. The only thing i noticed he was doing good was his passing. Apart from that zero. He might end up being a solid starter in the league but i would not take away minutes from Murray to give them to Mudiay.

[skywalker33]

Have to think the staff is going to want to see what Lyles has to bring to the table, they gave up a lottery pick for him. Barton will get some serious time, whether to market him or to show him his value to this team. As for Mudiay, TC and the beginning of the season early on will tell how much playing time he (or Nelson) will get. Juancho appears to get his PT as backup SF, Faried (at present writing anyway) looks to be the backup C.

[The Rebel]

I think Faried is going to be used as a small ball center with a 3 big rotation of Jokic, Millsap, and Faried. If Plumlee is brought back than he will be more of the 4th big. So I can see Millsap getting 32 minutes at Pf, Jokic getting 32 minutes at Center, Faried getting 22 mpg at Pf and C, and Plumlee getting about 10 mpg. The other young guys are only likely to get a few minutes in the case of injury, so I fully expect Lydon to be in the Dleague most of the year.

If Barton ends up getting most of the minutes as the backup SG than we will need Hernangomez's shooting at SF, especially if Plumlee comes back and Faried and Plumlee are the primary backup bigs, someone has to spread the floor. The real issue to me is if Chandler misses real time this year, if he does than the rotation will likely be Juancho and Barton at SF and that is not going to work against teams with good sfs.

PG is a weird position for this team. I cannot see Nelson having much value as a starter or primary backup PG, but if the plan is to have a bench rotation of Barton, Hernangomez, Faried, and Plumlee than Mudiay is not going to be very effective which means that Murray or Nelson is going to be best for the bench. Personally I would like to see Mudiay given the starter role (he was actually decent with Harris and Jokic on the court with him) and play 20-22 mpg while Murray comes off the bench and gets 26-28 mpg at PG and 4-6 mpg at Sg.

I am still of the opinion that Barton and Faried or one of the young PFs need to be traded for a decent SG/SF that is capable at playing both spots and can hit outside shots.

Mudiay doesnt deserve a starter position. If you are an athletic 6 5 guy who struggles finishing you belong in the D league. Plumlee deserves more than 10 mpg, around 20 i think is good. SF is thin and i can see Hernangomez, Lyles and Barton sharing the backup minutes there. Nelson should be a backup to Murray or maybe share minutes with Mudiay if he shows that he improved considerably.

You cannot have a 5 guard rotation and expect the team to be even decent, the fact of the matter is that Nelson was only slightly better than Mudiay last year, and that was with Mudiay playing in lineups where he is a terrible fit. If Mudiay is playing than he needs to be in a lineup where he is going to be effective, and that means he has to start. Personally I never thought that starting was that big of a deal but you obviously do. If Nelson is going to be the primary backup, than you can pencil us into having the worst defensive bench in the league and it will not be close.

You want to give Plumlee more than 10 mpg, than where do those minutes come from? Faried was clearly a better and more effective player than Plumlee was last year, Jokic needs his minutes as does Millsap. So where do the minutes come from?

Lyles is not a SF, not even close, people bitch about Juancho playing SF and Juancho is more fluid and quicker than Lyles, while also having a much better jump shot and better handles. Putting Lyles at SF would be as dumb as when Shaw decided Arthur was the starting SF a couple of years ago.

[The Rebel]

Mudiay doesnt deserve a starter position. If you are an athletic 6 5 guy who struggles finishing you belong in the D league. Plumlee deserves more than 10 mpg, around 20 i think is good. SF is thin and i can see Hernangomez, Lyles and Barton sharing the backup minutes there. Nelson should be a backup to Murray or maybe share minutes with Mudiay if he shows that he improved considerably.

If you had a chance to hear Coach Malone during a broadcast during a summer league game, you would have heard him make the case that Mudiay was injured last season and slow to recover. Mudiay was the starter at the beginning of the season and if you take a moment to review the Nuggets/Celtics game in Boston last year you can see how Mudiay flashed some strong point guard skills (he was probably the best player in that game). This is an important season for Mudiay because he has been plagued by inconsistency. He has shown some interesting point guard skills but his back injuries are concerning. He played very well in the World vs. Africa game with a number of top pros. Too soon to be giving up on Mudiay and I get the sense that he will be the starter.

To be honest i dont see that much potential in Mudiay. You think he was hurt and shows potential but i didnt see him having a problem jumping, running etc. I just see a guy who has 0 touch around the basket. His layups and shots are so raw. His ballhandling is average, his shooting is bad, etc. The only thing i noticed he was doing good was his passing. Apart from that zero. He might end up being a solid starter in the league but i would not take away minutes from Murray to give them to Mudiay.

Nobody is talking about taking minutes away from Murray, they are talking about taking minutes away from Nelson who was by far the worst defender on the 2nd worst team in the league last year. Although if you did not see potential in Mudiay those last 10 games when he was running backup PG than we were watching different games, of course those last 10 games there was no Barton and he was actually put on the court with shooters to pass too.

[The Rebel]

Have to think the staff is going to want to see what Lyles has to bring to the table, they gave up a lottery pick for him. Barton will get some serious time, whether to market him or to show him his value to this team. As for Mudiay, TC and the beginning of the season early on will tell how much playing time he (or Nelson) will get. Juancho appears to get his PT as backup SF, Faried (at present writing anyway) looks to be the backup C.

I hope that Barton figures out how to change his game if he is going to get as many minutes as most expect, he was much too ball dominant last year and putting him on the court all the time while taking the ball out of Jokic, Millsap, and the PGs hands for him to try his iso crap is a recipe for disaster.

[NuggetsWY]

Have to think the staff is going to want to see what Lyles has to bring to the table, they gave up a lottery pick for him. Barton will get some serious time, whether to market him or to show him his value to this team. As for Mudiay, TC and the beginning of the season early on will tell how much playing time he (or Nelson) will get. Juancho appears to get his PT as backup SF, Faried (at present writing anyway) looks to be the backup C.

I hope that Barton figures out how to change his game if he is going to get as many minutes as most expect, he was much too ball dominant last year and putting him on the court all the time while taking the ball out of Jokic, Millsap, and the PGs hands for him to try his iso crap is a recipe for disaster.

I'm OK with Barton playing any minutes when Jokic isn't on the floor (Nelson too). Unlike Gallinari, they did not seem to adjust their game to fit with Jokic.

[skywalker33]

I have that love/hate relationship with Barton. On the one hand I love the scoring punch he brings off the bench, he can even start in a pinch. Then there is his iso mentality, goes against every team play mentality which I value as he is not strong enough to take over a game. Give him the minutes to showcase his skillset and increase his trade value would seem to jeopardize potential wins IMO. He can also win some of those games so he must play as well.

[Alatan]

I think Faried is going to be used as a small ball center with a 3 big rotation of Jokic, Millsap, and Faried. If Plumlee is brought back than he will be more of the 4th big. So I can see Millsap getting 32 minutes at Pf, Jokic getting 32 minutes at Center, Faried getting 22 mpg at Pf and C, and Plumlee getting about 10 mpg. The other young guys are only likely to get a few minutes in the case of injury, so I fully expect Lydon to be in the Dleague most of the year.

If Barton ends up getting most of the minutes as the backup SG than we will need Hernangomez's shooting at SF, especially if Plumlee comes back and Faried and Plumlee are the primary backup bigs, someone has to spread the floor. The real issue to me is if Chandler misses real time this year, if he does than the rotation will likely be Juancho and Barton at SF and that is not going to work against teams with good sfs.

PG is a weird position for this team. I cannot see Nelson having much value as a starter or primary backup PG, but if the plan is to have a bench rotation of Barton, Hernangomez, Faried, and Plumlee than Mudiay is not going to be very effective which means that Murray or Nelson is going to be best for the bench. Personally I would like to see Mudiay given the starter role (he was actually decent with Harris and Jokic on the court with him) and play 20-22 mpg while Murray comes off the bench and gets 26-28 mpg at PG and 4-6 mpg at Sg.

I am still of the opinion that Barton and Faried or one of the young PFs need to be traded for a decent SG/SF that is capable at playing both spots and can hit outside shots.

Mudiay doesnt deserve a starter position. If you are an athletic 6 5 guy who struggles finishing you belong in the D league. Plumlee deserves more than 10 mpg, around 20 i think is good. SF is thin and i can see Hernangomez, Lyles and Barton sharing the backup minutes there. Nelson should be a backup to Murray or maybe share minutes with Mudiay if he shows that he improved considerably.

You cannot have a 5 guard rotation and expect the team to be even decent, the fact of the matter is that Nelson was only slightly better than Mudiay last year, and that was with Mudiay playing in lineups where he is a terrible fit. If Mudiay is playing than he needs to be in a lineup where he is going to be effective, and that means he has to start. Personally I never thought that starting was that big of a deal but you obviously do. If Nelson is going to be the primary backup, than you can pencil us into having the worst defensive bench in the league and it will not be close.

You want to give Plumlee more than 10 mpg, than where do those minutes come from? Faried was clearly a better and more effective player than Plumlee was last year, Jokic needs his minutes as does Millsap. So where do the minutes come from?

Lyles is not a SF, not even close, people bitch about Juancho playing SF and Juancho is more fluid and quicker than Lyles, while also having a much better jump shot and better handles. Putting Lyles at SF would be as dumb as when Shaw decided Arthur was the starting SF a couple of years ago.

I was thinking something like this:

Murray 28+/ Nelson/Mudiay 20-
Harris 32/ Barton 16
Chandler 32/Hernanogomez 15-/ Barton/Lyles
Millsap 32/Faried 15+/ Hernangomez/Lyles/Arthur
Jokic 32+/Plumlee 15/Faried

When you say a starter i assume he gets the most minutes at the position. If you are talking about inserting Mudiay in a better lineup, again i dont see how it helps the team.
IMO his greatest strength is passing and you dont want to take the ball out of Jokic's or Millsap's hands. He is a bad shooter and a bad finisher so i dont want him playing off ball.
In the second unit he can be more useful, but again i doubt he is more useful than Nelson. Anyway im not objecting to bench Nelson to develop Mudiay but that will cost us some wins probably.
As for Lyles yeah he is not a SF but we have a major jam at the PF position and he did play SF in college so it might work in low minutes since we dont really have much better options.

[skywalker33]

Seems Juancho is going to be just fine, looks like he's getting back into great form.

http://www.rotoworld.com/player/nba/2654/juan-hernangomez

[NuggetsWY]

Looking through the comments on this thread, I'm wondering which players are not going to see much playing time until there is an injury. Assuming Malone plays 10 players per game (fairly normal for the last two years), the guys waiting to play look to be:

Mudiay
Beasley
Lydon
Arthur
Lyles

[skywalker33]

Looking through the comments on this thread, I'm wondering which players are not going to see much playing time until there is an injury. Assuming Malone plays 10 players per game (fairly normal for the last two years), the guys waiting to play look to be:

Mudiay -career ending anyday When it comes down to him or Nelson, I'll take Mudiay's future of Nelson
Beasley
Lydon
Arthur
Lyles - Hard for me to imagine giving up a lottery pick not to at least see what this guy's got, especially since he didn't play in SL

[NuggetsWY]

Looking through the comments on this thread, I'm wondering which players are not going to see much playing time until there is an injury. Assuming Malone plays 10 players per game (fairly normal for the last two years), the guys waiting to play look to be:

Mudiay -career ending anyday When it comes down to him or Nelson, I'll take Mudiay's future of Nelson
Beasley
Lydon
Arthur
Lyles - Hard for me to imagine giving up a lottery pick not to at least see what this guy's got, especially since he didn't play in SL

Well, I might agree on Lyles except they will play Millsap and if they don't play Faried, his trade value drops and his salary is too high compared to others plus Hernangomez might get some stretch-4 minutes --- but hey, at least Lyles is ahead of Lydon and maybe (probably) Arthur (who probably has little trade value at this point).

[skywalker33]

Looking through the comments on this thread, I'm wondering which players are not going to see much playing time until there is an injury. Assuming Malone plays 10 players per game (fairly normal for the last two years), the guys waiting to play look to be:

Mudiay -career ending anyday When it comes down to him or Nelson, I'll take Mudiay's future of Nelson
Beasley
Lydon
Arthur
Lyles - Hard for me to imagine giving up a lottery pick not to at least see what this guy's got, especially since he didn't play in SL

Well, I might agree on Lyles except they will play Millsap and if they don't play Faried, his trade value drops and his salary is too high compared to others plus Hernangomez might get some stretch-4 minutes --- but hey, at least Lyles is ahead of Lydon and maybe (probably) Arthur (who probably has little trade value at this point).

It is my newest opinion that Faried isn't going to he traded this year(seems untradable IMO) so his salary will probably be allowed to expire and used as part of what will become available cap room to resign Jokic. In the meantime (as of right now anyway) he will be used as a small-ball center, less than that of his normal PF position.