Kentavious Caldwell-Pope is leaving Denver for Orlando in Free Agency

Kentavious Caldwell-Pope is leaving Denver for Orlando in Free Agency

[Music] well he gone welcome in pickax and roll brought to you by our good friends over at number 38 bet online I’m your host Ryan Blackburn at NBA Blackburn on Twitter part of the mile Sports podcast Network and I am here to discuss uh pandemonium here at ball Arena used to be pandemonium at Pepsi Center the Nuggets lose their guy cavius Caldwell Pope one of the most important catalysts of the 2023 Championship run and the sky is falling oh no what are they going to do how are they going to survive there’s a lot of that going around we’ll talk about it all we’re going to talk about it all on this particular episode uh thank you for supporting if you’re dropping by hit the like button hit the Subscribe button I promise it won’t be all doom and gloom there will be other things that we can talk about and I will do my best to impart some wisdom not sure if they’ll be doing all the wisdom but at least some wisdom but before we get into it this podcast as you know it’s brought to you by the good folks over at bet online your number one source for all your sports betting needs this season from baseball and golf and soccer right up to the top fights in UFC MMA and boxing every stat every match up it even live odds during the games while they’re being played when it’s over head on over to the online casino play some slots games poker Blackjack head over to the website today and use promo code believe and get your 50% off bet credit on your first depos it for 250 bucks bet online the game starts here all right uh oh kyp’s Gone kyp’s Gone what will we do it’s gonna be tough this is not gonna be an easy podcast to do um shout out to uh my guy Jeff Morton oh well there’s Cedric uh shout out to my guy Jeff Morton who I see in the comments says I just wanted to say good luck counting on you I love that movie that is a great movie uh the red zone is for loading and unloading there is no stopping in the white zone um that is a great movie okay the Denver Nuggets are and they were always going to be in a really tough position this off season made tougher I think by some of the decision decisions that they made early on um sorry still reading the comments [Music] um look the Nuggets do not have kentavius calwell Pope anymore kentavius calwell Pope is a member of the Orlando Magic or at least he will be when the moratorium ends and he signed a three-year 66 or he’s going to sign a threeyear 66 million deal with the Orlando Magic uh who Grace should be very happy with um shout out to Grace in the comments not necessarily super excited because I know that Grace also supports Denver of course but this is a tough moment in time for the nuggets and it’s something that I have been trying to explain to the the audience for a long time if you’ve been in this podcast if you’ve been listening to me for the last month you will know that I’ve been trying to prepare everybody about the difficulties of the second apron why it’s a problem that Denver goes over this thing what the ramifications are the freezing of the draft picks the limiting of the roster flexibility things like that nobody really wanted to listen because one it was new it was a new thing not everybody’s used to what this thing was going to look like but two I think everybody just thought that Denver would try to retain their Championship core and they would try to retain the group that won the 2023 title and in backtack years Denver’s now lost Bruce Brown and now they’ve lost kcp in different situations but losing them all the same in back-to-back years is not super exciting but the nuggets have now lost kcp and everybody’s asking the question well why didn’t they just pay the three years $66 million it’s with a player option 22 million a year Ryan you were talking about him getting 25 million a year and I was and that was the the rumored number that was going around he is getting I think what is a reasonably Fair contract and I know a lot of people are going to like because some of the numbers that are being thrown out there people are going to wonder okay yeah 20 million is probably the going rate why didn’t you just play pay 22 million and I think that’s a fair point honestly I do I think the way that Denver’s roster is constructed nikolic is making over 50 million this year Jamal Murray’s on the last year of a contract that pays him I think I want to say 36 million I 38 million in that General range next year he’ll be paid 46 million he’s getting even pricier by the end of his contract will be up in like the 50s Michael Porter was being paid 35 38 40 million over the course of these next three years and Aaron Gordon’s also being paid 23 million I think those are large numbers and they add up really quickly and it’s what has really prevented Denver from adding to the fringes of their roster with free agents with trades with exceptions things like that last year they decided to just retain Reggie Jackson rightly or wrongly actually definitely wrongly because they had to pay three second round picks to trade him sure um they also retained zek Nagi last off season in a move that they did not need to do and we’ll talk about that in a little bit but it’s those moves and the contracts that were already offered by Tim Connelly who gave out a bunch of money to make sure to retain this core together and keep them together for a long time and the idea of this roster was always that it was going to be a core four think about it like they built the roster back in 2021 when they traded for Aaron Gordon traded a couple first a first round pick Gary Harris RJ Hampton to complete the vision or not not not to complete it but like to find the perfect accentuation of what they were trying to do and you had those four guys Murray Gordon Porter jic that was always the plan and then Denver realized hey we got to retool our roster and kind of figure out how we’re going to get around those guys like what is you’ve got the main core who are the pieces that you can add that make the most sense and it was perimeter defense it was versatility it was toughness it was competitiveness it was veteran Savvy those were the traits and so Denver then adds kcp in a trade they added Christian Brown and pton Watson in the draft and they added Bruce in free agency those moves proved excellent they were great they’re all kind of in the same vein and you still have Christian Brown and pton Watson and I think the vision with Calvin Booth is that over the course of these next couple years pton Watson Christian Brown those guys are gonna step right into the roles that pton wats or that KP and Bruce Brown have left over but it is kind of a Slow Burn it’s not necessarily an immediate thing and so you kind of circle back to where kcp is getting now the second apron prevented Denver from doing the contract that kcp just signed but also like the natural circle of life is coming up for Denver where they can’t just pay everybody there are going to have to be choices the Nuggets don’t have an unlimited budget the tax rules something that I haven’t really talked about Denver’s going to be in the repeater tax this year they’re one of four teams I think that will be there and it is going to be an extremely pricey roster if they were to retain kcp if they were to add to this team if they like just kept everything together they were going to pay multiple hundreds of millions of dollars and I think think they decided rightly or wrongly that the best thing for the future of the team is to not pay kcp it’s to let Christian Brown pton Watson even Julian Str guys of that nature develop into roles that can continue the development of the team going forward that can continue progressing where those guys even if they aren’t what they need to be right now that by the end of 2025 they will be ready to fill these roles that everybody’s hoping for them too now people are not going to like that justification that’s not super exciting for people but it is understandable at least if you try to look at it through Calvin Boo’s perspective kcp averaged 10 points two assists and two rebounds in 2023 24 yes’s impact goes beyond that there’s no doubt about it will the Nuggets Miss kcp yes is the Nuggets Championship window closed because they’re missing kcp no I’ve been very adamant about this from the beginning Denver can be in contention and maybe even be the favorite in the Western Conference even without cavius calwell Pope going forward I firmly believe that Christian Brown is a very good basketball player he is not kcp right now that’s that’s a fact he’s probably not as good as kcp but I don’t think that he’s as far off as so many people seem to think and I think that this is around the time where you trust him to evolve into a spot starter fifth starter kind of role I’ll explain that a little bit more in the second segment because I I want to expand on the Christian brown stuff because I think he’s been getting a bad rap especially by nuggets fans but also like just nationally like nobody nobody really believes in Him nobody really does are the Nuggets a worst team at the current moment yes there’s no doubt about it and I think that this is an unfortunate place where Denver is 2023 to 2024 Championship the last year they got worse nobody really wanted to admit it they never replaced Bruce Brown they tried to kind of piece him together but they never replaced him and Christian Brown who was supposed to be like the eighth or ninth man in the championship year he then became the sixth or seventh man this last year now he’s going to become the fifth man the fifth starter this upcoming year and what Denver has done to kind of fill in those gaps behind him hasn’t been great all they’ve really done is sign and add younger players and maybe Reggie Jackson in place now they’re going to need to replace ready Jackson and don’t don’t even get me started on that like there are ways that they can do it obviously but the process was horrible in my opinion all of this to say like the plan for Denver is about the young guys developing into the players that kcp was and Bruce Brown was and Jeff Green was that’s the plan that’s the expectation whether they can or not remains to be seen and there are still gaps even if all of the young players or a certain number of young players continues to develop pretty well Denver’s still probably a worse team and I think they still have work to do like significant work because if they just resign a couple of the Vets maybe they add a a point guard or a center that can play if that’s all they do then I’m going to sit here and say that the Nuggets will not win a championship in 2025 they just will not have enough Talent sorry like that’s just that’s what’s going to happen and that’s unfortunate it’s really really unfortunate now they might be set up later going forward but you missed out on a championship this year how many years of joic being the best player in the world do you really have that’s a tough pill to swallow if you’re a nuggets fan and this idea of Denver continuing to get younger and not be as ready in the current moment I understand why he’s trying to do it Calvin Booth I don’t believe in it it’s why I wrote about it I wrote about it yesterday talked about kcp probably going to Orlando talked about how Denver’s probably going to just resign most of their guys maybe they’ll add one or two vets that are not on the team but they’re not going to make any significant upgrades and they’re going to get slightly worse than they were last year with the hope that the current young guys get better and figure it out that is not the way to win a championship especially because Denver’s traded all of their draft picks to do it seems dumb then again I’m podcasting 7even hours after free agency has opened we do not know the full story yet of what’s going to happen I don’t want to write the obituary before it’s ultimately happened I just tend to think that this is the direction that the nuggets are going and that is not encouraging for nuggets fans kcp is gone the Nuggets will need to replace them there are things that they could do from a production standpoint but his intangibles his clutchness his ability to adjust to different things on the Fly that is not something that they are going to get immediately from Christian Brown he’s gonna have to figure it out or they’re going to have to add somebody else because this is a gap on their roster and in their starting lineup that is not so easily filled so we will see we will see what they do let’s take a break when we come back we’re going to talk more about Christian Brown I want to give him the benefit of the doubt while also talking about my real concern which is the fact that Denver’s bench is like really bad we’ll be right back on pickaxe and Roll But first I want to tell everybody about number 38 the affiliate for Mile High Sports Denver stiffs anytime you want to go see a watch party anytime you hear an 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think that he presents some advantages especially a strength advantage over kcp but there’s some level of aggressiveness veteran Savvy and Elite hands from kcp that are going to be really really tough for Christian Brown to replicate by himself like that’s a tough assignment for anybody um but I also think that will be better as the starting shooting guard than a lot of people expect I expect that the Murray Brown Porter Gordon joic lineup will have about the same net rating if not better than the starters previously I think it’ll be about the same I think it’ll be in that plus 10 to plus 15 range like it’s been on each of the last two years it’s a great lineup and a little dirty secret for everybody the fifth starter in Denver next to Murray Porter Gordon y yic it is one of the easiest situations to be impactful in the entire NBA because Murray’s carrying a lot of the dribbling capacity joic is going to be creating for everybody Porter spaces the floor like crazy Aaron Gordon connects everything together if you are the fifth starter your job is pretty simple it’s pretty narrow you don’t have to do that much all you got to do is space when you’re supposed to cut when you’re supposed to defend like hell and run the floor what does Christian Brown do well does well all those things like I think he’s pretty solid in all of those categories I’ve seen his Corner threo percentage going around from people yes he will have to improve from the corners he shot above 42% from three above the break like that’s really good that is a really really good number and it’s not on low volume he’s taking some impressive threes most of them are open and there are some things that he’s gonna have to tighten up on like his he’s actually going to be pretty like it’s going to be a tougher job to do this and he’s going to have more pressure on him than he would before but I do think that there are some advantages that he’s actually going to have he’s gonna have to shoot the ball like I said he’s gonna like he is better as a passer and he sees the floor really really well and he’s also a physical driver which is something that kcp is not kcp sometimes struggles to finish in the lane he does pull up from Two and that’s great but secretly the Nuggets didn’t need more pull-up jump Shooters they need guys who can get to the rim they need guys who can get to the paint and Christian Brown’s actually athletic enough that in theory he can do that a little bit he’s 66 67 he’s strong what does joic need when he wants Cutters you want big targets you want athletic guys Christian Brown should feast in situations like that he’ll also be a very willing screener somebody who can dive to the Rim his creativity is going to need to improve there’s no doubt about that but I am okay with the idea of Christian Brown starting a shooting guard because here’s the thing like I said Denver is supposed to be built around four guys they’re not supposed to be built around a starting five there’s not enough money for that to happen ultimately Denver’s really built around two guys joic and Murray everything else is window dressing everybody else like has their own impact there’s no doubt about that but it’s all about facilitating how yokich and Murray do their thing Christian Brown I think will help Jamal Murray will he be the best possible option no of course not but I do think that this has been overstated Denver starting lineup is going to kill people just like it did before they’ll need to adjust and maybe it won’t kill people as much but it’s still going to be really really really good so I am not stressed about that aspect of this the real question for me the real thing that I am worried about what the hell does the bench look like what the hell does the bench actually do um how is that really handle things because there’s not a lot of talent there especially when you move up Christian into the starting lineup who takes his role who’s the sixth man who’s the guy that’s going to drive offense and I’m not sure that guy’s on the roster if I’m being honest because here are the players the seven bench players that are currently on the roster Denver has 12 guys the five starters and then these seven bench guys Jaylen picket Julian Str Payton Watson donon Holmes Zeke Nagi Hunter Tyson DeAndre Jordan that’s not good that’s not a good bench it’s just straight up not there are some young guys that have potential there’s no doubt about it pton Watson showed that he can be more than what he was like he he can do stuff there’s no doubt about it Don Holmes I’m very high on he’s still a rookie Julian St I’m not sure how high I am on Julian St if I’m being honest and then Jaylen picket seems to be the the guy for some people the not guy for some other people I don’t really believe in him being the primary backup point guard heading into next season I think that that would be a problem and so how many of those guys by the way of the seven that I named behind Christian Brown played for Denver in the playoffs last year the answer is zero zero of them played in the playoffs and that seems problematic there are going to be growth spurts there are going to be options like Denver can build some lineups that are going to be successful they’re also going to need to stagger some starters because I think like the starters are going to need to help Drive some offense as well Denver could also make some more additions in free agency they could make some more additions And Trades there are some names that are floating out there names that I think are pretty close to getting done um that will probably be helpful in that regard in terms of driving offense um and Denver has the flexibility to do that but I think about the lineups that Denver can put out there right now I think about the starters with Christian Brown that to me is a great lineup it’s not a it’s not a good lineup it is a great lineup still I think about how yic whenever he plays with anybody has been really freaking good and I think about how Murray despite the fact that it wasn’t his best year can definitely do some things with the bench unit when he’s staggering and now he’ll have donon Holmes as a potential pick and pop pick and roll man and that is exciting to me there’s a lot of different pieces that they can add that I think will be good um there are some things that are happening right now um I don’t know if anything has hit the public yet but there are some things that are happening and I’ll talk a little bit about it on here um but look for me the goals for Denver going forward for the rest of this offseason if you believe that Christian Brown is going to be your starting shooting guard then great that’s fine I’m okay with that because I think that he is going to be um like he’s going to be solid in that spot and like I said fifth starter is fifth starter but what Denver has really missed out on and why I didn’t like the Reggie Jackson trade that they made was that they have so limited their flexibility on trades now that I just I didn’t get it I didn’t understand it why Denver traded Reggie Jackson along with three second round picks for nothing is beyond me like they could absolutely have used him as matching salary in a trade for a larger contract I firmly believe that now maybe they canvas the league and we’re like we we don’t like the players that we could get back in that situation or we don’t want to pick up a first like use the last first round pick that we own in 2031 um fortunately Denver will now not have their their first round pick Frozen in 2032 so they will technically be able to make some moves although they’ll probably still just move the 2031 first round pick if they have to but they got to save that for the right move and it might not be this one I understand that Denver I think is still trying to move Zeke I think they’re still trying to do some other things on the free agent Market tell you what let’s take one more break when we come back we are going to I’ll sort of opine on that Reggie move as well there’s so many other things that I think are are very frustrating about that but let’s take another break when we come back we are going to chat about other free agents and trade options that the Nuggets could still be throwing out there to try to add to this bench that needs some help we we’ll be right back on pickax and roll hey what’s up it’s to Huff I love to have fun so tune in to my podcast to Huff uncensored I give on filter takes on Denver Sports crazy news from around the world plus you never know which one of my characters is going to swing by well I hope one of them’s your mother oh conary mama is always here for you what in the blue heck is going on here so subscribe and get ready to laugh to the Huff uncensored anywhere you find podcast follow me on social media at De Huff podcast all right final segment pickax and roll thank you so much for tuning into the show hit the like button hit the Subscribe button um I’m tired like this has been a it’s been a long day already and I am very interested in whether something happens tonight or if there’s anything of that nature um man yeah there was there was a report that came out I think from Tony Jones of the athletic that the Nuggets tried to match the number for kcp uh like they’re they’re they’re trying to get close to that number and they thought okay here we’ll we’ll throw this out there to see if he wants to stay and then he left anyway I’m I’m a little bit iffy on that I do not necessarily think that that is actually what happened I think that that was more of a a token offer of like hey if you guess if you want to stay for this then that’s fine I don’t really think that they actually tried to retain him so take of that what you will okay other free agents who can Denver get who can they add that could actually help well first of all they’ve got three roster spots remaining 12 players I’ve done the financials if you’re looking for some information on on what Denver has to spend what they have at their capacity Denver currently has about 173 million committed to 12 12 players which means that they are about 15.9 million under the super tax apron the second apron what that means is that they have just under 16 million to spend on three roster spots and they can do it in a few different ways one of them is they I get yes could potentially flip around that uh that Reggie Jackson deal try to open it up a little bit more and maybe they could take in somebody that has uh like about four or five million contract there are some names that make sense on that regard most notably Russell Westbrook Russell Westbrook uh has been very much connected to the Nuggets over the course of this Pro process he is a player who has shown interest in the nuggets as well there’s mutual interest between him uh between niika yic and him the team is trying to find a way to add him I think whether they can or not remains to be seen whether they can make the right move or not remains to be seen but I do think that that is something that I I would look out for for sure um and that’s one option I talked about bench creators guys that could really help Drive some offense with the second unit that would be a good option I think it would be better than a lot of people give it credit for because what do the Nuggets need they need somebody who can create for everybody else they need somebody who can kind of maintain that responsibility that finds players Russell Westbrook for all of the uh criticisms of him he gets into the paint and he creates for other people there is a lot to like there for as Mercurial and as like not awesome as like some of the personality fits are but hey if jic thinks it’s good who am I to judge um there are some other players that they could try to get V vasam meic of Charlotte is one that has been rumored that was thrown out by Jake fiser I think think that if they can get Russ they probably wouldn’t want meich I believe that Russ is a better player and more likely to impact the playoffs in a positive way from a bench position than vasam meic is and that’s fine like look Denver doesn’t have a lot of resources that they can throw out there but they also have the taxpayer mid-level exception and they could technically use that to trade for Russell Westbrook that’s a new rule that was plugged in to the CBA this year I don’t think that they should do that I think that they should try to separate those two things if they can which means trying to fold Russell Westbrook into a three- team trade with the Clippers and the Hornets whether they can or not remains to be seen uh but it is seen that the Clippers are trying to find a new home for Russell Westbrook so I don’t know why that wouldn’t be acceptable for a team like the Clippers um I think that Denver should be trying to use that taxpayer m not to use on Russ but to try to add another veteran free agent that could be a big man that could be a guard who you think could actually be a spot starter in place of Christian Brown guys that I’ve thrown out there are DeAnthony Melton Chris Dunn Dylon Wright sounds like Nicholas Batum is not going to start or he’s not going to returned to the Philadelphia 76ers so if he is interested in coming to Denver that’s a name that I would throw out there and also Kelly UB though I don’t think that he’s in the price range that to me seems like it would be good seems like go be like any of those names I think would add to Denver um Eric Gordon is a name that was also thrown out I’m not sure that he would actually help Denver he does space the floor that is something that Denver needs for sure they need somebody who can shoot Russell Westbrook for all the good things that he can do he not really a shooter although he has improved especially as a spot-up guy over the course of these past few years so who knows maybe there’s something there um clay to the Nuggets any opinion Ryan it’s not happening like he’s going to earn too much money Denver can’t open up the non-t taxpayer ml because Michael Porter makes as much money as he does because niic Aaron Gordon Jamal Murray make as much money as they do and if Mike was making a little bit less money maybe this would be a possibility the fact is is that they do not have the room to do that they can’t so I I wouldn’t really go into this with High Hopes Clay is not going to be a nugget more than likely he’s going to be a Laker or a member of the Philadelphia 76ers somehow it feels like Philly’s adding everybody they’re going to get Paul George too like that’s going to happen uh which makes them dangerous they’ve they’ve already added some names they added Andre Drummond they added Eric Gordon the afor mentioned lots of uh lots of interesting stuff there um who else dariio Arch is a name that I’ve heard connected to Denver uh he would be an interesting veteran big to kind of add into mix right now Denver has joic DeAndre Jordan Don Holmes and zek Nagi I think they’re trying to trade zek Nagi I don’t know if they’re gonna be able to um Ryan can we get Luca and Giannis no I don’t think we can um that would be it would be awesome it would be crazy um maybe they could just throw in DeAndre Jordan in a second rounder oh wait no they don’t have any more second rounders um God H sarich would be fine he’d be okay there are some other veteran centers like Daniel Ty was a name that I think was connected to Denver for a little bit although I don’t know if he’s reasonable at all I’m just gonna go looking through some of the free agent lists here Gordon Hayward and Jay Crowder are a couple of names that I think could be of interest I do think that vaco chanar has the inside track to one of those spots so I mentioned three roster spots remaining for Denver it’s probably two and if Russell Westbrook takes one of those then Denver’s got their point guards um they have some wings they’ve got some forwards they’ve got some bigs not sure what their 15th roster spot would be in that case but I do think it’s probably fair to say that it’s probably not going to be great um I don’t think that DeAnthony Melton would be affordable for Denver that’s the one that I would like to get if I were the Nuggets if Denver could get Russell Westbrook and dlan Wright that would be interesting it would probably block a lot of players from playing from being honest like there’s no way that Jaylen pick would ever play and so I don’t think that Calvin boo would be willing to do that um same thing with somebody like Julian Str who I don’t necessarily think has this unbelievable future with the nuggets but he’s got to play in order to really figure that out so going to be tough going to be tough like the Nuggets earn between a rock and a hard place there’s no doubt about that um and their flexibility is just not very high just looking at the list of players that are actually out there that are available everything’s kind of being held up right now by the Paul George stuff like I’m not sure if any like news has broken since I started of this podcast which is insane like how many like I’m looking at my phone right now trying to figure out has there been anything at all like can anybody tell me has there been anything since I’ve gone live like from a transaction standpoint because I don’t think that there has been which is so abnormal when in comparison to previous Seasons um yeah Justin holiday probably not back although he could be back like it would be interesting if they if they retain Justin holiday and we’re like yeah you know Michael Malone he thinks that Justin’s actually the right guy for the job for the starter uh how funny would that be ah I know everybody’s panicking oh I guess plumble to the Suns was one although I think that happened before I went live if I’m not mistaken Fernando asks Ryan why the heck is booth so committed to pick it out of all the picks I just don’t get it it’s a good question like there was a promise that he made to pick it on draft night back in 2023 he really believes in his talent he really believes in his skill set which is his ability to see the floor his ability to navigate in the middle of the paint to then create for other people and maybe there’s something that piika can do this year maybe there is something something it wouldn’t be crazy um yeah wouldn’t wouldn’t surprise me at all but I just don’t think that it is the right bet to make for a championship team like picket should be getting an opportunity to develop with a young team with a team where he can really start setting the table for young prospects players that can really uh develop going forward not necessarily with this group so I don’t know like we’re gonna find out uh Ryan can you keep the live feed going we like the chat ask me questions then let’s uh let’s go for the next 18 minutes I will go for an hour on this particular episode because hey we’ve got nearly 200 people in here so let’s uh let’s hang out ask me questions ask me questions about the Nuggets about free agency about other teams like we could talk about other teams too um from Todd Houston how much longer is Calvin’s contract hopefully this will be his last season as our GM no I can’t say that I I I will not say that publicly sorry I do know but I will not say um B dunks asks you playing the Elden ring DLC you know I’m one of the people that quit Elden ring too early because um like because it was too hard initially but there were so many other games that were coming out right at that time especially during the pandemic I was like okay I’ve got so much other content that I could get to and I just never got back around to it so I should like go back and finish the main game and then I should go play the DLC because eldering it’s a beautiful game like just absolutely absolutely would be great um why don’t you have a super chat feature uh that is up to my bosses it’s not up to me if it were up to me I would have a super chat feature I’ll ask tomorrow I guess see if I could get it get it going because I would like to get super chats that would be cool um Jake Shapiro shout out Jake says give me your rough top four in the west as of today okay that’s a great question let me go take a look at the basketball reference page and let’s look at the West okay Denver OKC Minnesota were the top three this last year Dallas was five um who was four that was the Clippers Clippers were four suns were six Warriors Lakers were seven and then the Pelicans were eight I like what the Mavericks are going to do which is sign Klay Thompson like I think that they are the inside track team to try to really get to that that would be great for them not necessarily great for the Nuggets um I think that they have a really great chance there I think OKC is clearly the top team they are clear the team that has the most opportunity for growth they met with Isaiah hartenstein when free agency started if they did get him and they added hartenstein basically to Chad holgren Jaylen Williams sh Gil just Alexander traded for Alex Caruso already like that team is good um they could win 60 games I think that they are the inside track team for the top of the West with the wolves they’re going to lose some of their depth a little bit Rob Dillingham will play a little bit that was a good interesting move by them hopefully he’s good enough to make it work to make it reasonable right now I think it would be Dallas OKC Denver and maybe New Orleans Minnesota and New Orleans are four and five for me Clippers are obviously dropping Lakers haven’t done anything to deserve any respect um The Warriors are dropping Sacramento hasn’t really done anything significant I think that yeah I think I would maybe Houston is a team that would be surprising to people like they’ve got so much young talent that just continues to grow like I could see them surprising people and then Memphis is another team although it looks like are they going to start Zack Edy like that seems odd um I would not necessarily want to bet on that but New Orleans is interesting because I think if they do get Wendell Carter Jr which it sounds like they’re gonna try oh that’s only gonna happen if hartenstein goes to the Orlando Magic by the way um New Orleans is also trying to go get Jared Allen for Brandon Ingram so make of that what you will lots of interesting things happening in the NBA right now um okay Cedric says check my question on Michael Porter Jr I’m looking Cedric sorry I think I missed oh I was right above Jakes how bad is it that mpj’s contract might lead us to not being able to bring back AG or any future solid starters I will say this right now I think that Aaron Gordon agrees to an extension with the Nuggets this off season I think that there’s been a lot of panic obviously about everything given that you just lost kcp you lost Bruce Brown previously are you gonna lose Aaron Gordon next if I had to give a prediction I think that Aaron Gordon agrees to an extension prior to the start of next season that would be my guess now that’s not really sourced like some of the other stuff but it’s just sort of understanding where Denver’s at I think that they need to extend him if only just to get a win for Calvin Booth here because he needs a win absolutely needs a win Samuel Kart asks any chance that we could get a guy like bonovich maybe somehow get a Norman pal in the rust trade no clue how the salary [ __ ] Works me and neither Brother I’m doing my best um there is a way it was a very obscure way that involves turning Orlando so um it involves turning Orlando signing kcp into a sign in trade it would have to be a three team sign and trade and what that would basically look like is let’s say it’s bogdanovich Denver would have to send assets to Atlanta maybe they could get Orlando to reroute something to Orlando or to Atlanta probably not anything crazy it would probably just be hey can you please open the this up to a three team Sig and trade they may say no Orlando like it would have to be like up to their just discretion so maybe Denver has to incentivize them even more to do it but do I think that they could get bogdanovich yes um with the compensation stuff they will be able to it’s basically like combining kcps number of 14.7 million from this past season to Zeke nagi’s 8.8 million they could get somebody worth up to about 21 million that would afford bogdanovich that would afford Norman Powell there is a way for it to work I just don’t think it’s the plan I don’t think that that is what they’re going to try to do they are trying to get creative I think some of the proposals that they’re working on are even bigger than that like potentially involving Mike but I don’t think that what they’re actually going to do is at somebody that starts in front of Christian Brown like just because I I don’t think that that’s what what’s likely to happen now I could be wrong maybe I do end up being wrong we’ll see Luca asks Ryan what is the likelihood we trade mpj to Atlanta I’m sure we would love to link up with Trey young again Atlanta’s still in flux right now they just traded deante they drafted Zack ruche I don’t even know if they’re going to keep Trey like I that is still in flux I think bonovich is a good Target from them but I’m not sure that it’s for mpj and for that large of a salary that would be my guess although I have proposed the idea of mpj for bogdanovich and DeAndre Hunter if Denver could do that I think that makes a lot of sense in this case because they’ve already lost kcp but I don’t think that that’s the direction they’re going either um let me scroll let me scroll let me scroll Ronnie asks Ryan B how much is a coach usually involved in these Personnel decisions how much do you think Malone is getting involved it’s a great question I think that he certainly wasn’t involved in the uh Reggie Jackson salary dump that was not something that he was super Steed about um that doesn’t seem like a a Michael Malone decision I will say a player that was his sixth man and started every game that Jamal Murray missed that he played every single minute that he could over Jaylen piot probably not his decision there are certain things that he wants to decide that he wants to have some input on ultimately it is Calvin Booth’s decision unless ownership decides hey we’re going to kind of supersede that but for the most part Calvin has the Reigns on this and it’s up to him it’s his prerogative he’s going to be the guy that gets the final say there are some people that have voices and they have opinions and if those opinions are strong enough then maybe they kind of take the the onus of that decision on but for Malone like one of the decisions that he made was trying to go get faku Kazo that was his decision not a good one in my opinion it like I understand why he did it it’s the TJ McConnell in him it’s the shorter New York point guard in him who loves The Feisty guy but there’s a reason why he’s the coach why Calvin is the GM why those guys butt heads and why Denver won a championship it’s because Calvin made great additions some that Mike even had Michael had actual ownership not not ownership but like input on in terms of what the Nuggets needed and Calvin got those guys Michael played those guys and Kumbaya and now kcp is gone now Bruce Brown’s gone Jeff Green’s gone I don’t think it’s as Kumbaya there’s a lot of pressure there’s a lot of pressure right now it’s not great Fernando asks who’s having the better offseason the Broncos or the Nuggets definitely the Broncos anytime you draft a rookie quarterback in the first round you’re having a better off season uh in than when you lose a key member of your championship team I I don’t know I love the donon Holmes Edition I think that he’s going to be really good and saw him a video of him working out today shooting jumpers like his stroke is really good like he he has a great shooting touch and I think he will be very helpful for the nuggets as soon as next year but I always am like a little bit a little bit hesitant there uh to just immediately put in a rookie um let’s see here are some other questions seeing a lot of comments seeing a lot of comments not as many questions questions um here’s a question Ryan just curious what you have done an mbti test is that like a personality test what is that I actually don’t know what that means um should I have put this up on the screen is this inappropriate like I I actually don’t know um NBT what is that okay now now Ryan’s about to look this up mbti personality test oh it’s the 16 person personalities okay um I have done it before I used to be ESFJ I went to ENFP and I am now an introvert I am now more of an I think infp I think is my uh personality at this point but I haven’t taken it recently it’s been years and obviously personalities really evolve uh so trying to uh I maybe I should take it maybe I’ll do that in the offseason I’ll make swipa do it too unless he’s already done it um it’s a good question Ethan asks Ryan is Gary Harris an option um maybe maybe I don’t know probably not like I think the Gary Harris ship has sailed I don’t think that there’s much of a connection between him and Denver at this point like Justin holiday did exactly what I think everybody would hope Gary Harris would do and he did it pretty well for the Nuggets this last year so I think Gary’s still in that realm where he wants to actually make some money he would make the minimum here maybe he would make the not the taxpayer M instead but I kind of don’t really see it although I mean Murray Harris Porter Gordon yic sounds like a pretty good lineup I I could I could justify it I could see it um non-nba Channel asks are you worried about our draft pick situation not any flexibility at all right now of course I’m worried about it I’ve talked about this before this is a horrible situation that the nuggets are in they have exactly Uno one un first round pick for the next seven years that is the 2031 first round actually okay let me let me back up one tradable asset the 2031 first round pick the Nuggets own their 2026 2028 and 2030 first round picks they are not tradable because of the steppan rule which means you cannot trade picks in back-to-back years the nuggets have sent out their 2025 2027 and 2029 first round picks in deals that I certainly agreed with the first one to get Aaron Gordon didn’t necessarily agree with the the final too which were salary dumping jich green and then turning the 2029 first into Julian Strather and Jaylen pick um looks better yeah looking for more looking for more questions so I should have been scrolling a little bit sooner um Tim asks what would you be happy with in free agency team after all said and done it’s a good question because I’m a pretty pessimistic person in general I and like everybody knows that you follow me you you you listen to me talk you understand I think that DeAnthony Melton is the perfect addition for what the Nuggets need he’s been underrated for a long time he got injured this last year but during that year and especially the year prior with Philly he was the starter for them and freaking killed it like he was really really good and he’s suddenly kind of gone under the radar because he got injured during the second half of the year and then he didn’t really make an impact in the playoffs because they figured out about Kelly UB they added Kyle Lowry Nick Batum was there Tobias Harris was there it just hard for him to necessarily fit in too much but for IT team like the Nuggets that has 64 6’5 Jamaal Murray I can see DeAnthony Melton who’s like 63 being a great on ball Defender for Denver in their starting lineup now it’s not going to happen because he’s probably GNA make more money than the taxpayer mle but if they could find a way to sign and trade for him or to do something of that nature I’d be down I’d be down if I were Denver I think that he could start I think he could be like about as good of a handcuff for Christian Brown as you could possibly ask for and then using the other resources that they have trading zek Nagi for uh a a player that fits a little bit better trading and signing some middle uh minimum contracts that are actually like makes sense um but yeah that that would be my goal fire Denver I don’t think it’s going to happen my ideal dream scenario involved trading zek Nagi and Reggie Jackson together but they can’t do that because they traded Reggie Jackson along with three F three second round picks pretty interesting um okay final question here Jack Foley asks what would you say is the percentage that Mike has traded this offseason I would say low just because he doesn’t have a lot of value and because the players that Denver could trade for they’ve already kind of discussed they’ve already kind of figured out like are they going to be good are they going to be bad who knows but I will say that like they have considered the idea people heard about the Paul George rumor like Clippers kind of bed at that whether they should have bed at that or not remains to be seen because Paul George is leaving in free agency um but I think the Denver open to the idea of trading Mike I think that they understand that the second apron has made it really difficult to keep three max contracts or three big contracts on their roster they’ll do that for Aaron Gordon because Gordon is very important to the identity of the team Porter helps them he is part of the identity as well but I think if I had to pick one or the other I’d probably pick Gordan because of how important he is on both sides of the ball whereas Porter I think is obviously more offensively leaning so everybody knows that in the uh in the NBA everybody also knows that Michael’s back is still a red flag so any team that would trade for him has to understand that that like they would want to potentially have him for not just this contract but if it works out three four five more years beyond that that would be their goal I think everybody kind of thinks the m is not going to last that long at a high level and so that’s one of the reasons why it’s really difficult to trade for him so look if a team decides that they think it’s a good bet then great that’ll be awesome I’ve already talked about the Zack LaVine Edition I think he’d be interesting gets you a little bit more pop gets you a little bit more creation something that Denver could use could I see Denver succeeding with a Jamal Murray Zack LaVine Payton Watson Aaron Gordon niol leage lineup yeah is that something that Denver’s really considering right now no Calvin Booth is a fan of Michael border he’s not going to trade him for anything less than a star I don’t think and your view of Zack LaVine I think sort of shapes whether you think that deal makes sense okay folks I think that is going to do it I am curious as to how Denver continues to evolve from here this has been really tough for nuggets fans I think but I want to reiterate one thing before we get out of here the Nuggets can win a title absolutely they can win a title they can have the best odds in the western conference heading into next year it is not that hard they’ve got to make one or two additions here and then Christian Brown has to play better Payton Watson has to play better Jamal Murray has to play better the good news is that I think all those things are well within the possibility I don’t see any reason why they can’t do that it’s not going to be easy and it never was going to be as easy as It ultimately was in 2023 the entire NBA is better the western conference is loads better Denver got not lucky but like they peaked at the right time for sure because now it’s going to be really interesting to see where Denver goes I’m curious to see what they do but ultimately nikic plays like the best player in the world Jamal Murray plays like an All-Star and if the rest of the team fills their roles the Nuggets can still win a championship I firmly believe that it just gets a little bit more difficult that is going to do for this episode of pickaxe and roll brought you by our good friends over at number 38 in beted online thank you so much for tuning to the show appreciate all the love and support on the podcast folks hit that like button hit that subscribe button on the way out I will talk to you guys very soon

On the latest episode of Pickaxe and Roll, Ryan Blackburn reacts to the news that Kentavious Caldwell-Pope is signing a 3-year, $66 million deal with the Orlando Magic. The Denver Nuggets lose their starting shooting guard and will look to replace him organically, headlined by the ascension of Christian Braun into the starting lineup. Are the Nuggets making the right decision? Is Braun ready for the job? Why did KCP leave in the first place? Ryan discusses all of that, as well as what’s next for the Nuggets in free agency.

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