Become the next Great Denver Nuggets GM

[The Rebel]

I agree the injury issues are a problem, but I do not get what you and so many other Nuggets fans can't see with Cancar. On a team with Jokic as our two time MVP the only reason I can think of is that he is white and looks a little goofy and slow out there, but if you watch him closely and you look into advanced stats they are shocking. He literally grades out as our best defender according to advanced stats (I am not arguing that he is the best, Gordon and Dozier obviously had much harder assignments) and he is our 2nd most efficient scorer on the team last year. The last 2 years he has started off out of the rotation, then when he is forced into the rotation due to injury he climbs up to start a game then gets hurt, part of that is on Malone for not finding a spot in the rotation for him to start with, and part of it is the injuries, but he has a great attitude about things despite clearly outplaying JaMychael Green each of the last 2 seasons. The guy doesn't make mistakes and does whatever we need him to do, and does it well enough to make a difference off the bench while always having a smile on his face and never bitching. To top it off you can see how much Jokic likes to play with him when they are on the court together. I would gladly re-sign him and have him as our 8th or 9th man, especially since he is likely to be cheap.

Knew this conversation was coming, and I'm not here to convince you or any other fan of Cancar that he needs to go. That said, I am not a true believer in advanced metrics, I am from the old school view, when I SEE the production then I believe. In the 3 years he's been on this team, I have really only seen 1 or 2 games where I saw he's shown he could make an impact for this team. Now, I have watched a couple of his International games that opened my eyes a bit, but I haven't seen THAT guy on this Nuggets team. Whether it's Malone, the different style of play or the injuries, whatever, I've come to the assessment he will never come around to be the player you project him to be. To be fair though, I do think if Malone had seen his potential in practice he might have received more than garbage time minutes, so I'm guessing he's being outplayed by the forwards on this team, perhaps a change of scenery will be in his future anyway. I do remember when he was drafted, many speculated it was because it was a favor to his agent, who was also Jokic's agent. I included him more to enhance the guard position than to rid this team of Vlatko.

I don't see why you don't see it with Cancar, I don't see why most Nuggets fans cannot see what I see. I see a guy that is the 1st one back in transition defense, he always makes the correct rotation, and while obviously slower than most guards today he manages to make them work as well as anybody on our roster. On offense I see a guy constantly setting screens on and off the ball, cutting, moving, and making the right play. He isn't a superstar, and I honestly think with the way Jokic, Murray, and MPJ have blown up you and many others have very unrealistic expectations for young guys. He is a solid 8th man, and he has shown it multiple times. Due to the injuries we can likely bring him back for the minimum while if he was healthy he would likely get a solid tax payer MLE type of deal.

I have followed Hampton for a lot of years, and he is buried on the bench, but part of that is his own fault. While he has improved defensively and showed some great defensive talent while he was here, his offense has not really improved since he joined the Magic. The one thing he has going for him is that while he has maintained the speed and quickness, he has also grown, at least 2 inches to be 6'6" in barefeet, or big enough to be a SF in today's NBA. I would love to get him back, but with the lack of talent on our bench I am not giving up Cancar to do it.

Here's where we are going to disagree, Rebel. I do agree his defensive improvement was significant, I attributed his offense regression due more to a lack of PT since Suggs joined the team, high draft choices will do that to many players. When he was traded to ORL, his offense increased immensely, his shooting percentage was better and he was gaining confidence as a young player should. I personally view our lack of guard talent as a bigger issue than than of our frontcourt. I appreciate your admiration of Cancar, but we would be better off replacing a forward that doesn't get more than garbage time with a PG/SG/SF with RJ's type of speed, increasing defense and has starting potential especially in a wing-driven league. I know this is just my opinion, but this is what this forum is all about.

I actually watched Magic games throughout the season, the thing about it is Hampton is that he was gifted a 20 mpg role to open the season, and lost those minutes ending up healthy but inactive several games throughout the season. He finally got minutes again when they Magic finally started truly tanking and only playing young guys after the trade deadline, but still struggled more than he played well. MAgic fans are open to trading him a year after talking about him as the future SF (Hampton grew to 6'6" last season and may be 6'7" now) because he has regressed on both ends. I still believe Hampton will turn it around but I am not giving up a whole lot to prove it, after all at his current rate he is likely to be a free agent a year from now. Guys like Hampton who had been 1st round picks in from 2-3 years prior usually go for a 2nd or future 2nd, that is a fair price for Hampton at this point.

[The Rebel]

Matt Moore has said that the Nuggets are open to trading Morris, JaMychal Green, and Barton, which I think is a good sign.

There is a 76ers blog out there that is floating Barton for Green, Thybulle, and the 23rd. I would actually take that deal.

Personally I would trade the pick along with Morris and JaMychal, with the price a low end starter has brought the last couple of years in trades I think we can get something like Morris, Green, and the 23rd pick for Kemba Walker, Alec Burks, Cam Reddish, and the 11th overall pick.

Kemba is very limited he can play 15-20 mpg or so, but with his deteriorating knees he cannot stand up for more than a few weeks at a time, for some reason Thibs reportedly doesn’t like Reddish, so this clears that up while giving them the starting PG they need, and a backup PF which will allow them to trade Randle and create room for Obi Toppin.

Draft Dyson Daniels at 11th
Draft Nikola Jovic at 21st
Re-sign Reed to a 2 way
Sign a high upside Center to a 2 way
Sign Cousins back for slightly more than the minimum


With Murray and MPJ’s scoring as well as Gordon being competent on offense we can afford to have a defender at SG, even if he isn’t much of a shooter. To me it is like having Craig but instead of old Millsap at PF we have MPJ and Gordon at forward both of whom can scorer. To me we bring Burks off the bench as we can use his veteran presence and another guy who can occasionally create his own shot when the young guys struggle. Kemba seems to be able to play 20 mpg for a few weeks at a time, but after about 2 months he is out for a few weeks recovering, is Murray or Bones has a major injury we may need to replace him, but for the various minor injuries that keep guys out for a couple of weeks he is amazing insurance. We take a flyer on Reddish to see if Malone can get through to him. We can use a late lotto 1st as well, just to get a 2nd young and cheap prospect or to trade one of them. Green’s insurance will save Kroenke some money, but he is expected to be back by the playoffs and may be a good guy to have on the bench with his big game experience and his defense.
Some may disagree with my picks, but I see Daniels as a long term defensive SG that has some offensive upside, and for some reason Jovic reminds me of Gallo, and I think we were robbed of what Gallo could have done with our young guys if Kroenke would have paid him.

Murray, Hyland, Walker
Thybulle, Burks, Daniels , Danny Green
Gordon. Reddish, Reed (2 way deal)
MPJ, Zeke Nnaji, Jeff Green, Jovic
Jokic, Cousins, 2 way

[Richard Miller]

if we trade NNaji and both Greens opt out than how do we get a bench SG, a SF, and a good enough quality Power Forward to start when needed?

Greens option deadline is 6/20/22 if I'm not mistaken, so we should know pretty soon what happens with them

[skywalker33]

Matt Moore has said that the Nuggets are open to trading Morris, JaMychal Green, and Barton, which I think is a good sign.

There is a 76ers blog out there that is floating Barton for Green, Thybulle, and the 23rd. I would actually take that deal.

Saw those too, and agreed both ideas are in the Nuggets' best interest

Personally I would trade the pick along with Morris and JaMychal, with the price a low end starter has brought the last couple of years in trades I think we can get something like Morris, Green, and the 23rd pick for Kemba Walker, Alec Burks, Cam Reddish, and the 11th overall pick.

Kemba is very limited he can play 15-20 mpg or so, but with his deteriorating knees he cannot stand up for more than a few weeks at a time, for some reason Thibs reportedly doesn’t like Reddish, so this clears that up while giving them the starting PG they need, and a backup PF which will allow them to trade Randle and create room for Obi Toppin.

Salaries might be a problem, we're sending out $17M and bringing back $25M, if we drop Walker out seems more reasonable (could we add Jeff Green into that deal ?). We might be able to trade Walker at the deadline as an expiring but other than that I'm in.

Draft Dyson Daniels at 11th
Draft Nikola Jovic at 21st
Re-sign Reed to a 2 way
Sign a high upside Center to a 2 way
Sign Cousins back for slightly more than the minimum


With Murray and MPJ’s scoring as well as Gordon being competent on offense we can afford to have a defender at SG, even if he isn’t much of a shooter. To me it is like having Craig but instead of old Millsap at PF we have MPJ and Gordon at forward both of whom can score. To me we bring Burks off the bench as we can use his veteran presence and another guy who can occasionally create his own shot when the young guys struggle. Kemba seems to be able to play 20 mpg for a few weeks at a time, but after about 2 months he is out for a few weeks recovering, is Murray or Bones has a major injury we may need to replace him, but for the various minor injuries that keep guys out for a couple of weeks he is amazing insurance. We take a flyer on Reddish to see if Malone can get through to him. We can use a late lotto 1st as well, just to get a 2nd young and cheap prospect or to trade one of them. Green’s insurance will save Kroenke some money, but he is expected to be back by the playoffs and may be a good guy to have on the bench with his big game experience and his defense.
Some may disagree with my picks, but I see Daniels as a long term defensive SG that has some offensive upside, and for some reason Jovic reminds me of Gallo, and I think we were robbed of what Gallo could have done with our young guys if Kroenke would have paid him.

Not a fan of Kemba's but he could help get another asset down the road, not like we couldn't use a few more of those. Leary of Reddish, good player but will want to get paid sometime soon. Unless he has a breakout season for us, he might not have a long tenure here

I like your draft picks, and I agree with your assessments of both ( I have a bit of a man-crush on Malaki Branham, just feel he has a higher ceiling as a 2-way rather Daniels , just a matter of opinion there) but I'd gladly take Daniels on this team. Jovic does look to have a lot of traits that Gallo has, maybe even better handle but still needs to add some girth.

Murray, Hyland, Walker
Thybulle, Burks, Daniels , Danny Green
Gordon. Reddish, Reed (2 way deal)
MPJ, Zeke Nnaji, Jeff Green, Jovic
Jokic, Cousins, 2 way

Like this team, definitely improved the defense here

[The Rebel]

Matt Moore has said that the Nuggets are open to trading Morris, JaMychal Green, and Barton, which I think is a good sign.

There is a 76ers blog out there that is floating Barton for Green, Thybulle, and the 23rd. I would actually take that deal.

Saw those too, and agreed both ideas are in the Nuggets' best interest

Personally I would trade the pick along with Morris and JaMychal, with the price a low end starter has brought the last couple of years in trades I think we can get something like Morris, Green, and the 23rd pick for Kemba Walker, Alec Burks, Cam Reddish, and the 11th overall pick.

Kemba is very limited he can play 15-20 mpg or so, but with his deteriorating knees he cannot stand up for more than a few weeks at a time, for some reason Thibs reportedly doesn’t like Reddish, so this clears that up while giving them the starting PG they need, and a backup PF which will allow them to trade Randle and create room for Obi Toppin.

Salaries might be a problem, we're sending out $17M and bringing back $25M, if we drop Walker out seems more reasonable (could we add Jeff Green into that deal ?). We might be able to trade Walker at the deadline as an expiring but other than that I'm in.

It does work on the trade checker as long as it is done prior to the draft, if we go into next year it doesn't work. I view the extra money especially in Kemba as being the incentive to take back Green and give up the 11th pick.

Draft Dyson Daniels at 11th
Draft Nikola Jovic at 21st
Re-sign Reed to a 2 way
Sign a high upside Center to a 2 way
Sign Cousins back for slightly more than the minimum


With Murray and MPJ’s scoring as well as Gordon being competent on offense we can afford to have a defender at SG, even if he isn’t much of a shooter. To me it is like having Craig but instead of old Millsap at PF we have MPJ and Gordon at forward both of whom can score. To me we bring Burks off the bench as we can use his veteran presence and another guy who can occasionally create his own shot when the young guys struggle. Kemba seems to be able to play 20 mpg for a few weeks at a time, but after about 2 months he is out for a few weeks recovering, is Murray or Bones has a major injury we may need to replace him, but for the various minor injuries that keep guys out for a couple of weeks he is amazing insurance. We take a flyer on Reddish to see if Malone can get through to him. We can use a late lotto 1st as well, just to get a 2nd young and cheap prospect or to trade one of them. Green’s insurance will save Kroenke some money, but he is expected to be back by the playoffs and may be a good guy to have on the bench with his big game experience and his defense.
Some may disagree with my picks, but I see Daniels as a long term defensive SG that has some offensive upside, and for some reason Jovic reminds me of Gallo, and I think we were robbed of what Gallo could have done with our young guys if Kroenke would have paid him.

Not a fan of Kemba's but he could help get another asset down the road, not like we couldn't use a few more of those. Leary of Reddish, good player but will want to get paid sometime soon. Unless he has a breakout season for us, he might not have a long tenure here

I remember telling my wife about 2 minutes into the game where Murray got hurt that they needed to get him out of there, he was obviously limping and looked like crap. Yet we all know that Malone was never going to bench Murray if he wanted to go as he does not trust rookie PGs, and who can blame him? I am not a big fan of Walker, but with his knees as bad as they are, he is a guy that we can use whenever Murray or Bones are nicked up and need a couple of games off before they sustain a major injury. Malone will play a guy like Kemba, and if he is with the reserves he can be a little more ball dominate and be successful for 15-20 mpg while Bones or Murray play with the starters and Jokic.

Reddish is taking on a talented player that has not seemed to mentally get what it takes to play in the NBA. If he plays well he can earn minutes over a guy like Reed easily, but if he doesn't than at least we have Reed who is an average backup SF in this league.

I like your draft picks, and I agree with your assessments of both ( I have a bit of a man-crush on Malaki Branham, just feel he has a higher ceiling as a 2-way rather Daniels , just a matter of opinion there) but I'd gladly take Daniels on this team. Jovic does look to have a lot of traits that Gallo has, maybe even better handle but still needs to add some girth.

I always defer to you when it comes to who the best wing and guards are too draft, you seem to have figured out something, so I will look in Branham. In my limited available time I have just watched some game tape, some highlights, and read scouting reports of guys connected to the Nuggets on mock drafts, although it looks like Daniels has moved up considerably since March.

Murray, Hyland, Walker
Thybulle, Burks, Daniels , Danny Green
Gordon. Reddish, Reed (2 way deal)
MPJ, Zeke Nnaji, Jeff Green, Jovic
Jokic, Cousins, 2 way

Like this team, definitely improved the defense here

I think this team has everything we need to win a championship, we have shooting, we have perimeter defense, both MPJ and NNaji have shown natural instincts at rim protection on rotations, good depth, and we have a balanced bench with defense, shooting, and a 3 guys who can create for themselves and others.

[Coeur]

Trying to see if I’m missing something on Branham. But I’m not.


If you want a smaller guard/combo I don’t see any way in the world you could see branham over Jaden Hardy. Jalen Williams also >> Branham

And then on the wing I can’t see branham coming anywhere near what Beauchamp or Brown could do for nugs.


If Brown, Beauchamp, Williams, Eason, and Hardy were all off the board I could see considering branham with the next group of guys like Wendell Moore, Procida, and Christian Braun. Branham and agbaji both fit back closer to this next group

[skywalker33]

Trying to see if I’m missing something on Branham. But I’m not.


If you want a smaller guard/combo I don’t see any way in the world you could see branham over Jaden Hardy. Jalen Williams also >> Branham

And then on the wing I can’t see branham coming anywhere near what Beauchamp or Brown could do for nugs.


If Brown, Beauchamp, Williams, Eason, and Hardy were all off the board I could see considering branham with the next group of guys like Wendell Moore, Procida, and Christian Braun. Branham and agbaji both fit back closer to this next group

Branham measured closer to 6'5" than Hardy, a better defender IMO. He had some excellent scoring outbursts, though not as consistent as desired (he is very young). And comparing him below Jalen Williams is silly, Williams is a bit slower than Branham but he is on the rise. Sorry Coeur, feels like you fall in love with some players without doing the research. However, I'd love for your rankings to work, we'd be guaranteed to get a real good player. I'll bet at least 5 of the players you put above Branham won't go before #21

But we can agree to disagree, gotta admit I never saw Bones falling to us last year.

[Coeur]

Trying to see if I’m missing something on Branham. But I’m not.


If you want a smaller guard/combo I don’t see any way in the world you could see branham over Jaden Hardy. Jalen Williams also >> Branham

And then on the wing I can’t see branham coming anywhere near what Beauchamp or Brown could do for nugs.


If Brown, Beauchamp, Williams, Eason, and Hardy were all off the board I could see considering branham with the next group of guys like Wendell Moore, Procida, and Christian Braun. Branham and agbaji both fit back closer to this next group

Branham measured closer to 6'5" than Hardy, a better defender IMO. He had some excellent scoring outbursts, though not as consistent as desired (he is very young). And comparing him below Jalen Williams is silly, Williams is a bit slower than Branham but he is on the rise. Sorry Coeur, feels like you fall in love with some players without doing the research. However, I'd love for your rankings to work, we'd be guaranteed to get a real good player. I'll bet at least 5 of the players you put above Branham won't go before #21

But we can agree to disagree, gotta admit I never saw Bones falling to us last year.

There could even possibly be a strange drop to Nugs of Davis or Mathurin or Shaedon Sharpe


This draft is super interesting. Especially at SG. Still believe it could play out very well for the Nugs.


Guys I hope go before 21 to someone else: Branham, Ty Ty Washington, agbaji,…..


Now it’s another pick at 30 to get excited for

[skywalker33]

Gotta say I'm falling for the idea of re-signing PJ Dozier. We need defense, he specializes in defense. Sign him to a 1-yr make or break deal. Gotta think Gary Harris would also fit the bill, bet it'd make Jokic happy as well.

I'd also try to move Monte or Barton to move up from #21 to draft Malaki Branham, then I'm liking Jovic (if he falls), Wendell Moore Jr or G Andrew Nembhard. Could also go backup C in Christian Koloko or Walker Kessler

[skywalker33]

As a player, wouldn't mind looking at Gary Trent Jr, think be'd be a great fit on this team. Can't say I like his attitude all the time, does seem to be a me-first kinda guy. Think he'd thrive with Joker though.

[The Rebel]

As a player, wouldn't mind looking at Gary Trent Jr, think be'd be a great fit on this team. Can't say I like his attitude all the time, does seem to be a me-first kinda guy. Think he'd thrive with Joker though.

I would pass on Trent Jr for this team, while I like him overall as a player, we need defense at SG and he isn't a very good defender.

[The Rebel]

Terrance Ross reportedly is forcing his way off the Magic, would anybody else do Ross and Hampton for BArton and the 30th pick?

I think Barton is the better overall player than Ross but Ross fits our need for a defensive SG that is not totally incompetent on offense, and I would love to see a 2nd string of Bones and Hampton off the bench.

It would also allow us to trade Morris for a pick and give us 2 1st round picks again if we are bringing back Dozier and Cousins, as our depth chart would look something like
Murray/ Bones
Ross/ Hampton
Gordon/ Dozier
MPJ/ NNaji/ Green
Jokic/ Cousins

[skywalker33]

Terrance Ross reportedly is forcing his way off the Magic, would anybody else do Ross and Hampton for BArton and the 30th pick?

I think Barton is the better overall player than Ross but Ross fits our need for a defensive SG that is not totally incompetent on offense, and I would love to see a 2nd string of Bones and Hampton off the bench.

Keep coming back to this trade, looks just like what we need now, while adding some future value as well. Wandering over to the Magic board, proposed your trade, went over well with the locals even modifying it a bit to add #35 back towards us.

It would also allow us to trade Morris for a pick and give us 2 1st round picks again if we are bringing back Dozier and Cousins, as our depth chart would look something like
Murray/ Bones
Ross/ Hampton/ {Branham}
Gordon/ Dozier/{Eason}
MPJ/ NNaji/ Green
Jokic/ Cousins/ {#35 C Koloko}

It would allow us to trade Morris in one of two directions. The first would be to add to #21 to trade up for one of my two favorite prospects, either SG Malaki Branham or another option is PF Tari Eason. The second would be to trade for a 2023 1st, either moving the ORL pick up sooner or giving us some trade flexibility again. Dozier allows us to choose between Eason and Branham, Dozier could fill in at G or F.

Lastly, with JaMychel gone and Green proving he still can step up, we will also get an opportunity (Malone willing) to see if Nnaji can step up or at least, to what level we can expect of him to play at. Zeke has just turned 21 which would put him about his Jr year of college, but he has now 2-yrs of on-the-job training, we need to know if the kid is worthy or needs to be replaced.

Personally, I'd love the above lineup.