Do the Denver Nuggets need to consider trading Michael Porter Jr.?

Do the Denver Nuggets need to consider trading Michael Porter Jr.?

[Music] welcome to the show it is Sandy and Sean that’s Sandy kff on my right I’m sea drar Danny Bailey Prett producing as always welcome to the program and Sandy will start of course after this long weekend of bad news for Colorado Sports after the Avalanche and Nuggets get dispatched from the playoffs the truth of the matter is you have to start turning things around and getting a plan for what you will do next and for the Colorado Avalanche they have a lot of players they need to deal with because after their core was set for the last couple years they have been trying to assemble bits and pieces guys on one-year deals veterans trying to make trades and a lot of moves they did that at the deadline but now of course they have to deal with the ramifications of that and figure out who stays who goes and who can they afford to keep yes and those decisions might not seem as complicated as those confronting the Nuggets but they still exist and to me it starts with Jonathan drwan who is an unrestricted free agent and continues with perhaps Casey midat who is a restricted free agent both are guys who were brought in this season drewan for the entire season middl stad after the trade deadline and contributed well and are young enough to be part of the Avalanche Corp from years to come well let’s start with uh let’s start with middle stat because in some regards he may be the the most in demand and he is a restricted free agent if any in the last year if you haven’t by the way saw the saving sack ESPN film that’s terrific by the way if you had a chance to check it out uh the money is way more than it used to be back then but the reality is when you have restricted free agents and they’re 25 years old like Casey midat they may end up being in demand middle stat in the 11 playoff games in which the ABS played had nine points he had uh the three go the three goals to six assists and finds himself in a pretty enviable spot for a guy in his first playf appeared to find himself rather comfortable seem to get better as the series went on and to my mind while Jonathan Joan is really important he’s closer to 30 I would like to see the ABS get middle stat done ASAP I think they’re going to get them both done but I think we probably agree in middlest stat when they traded for him in that one for one with bone Byrum with Buffalo they knew what it was going to cost roughly and the avalanch have probably already planned for that well I think they pay him what they were paying obum that’s what I think to do and that’s right around four million a year that’s a considerable raise from 2.5 for someone in his mid 20s who just played in his first playoff round I think he’s deserving of that kind of deal he is not going to break the bank he is not going to get a $5 million a year deal he is not going to get a $6 million a year deal from anybody and he seemed to enjoy his first playoff experience this year probably ended a little sooner than he had hoped but that was the case for every player on the roster and I would think that in exchange for perhaps accepting a longer term deal he would take less money on a per season basis and stay with a playoff team a team that’s guaranteed of making the playoffs for years and years to come and when you talk about Byrum and that is interesting byon makes 3.85 million next year and byon will be 23 next year middle status 25 and that will be the last last year of Byrum’s deal before he becomes a restricted free agent because the Avalanche gave him almost immediately a short little Bridge contract and bought out some of those years a bridge contract yeah maybe that’s in store for Casey for Casey midad in case things continue to come around the term as a matter of negotiation L the term to keep the annual salary under control yeah and that may matter and we’ve seen players do that obviously when you’re as young as middlest stad and this is uh it’s not the NFL once you sign that you get all of it so as long as that number works out I think middlest stat the second the trade was made I feel the die was cast they’re going to keep him but I think if you’re an ABS fan you have to be more excited about keeping middle stat today than you were at the time of the trade because he seamlessly fit in hit that two Center Spot and did so with multiple Wingers and looked good the whole time doing it and I thought as the playoffs went along he even looked better and the best years are in front of him I can’t add very much to that I agree with it completely I think that’s the story I think the ABS knew exactly what it would take to sign Casey middl stat when they traded for him otherwise you don’t make the trade yeah a middl stats agent by the way also represents a couple players on the ABS so some of that communication might have even been a little you know the golf course here and there you hear things they have an idea well let’s move on to to your Top Choice Jonathan danan 29 years old obviously had a a good year he’ll get a bigger raise metal stat of he probably will and when you you look at Drew Ann’s year obviously it maybe took him a little while to to get going with the team and he certainly was better on Nathan McKinnon’s line his old teammate in juniors but he was effective on his own 19 goals for him this year that’s the best since the 2016 2017 season 56 points in 79 games that’s nothing to sneeze at we had talked about the idea that if drwan got to 40 points on the year for the Avalanche when they signed him it would be a bar he got to almost 60 they’ll live with that that’s nasm cadri territory except for the career year that cadri had here in 2122 when he had 87 points otherwise nasm cadri has been a 55 to 60 point score on a per-year basis virtually year in and year out there has not been appreciable deviation from that range his playoff history is a little more checkered but during the regular season he’s actually been a very steady performer you know in most years with the exception of maybe 2122 where he obviously overachieved and he was great and he was instrumental and indispensable to the Avalanche Stanley Cup run of 2022 but he had one year like that and if you have someone even on a first line who’s going to give you 60 points year in and year out you’re getting a 100 plus from ran you’re getting 100 120 130 maybe more 140 this year from McKennon in a heart trophy type of season for McKinnon if you’ve got a line that’s going to give you 300 points I don’t care if one guy scores 16 and other guy scores two and a half times that many you get to 300 points on a line that’s a hell of a line that’s one of the best lines in the league if not the best and that’s what they have with that particular line and then I I think from there you’re dealing with a tremendous amount of uncertainty as how as to how you reshape everything else that that’s why I say drwan comes first because drwan to me especially with McKinnon centering belongs on that first line do do you have is good for the second line uh he’ll probably make more next year than Ruan makes next year but I would expect both to be again in that 55 to 60 point per year range that’s three quarters of a point per game that’s fine when you look across the league the players that were on the standard non- rookie deals that cost less than a million dollars in other words veterans that are just trying to find a team right drewan had 11 more points than any other player on that kind of deal so he overperformed by any measurement whatsoever he talked about it after the season said obviously it was a good year for me definitely took some steps forward towards my game and how I want to play credit to a lot of people here from the coaching staff to the players it’s a hell of a group and he’s talked about wanting to come back and I and I want to add this he was hurt late in the regular season he couldn’t play in the first round against Winnipeg I know they lost in the second round but when he came back basically in the middle of the series he played very well he played very well he he wasn’t a liability in any way shape or form unfortunately the Avalanche didn’t get as much production from maybe even McKinnon and Raton as they needed to beat Dallas but gruan playing the bottom half of the series played very close to his capabilities if not even slightly above he had three points in three games they were all assists but that’s a point a game that’s better than he did in the regular season and the power play which was dry as the desert without him came alive once he came back into the lineup and the power play became a factor for the Avalanche in extending the series Beyond five games well let’s look at a couple guys down the line specifically down on that checking line on that fourth line that are are unrestricted free agents but players that I think we’ve talked about and the stats may not be gudy but as you see from the loss to Dallas the importance of depth and being able to be effective on all your lines the longer the Stanley Cup Playoffs Roll Along becomes critical so let’s you could argue Dallas won the series because Dallas’s fourth line was so much better yes because they didn’t have to over tax their top lines and it let them play and they had guys on third line who had people like Ed UK doing commentary during the series advocating that they’ be moved up to the second line or even the first wasn’t a to liner seems pretty effective in that he was the best player if not in the series then certainly in the seventh game on either side so a couple depth guys let’s start with Yakov trennan another player that was added near the deadline there he’s 27 years old but out of the Avalanches forwards in the 11 playoff games only six Avalanche forwards actually had positive plus minuses trenin was one of them and mean you’ve talked about him as being an important piece to bring back and trendon getting hurt it really hampered may have been a little thing but little things cost you series even series that don’t go the distance I thought he was their most physical forward by a significant margin and more importantly than what you and I think Jared bnard thought he was yeah Jared bnar thought he was ideally suited to fourth line Duty yeah in my opinion and seemingly very happy with that role comfortable with that role and fit in that role so that seems to be especially when you’re looking for the ABS for guys that aren’t expect that can solve the problems for you trendon may be one of those answers another one came at the trade deadline in Brandon Dame came over from the wild at 26 years old 18 regular season games only scored five points but then again we’re talking about a guy that’s out there primarily to play defense while at offense but at the same time we saw him punch in some points here and there and we saw him threaten a lot of times a few times in this playoffs do H was inches away from goals he’s a pretty effective two-way player even if the big points aren’t there and I think there’s value I don’t like him as a second line Winger I love him as a fourth line Winger right he brings an edge U he’s not huge he’s not built like nushin or ran but he’s but he’s energetic he is willing to engage physically and again I think as a fourth line player he’s excellent and if things work out a certain way I could see the Avalanche reassembling next year and hoping for better and healthier results from Colton wood and o’ Conor which should leave duy and trennan on the fourth line who knows maybe kovalenko um maybe a young developing player who has a great training camp can feel that that that final spot or a Joel GI R could fill that final spot on the fourth line a especially if you have two guys in trennan and du ha playing alongside him there will be other free agents of course they have to decide if Shawn Walker has priced himself out of their ballpark because they do have guys they might be able to replace him but they have to make decisions on Jack Johnson they have to talk about Andrew cogliano and these things will come along as the offseason first has to decide whether he’s going to retire or not and that decision has not yet been forthcoming no uh we know par obviously is retiring and and Johnson would like to play so the ABS have some decisions to make that’s where you start I think with those four guys so believe it or not as we’re talking about uh the ABS in the off season well who’s playing well just one team locally is playing the Colorado Rockies and we’ll get to them in a moment but you can also be playing yourself get out on the course well uh it was raining when I came in today and we’re getting these late afternoon thunderstorms which is great just makes the greens predictable it’s still time to get out and play golf in the city of Den has the perfect golf pass for you whether you’re just getting started or played for decades the practice and play pass is for those new to the game to 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okay I get that warmer weather’s here time to go outside have some fun with friends and we got the answer for you it’s our friends at rolling Smoke Barbecue you might not want to entertain everyone at the house but you need a break from the kitchen just we were talking about that’s what you need and what you’ll get from Rolling St rolling Smoke Barbecue whether you have a half dozen folks over or you’re bringing over 50 or more for one of those big parties going on this spring you can pick up the best barbecue in town from one of rolling smokes four locations they’re in Aurora inside the Stanley Marketplace Where it All Began they’re in Golden inside the golden Mill at the corner of Dry Creek in University at Centennial that’s the one I go to in fact I was planning on ordering tonight as a matter of fact to get myself some barbecue and now the newest location is open on 38th Avenue in Wheat Ridge and if you’re headed to show at Red Rocks this summer of course you know rain or shine the exceptions for giant hail and things like that it’s normally going and you may want to eat there as well well you can find them at Red Rocks as well so you go up there you don’t have to worry about some of that uh that questionable food that you’re going to get up there you can get fresh barbecue right up at Red Rocks from Rolling Smoke Barbecue rolling Smoke Barbecue online you can order there as well at rolling smoke bbq.com it is baseball season in Denver it was baseball season in Denver when it started but it’s totally okay if you haven’t been paying attention because the Avalanche and Nuggets we’re going in the Rockies are 15 and 31 that’s a winning percentage for the those of you doing the quick math of uh 326 but here’s the thing they have been playing better of late Sandy and they’re only well only eight games out of the final wild card spot good news and bad news good news they’ve won seven out of 10 yeah there okay bad news is that they’ve lost three straight after winning seven in a row okay A bit of good news they aren’t the worst team in baseball anymore that designation belongs to the Chicago White Socks but but bad news they are the worst team in the National League with a record of 15 and 31 even the Marlins are a percentage Point ahead of them at 16 and 33 buried in the west obviously behind the Dodgers they’re only 16 games out and they’re only six games out of fourth place um no I would there’s some sarcasm there but uh the the fact of the matter is um yes they’re only three games ahead of the pace set by the 19 62 New York Mets who finished 40 and 120 the worst modern era team in the history of baseball that was the first year uh New York Mets who went 40 and 120 for manager Casey Sangle obviously 15 and 31 would a to roughly that same record but uh given their recent play and some individual uh Hallmarks uh that have been developed uh particularly on the part of Ryan McMahon over the course of the season so far um hard to imagine that the Rockies won’t be able to win oh 35 maybe even 40 home games uh maybe I’m getting a little ahead of myself I don’t think the Rockies will win a lot on the road as the recent three- game series in San Francisco help to demonstrate but I do think that they will end up in that 50 win to 52 win range which will still be the worst season in the history of the franchise even worse than last year’s 59 and 103 yeah it’s obviously going to be ugly and there are injuries they’re dealing with you know Kyle Freeland is injured Chris Bryant is injured Nolan Jones is injured I mean these are uh major major cogs and that doesn’t count of course Hermon Marquez who’s out expected for the the majority of the Season as well so you’re talking about some of the Rockies very very best players that are injured but you do bring up Ryan McMahon and Ryan McMahon this year is having the kind of I wouldn’t hesitate to say breakout per se I I’m a little concerned about that but he’s been really good uh wins over replacement sort of the the catchall metric for for baseball in general now when you look at McMahon’s year he is at 1.7 wins above replacement 13th best in the National League regardless of position if you go by position Sandy among third baseman he’s second only Alec B of the Phillies and uh just there with Matt Chapman of 34 and 14 yeah Max m is a one he’s got a lot around him in the batting order he’s ahead of Austin Riley he’s ahead of of a lot of talented guys Nolan arado by the way not piling on at 04 McMahon up in a much better year hitting 306 seven home runs 25 RBI perfectly respectable and if you say we’re a little bit past the quarter pole and we are I don’t know that you can multiply all of that by four it’s probably a little less than four but let’s say we do you’re talking about 25 to 30 home runs and 100 RBI 300 batage that’s that’s an All-Star and especially given that he plays good defense at third I will and I I share your reservations about the overused term breakout right but I will say this Ryan McMahon is having so far this year the start and the season I expected him to have in 2023 on the defensive side of the balls Fielding percentage is a 950 and that’s maybe a little lower than you’d like due to the seven errs but the truth is in defensive wins above replacement he’s point four which is tied with Ezekiel Tovar Four Tops on the team and we know that Tovar is a gold glove caliber Defender it’s also worth noting in tovar’s case Tovar one of the major pieces of the puzzle for the Rockies among Short Stops in the National League and you and we think about him as a glove guy and we should but his 19 RBI is seventh best among all of shortstops and when you talk about guys that qualified shortstop now like mookie bets uh that’s not really all that bad you know you have Betts you have Lindor you have Ellie delic Cruz the delightful of the watch player from the Cincinnati Reds and then you have Tovar and O’Neal Cruz of uh Pittsburgh all you know stars in the making tovar’s in there not only defensively but offensively the batting average is up to 276 the problem and maybe the only fly in the ointment for Tovar who’s second on the team and wins of replacement at 1.1 is the strikeout to walk ratio 58 strikeouts and 185 at bats that given uh today’s Major League Baseball is on the high side but not that much the problem is the eight walks the 8 to 58 ratio he’s got to start Bing away to get on base because he’s got four steals he can run a little bit if you can find a way to get on base more often get that on basee percentage higher than the 311 that it is toar then becomes a weapon for the Rockies in all facets of the game even a non-base percentage there’s been some growth from last year because he was below 300 last year and you can’t be hitting anywhere in the upper half of the lineup with that kind of on base percentage uh much less first or second those are onbase positions in the batting order regardless of how you get there and drawing 50 walks doesn’t seem like too big an ask for toar especially if you were to quadruplet again even at this terrible pce he’s Pace he’s on Pace for about half of the number of walks he should be getting uh the strikeouts are what they are and I I don’t mind if he Strikes Out 150 times he did last year 200 times or more than 200 times that becomes an issue too you’ve got to put the ball in play you can’t simply rely on the big inning at Coors Field yes on the road no for Tovar last year in that rookie season batting average 253 it’s up to 276 on base percentages you mentioned below 300 287 now it’s 311 uh Ops 695 last year up to 749 and when let’s get to nonas percentage of 335 340 and yeah with that defense you can absolutely live with that so hopefully things get better for Tovar is a big part of of the puzzle for the Rockies but some of their young players Brent and Doyle uh the fade that I expected has not occurred Brendan Rogers batting average is creeping up you got three quarters to an infield I I’ll give you that much I I I like their third baseman short-term long term I like their shortstop short-term longterm I like their second baseman now that he’s healthy short-term longterm I don’t like him as a cleanup hitter that’s when we started the season but I like Brenda Rogers short-term launcher so there are some pieces of the puzzle going forward if they can get Nolan Jones back that will help Jordan Beck uh in his debut now is play 18 games 226 batting average he has no walks and 24 strikeouts and 62 at bats uh we know the Rockies rushed him really ready he isn’t but the the Rockies did Rush him with injuries to Jones and Bryant they felt like they didn’t have a choice with with a guy like Beck do you just let him ride it out if you believe in him or or do you send him back for a little more season I I don’t know exactly when you’re getting Jones back uh I you know it’s it’s not I don’t think it’s pressing an issue uh for the Rockies because they’re so far out of it um as long as he isn’t being injured psychologically by this yeah I keep them in there um I i’ work with them try to get him on play back you know I i’ I’d rather I’d rather play him as long as he understands listen uh you’re we know you’re being rushed uh we we don’t expect you to hit 300 we don’t expect you even to hit 250 we we expect you to play responsibly uh may maybe draw a few more walks and any number would be better than zero uh the strikeouts don’t bother me very very much if he can give them even a little occasional power uh that’s fine I think he’s a good Prospect U I guess what I’m trying to say is as long as you’re not ruining him psychologically Harding his progress then I’m okay with them playing fairly regularly the Rockies tonight will get a going a three- game set in Oakland Cal quantril takes the hill one of the Rocky’s better pitchers this season thus far and it is possible that in this series Nolan Jones may be able to make his return with a rehab assignment happening in albuquer so we’ll find out if they’re able to do that soon enough we’ll turn our attention to the Denver Nuggets and the idea of how much they can improve may be rather limited uh not by their owner’s money we know that’s there but by the salary cap but before that Sandy you have a message from our friends at I I have one I should say from the our friends at the key Real Estate Group and I do want to talk about that you’ve heard me talk about him uh for months now obviously and Colorado Home Market’s been crazy for a lot longer than that so you need to find some people who can help you navigate it and I do know the answer it’s it’s Daven Mark at Key real estate group’s Colorado luxury home team whether it’s condos to castles when we say Colorado’s luxury home team you don’t have to be in the market for a luxury home you get the same high-end luxury service whether you’re buying or selling no matter what it is you’re looking for when you’re looking to buy you need experts that know Colorado’s Market know how to ride all those highs and lows the two things you want to go ahead and handle that is experience and stability well that’s where key Real Estate Group shines they’re a privately held company with over 25 years in the exact same offices I tells you the no real estate that’s as stable as it gets the FED is still expected the lower interest rates this year so make sure to beat the competition and buy your new home before the spring and summer frenzy really returns to Denver and even if you’re thinking of a new build which makes sense home builders are offering great incentives right now but you want to let David Mark represent you to make sure you’re getting everything you deserve here’s how you find you call David Mark at the key Real Estate Group today at 70900 list that’s 720 900 l or visit them at Key real estate group.com Sean and I have been around a while as you uh may have detected uh in this business and we know that currently podcasts are the in thing and we know some of you are subscribed to Sandy and sha podcast right now that’s exactly right you listen at your convenience you listen to our show on demand whenever it fits your schedule but we have a lot of other podcasts and they are at least as valuable as ours for the Nuggets Ryan Blackburn keeps you up to date on what’s happening with the uh 2023 NBA champions with the pickax and roll podcast Arif Dean is always on the ice with the ABS so check out his podcast hockey Mountain High good thing I’m not coming up with these uh titles yeah for for these shows they’re very creative is a good thing I’m not respons hockey podcast as we were talking baseball just a moment ago uh fans know they can get the latest on the Rockies with Drew chman and the 20th and Blake podcast and the answer to the question as to whether bone Knicks will be the answer at quarterback for the Broncos you get the latest on that and a lot more the latest injury that we’ll be talking about shortly uh for the Broncos uh unfortunate as it comes during the early stages of the off season but you’ll be up to date on all of that on our Broncos podcast with Troy rank as our friend from The Denver Post is featured on the Mile High Sports podcast Network all that much more just search Mile High Sports wherever you get your podcast well we take a look at the Denver Nuggets and the idea of finding a way to improve is going to be a challenge and it has to do with finances not necessarily with talent and maybe that led to a bit of a disconnect so you talked about Ryan Blackburn in his terrific podcast pickax and roll podcast and the alyu podcast you can find him on social at NBA blackr so joining us now is Ryan Blackburn the lead nuggets writer for Mile High Sports and the host of those terrific podcasts Ryan thank you for joining us really appreciate it guys thank you for having me always appreciate it it’s always great to be here and here in a little bit of a new meeting being able to talk nuggets with you guys yeah a little bit and uh it’s for the Nuggets now they are in a new place they are out earlier than they expected although for the last um few years the NBA champ goes out in this round seemingly as a little bit of parody hits the NBA for the the Nuggets I know fans look at it and think you need to bring in some other Talent here and there but the reality and you did a really good job breaking it down over at mly sports yesterday is the Nuggets right now are over the 1998.5 million what they call term the second apron for taxes and that means it dramatically limits their options it’s not about cash it’s about cap space right yeah not just not just even cap space it’s really about competitiveness one of the things that the new CBA is doing this year is it’s actually limiting the trade flexibility that you have you cannot aggregate salaries together so you can’t trade like two smaller contracts for a bigger contract you can’t have uh like you can’t trade second or like first round picks out of seven years like so Denver’s like they have a 2031 first round pick that comes up next year if they’re over the second apron they’re not allowed to trade it like they just they can’t it is frozen by the NBA which I is a fascinating way to competitively balance things uh but more than anything like there are just so many different penalties the luxury tax payments get even higher for being above the second apron there’s a lot of reasons why teams are afraid to go over that second apron and it’s not just because of the financial ramifications it is because of the competitive constraints that it puts on so many of these teams let’s go down some of the free agents uh starting with two uh both of whom have player options for next season we’ll start with cavius Caldwell Pope uh there are Rumblings uh perhaps you are sensitive to some of those Rumblings that will decline that player option what are you hearing yeah I I’m hearing that he will decline that player option as well it is the only logical thing for him to do at this stage of things like he has a great opportunity capitalizing he was nearly voted in as a second Team all defense player this past year and every team could use a contavious CBO Pope somebody who bolsters their starting lineup doesn’t need the ball can be effective without it and connects the defense in a way that is super super helpful for other star players on these opposing teams he’s been a two-time champion now as the Nuggets like to note and he is a an extremely valuable piece I think that the 15.4 million doll option that he has it undersells what his value is and what his long-term value is I think that more than likely he will be looking for 18 to 20 million per year on the open market quite similar to what Bruce Brown got now brown had a team option on the end of his deal so it was kind of a fake $2 million per it was 20 million this year but I think that kcp can lock in a long-term contract with the team whether it’s the Nuggets or not remains to be seen the problem of course I think when fans are thinking okay well he leaves it frees up $15 million on the salary cap the problem is it doesn’t and if he chooses to leave it’s difficult for the Nuggets to replace him undoubtedly there there isn’t a an easy way for the Nuggets to actually use that 20 M like so 15 million doesn’t transfer over it’s not like because Denver’s over the salary cap not even the luxury tax they’re because they’re over the salary cap they cannot just use that extra 15 million that kcp is not being paid so the more likely thing the most likely thing is that Denver’s going to try to retain him they can pay him as much money as they want to but as we talked about and because they his full bird rights so that means that they can go it’s something that they didn’t have Bruce Brown did not have that with Bruce Brown exactly and that’s that’s the most important thing with this situation they have the capability to retain him to pay as much money as they want to but the competitive balances of this new CBA and the second tax apron there are lots of things that the nuggets are going to have to think about it’s one of the reasons why when Denver has paid their starting lineup as much as they have including Nicole yic supermax contract Jamaal Murray a rookie Max Michael Porter a rookie Max and Aaron Gordon a veteran extension they have paid a bunch of money to keep this group together and this is I think the first real time where you could expect that group like they they might not be back next year the Nugget starting five for two years running was the best in the league uh by the metrics to which you and Sean have been referring in the last few minutes this year in the playoffs the starting five was at minus 6.9 points per 100 possessions that’s in the playoffs this year after for the second straight year leading among starting fives in the regular season according to points per 100 possessions have the days of the Nuggets been able to convincingly boast of having the best starting five in the NBA days gone by now I don’t think so I I think if Denver retained all five guys then they would have a similar amount of regular season success think about it they won 57 games this year there were even times where they could have been better than where they were there were times where they were definitely struggling to stay focused stay attached but the one thing that I think people have to remember for for this particular group is that it’s it hasn’t just been a couple years because Michael Porter was injured the previous year Jamal Murray injured the previous two uh for 2021 and 2022 they did have Aaron Gordon during that entire time kcp was a guy that they’ve long wanted they knew exactly how he would fit into this and it it fit like a glove like no no no questions asked I think that the league is catching up a little bit in terms of how to guard Denver but I also don’t want to overreact to the best possible team to guard Denver unsurprisingly guarding Denver pretty well I I think that Minnesota was very well particularly in this series I was talking about numbers that applied to the playoffs in other words the Lakers series to but those numbers are even worse oh yeah starting five versus Minnesota starting five in this series just concluded and and I think part of that has to do with Jamal Murray struggling with injuries but also just underwhelming I don’t know how much of that is to do with like the league kind of figuring out how to guard him versus him not rising to the occasion I think it’s a combination of a lot of factors I think that Denver could use a secondary ball handler at times where you free up Jamal a little bit and that ball handler cannot really come from this starting group because kcp is a traditional three and D Wing Michael Porter anytime he dribbles the ball and is asked to be a playmaker he has really struggled with that as well uh Denver is a limited starting group if you can crack Jamal Murray and if you can crack Joker in the pick and roll and the t-wolves and to a lesser extent the Lakers figured out how to do that I wonder if other teams can catch on to that as well well Ryan hypothetically then let’s say that kcp declines his option becomes a free agent goes somewhere else then maybe the fix for that is to find a more offensively minded player to take that role the problem is given the options that they have available how could they do that is there any way they can land a player of significance who you believe could plug into the starting five on that’s not on this roster already yeah good luck uh that’s that’s the thing to remember with this is that you can’t just exchange any other player that fits reasonably well because they’re over even though kcp leaves you can’t replace his 15 million you only have if I’m not mistaken about 5.1 million to replace him right yeah there’s some flexibility that they could do if they also let go of Reggie if they also try trade away Zeke Nagi for a minimum contract like they they could find a way to open up a little bit more money but not that much I think what you might see if kcp leaves is Denver might try to orchestrate a sign and trade with another team that tries to pick him up it might open up the door for other teams that don’t have as much cap space to try to seek him out now teams are not going to want to trade anything back to Denver if they can help it so that may not be a great Avenue and if Denver can’t get anything back in a sign and trade then I would look at the ring Chasers I would look at the players that are the veteran free agents the guys that are looking around they’ve earned the money in their careers it’s more about winning a championship I would look at some of those guys maybe the equivalent of an Eric Gordon or somebody of that nature that was last year that was a big Bell of the ball for the Suns I would look at the equivalent of somebody like that as a stop Gap option for Denver and or maybe they try to fill it in internally and they say Christian Brown Julian Str pton Watson one of you is going to start at shooting guard the question is who and the question is who fits best I’m not sure I I think any of those options are perfect we used to call it the million-dollar question I guess in this day and age we call it maybe the one 00 million question to me for this off seon and I’ll ask you straight out since you have commented on this subject before are Calvin booth and Michael Malone in your opinion on the same page I think it’s a battle it’s a constant battle between what the financial and competitive limitations there are on a team like the Nuggets that already already had the salary that they did I think there’s a battle between that what Calvin boo decided to do this past off season and what Michael Malone who wants to win now now now for obvious reasons and take advantage of this moment and In fairness to Malone coaches usually do it’s the executive’s job to plan long term the coach always is thinking about the short term given the relative length of a coach’s stay in any one place Visa a GM stay in any one particular place and not to mention how how long do you have to really capitalize on having the best player in the world think how many years on Joker’s contract for yeah and your window yep but who knows if Joker’s still the best player in the world by the end of that window right true he’s been the best player in the world to me for at least five years but we just watched Anthony Edwards up close and personal and Shay gildas Alexander there are options there are guys coming gu Luka donic is still in I mean yeah it’s it’s who knows in four years and you’ve got Victor wanyama waiting in the wings he’s whose team by the way delt Denver its biggest loss of the season apart from the game seven loss the other night yeah what do you think about that it was on on their shoulders no doubt about it down 23 when Bama LED them back and that cost Denver the number one seed and forced Denver to play hard on Sunday for just the number two seed it’s a tough way to go and I think at this point that I don’t agree that Michael Malone and Calvin Booth are not on the same page I think they under like they both have their own individual goals but they both want the Nuggets to win a championship to Calvin Booth’s credit he added several young players that he hopes that the Nuggets can continue to develop and continue to get better over the course of these next few years and maybe it does helpx maximize that four-year window that you’re talking about Sandy that Nicole yic has his best opportunity to win another championship maybe not this year but in the years going forward I’m not sure if I fully subscribe to that theory because I think that Malone has a really big Point here that Denver had a great opportunity but as we’ve seen sometimes things don’t line up for you really well and a guy like Jamal Murray gets hurt a guy like Michael Porter really strug and the nuggets are learning a lot about themselves over the course of these last two years that sometimes it’s better to be the hunter than the hunted but Calvin Booth can’t possibly agree with Michael Malone’s considered decision to effectively take pton Watson out of this series certainly by the latter half and the game the other day during which he did not play at all it’s hard for me to imagine that Calin Booth was good with that he might not have been uh what I will counter with is saying that the three guys that Denver did play Off the Bench Christian Brown Reggie Jackson Justin holiday they all made their contributions throughout the series the nuggets in large part due to the bench even holiday and Jackson hardly played on Sunday the only bench player he seemed to trust by the end of the series was brown and that’s how the series works that’s honestly just how the playoffs works like you’re never going to keep a a large rotation like deep into the playoffs I I I’ll remind you that Jeff Green in game five of the NBA Finals played four minutes like he played the same kind of I understand that I understand that was a sure sign that Jeff Green wasn’t coming back well let let me let me hop in and and ask both of you guys this because I think that this is maybe the cogent argument that to make about the upcoming season right because you can talk about whether the the the GM did it right or the coach did it right but here’s the deal we’ve gone over all the numers there is no way to replace a kcp with anybody probably likely as good as kcp whether you like the draft picks or not whether Michael Malone liked the draft picks or not Calvin Booth went and got three guys with extensive college experience from significant programs with the clear intent of assuming that they would make the jump to the NBA that transition easier even if their ceiling was lower and then it’s incumbent upon the coach to try to coach them up to me it’s not even about this series or or either the playoff series it’s about the investment in time on the court that Julian Strather or Hunter Tyson or Jaylen picket or pton Watson needed to make in the regular season they needed regular season times because they needed to be coached up they needed to find uh enough of an ability here to be able to contribute at these moments and then it’s not only just about how much they can play in this series but it’s about the fatigue that added up among the starting five that was evident in in game seven when by the time they got to half time they were out of gas and they were going to get beat by the Timberwolves or just about anybody but it’s not about this series it was about Michael Malone needing to because look the reinforcements aren’t coming guys they’re they’re not coming it’s not going to happen the cap doesn’t allow it the nuggets are going to have to go with young players and Michael Malone is going to have to coach them up and going to have to play them dur regular season or this is what the Nuggets will be doomed to again next year there’s no doubt like this is the process this is the this is the part of the problem that the nuggets are facing I do think it’s also part of the like it’s it’s the bed that the nuggets made for themselves and not all of this is on Calvin Booth some of this is on Tim Connelly of course the max extension yeah that that Michael you can win with three max players but you had better win with three max players and they to win they have to play like three max players the Nuggets didn’t have three max players this year playing like max players against Minnesota not against mines did not play like a max player against Minnesota maybe against the Lakers yes definitely not against Minnesota yeah five games of single digits is not g to cut it and that’s that’s just the the unfortunate thing Michael Malone was talking about it how much pressure there was on joic and Murray to handle the scoring burden in that game seven and said we needed another guy and I think that was directed towards Michael Porter a lot of ways but you could also say that that the other two guys Aaron Gordon cavius Caldwell Pope they did not score enough they did not shoot enough in order to really bolster what was going on so if there is an argument for Denver getting some help for changing things up that is probably the one because if Michael Porter is unable to handle that additional offensive responsibility when the time comes then I don’t know how that changes going forward we more on that in a minute but want to thank Brian Blackburn for joining us NBA Blackburn is the handle on social the host of the pickax and roll podcast and the alleyoop podcast if you want to understand what’s going on in the offseason with the Nuggets not only on the court but off it and the business behind it that ends up driving all of it there is no better follow in town give Ryan a follow and make sure you check out all his work all offseason on M High sports.com thanks so much my friend thanks guys always appreciate it well we talk about Michael Porter Jun junor of course there are some thought process about freeing up certain amount of money how can they do that well we’ll talk about it in a moment but uh you know I’m getting hungry well I am too and you’ve heard their signature ads around here for many many years and by now you probably know that locally owned and operated GB fish and ships has the best drinks meat pies and fish and ships this side of the pond I love that phrase but did you know GB fish and ships caters with graduation summer block party season around the corner give your friends and family a unique Fry on site experience and the best part of catering is you don’t have to do any work you enjoy your own party GB fish and chips does all the work stop by any of their four Metro locations or visit GB fishand chips.com and bring authentic fishand chips to your next Gathering that’s GB fishand chips.com well we talk about Michael Porter Jr Michael Porter Jr in the series against Minnesota there is no way to disguise it he was not good and it it was obviously an issue because the shot wasn’t falling and when the shot doesn’t fall for Michael Porter Jr it seems like the rest of his game suffers against Minnesota 10.7 points per game 5.7 rebounds per game and a shooting of an abysmal 37.1% uh just slightly worse than that 32 . 5% on three that in itself wasn’t disastrous but on the whole it really was so the idea with Porter Jr who is signed through the 2026 2027 series uh season pardon me and makes at at this point 35 Plus million a year the idea of maybe trading him is the case I will give I will give this to to fans first to understand though in the regular season here’s what here were his numbers 16.7 points per game 7.0 rebounds per game 48.4% shooting in the playoffs as a whole because as subpar as he was against the Timberwolves he was really good against the Lakers and maybe even save them from having to play a sixth or seventh game against the Lakers because they were behind for 70% of that series he bailed them out so in the playoffs 15.8 points 6.8 rebounds so he went down 0.9 points and 0.2 rebounds his shooting went from 48.4 to 46.6 not huge the overall playoff performance in line with his regular season numbers but the way that it changed from series to series you can’t ignore that you can’t ignore it and my reaction to Porter uh throughout this season and particularly during the course of the playoffs is a layered reaction there wasn’t a single nugget and there could have been several who stood up as Porter did and said I lost this series for us because in in five of the seven games including each of the last four of this series two of which were won by the nuggets two of which were won by the Timberwolves he scored in single digits good for him to step up and that earned him additional respect in the locker room I’m sure but when you’re playing on a max deal you’ve got to play like a max player and neither during the regular season or overall during the playoffs did he play entirely like a max player and the standards are very high maybe he can meet those standards we were commenting up until a few months ago about how the nuggets at some point would have to make a choice as to which of two players to keep Michael Porter Jr or Aaron Gordon I would expand that Circle a bit now to include Jamal Murray I don’t believe in the long term the Nuggets can keep all three Porter Jr after the series said quote this was a terrible series I felt like I might have had one or two good games out of the seven we played part of it was the way they were guarding part of it was that my shot wasn’t falling it’s tough because I know that if I played up to par with how I normally play we would have won this series and there’s a lot of things that could have been different as a team but I know if I played my part we would have won the the series and I’ve got to live with that well it’s worth noting Porter also played in 81 games this year he broke the franchise record for three-pointers made in a single season the second half of the season is shooting splits were 50 4090 so better than 50% from the field 40% from three and 90% theow line that is and only when you talk about that shooting percentage only four players in the NBA even tried more three-pointers then Porter and hit them at a higher percentage and you probably know them Steph Curry Paul George CJ McCollum then Dante D venzo but Porter Jr is way taller than all of them and prior to game seven Timberwolves coach Chris Finch talked a little bit about the difficulty of that matchup he said he’s so dangerous with the size you have to be mindful of how far you are off on him at any time he’s got great size and shoots the ball high a quick release and a sidestep dribble fortunately we’re able to put some size on him too which could help bother him and that was it and I think when you do look at this a little bit when we look at the Avalanches getting getting by the stars and we look at the Top Line not connecting at a certain point I think you don’t give the Stars their respect and realize this is a very disciplined smart defensive team they made life difficult jayen McDaniels is an outstanding one-on-one Defender with length and some of this may be that Porter Jr also had a really tough matchup against a guy who can defend him well I don’t disagree with any of that but the fact of the matter is Jaden McDaniels is not an max player and Michael Porter Jr is and that was the one matchup that actually intrigued me most of all going into this series among many that intrigued me that was at the top of the list because I wasn’t sure how it would turn out based on the fact that McDaniels didn’t play in the series last year between the Timberwolves and the Nuggets right and Porter did fairly well against the people who were trying to defend him this year McDaniels was healthy played big minutes played in every game early in the series I thought interestingly enough while Denver was losing Michael Porter was doing better individually as Denver got better in the series apart from the seventh game and obviously the sixth game was a disaster on on all fronts that wasn’t just Michael Porter it seemed like McDaniels was slowly but surely gaining the edge in that matchup and that allowed Minnesota to do what no team has ever done before when the first two games of the best of seven series on the road lose the next three and come back and win the last two including a third Road win in game seven the challenge with trading someone like Michael Porter Jr who had 35.8 million 35.9 million rounding up he will have the 35th highest salary in the entire NBA coming into next year 35th he he has the exact same contract exact same literally exact because got the rookie Max as Shay Gil just Alexander it is exactly the same it ends at exactly the same time they make exactly the same money that’s 35th highest in the league so the question is who wants to take that on if they and they believe that Porter Jr is maybe past the back problems and maybe that playing 81 games indicates that he is but then who wants to trade you a$ 30 million guy that is somehow going to be an upgrade from Porter Jr you know could you go get uh maybe if you wanted to go older maybe maybe I don’t know I’m just throwing a name out hypothetically I don’t see why they’d want to but okay the salaries in match uh a Chris Middleton same position from the Bucks okay would that be an upgrade for the Nuggets possibly but why would the Bucks do it you know what are you at a point where you can go get guys still play those same positions do you want to try to go see if you can pry Pingus from the Celtics well they’re still playing why would you want that Wiggins from the years they’re not going to make those trades well the Wiggins thing is kind of interesting to me um Wiggins wi Peak 22 I know it works with the money I I I think it might work that’s the one name that might work in more than just Financial ways where there’s a match because I sense a little bit of disappointment in San Francisco with Wiggins and maybe a little bit here with Porter and I say a little bit because to blame him solely for the loss against Minnesota as he blamed himself is unfair and good for him to step forward and take on that responsibility for losing the series but the fact of the matter is uh he didn’t and uh for those who were were uh um inclined to react strongly to my uh commentary about Michael Malone yesterday I just want to clarify a couple of things and I’m not taking back a single word of what I said missed it go to my sports.com the go get it it was I did not at any point yesterday advocate for the firing of Michael Malone nor did I at any point yesterday PL face sole blame for losing the series on Michael Malone I merely faulted him for his game seven mismanagement mismanagement that in my humble opinion was a major reason as to why the Nuggets lost game seven as distinguished from the series and I also didn’t particularly take to his postgame reaction uh which by the way was challenged just the commentary forget about the behavior even his commentary was challenged by Jamal Murray who upon being informed of Michael Malone’s comments that the Nuggets were just tuckered out after a long Championship season and a short off season said quote unquote that makes no sense to me so I’m not the only one who’s in disagreement or disappointed in the way Michael Malone handed himself on Sunday I think the training Michael Porter Jr is going to be tough it’s obviously the money is going to be difficult and you’re going to have to be in a in a partnership with somebody who doesn’t like some of the things from their own player you want me to throw a dart out there if you really want to swing big nuggets fans you could throw in a Zeke Naji or someone who makes just a little bit money you could take a swing at John Morant if you want a guy that can handle the ball and a guy that can score they the salaries very closely match up Memphis is certainly done with that deal I don’t know if that makes sense but I guess if you’re the Nuggets you could ask of course if that was the case we would probably also want to make sure that we point brought a little bit of attention to well the folks that you have a message from our friends that seen her Harden well yes uh they fortunately they work in a totally different world fortunately for call the Sultan of the segue for nothing uh we will talk about our friends from Zer Harden law no one ever plans to be for example in a car accident you plan for a lot of things that ain’t one of them but if you do get involved in a car accident or sustain a major injury you need an attorney and you need the very best you need to call Zer hardened 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and that’s going to set him back the third round pick in 2023 first played inside linebacker the Broncos wanted to move him to the outside he did play in all 17 games of the rookie as a rookie started four of them uh had uh 24 total tackles and seemed to be ready to play a larger part this year although by moving him to the outside uh which the Broncos seemed to want to do I I don’t know if they actually just dislike inside linebackers or or what is they wanted to move Sanders like they moved Baron brownie like theyve they feel their uh inside linebackers from years past those who’ have actually played on the inside are eminently replaceable Josie juel left in free agency the Broncos had no interest in bringing back J star for several years Al Singleton is still there but I think does this or does this not explain the drafting of Alice it entirely explains it 100 even though the Broncos at the time of the draft said nothing about an injury that they had to have known about by then because it happened weeks earlier that was the injury to Drew you know I I like that I me if you’re GNA play a little bit of Poker in the draft which you do and you try to have a poker face and the Broncos kind of couldn’t because they didn’t have many picks and everyone knew they needed a quarterback this was a good move so in the 2023 draft they picked Sanders in the third round 67th overall they went to Jonah Ellis the linebacker from Utah 76th overall so pretty close to the same spot in the third round knowing about this injury to Sanders so I will give them credit because a lot of the time you think about oh this injury happened in OTAs how are you going to replace this guy well the Broncos already replaced him to their credit I mean that they got on it they got a guy that uh who actually and the funny thing is Ellis unlike Sanders is actually considered more of a pass rusher whereas the Broncos were trying to take Sanders Sanders was his strength is a r a speed guy who could go Sid Seline to sideline who in theory you think you’d like covering tight ends that’s not the way the Broncos I guess apparently intended to use him this year but if they were going to use him as an outside linebacker and Rush the quarterback they may have even upgraded in Ellis immediately but you do wonder what that means for Sanders if when he comes back you have Nick Bonito there you have Jonathan Cooper there you have Ellis there there’s a lot of guys stacked up at that outside linebacker Baron Browning as well that’s four deep he might be the best of the bunch yeah if he can stay healthy and it the idea for the Broncos seems to be continue to maybe do what you used to see from Seattle all the time and just keep rolling guys in and out line changes I guess at Edge rusher changing on the Fly and and maybe that’s not a bad approach given the fact the idea is you want to get these guys as fresh as possible and if there’s not much difference between your quote unquote first string and second string maybe that’s an effective way to go well I think it’s the new way to go I I think throughout the league uh that’s what you’re looking to do and you have all these linebackers Micah Parsons is the best example who can literally play every position save possibly for nose tackle on defense honestly I mean I you don’t want to corner corner uh but eight out of the 11 positions on defense Micah Parsons can play with equal skill yeah that’s the kind of linebacker you want you want hybrids the the jewels and with all due respect The Singletons they’re off ball linebackers from Days Gone By they can’t rush the passer they don’t cover particularly well they’re known as run stuffers but the Broncos defense against the Run especially on the inside and on the goal line this year was not that special and so I I think as linebacking core go throughout the NFL you’re looking for versatility you’re looking for Speed maybe even more than you’re looking for size ideally and Parsons is this ideal you get both size and speed and versatility well they don’t have a mic Parsons but they are trying to to Cobble together enough of a pass rush when you’re talking about all those multiple players and maybe that will work because we know what they’re facing in the AFC West minus the Raiders to have a pass rush you’ve got to have a pass rush and they probably have to remain fresh and I guess if the idea is your off ball linebacker your inside linebacker your Mike or whatever you want to call it in Singleton’s case is there to Hoover up a bunch of of of tackles you know scoop up the running game and just kind of clean up the messes just prefer he make the tackles a little bit closer like five years closer to the line of scrimmage yeah and that’s a challenge when you talk about what you have to do with tight ends so that’s where I do question it a little bit but you’re right the Broncos are going with the trend of just bringing guys a heat after the quarterback from every angle all the time uh we’ll find out if that that works but losing Drew Sanders it’s not a make or break Thing by by any stretch but you have a guy that played in all 17 games as a rookie was coming on more and more certainly had the ability to go a sideline to sideline the idea was kind of poor man’s Micah Parsons essentially in Sanders case and and he had reasonably good hands and was able to make the interception so that the Travis Kelsey of the world you were sort of hoping he could hang with those guys but even the Broncos seemed to have given up on that I don’t know how much a loss it is immediately although I certainly hope the best for Sanders in his recovery I do think he was a guy though who played less than a quarter of the snaps last year on the defensive side of the ball and I think there was a good chance this year that might be closer to one out of every three snaps maybe a little bit more than one out of every three snaps to keep those people fresh and um I thought he had a pretty decent rookie year 24 tackles uh one tackle for a loss a fumble recovery uh played 23% of the snaps 253 and all to be exact um the only good news is that six to nemon injury that was announced today becomes a 5 to8 month injury from today on forward right and and the the new surgeries for this certainly make it better remember last year uh when Tim Patrick tor’s Achilles on August 1st uh that’s quite a bit later than now and he was actually may may have been able to even play at the end of the regular season but the Broncos had put him uh on injured reserve and had basically ruled him out for the year at that point so maybe in this case Sanders will wasn’t Aaron Rogers making noise in December if the Jets got into contention but you’ll notice that he didn’t actually play but at the same time talked a lot he’s a little more valuable than Drew Sanders but in Sanders case you know maybe he’s able to come back by the end of the season I do believe there’s some value for the future for him especially if he can come back from this injury but but the Broncos to their credit they knew about it they addressed it immediately during the draft and they addressed it with a guy that quite frankly at least seems like a better fit on the outside than Sanders so uh it it’s too bad for Sanders but it’s a terrific opportunity for rookie Jonah Ellis I agree and Jonah Ellis is ready to play you come from the Utah football program he’s a good player he he and you’re coached the way they’re coached at Utah you already he jumped off the screen for me one multiple times at Utah and he looked like he was ready to go a little surprising he was available in the third so uh hopefully for the Broncos they’ll be able to uh to get that going quickly because things uh for this team look like the odds are very very long and that’s just kind of the the way it shakes out but we’ll talk a little bit more about OTAs but I want to tell you again if you haven’t had a chance to hear it that this 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David Mark represent you to make sure you’re getting everything that you deserve call David Mark at the key Real Estate Group today at 720 900 list that’s 720 900 l or visit them today at keyal estat group.com because uh people want to buy homes in Colorado you may have noticed get with the best the Denver Broncos Sandy have their OTAs going this week it is one of the series of OTAs in this case you can get on the football field it’s it’s non contact you’re not running uh anything really similar to practice but position groups get to get on the field and do the basics obviously a lot of eyeballs end up on bonick and the the the notion that the Broncos are going to keep keep trying to Tamp down that oh he’ll compete for the starting job with Zach Wilson and and with uh and finding themselves with uh Zack Wilson and Jared stum but all this stuff is a is mindset and the way that the Broncos are trying to install that right now is mindset and it reminds me a little bit about our friend Dr Rick per yes uh and I I will talk about Rick Pera as a premier performance psychologist in just a second here but he may also be a premier prognosticator who was it if not Dr Rick Pera who told us last year when Colorado was 3 and 0 that they would be doing very well to win one of their remaining nine games how did Colorado Auto finish exactly as he said they would one and eight when the playoffs started and most all of us were bullish on the Nuggets chances to perhaps repeat as NBA champions in 2024 Rick Pera said they will have trouble with the Lakers and they did and they will lose to the Timberwolves and they did so maybe we have to expand the portfolio just a little bit but for our purposes our checkup from the neck up takes place every Wednesday at 5:30 on Mile High Sports Radio Rick’s podcast appears as well on Mile High Sports one of many podcasts he’s the former Chief psychologist for the 2015 World Champion Denver Broncos the Colorado Rockies in their two-year leadup to playoff runs in 2017 and 2018 and of course the the former world champion Denver Nuggets Rick peria has worked with them and offered valuable insight about the Nuggets to all of us he speaks in front of corporate audiences on a regular basis but uh to me his main value comes in the work he does with adolescence Middle High School performers allowing them to reach Peak levels of performance whether it’s at work at play or at school call Dr P today at 720 28793 I that’s 720 28793 three or look them up at Dr P at think1 number4 you.org that’s think1 for you.org as the Broncos OTAs get underway non-con workouts today through the 23rd and then soon enough the next series of OTAs will be May 30 28th through the 30th and then another June 3rd through 6 those are the the one to pay attention to I think is the mandatory mini camp that starts on June 11th and the question will be whether courland Sutton attends in the meantime there is no expectation for Sutton who the Broncos have said quote is in a good place uh despite the fact that he clearly wants a new contract that is not participating in the voluntary portions of the off SE one of those places whether it be a good place or not doesn’t happen to be Dove Valley right exactly this particular not at this point so looking for a new deal two years left on his contract only 2 million guaranteed of the 27.6 million remaining on that four-year extension he signed in the fall of 2021 so even though they are maybe starting some of the basic drills with B knck he won’t have Courtland Sutton the most experienced receiver and from the most accomplished receiver on the team available that opens up some opportunities though Troy Franklin drafted in the fourth round Nick’s top receiver at Oregon continues to open eyes and the idea behind getting him obviously I think the Broncos liked his ability overall but you’ve moved on from Jerry Judy Tim Patrick’s return who knows how that will look after missing multiple years in a row of injuries and he had an injury history before that Franklin has an opportunity to carve out a massive role behind let’s presume that Sutton is there when the season starts even though that’s still in question and new addition Josh Reynolds Franklin has the inside track to clearly be wide receiver three and even though he’s not really a slot guy that you can kind of mix and match well given the Rapport that already exists between Nick and Franklin I think you certainly can mix and match the Rapport is much more important them a positional designation and they know each other U inside and out they’ve worked together uh the best parts of their respective careers have come in conjunction with each other and they come from and I’m oversimplifying here the type of offense at Oregon that is similar to what the demands on both of them uh happen to be uh in the offing here to be very easy transition for both yeah and I think that’s part of it it’s such it will be so interesting to see how this comes together because look we’re going to we’re not going to give into the the very silly narrative that You’ got around town for a while because between now and and the training camp you’ll have to hear as people kind of try to look for Content oh well we’ll bow Knicks with qb1 I will bow Knicks compare against Zack Wilson and Jared SD we’ll just tell you right now he’s qb1 he’ll start on week one that’s not in question no matter what anybody in Dove Valley tells you and no matter what anyone else tells you you pick the guy 12 overall he’s your handpicked guy that’s the starter and that’s okay because nobody has started more college games in their career than b Nick no quarterback has ever come to the NFL with more starting experience than Bon Knicks and he gets his top receiver his top receiver by the way in Franklin’s case 13 games last year eight of them went over 100 yards this is expected to be Plug and Play the question isn’t whether Nicks can play in a Shawn pyton system he most certainly can that’s why he’s here the question is the idea that a lot of other evaluators looked at and said that he’s a second rounder maybe even a third rounder what’s the ceiling and how much does that actually impact the Broncos I don’t think that happens this year but if Nicks quickly takes control of this offense and quickly locks up that qb1 role that even the Broncos admit that it’s his maybe there is hope to at least stay in the mix for the wild card this year and get over that five and a half over under that Vegas has for the Broncos wins this year I know we’ve said a lot of things about a lot lot of quarterbacks who have come here and started games since pton Manning retired there have been a dozen of them who are real quarterbacks literally a dozen literally a dozen we’ve said a lot of things about these quarterbacks we haven’t talked much about floor and ceiling because there’s only been for most all of them a very low floor and and an exceedingly low ceiling that’s a bad combination I think what you look for in Bow Knicks in 2024 and frankly from the passing game generally in 2024 is a high floor we’ll worry about the ceiling later let’s get back from a Bronco point of view to a high floor to just basic fundamental execution and offensive play that’s good enough at least to stay in most every game whether you’re playing a bad team you should beat or a good team that you might hope to beat at home maybe not so much on the road simple competence confidence means a high floor simple competence would be nice 3,70 yards 26 touchdowns 19 quarterbacks had more than 3,000 yards Wilson had the lowest at 370 the 26 touchdowns uh obviously while a number that I guess Broncos fans aren’t overwhelmed with but it was ninth in the NFL and only one behind Patrick momes who had 27 and Mahomes had 14 picks to Wilson’s eight but the idea of Wilson coming back was so you the disastrous an otion to Payton that he went and took the biggest you know sou C dead money ever there was never a notion of bringing Russell Wilson back as far as Shawn pton was concerned Shawn pyton considered Russell Wilson to be incompetent I get that so that means that what Russell Wilson put up has to be definitely exceeded by B Knicks right I mean if B Nick is competent he’ll exceed that that means bonick has to get to the same numbers 3,000 yards I think that’s doable because that now that’s only 205 yards it’s 200 your passing yards a game but 26 touchdowns to eight interceptions uh that’s top 10 in the league in touchdown passes and only one behind the best player in the planet and the interceptions were low the expectations for Knicks I think you’re right when you talk about about the high floor but the high floor is probably what 3,300 yards and 30 touchdowns well in Payton’s mind this is my only four quarterbacks through for 30 touchdowns yes Payton’s view of Wilson’s statistics last year is that they were Mirage not even a mirage not even a mirage irrelevant irrelevant he didn’t run Payton’s offense he didn’t paint by the numbers in the way pton wants his quarterbacks to pay by the numbers and give him a little bit more than just painting by the numbers in the way that Brees did and we know Russell Wilson never reminded in any way shape or form Shawn Payton of Drew Brees at any point in his career we know that in most every respect Bo Nicks remind Shawn Payton exactly of Drew Brees yes yes that’s the basis for the Judgment which of the two in Shawn Payton’s mind from 23 to 24 will look like Drew Brees or more like Drew Brees Russell Wilson has already been excluded as an option the only option left is B Nicks it sure as hell isn’t Jared stum or Zack Wilson no absolutely not about whom you will be reading and hearing I imagine not from us but from others a great deal yeah between now and Late July yeah and and some sort of you know quarterback competition there there is no competition uh this is uh John O used to say it right you know Plan B we’re going plan a plan a is the yeah there’s no plan B this is the guy you drafted first overall so you know back in 2000 we’ll give the First full year in which he started because uh that that first year 2001 with the Chargers back in San Diego Drew Brees played in only one game and didn’t didn’t start any that second year however he started all 16 he threw for 3,284 yards 17 touchdowns to 16 interceptions now of course of his course of his career that would get a lot better but that number and that was in 2002 offenses have exploded since then that’s got to be a bare minimum 60.8% completion which is just about what Wilson had last year 3,284 yards 17 touchdowns those are makeable by bcks doesn’t mean he’s going to turn into Hall of Famer Drew Brees but those are numbers that he should exceed this year and he should exceed with relative Simplicity as long as he remains healthy and the Broncos offense for the most part remains whole one other Assurance I will make there will not be a game that the Broncos lose this year in which afterwards Shawn pyton will place the kind of blame he placed on Russell Wilson last year this year on bck that’s another Assurance I think we both can offer the listening public yeah and I think when you look at this situation with Nicks it I I have to admit I am I’m not only curious about it Sandy but I’m a little optimistic because I’ve long believed that the NFL draft is about fit just it’s about fit it’s about the right fit for players and I think the teams that do understand that and draft for fit have a little more success you can say what you will about the Broncos under Shawn pyton in his last two drafts but he’s clearly drafted for fit over necessarily people look at they say oh this person’s a this round Prospect or whatever he’s looking for his own fit I do think that’s the right approach and that’s why I do think that B knck can surprise because he’s older he’s more experienced he has guys that he’s familiar with remember that Center Alex forsight played with him as well with Oregon and forsight is supposedly going to be in the mix for the starting center role but he has guys that here that are friends and when you talk about that middle part of the field let me give you this from Pro Football Focus sandy4 14 targets to Troy Franklin from Nicks 71.1% of the time they were completed and 538 yards after the catch 258 of his receiving yards on the year were on passes shorter than 10 yards exactly what Shawn pyton wants to see who was the last Bronco coach our final little bit of quizzing for today who was the last Bronco head coach who was clearly in love with his rookie quarterback in love with his rookie quarterback back yep it happened during this Century it was a few years ago but it did happen during this Century well Gary kubak liked Trevor Simeon didn’t love Trevor Simeon no certainly not as a rookie he did not he did not love him okay go on Mike Shanahan loved Jay Cutler in 2006 this is the first time since then that a head coach has loved his rookie quarterback John Fox did not love Tim TBO no even though G kubak did not love pton Manning in 2015 John Fox loved pton Manning in 2011 12 13 and even 14 but pton Manning was hardly a rookie at that point the last time was 18 years ago that you had a head coach and a rookie quarterback who were sympatico OTAs continue this week with we’ll talk more about that as the week goes along thanks to Ryan Blackburn for joining us of course breaking down the financial issues that will challenge the Nuggets going forward especially if kavi is called Ro Pope Ops out make sure you check out Ryan Blackburn at NBA Blackburn on social thanks to Danny Bailey for putting this all together thanks to you however you listen to the program we really appreciate you tuning in all the comments on the YouTube channel we see you we’ll get to you as well for Sandy kff I’m Sean drotar we’ll be back next time this is my High Sports

The Denver Nuggets have an interesting offseason ahead of them following their second–round playoff exit vs. the Minnesota Timberwolves. One questions that is floating around is do the Nuggets need to make an adjustment to their starting five? Michael Porter Jr’s name has come up amongst Nuggets fans. Plus, the Denver Broncos will be without linebacker Drew Sanders for an extended period of time. Sandy Clough and Shawn Drotar break down the latest in Colorado sports.

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