Denver Nuggets Offseason Guide: Naive to think Championship window’s closed | NBA on ESPN

Denver Nuggets Offseason Guide: Naive to think Championship window’s closed | NBA on ESPN

all right a happy Monday uh at least for Minnesota Timberwolves fans and Indiana Pacers fans uh you are on to the Conference Finals uh we did a Denver video Sunday night after the Lost um it was half ass to be be honest uh and I said you know what Denver fans deserve better uh so we scrapped it we never even sent it in to get uh edited uh so let’s do another video of the Denver Nuggets offseason video which I didn’t think we would have to put out on a Monday morning uh especially when it was 5838 but that is life uh we started writing a Denver article when they got down 20 against Minnesota when they lost both games at home uh I wrote the state of the roster and then I said you know what let’s just pause because things might get a little funky in this series and sure enough Denver comes back up 32 um we write the Minnesota article which will come out whenever their fate is determined maybe it won’t be determined um and then we wrote the Denver article again over the weekend when they lost uh when they lost game six um so here we go with Denver I would say it would be naive to think that the championship Championship window for the Denver Nuggets has closed uh especially when you have the reigning MVP three-time MVP Nicole jic on your roster for the next four years okay I’ll put that out there um you have your core of your roster under contract next year but there’s going to be some questions here Aaron Gordon um Michael Porter Jr Jamal Murray cavius K Pope has a player option um your starting five during the regular season did something only the Boston Celtics of the 0708 and 0809 Celtics led the league in point differential in consecutive Seasons however that same starting five in the post season we’re in the red it was a negative we saw in the Lakers series uh and we certainly saw it in game six in game seven games one and two also with uh with the Minnesota series here so what was great in the regular season wasn’t as great in the uh postseason that now leads to what’s next right we always do what’s next doesn’t matter if you’re 57 and 25 and you then you know the number two seed in the playoffs here and you lose in the first round there’s always going to be a next last year the what next was can we afford Bruce Brown which you couldn’t because he had non- bird rights do we bring back Jeff Green you could have you elected not to um let’s make a conservative effort on our bench which would be our young players draft develop Payton Watson turns into a different a different role uh Christian Brown in year two uh we went out got three three players in the draft uh that eventually could help um at the end of the day really the only place person we saw in the in the in the playoffs was was Christian Brown here the role of Payton Watson we saw in the regular season had been diminished and now that leads to questions that starts with your starting five outside of jic you have a decision to make on Jamal Murray who’s extension eligible we’ll go into that in a minute you have a decision on Aaron Gordon who is extension eligible starting in late September uh cavius kowell Pope has a player option that he has to decide by June 29th to become a free agent and of course you have Michael Porter Jr sitting on a Max contract and is a good player but let’s face it is not a max player and I’ve been waiting for people to start talking about that see you can get away with three players on Max contracts when you’re winning an NBA championship when you lose in the manner that Denver did in game seven and Porter Jr has seven points and he certainly there were good moments for him and there have been good moments for him then it starts to get question as far as is he a Max contract can we split that contract up can we go in a different direction and I think you’re starting to see that there that’s for Calvin berther general manager to figure out for me I I think it’s you’re running this group back with the Pope that you can sign contavious col Pope because I do think the body of work as far as what they’ve shown um and what they showed up until the 9 Minute Mark in the third quarter what is Championship worthy here there is going to be a patience test for Calvin booth and head coach Michael Malone this off season as it relates to their bench as I said they’ve made an effort to prioritize the Builder bench through the draft because of the apron restrictions and where they are in the luxury tax in the inability to add outside of their own roster unless unless it it’s Justin holiday on a minimum contract or DeAndre Jordan guys who are on minimum contract they had to use the uh the tax M level on Reggie Jackson last year who was also a uh free agent here we’ll talk about him in a minute so here’s your patience test do you rely you continually rely on your youth your former draft pickets your picks hoping maybe jayen picket for example replaces Reggie Jackson or um Julian Str replaces uh Justin holiday in the rotation and hopefully year three of uh Payton Watson we haven’t even Zeke naji’s in the M missing is in the witness protection program we haven’t seen him since he signed that extension the patience comes with certainly the pressure of we are win now team we need to flip some of these young players for more established players coming off their bench and that is going to be the patience and the how the relationship between Calvin Boo and Michael Malone the working relationship as far as how to balance that there uh because this roster as I said is expensive it is a second apron team they are limited as far as how they can add outside of retaining their own players they do have the 28th pick in the draft and that will lead to discussion as far as do you move that for a player do you move it for another draft picks you’re limited as far as what you have you owe Orlando a protected first in 25 you owe Oklahoma City a protected first and two years after and then you owe Oklahoma City another protected first two years after that so you are limited as far as what you have in draft Capital as I said for right now Denver is a first apron team until July 1st okay so what does that mean yes you can still aggregate contracts but if kcp opts in or signs for another another um salary maybe larger the second apron restriction is now triggered so now you have to basically trade away player so technically you could say they’re acting as a second apron team right now as far as what the limitations are the inability to send cash out in the trade aggregating contracts taking back more money uh trade exceptions not available here um they roughly have $193 million in contracts next year if kcp and Reggie Jackson opt in uh kcp has June 29th Reggie Jackson June 25th to opt into his five um $5.3 million contract um if both players leave and go somewhere else you are still likely a luxury tax team but you do have a little bit of flexibility to maybe use part of your $12.9 million non-t tax mid-level exception just because those players leave and $20 million and salary goes off doesn’t mean you have $20 million to replace each other you just have a little bit more flexibility maybe in a trade to work around that um as far as your priorities certainly kcp is a priority for you um he’s got that player option as I said um it’s roughly 14 I want to say it’s 15 in strange oh hold on one second just patience with me I should probably should know that by heart uh PCP has a um 15.4 million player option Reggie Jackson is at uh 5.3 one of the best lockdown defenders in the NBA although he’s going he’s getting up there in age a little bit um 96% of regular season games played since 20134 durability matters you can count on him he’s going to be there now the question comes down to what’s the cost is it is it more than the 15 million that he’s for the player option Philadelphia Orlando OKC Utah San An tone um all with maybe Toronto all with teams that have potential cap space does it make sense for Philadelphia to go in and basically split up that money with him and Miles Bridges players like that um so I do think kcp is a priority unless you think Christian Brown is your starter for the foreseeable future remember what I said just because you leave lose him doesn’t mean you replace him with a $15 million player and then there’s Reggie Jackson who’s got a $5.3 million um player option um where are you as far as with your youth to replace him basically you would have the veteran minum as and as I said kind of jayen picket as your replacement here he’s got early bird rights Jamal Murray extension candidates to watch he is eligible for the Donovan Mitchell four years 208.000 extension um if I was uh Jamal Murray and that extension was offered to me I would take it I would sign it I would not wait until the 2 um the 2025 offseason when I can be become an unrestricted fre agent with the belief I will earn all NBA has never made all NBA and has never made all the All-Star Game and based on his questions of durability how can you guarantee um Jamal Murray playing 65 games next year so if it was Murray and I was advising him I would tell him to take that offer and then there is Aaron Gordon who’s eligible on September 27th four years $49.5 million he’s got a player option for next year um one of the better contracts in the NBA it’s $23.8 million player option um that is a decision that Denver is going to have to make towards the end of September um certainly team needs big step in development of their young players um and then replacements for um maybe kcp Jackson and holiday of all three leaving free agency Denver is in a good spot it’s a lot different than it was a year ago when you win a championship now there are questions right there are questions with whether with their starting lineup not as far as how good they can be but can you retain the core parts of it and I think it certainly starts with contavious Co P we will talk soon hope you have a great day [Music] he

ESPN’s Bobby Marks presents his Denver Nuggets offseason guide following Michael Malone’s team falling to the Minnesota Timberwolves.

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