THE J0KER wrote:Jusuf Nurkic has no future in Denver as a starter with future superstar Jokic obviously underperforming playing PF instead C, so I don't blame Malone for that trade happens, but only for unnecessary killing Nurkic value. But in Beasley's case, things are much worse, because "50-40-90" Beasley is actually the type of the player we exactly needed (every team actually), so the biggest crime there is we lost him, and just than the problem is we get nothing in back for him. With Beasley extended and developed as 30mpg super-efficient SG we are in a position to trade Harris and Barton both with cap space to get some truly big name (max-contract guy) this summer with Millsap and Plumlee expiring. And after all damage Malone is already done previously with Nurkic and Beasley, he playing now with the fire once again even with a most talented guy out of three, and the type of player we needs the most at the moment (great and well-sized SF) - Michael Porter Jr
Nobody will ever convince me that Nurkic and Jokic could not have worked, Jokic made a declining Faried look like a star again and Jokic and Plumlee work okay together. The issue was that they were trying to play Jokic as a traditional PF and nothing about Jokic fits in that game. Nurkic could have played off the ball more with Jokic playing as he does now and it would have been a great pairing on offense and very good defensively with Nurkic guarding the better big on D.
It has been no secret that losing Beasley has me pretty pissed off. It is not just about the money, it is about the fact that he never got a fair chance here while Malone insisted on playing Torrey Craig the last several years while it was obvious we needed a shooter off the bench. Beasley put up 16 ppg on 70% TS% last year as a starter, so going to 21 PPG on 61.2% TS% in his 3rd year getting minutes is not abnormal in normal expected progression.
Juancho also bugs me, while I do not expect his 3 point shooting to continue, he is a hustle guy that is willing to sacrifice his body and do what the team needs to help them win. He is what Malone and a certain fan boi say that Craig is, and something that we need desperately on nights like against the WArriors.
More than anything the waste of all the young depth we had is what is really bugging me.
Nurkic, Beasley, Juancho, and Mudiay all feel like we held on way to long and sold for way to little, combined we got a backup big, an end of the bench SF and C, and a pick likely to be around 22 in a bad draft.
Add to that Lyles who obviously was not a long term fit well before the trade deadline last year, and yet we got nothing for him, and the total busts that we ended up cutting in Lydon and Welsh. Along with Vanderbilt never getting a chance and it feels like all the good young depth is gone, and we do not exactly have extra picks coming in to replace them.
Looking at the roster going into next year I am left wondering where does the improvement come from? Even if Harris goes back to what he used to be, Barton will be turning 30 and is more likely to decline as opposed to improve, Murray, MPJ, and Jokic will likely be better, but Grant will have to improve considerably to replace Millsap. Even if we bring back Craig he is also turning 30 so I would not expect much improvement.
Right now Craig, Plumlee, Millsap, Grant, and Vonleh are all free agents. Decisions have to be made on Bol, Dozier, Bates-Diop, and MOrris since they either have non-guaranteed or 2 way deals.
Expecting to keep KBD, Morris, Dozier, and Bol while holding onto the bird rights for Grant, means that we have a late 1st round pick, the MLE, and the LLE to get a suitable 3rd big, 2 backup bigs for depth, and a backup 2/3. I just do not see a clear way this team gets better next year which really makes me wonder if we are headed for the same ending as the Melo years.
, you can read here, in this well-explained article: