The Denver Nuggets need the next Bruce Brown as a Sixth Man

The Denver Nuggets need the next Bruce Brown as a Sixth Man

[Music] all right folks welcome in to pickax and roll brought to you by our good friends over at Superbook Sports I am your host Ryan Blackburn at NBA black oh God I said Superbook Sports Jesus Christ uh part of the Mile High Sports podcast networ or we’re brought to you by bet online and number 38 and that is it uh that’s all it is uh really appreciate everybody for hopping in uh nice nice little blunder here in the first 40 seconds of the podcast very nice I I continue to do that um welcome back welcome in first and foremost appreciate everybody for stopping by hopefully you’re having a good night hopefully you are interested in Denver Nuggets talk we’re in the middle of June and Nuggets haven’t played in a little bit here so we’ll see what happens but I’m excited to talk about a topic that I discussed for an article on Monday with uh Mile High Sports we’re going to talk about Bruce Brown and what what his loss actually meant to Denver sort of one year later whole year of data whole understanding I think of what the playoffs and the regular season both looked like understanding sort of how Denver approached things I wrote about this I talked about about this it was a good conversation I think that Denver needs to sort of change up how they do this and we’re going to talk about my takeaways from that article in the first segment some Bruce Brown Replacements six-man Replacements in the second segment and then third segment I’m going to talk about the 28th pick in this draft and then because draft is like two weeks away now and I haven’t really done a bunch of prospect work or anything like that so we’ll discuss all of that if possible but should be very fun I’m looking forward to it first I got to tell you about bet online the number one source for the NBA and NHL playoffs uh specifically the NBA finals and the Stanley Cup finals this season every stat every matchup and even live odds and spreads while the games are being played when the game’s over head on over to their online casino get it on a game of blackjack or something similar head over to their website today and use promo code believe for your 50% off welcome bonus on your first deposit bet online the game starts here okay let’s talk about it let’s talk about it as oh hey I have seen my friend Matt Moore hop into the comments here can you replace Bruce Brown is a great question you got to re well and here’s here’s actually a great segment Denver tried to recreate them they tried to recreate like I don’t remember what that reference is honestly it’s pop culture reference that I’m not it’s not coming to mind you can’t replace Bruce brown but you try to recreate him oh you know what it is it’s a Moneyball thing which is hilarious that is fantastic you can’t replace giomi but you can recreate him and that is actually we we’ll just we’ll pivot into that that was the emphasis for Moneyball where teams got to place smarter they got to play they got to play more economically friendly understand where some sort of weaknesses are in team building are and then recreate it for your own personal Advantage especially if you don’t have have the advantages of the Yankees or the cash poor Lakers or any team like that this time um the Nuggets tried to recreate Bruce Brown and they did so with three players Reggie Jackson Christian Brown and pton Watson I’ve talked about this at nauseum Reggie Jackson was brought in became Denver sixthman from a playoff like a a minute standpoint and that was already kind of a faulty premise in my opinion just because I mean how could you possibly justify replacing or recreating Bruce Brown in that manner but it was about his ability to replace Jamal Murray in the starting lineup and I got to be honest when you look at the lineup data did reasonable job like did a reasonable job in the lineups that included Reggie Jackson and the four starters that’s what you needed and Denver got that when Jamal Murray either sat due to injury or sat due to hey I need to rest for the second unit and then it was Christian Brown who Denver expected to take a step forward in his second season and he kind of did not really in some ways I think he improved during the second half of the season I think he improved in his ability to carry a heavier usage carry more minutes carry more responsibilities and kind of move up the lineup pecking order a little bit last year he wasn’t the eighth man he was the ninth man in Denver’s rotation the ninth man or tth man in situations where the Nuggets needed um like his Services because it was Bruce Brown Jeff Green uh they ultimately settled on Christian Brown but it wasn’t after a while like they had a backup center for a lot of the time um and so it was like Christian Brown’s defense and his ability to switch and in his malleability especially on the this the defensive side and like his cutting and his sball athleticism things like that and then with pton Watson who’s kind of your explosive guy the guy who was doing everything that he could to provide the burst provide the athleticism provide the uh the hyped up plays and he did a lot of that especially during the regular season I I was really impressed for the most part with what pton Watson did this year so much so that I’ve I’ve had conversations with the very Matt Moore that showed up in this podcast about hey maybe pton Watson can start sooner rather than later that ultimately I think was Folly but it is interesting that during the regular season nuggets wi 57 games they figure out how to piece it together there’s a lot of crowing going on especially from various parties oh yeah we don’t need Bruce Brown we don’t need him we’re just going to recreate him and then the playoffs happened and Denver ran out of guys they ran out of players that they could really trust Christian Brown played enough but he only played like 17 minutes A Night in the playoffs Bruce Brown during the playoff run played 26 and a half over 10 more and that flexibility that ability to stay on the floor especially in close games was a big trust factor that ultimately I think got pulled out from under what the Nuggets wanted to do back in February around the trade deadline especially I expressed concern that the Nuggets did not have enough on their bench I did it on this very podcast I did it probably not in the most effective ways on Twitter and I was very loud in my perspective that I did not think that the Nuggets had enough and I got laughed at ultimately that turned out to be correct and it wasn’t about the starters being bad the starters were bad but the thing about the starters in last year’s playoffs was that when the starters were bad the Nuggets just went to a different lineup they couldn’t do that this time around and so I haven’t been crowing or anything like I haven’t been crowing about being right because nobody wants to be right in that kind of a situation But ultimately that is what happened that is what bore out if you see a whisker in front of the podcast let me see if I can can you see the whiskers here yeah there you go the cat is now sitting in front of my in front of all my notes on my computer in front of the comments so if I don’t reply to your comment I’m sorry um um look they tried to create Bruce Brown it didn’t work and I wrote about it yesterday on Monday and thought you know what this isn’t gonna like this may not go over well but I I think that Denver needed their Bruce Brown replacement last year they didn’t get it and as a result it was a lot more unsteady oh you’re gonna you’re gonna leap there you go good for you oh man okay good that door’s open um [Laughter] I think that like if I just go to some of my Bruce Brown notes here on this other page some of the stats that I posted over the weekend or like then uh in this article were that Bruce Brown’s utility in lineups during the regular season then translated really well to the playoffs and something that was really noticeable was that Denver’s most play lineups during the regular season this year were not their most played lineups in the playoffs they tried developing Christian Brown pton Watson uh they had some minutes where Christian Brown was the deao point guard in place of Reggie Jackson um those lineups just didn’t play enough in the playoff setting they went to Justin holiday instead they went to Aaron Gordon instead and those decisions were good those decisions were logical but the problem you run into is you just don’t like develop any chemistry you don’t develop any thing that you can trust that Michael Malone can consistently fall back upon and this is at the feat of Michael Malone as well he probably didn’t do a good enough job of finding other combinations that Denver could go to that they that worked outside of the starting unit because I gotta be honest like Denver they overplayed their starters everybody talks about it from the perspective of fatigue but I’m going to talk about it from the perspective of the chemistry and understanding what you can do with other people what happens when plan a doesn’t go well because Denver’s bet this year was that plan A would be so good that it wouldn’t matter and as it turns out somebody had an answer to their plan a and they didn’t have a response so I’m very curious to see what Denver does some of the important stats takeaways from that Bruce Brown article uh the Nuggets starting lineup of 959 minutes played by their starters this regular season was more minutes than every other team’s top two lineups combined from a minutes perspective the next closest was the Houston Rockets the third closest was the Boston Celtics so it’s not like this is a death Nell or anything but the Nuggets were just so Reliant so functional with keeping kyp Michael Porter Aaron Gordon Nico yoka on the floor at the same time and then Murray was obviously out there for the most part but if it wasn’t him it was Reggie Jackson that is pretty tough that’s a pretty tough way to develop chemistry and understand how to build with the rest of your group other couple of numbers here the starting five for Denver each average 35 minutes a game in Denver’s 12 playoff games this season over 35 minutes a game in 2022 23 three only joic Murray and Gordon did that Porter and kcp did not and I think that’s one of the things that would have helped a guy like Porter stay engaged and like frankly it was one of the things that Denver had to rely on Porter in game seven despite the fact that he was getting locked they couldn’t go to a guy like Bruce Brown because they didn’t have him they they at times closed with Christian Brown during that series and it was effective in game four and game five but Denver didn’t have other options when plan a didn’t work that’s the most important thing and the thing about a six-man is it should be additive it’s not like here’s what happens when this other thing goes poorly this is a player that Denver should be looking to add that can change the pace a little bit that can remove some responsibility from some guys can help Jamaal Murray with the the ball handling responsibility that he so clearly struggled with during Minnesota when he was injured and Al before that against the Lakers when he wasn’t also what if the starters just don’t have the best matchup what if they win their minutes against 95% of the league but it’s the 5% that’s standing between you and the title that’s generally what happens when you face an elite team a truly elite team and that’s what happens when Denver faced the Timberwolves this year and it probably would have happened if they would have faced the Celtics I think I would would have picked the Celtics over the Nugget or yeah over the Nuggets so that’s tough and the problem that you run into is obviously like Denver had so many guys off of their bench this year and this is the the thing from JK wallrus the booth development plan this is the booth boys the guys that hey they’re going to be around for a long time well they might be on the roster for a long time but whether they’re actually going to play an important playoff series is a thing entirely and so you need to figure that out during the regular season I I want to give Michael Malone the benefit of the doubt there and Calvin Booth a benefit of the doubt there too it’s really hard to develop rookies Calvin Booth tried to get aged rookies but I’m not sure if he got good rookies and that’s where drafting the 29th 32nd and 37th overall pick was a that was that was an interesting move in my opinion but look here’s the thing I think that Denver needs to consolidate some of the talent that they got they could obviously not replace Bruce Brown fully last off season the problem that I had was that they didn’t really try they went into that offseason basically thinking okay we’ll either get Bruce brown or we won’t and if we don’t then we’ll just resign Reggie Jackson We’ll add a veteran like a Justin holiday and then we’ll draft several rookies and try to stay cheap and they did and It ultimately didn’t work and so that’s not necessarily on Calvin Booth entirely because happens things happen but I do think it’s interesting to think about it from the perspective of okay if you go all the way back to when they could have replaced Bruce Brown when they could have been a little bit more desperate could have tried to find another player that might have been able to kind of replicate what he did they decided to resign Reggie Jackson with the taxpayer ml instead and I was pretty critical of that decision then he ultimately was fine during the regular season and then wasn’t the problem during the playoffs but he also wasn’t the solution either so this is the issue Denver’s got to find a solution like a rock solid solution and they got to throw a lot of a lot of pitches to see if they could get a hit because they didn’t throw enough pitches last year in my opinion they didn’t have enough things I don’t know we’ll see maybe they did try maybe they did really try but I don’t know I didn’t get the sense that they were super active the sense that I got that was that they were content with their plan because their plan involved like when they signed the rookies to full contracts say hey this is the best that we can do and they I don’t think they they really had another solution so I don’t know we’ll see like I see see teams like n like Nik Alexander Walker goes to Minnesota Kelly UB goes for a minimum like Denver just didn’t take enough chances in my opinion to try to recreate what they had and that to me is where they faltered but look we will see what ultimately happens with it I think that there is a like there’s potential for them to go get a different guy here to go get another guy that could do something similar to what Bruce Brown has done it might make some people uncomfortable we’re going to talk about it on the other side we will be right back on pickax and Roll But first I got to tell you about number 38 the best outdoor indoor bar in the business in Rhino make sure to go check them out they’ve got some great brunch options some great food options some great beers on tap $115 pctures when we’re there and we’re doing uh the pregame podcast or the postgame podcast the shows lot of fun environment to be out there like they’ve got an outdoor area it’s wonderful especially during the summer uh make sure to get there early make sure to go there often and let them know that you came from Mile High Sports pickax and roll we’ll be right back all right we’re back pickax and roll Ryan Blackburn here thank you so much for tuning in to the show appreciate all the love and support on the podcast make sure to like And subscribe to the YouTube video if you can uh and if you’re listening on the audio side give it a rating uh give it a review that would sincerely help the podcast okay talked about why and how kind of the Nuggets sort of failed in the process of getting Bruce Brown as their six-man or replacing him last year this past year but now let’s talk about what they can do let’s talk about what’s viable in the article I shared several names ultimately I think it was 19 different names of players that to varying degrees I think could do the job that Bruce Brown just did for Denver in 2023 whether they could get all these guys is one question whether I’m wrong in that these guys would be just as impactful is another question whether Denver is willing to go get these guys is another question but I’m going to share the names and we’re going to talk it out 19 different names will just go through in Rapid Fire when I matched per 36 numbers for what Bruce Brown was like his production based off of a stae head search this year five names that were above above 6’4 that matched his per 36 production came up Carris Levert Jordan Clarkson Malik monk Russell Westbrook and Gordon Hayward we’ll start with Malik monk first that is a no-o obviously he’s going to get way more money than Denver can afford don’t even think about Malik monk next is Carris Levert he makes about 16 and a half million in this upcoming year and I think that that’s going to be too much Denver like I just don’t expect them to be able to do a trade like that I don’t expect the Cavs to be in a situation where they want to sell somebody like lever like he’s a helpful player for them he’s one of those guys that would absolutely um it kind of changes things up for them because they sometimes they have to start Isaac aoro sometimes they’re starting Max Tru or maybe he has to move to a different SP or maybe they just let uh Donovan Mitchell go during the offseason have to trade him so I don’t know things are up in the air for them I wouldn’t worry about Caris L the salary number is a little bit too large Jordan Clarkson is the one that you start to peek your ears up about he’s been in Utah for a while now I think it’s like four or five years and he’s done a good job as their six man he’s won six man of the year one year I believe he’s not necessarily like your traditional nugget type but think about what bones Highland was for Denver think about the vision for what he was doing it’s kind of like what Jordan Clarkson does just with a little bit more confidence because he’s older because you’ve seen it before because Jordan Clarkson understands how to operate within a team and doesn’t do other things I think that the Jordan Clarkson number which is 14.1 million it is I identical to the number that zek Nai and Reggie Jackson make together Reggie Jackson has a player option we don’t know if he’s going to pick it up I’m G to assume that he picks it up actually there’s an argument that he doesn’t if he could find another long-term deal but I don’t think that he will and so if you’ve got Zeke nai’s number at 8.8 Reggie Jackson’s number like 5.2 it’s basically the same thing the problem that you run into is that Denver can’t aggregate salaries in a trade unless they are under the second tax apron which is 189.5 million people should remember that number by the way it’s 189.5 if Denver’s under that then they can aggregate if they are over it they cannot basically the only way they’re going to be under if they aggregate salaries is if they let kcp go or if kcp walks on his own accord which he has every right to do he’s an unrestricted free agent so do you cut off your nose to spite your face to add a player like Jordan Clarkson you’re letting your starting shooting guard walk assuming that somebody like I don’t know like Christian Brown is ready to step up into that starting shooting guard spot and then you have an actual sixthman that can come in Off the Bench and sort of provide your change of pace is that good enough are you okay to break up that Elite starting five with the intention of improving your your bench I don’t know I don’t know if that’s the right call but what it does do if they did lose kcp as well is on top top of being able to make aggregation trades they also gain access to their taxpayer mle which could be the difference in signing somebody that wants more than a minimum contract so I think and people aren’t going to want to hear this they’re not I think that there’s an argument that if they get the right players in a trade and as a taxpayer mle that you could lose kcp downgrade at your starting shooting guard hope that Christian Brown or somebody similar can develop into the right guy in that space and be fine all while avoiding the second apron I think that there’s an argument for that being a logical place now it may not be like if I told you and here there’s another name on my list DeAnthony Melton if I told you that the Nuggets could lose kcp Reggie Jackson and Zeke Nagi but they gained Jordan Clarkson and DeAnthony Melton is that good enough is that enough to justify doing something like that I don’t know what the answer is I’m just here to provide a perspective um Melton is going to be a free agent and the Sixers have their sights set on a Max contract guy and they have their sight set on retaining I would guess Kelly UB or Nick Batum so I don’t think the Melton’s at the top of their priority list and if that’s not the case then he might be getable for a team that needs his skill set and Denver could use his skill set so that’s what I’m saying is that everybody’s tied to kcp specifically but if you gain access to your taxpayer Mily and you can find the right trade to acquire a different piece then maybe it makes more sense than people seem to think um I’m not sure that it does but I want to at least make the argument for it okay that is one perspective let me keep going on some of these other guys that I missed out on Russell Westbrook and Gordon Hayward were two of the others they would be what I consider like maybe they’re taxpayer mle kind of guys maybe they’re minimum contract guys but those are two vets that you wouldn’t put into a massive role but you could see them filling in as an eighth man or ninth man in the right situation I’m not sure I want to go for Russell Westbrook if I’m the Nuggets I think that there’s just too much there and I just don’t think that he I think he’s destructive in terms of actually formulating the right stuff for what a te te needs and I’m just not sure I’m not sure about it because seems like a good dude I just don’t think his play style is very conducive to winning and that’s okay Gordon Hayward who knows next Five Guys these are different types of options that might do it better than what Bruce did for and this is for six-man stuff as you recall Alex Caruso AO dumu Cole Anthony DeAnthony Melton Nicholas patum and Kelly UB so we got three Sixers there the Sixers have a good roster like don’t let anybody tell you differently man the Sixers have a really good roster of players that can help really good and so do the Chicago Bulls the problem is that they don’t have the Stars I was going to make a joke about Jo will and beat I’m not going to do that um kuso and dumu probably not getable I I’m not like gonna hold out hope but here’s the thing if I’m Calvin Booth I’m shooting for the moon I’m starting there I’m starting with the guys that I think can do it best and seeing what happens if they say no then sure if the price tag for AO dumu was zek Nagi Julian St and the 28th overall pick for dumu Tory Craig and tumu and Tory Craig like seems like a pretty reasonable deal for both sides maybe it’s not um but that’s what I’m saying is like you could talk yourself into the right deal for one of those guys Cole Anthony same kind of thing DeAnthony Melton as I mentioned as a free agent option as our Nicholas patum and Kelly UB I’m not sure that batum’s GNA move he recently said not recently I think at the beginning of last year said that was going to be his last year I doubt he’s going to want to move to Denver maybe he will maybe he likes yic Kelly UB who knows knows like he’s probably going to be in their plans uh Sixers for trying to keep him and they have the ability not a strong ability but they have the salary cap room to pay him a little bit um here are some other minimum salary guys dlon Wright Gary Harris Patrick Beverly Chris Dunn those are options I think that nuggets fans are very familiar with Delon Wright I’ve been talking about for eons I think he was the guy that they should have gotten at this last buyout Market him or Gordon Hayward if Denver got both of those guys dlon Wright and Gordon Hayward for minimum deals this off season I think you could feel really good about their prospects as a bench like piecing something together because those guys are smart they know what they’re doing and same thing with Gary Harris obviously Chris Dunn is a little bit more of an unknown commodity but he’s proven himself a little bit in in Utah figuring some stuff out Patrick Beverly I’m just like kind of in the Russell westbr category I just I’m not sure I want him around like just I’m just not he’s there’s there’s a lot there um is there’s a reason why he’s on minimum contracts kind of bouncing around like he is a helpful player who’s probably worth more than that but he just he does too much so those are the kind of guys that you’re thinking about from that perspective I kind of like Dunn in that category I think that if Denver were to get a Chris dun that’d be great like he’s he’s the exact guy that swipe has been camping for for for so much of this time like so much um Chris Dunn would be great would he be enough of an offensive guy I don’t know do you need too much on the offensive end no but you need some who could you really trust the ball in their hands I’m not sure if I trust Chris Dunn to the degree that it seems like swiper does Matt does my guy CTS in the comments too uh but we’ll see and the last thing and I’ll kind of use this as a lead in for a lot of things and Matt says here kcp has so many offers he gets his pick teams will also overpay to get him off of Denver and so that’s the thing is like if Denver has to pay over 20 million in order to keep him around it may not be the right call in order to like it may it may not be the right call in order to keep him because they like I think it’s more easily replicable for a kcp than it is for a Bruce Brown Bruce has a like he had a specific skill set that was a jack of all trades type Denver tried to piece it together with a variety of different things kcp is true 3 andd and that is something that I think hey you might be able to get that for eight million or somewhere close instead of 22 yeah we’ll see we will see what happens but I mean he’s obviously a big piece obviously be a really really tough piece for them to miss finally though um highle draft targets these are the guys and I was talking or I was actually listening to Matt to say this on a pod and thought this was really Salient that rather than go get the 20th overall pick or like they have this year why not trade up and do what Dallas did with Derrik Lively who they they identified a guy they figured out who they wanted who could really fit into the role that they envisioned for them and so we’re gonna go get you and you’re going to help us win right now and for draft targets I have Dalton connect I have Devin Carter Isaiah Collier and Jared McCain those are four guys that I came up with that hey we’ll see whether that actually makes sense or not but as I get into more draft coverage this is the idea of hey they have the 28th overall pick maybe they pair him with Julian St and say okay how high can we go you get two btes at the Apple if you’re a team and maybe that gets you up to the 19th overall pick and if that’s the case maybe Collier who I’ve seen drop in mock maybe he’s the guy that they’re looking for and say okay 19th overall we could get to you and maybe that’s worth it maybe it’s worth it to get a guy that you believe is for sure going to be in your playoff rotation Michael Malone’s got a sign off on it he’s got to be willing to play the dude that’s for sure all right we will see what happens let’s take another break when we come back we’re going to talk about that 28th overall pick I’ve got some different strategies I want to discuss different things that we can go over on this episode of pickax and roll final segment pickaxe and roll Ryan Blackburn here thank you so much for tuning into the show hit the like button hit the Subscribe button let’s go to the 20th overall pick because we’ve okay we’ve talked about the Bruce Brown thing I just gave a bunch of names whether Denver can find that name or not remains to be seen but this last way of doing it through the draft this is Calvin Booth’s like thing this is what he’s wanted to do this is what he says rookie contracts adding cheap young talents that can be in your system for a while that’s his stated plan it’s what he wants to do and so if that was the case you’re probably thinking all right 28th overall pick the draft let’s see who they can get let’s see if they’re around second year maybe they play a little bit more third year maybe they play a little bit more by their fourth year hopefully they are a full-time rotation piece for a team like the Nuggets that’s the vision that I think Calvin booth has but what if I told you that next year let’s say let’s say they drafted 28th overall so they get another Julian strw type who plays about 500 600 700 regular season minutes not a factor in the playoffs next year who knows what the future holds beyond that because they didn’t really play in a highly tested playoff environment is that good enough in your opinion is that good enough to select somebody at 28th overall in what is considered to be a pretty bad draft I don’t think it is I think you could find talent I think there’s Talent all over and then teams are going to miss on some guys but what I’ve found lately is that teams Miss less and less when they’re as dialed in as these teams have been all these guys are going at the top of the draft they’re not going to 28th anymore what if I told you that drafting at 28th overall is not the best option well what are your other options you could trade up you could try to go higher as I mentioned in the last segment you could trade TR down try to collect additional draft assets or you could trade out try to trade it for a veteran or trade it for a pick in a future draft instead well as I mentioned trading up could yield you a better player that’s more likely to contribute immediately and has a brighter future there is a justification for it for sure absolutely makes sense you want the best talent that you could possibly can and if you can get that Talent if you can do that consistently on a rookie contract that you can continue cycling you can continue cycling in rookie contracts and as guys get more pricey it becomes easier to figure out Cedric they cannot get Grayson Allen he makes too much money um I don’t I don’t think like he’s at 17 million a year I think the 15 million a year threshold I think is what is considered too high for Denver at this point um CT says Stephen castle that’s another option that they could go for I just consider him to be a top 10 pick I don’t think that Denver has the draft Capital get to get that high unless would you trade pton Watson would you dangle pton Watson as a guy that you could really move up and say hey we’ve got a guy who is a briming fountain of potential somebody who’s everybody’s looking for 6 foot eight versatile Wing somebody who could do some crazy things both with the ball in his hands but also one of the best defensive players in the league already could you possibly dangle him and justify that I don’t know is that reasonable probably not I don’t think that that would be the right call I think that you hit on Payton Watson and not to mention we’re talking about Calvin Booth here we are not talking about Tim Connelly we’re not talking about uh Doc Rivers or Rock divers we’re not talking about Rob pinka we are talking about Calvin Booth who basically put his entire claim on Payton Watson and has looked pretty good so far with it so trading up is an option you’re probably not trading pton Watson and you’re probably not trading Julian STW so I don’t think it’s the right option they’re not going to move up far enough unless they move those guys trading down yes you could acquire add additional draft Capital to do the next move like but the problem is you’re kicking the can down the road a little bit and you’re looking to solve some problems immediately so unless you can identify an actual way for Denver to trade down and then make the second move that combines those assets into another trade then I just don’t see it I don’t see it working out that well trading out using the pick not getting any picks back or you get like a pick in a future draft I guess trading out you could acquire that veteran contributor you need you pair them with some salary that you don’t necessarily want you don’t necessarily need whether it’s Zeke Nagi whether it’s Reggie Jackson picking up his option um not really sure who else that they could really pay salary-wise just doesn’t make a lot of sense maybe it’s like Christian Brown and the 20th overall pick and then you get an upgraded rookie contract or something like that I don’t know you could acquire a veteran contributor but you got to find the right deal I’m not sure the right deal exists obviously not sure the right deal exists or else maybe Denver what have done it already but we’re going to find out my belief is that the nuggets should do and I wrote this down the Nugget should do whatever strengthens their top eight or nine rotation players for their next playoff run because while I do agree in the premise of what Calvin Booth is trying to do in what he’s trying to build for the Nuggets sustainable long-term winning Denver missed out on an opport opportunity this year because they didn’t have the right pieces this year because Jamal Murray got hurt at the wrong time and Denver didn’t have an alternative because Michael Porter Jr got locked up by jayen McDaniels struggled on defense and they didn’t really have an alternative so I think you need to find somebody off to their bench and figure it out you need to figure it out you need to find out who you can add what you can do to strengthen your top eight or top nine however many you think is going to play if there’s a guy at 28 that you think can play immediately fantastic these aren’t like your uh the guys that I listed last segments your Dalton connects your Devin Carters Isaiah Colliers Jared mccains those guys are lottery picks or top 20 picks the guys that I’m talking about your donon Holmes’s Kyle filipowski Tyler KCK jayen Tyson all of them kind of seem unlikely to crack the top nine in my opinion outside of maybe Holmes who I think is actually like really good so like maybe a draft there trading down is fine like I said if the assets are immediately flipped then great if booth just sits on the assets and then those assets go into nothing for next year’s title run it’s hard to justify trading up like I said is a good option only if the nuggets are willing to part with some of their rookie contract guys the good thing about trading up is you exchange a rookie contract for a rookie contract so it still stays relatively cheap I’m just not sure if it’s viable and then trading the pick entirely for a vet seems reasonable but likely only if as I mentioned before with the Jordan Clarkson proposal that kcp like only if kcp seems like he’s going to walk away does that actually make sense I don’t know what the right call is people I really don’t I wish I had a great answer for you because I made the case initially heading into the offseason that the Nugget should run it back which means staying like you’re probably going over the second apron to keep case c p you’re paying what needs to be paid you’re doing what needs to be done and then you’re working on the fringes as best as you can I’m sort of having second thoughts on that part of it is because I think kcp like he’s gonna get these crazy offers it’s going to be tough to retain him and you start to get up into the 22 23 24 million and it’s diminishing returns and so Denver may need to Pivot they may may need to come up with a situation where Christian Brown or somebody similar is the right call for filling in 25 starting shooting guard minutes doesn’t have to close you can vary up your starting lineup you can vary up your closing lineup I don’t know what they’re going to do but I think there are justifications for both ways I don’t think you have to bring back kcp and you could still win a championship the next year I think that’s possible but Denver’s got to get creative they’ve got to be more potent when it comes to finding outside Solutions finding minimum contracts that are guys that are ring Chasers that are actually willing to take a little bit less money in order to be where you are because they have a great chance to win you would hope that Denver could find those guys because they would play with nikic who makes people money that’ll be the justification I don’t know if that’s actually going to happen so it’s a tough place where Denver is right now now teams would absolutely gladly trade places with Denver you get the best player in the world you get a team that is already Championship tested and all you got to do is fill in the gaps the problem is I think the gaps are a little bit larger than people wanted to believe I think I was right about that ini ially not a lot of people wanted to hear it think the gaps are a little bit larger and I think Denver’s got to work a little bit harder to figure out how to solve those both in the short term and in the long term maybe they can maybe they can maybe Calvin Booth will do that maybe Calvin Booth like like he had a great first year don’t get me wrong Christian Brown pton Watson kyp Bruce Brown he added a lot of great names DeAndre Jordan is a veteran voice for what they needed the second year was not as good as the first and that doesn’t get discussed enough Denver sat on their Laurels when they didn’t have to do that they probably couldn’t do that if they wanted to be favorites and people got tricked a little bit by the starting line of being so good during the regular season because Denver needed more answers than just the top five and my thing is that if they could exchange their best starting five in the league for more versatility and more potency Off the Bench maybe it’s the right call all right that is going to do it for this episode of pickaxe and roll brought to you by our good friends over at Superbook Sports everybody thank you so much for tuning into the show appreciate all the love and support on the podcast as always this is your daily reminder that the Nuggets were up 20 in game seven thank you man really appreciate it and locked on nuggets will be on next everybody thank you so much for tuning into the show please hit that like button hit that subscribe button on the way out I will see you on Thursday with the next episode

On the latest episode of Pickaxe and Roll, Ryan Blackburn discusses the Denver Nuggets search for a roster upgrade this off-season. After losing Bruce Brown last year, the Nuggets missed everything he provided to the playoff rotation. The Nuggets didn’t truly replace him last year. Will they make the same mistake this year? Ryan discusses the need for a strong Sixth Man, options at combo guard in Free Agency and the NBA Draft, and whether the Nuggets will use the 28th overall pick this year.

Make sure to like, comment, and subscribe to stay up with all the latest Colorado sports content from Mile High Sports!
Subscribe to our page: https://www.youtube.com/c/MileHighSports
Follow us on social media: @MileHighSports
Check out our website: MileHighSports.com