The Nuggets Offseason In 700 Words
Very little, succinctly described.
Free agency begins Monday at 6 p.m. ET, officially, though many of the deals are already done, have been done, and they just will pretend to be reached on Monday.
With that in mind, if you’re looking for a very basic overview of Denver’s offseason — with bullet points! — you can find it here.
TL;DR: Stability Over Revolution
The front office is now has two main individuals with different strengths in charge
Ben Tenzer handles management of people, organization, and the money (i.e. the cap)
Wallace focuses on the basketball side, identifying talent, roster fit, and team needs
Josh Kroenke will spend more time around the Nuggets as they get acclimated, with an eventual goal of being more hands-off again, but he’s always been involved in draft, free agency, and major decisions. The buck will stop more often and more directly with him.
Most of the staff remains in place outside of Tommy Balcetis who was not renewed; Kroenke said they’ll evaluate over the coming months but feel confident in the staff they have1
Denver did not draft anyone
They were close to a few deals but nothing they could justify
My read: Those roster spots are probably too valuable to spend a pick swap to add
Denver is not expecting to engage much on trades
My read: They continue to face the same problem of their assets’ market value; you need to rehab some of these contracts either through production/impact or getting closer to contract expiration to move them for helpful assets
They will have the 2032 pick available to trade (they can deal the 2031 or 2032 but not both), but they likely want to keep some of their assets in reserve.
Denver will focus more on free agency, per Tenzer
They will bring in different players on two-way contracts. Tony Jones reported Saturday that they will not retain PJ Hall.
They have 12 players on roster, giving them three veteran slots to use on top of the two-way guys.
If Dario Saric were to head overseas, his new club would presumably pay part of the buyout for him and that would make four slots.
With Russell Westbrook’s return at least uncertain, backup combo guard will likely be a priority even if the team believes Jalen Pickett can handle full-time backup point guard.
With DeAndre Jordan a free agent, stable backup center play will once again be the front office’s quixotic quest
Shooting and wing defense are going to be the priorities, per Wallace
The available names of players who are unrestricted free agents, likely to be on the market, likely to be available for a veteran minimum contract, and shot 36 percent or better than last season is… small.
Many of these names will be unavailable but here’s the list of 36% shooters on the market.
The tough part in projecting additions is how random it can be. Some of these players started on playoff teams on minimums. Some of these players will get far more.
None of the core four2 will be traded.
They will rely on improvement from Julian Strawther, Peyton Watson, Jalen Pickett, theoretically Hunter Tyson, and Christian Braun
Braun will sign an extension that could be as high as $30 million per year
Watson’s extension decision will be a big, and interesting one, but typically these players are retained
Denver is $1.2 million over the first apron right now, and $10.6 million under the second apron.
This should be read as “we cleaned house from the Booth v. Malone war” even if some people got caught in the crossfire (like Balcetis).
Michael Porter Jr., Jamal Murray, Aaron Gordon, and Nikola Jokic. This is unless there is an offer they cannot refuse is presented to them for any of the first three. And no, they will not be trading Nikola Jokic.
Which they didn’t do last season anyway
Which they didn’t do last season anyway
Which they used badly last year anyway
Which you might notice they do not typically do anyway