Nuggets Reality In 2024-25

Nuggets Reality In 2024-25

I go away for a weekend and the whole place burns down we’re going to talk about the second apron we’re going to talk about why kcp is gone we’re going to try and explain what’s happening whether we like it or not and I’m going to try and give you some optimism for where this team goes from here this is locked on nuggets you are locked on nuggets your daily Denver Nuggets podcast part of the lock da podcast Network your team every day welcome to lockon nuggets your daily de nuggets podcast part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day thanks for joining us and making us part of your day being with us Monday through Friday we appreciate you guys supporting the show if you can head on over to youtube.com lockon nuggets give us a like And subscribe there if you’re listening on the podcast hey open up that app and give us a festar review let us know that you appreciate the show because we try so hard to give you guys great content all week long here on lock on nuggets Today’s Show is swipe and grive I got I’m Matt Moore the senior NBA writer for the Action Network I’m joined by swipa he’s Swip cam on Twitter and on YouTube you can catch his work at Bleacher Report you can catch his work all over the Internet just follow him on Twitter at Swip aam no I will not use x it’s still GNA be Twitter to me until the day I die you can find them on YouTube as well we’re going to talk about all things nuggets today we’re going to talk about I’m going to try and explain my position since it’s been up a rough week on the old twitters uh in terms of where nuggets fans are at and I understand that I’m gonna try and clarify some things and we’re gonna get swipers perspective on it as well I want to let you know today’s show is brought to you by FanDuel make every moment more the playoffs have winded down the NBA but the WNBA is going strong the summer s FanDuel is hooking up all customers with a boost or a bonus daily that’s right there’s something for everyone every day all summer long visit fanduel.com lockon to get started okay okay swiper how you doing my man I’m doing well um I don’t know you know Matt you have uh great we got a frozen mat over here um the the fact that his beard has grown back so quickly already is incredulous and there he goes but yeah man uh this has been a very interesting time I think if you’re a Denver Nuggets fan there’s a lot of different stuff happening right now the CBA trying to figure out what exactly is going on trying to figure out what the Denver Nuggets are doing trying to figure out where do things go from here and I’m not going to lie the timeline Twitter Youtube the comments and all the videos has been very very very very down on where the nuggets are right now and again understandably cavius Carwell Pope he leaves for a threeyear 66 million deal threeyear 66 million deal deal with the Orlando Magic and here comes the man with the beard himself so my personal feelings about this are the CBA is a new process it’s a difficult process to navigate uh the nuggets have the best blur in the world and they have a duty to get better around him but because of the new restriction with the CBA there are some things that are withholding their opportunity to do that maybe in some ways they would have done previously but either way um I personally feel they got to get better there’s some decisions that they have to make there’s some additions they have to make to the roster that will make them overall I understand that they’re limited uh in their cap situation but I mean right now you know going into the year with Jamal Murray and and Jaylen picket uh you know bunch of third year second year rookie contracts on the roster it just it doesn’t seem viable for winning another championship right now it’s very funny to me that as I try and explain these as much like the Nuggets off season I got short circuited right as I started to get started so de Hume says this if not now for the second apron now is the time can we at least start pointing out the specific things in the second apron that are non-negotiable they rarely sign buyouts or trade let’s start right here I would just want to clarify this because I’ve gotten a lot of these comments well they’re just cheap they’re just cheap I have covered this team for 13 years and every time that they have cheapened out which has been a lot I have called them to task for it I have talked about the practice facility I’ve talked about their unwillingness to pay coaches I’ve talked about their unwillingness to upgrade facilities I’ve talked about their unwillingness to pay front office staff I’ve talked about these things over and over and over and over again so I’m not going to sit here and be talked about as if I am a water carrier for the organization but the recurring theme for the Denver Nuggets under crony has been this they will pay for players because they believe that is the premium product and that is all that matters that if you put good players on the floor everything else is secondary and you try and make a buck off of it okay they have been willing to pay for players they’ve paid the luxury tax that’s what they’ve done this is not about that now is the second apron and the repeater tax and element is it a hey by the way we can also get out of the repeater tax yes because nobody wants to pay it but if you wanted a sign of how severe this is the Los Angeles Clippers with Steve Balmer who I believe is like the Paragon of a willingness to spend to compete looked at their situation and Via Ramona shelburn of ESPN today literally looked at the second a and went yeah no we can’t resign Paul George we can’t keep this team together like they’re keeping kawhai Leonard who won’t be there when they need him and James Harden who will probably not be good enough when they need him and they let Paul George walk because of the second apron concern so David wants to know what are the things in the second apron the first apron has some of the restrictions that the second apron does right where you have to take back 100% of the matching salary you can’t trade somebody and then take on more salary than they were making if you’re in these aprons now if you’re like but the first apron is there too sure but if you find yourself in a situation where you have to get there you can at least reach it if you’re not in the second apron if you’re in the second apron on this kcp deal you’re not even gonna be able to get there you can’t you’re like okay they have can’t buy they can’t get buyout guys those guys haven’t come those guys also haven’t come because the Nuggets haven’t needed them this has been my recurring belief is my biggest thing when I looked at this is if things go sideways you do not have options and if everybody’s like if somebody gets hurt they’re screwed anyway that’s not true if Aaron G Gordon suffers an injury God forbid and is out two months and you got to get by two months if you would sign kcp there’s no alternative they don’t have a power forward to put in there I guess Flaco and Zeke I guess they don’t have a realistic option you would be unable to add these players you would be unable to pursue options to improve the team if something changes with the team over the next 13 months where and I’m talking about stuff like agendas chemistry severe injury major changes in life these things happen to every single NBA team and you have to be able to maneuver around them they can’t do that if they’re in the second apron now if you look at all that and you still say I don’t care this was the best starting five in basketball they should have just gone for it and hoped it worked out I’m I’m fine with that but understand what you’re saying don’t say it’s because they’re cheap understand why they did this now if again if you want to say they have too much belief in Christian Brown pton Watson Julian strawther and Holmes I think you’re right I think this front office is too confident in that but that’s the reason that they’re here not because they’re cheap not because they’re not willing to spend but because of those specific factors understand what you’re saying and the realities of it before you enter into the conversation is all I’m asking you have a right to be pissed the de nuggets are worse they’re way worse than they were two years ago way worse and that’s a huge problem Swip is right they got to find some ways to improve and I don’t think that those are out there we’ll talk about some of those but swipa that’s where I’m at on this is at least understand the position that you’re taking and why it’s okay if you say I understand the second that the second apron is super itive I’m willing to take that chance but you need to recognize how screwed you would be if you need to make deals and change the roster after making that decision and how then everyone be like why don’t they have flexibility terrible job by this front office this is the this was the the this is not the conundrum the nuggets are in this is the conundrum every single team is going to be in swiper yeah and I can get that but there’s a comment been made he why did reg get salary dumped uh irrelevant to the second apron so again just two different parts first part is I would say that with all that in mind Matt is that if even if they were going to head in that direction to avoid the second apron because they saw that catastrophic Bill coming on the other end the one the Boston Celtics are going to see a few years from now the other side of that is if that’s the case Calvin Booth adding Reggie Jackson for a twoyear $10 million deal with a player option and then adding Zeke Naim matat to a 4-year $32 million deal makes no sense yeah because if you’re going based upon the youth movement and to also save money so that you don’t get into the first or second apron and you have flexibility then there are some things that need to happen you need to sign players that are true assets Reggie and Zeke do not qualify as that and you also have to have draft picks available to be able to attach to said assets if you do want to upgrade your roster and they didn’t do that because instead of that now again they gave up three seconds for Don Holmes I think that’s the right move for what they’re trying to get in value at a 22 overall pick but to give three second round picks away to get rid of a $5 million contract that’s what I’m saying if they’re going to commit to the youth INF flexibility movement that has to be across the board okay and it might and again they maybe needed some tradable contracts that could definitely be a part of of it but that part right there at least from my my side of thing seems to be slightly mismanaged in terms of the overall goal on the other side I want to talk about some of the other things that led to this which is like largely if you’re going to ask me what the number one thing that led to this situation it’s mpj and that’s not even his fault we’ll talk about why plus we’ll get into some of the Dynamics on why I’m not necessarily stressing about the second rounders we’ll talk about that next here on lockdown nuggets had a good day betting WNBA yesterday I’ve got a Full Slate fired up today there’s so many ways to bet it I love angel Reese for Rookie of the Year it’s probably not going to cash but it’s GNA be one of those like oh look at how close you got kind of bets MVP Market is really great you’ve already got division odds for NBA up if you want to fade your nuggets out of frustration great opportunity to do it the Oklahoma City Thunder who I think have had absolute Dynamite offseason in just about a week man Sam prey’s an absolute monster all this summer FanDuel is hooking up all customers with a boost or bonus daily that’s right there’s something for everyone every day all summer long head on over to fanduel.com lockon and start making the most out of your summer FanDuel official sports betting partner of Major League Baseball we’ll be right back on locked on nuggets back here on lockon nuggets thanks for joining us making us part of your day the original sin was not a sin at the time the original sin was the mpj contract okay and if you want to say like a guy with back issues should not have got the max contract you should have negotiated harder okay I’m willing to listen to that but the problem here is basically that because mpj is a large money contract a fourth fourth large money contract on this team with his history of back issues it makes it very prohibitive like that’s like the original problem here you can honestly build around niola Jamal Aaron pretty well um the issue is really that J makes all of this that much tougher at the same time need to stress this Michael Porter Jr played a huge part in them winning their first and only NBA title like like mpj Had a Bad series versus the wolves and he had a bad series versus the Heat in the finals of these six series that they’ve played with this contending group the last two years mpj’s been good in four of them it’s pretty good okay npj is still a very good player has committed a lot but that problem that contract is really a big issue here and if you really want to say like they needed to be able to upgrade the team I I’m open to that because like one of the things I probably would have looked at as more drastic changes has been like we don’t want to go in the second apron but we got to improve the team which means we got to break up the big four like we have to find a way to move that I would have looked at options I would have looked at every option except trading yic I would have looked at Jamal and I would have looked at Aaron and I definitely would have looked at Jamal very closely before giving him a Max contract that would have been my thought on this the subject but like breaking up that team would have been really heartbreaking and been really tough and that would have been seen as like why did you break up a contending team but you could have broken them into smaller pieces to provide yourself with more flexibility the second rounders thing I’ll just say this I just always kind of feel like you can get them I I just do I think that you can trade zagi for them no but if you really get into a bind and you got to trade one of the young pieces like say you get to a point where you’re like man we got to do something like we’re out of options we got to try pton Watson he looks like he’s got star potential and we don’t have a space for him and we need the assets I don’t I think Calvin Booth would be like Over My Dead Body you’re gonna have to peel that contract out of my hands with a crowbar but if you get to that point you can probably trade him for multiple like an asset and then like second rounders like that’s I feel like you can replenish those things Swip is why I don’t necessarily stress about the second rounders yeah I mean I understand that concept but you still need to have things that you can attach and I think draft picks regardless are always a commodity that’s why the Suns needed them and again the Suns needed them because they didn’t have them because they shifted out majority of their pics so I think in maneuvering it’s always good to have as much flexibility as possible it’s the same thing when you want to liquidate your real Assets in real life you just want to have some things that are movable to assist you in making improvements or buying more property should you try to do so and I think in this estimation I think that the fact that they had to trade those picks with Reggie Jackson’s contract in particular particular given he was the oldest rotation player on the team and it was just $5 million that for me is what’s mostly kind of problematic in all this and so I think some of this is I would say this about mpj I think the mpj contract at the time because of the back injury definitely understand but again the year that he got that contract when he came off of it he was the second best player on the team he went that I think it was a 20 game stretch basically without Jamal where he was averaging like 23 and seven on like 5050 80 splits he was going insane and also had been getting healthier and then obviously he has the back injury literally right after he signs the contract and then he goes into the 2022 2023 year has a great year plays really well plays well majority of the playoffs and then this year he played really well I mean he played 81 games this year he goes in the first round averages 23 points a game basically on like a 69 68 true shooting and he was a part of the reason why they were able to put away the Lakers when Jamal was struggling and then obviously doesn’t have a great series versus The Wolves so I do think that contract has hindered them to a degree but again there are more there are probably options available to them should they try to move off it I don’t know what those are I don’t want to speculate there are probably some options that they do have in front of them but I think that even with all that they be understood there still for me has to be a a conscious philosophical adjustment doesn’t mean to be a wholesale change but adjustment with how they are approaching building this team in in part because if you’re going to say we’re going to put young players on the roster to make sure we’re mitigating cost well those players need to be good Matt those players need to be playable playoff caliber players and you typically typically don’t fight him at 21 29 30 32 37 am I tripping am I tripping up when I when I say that so that’s this look this is why I talked about about moving up in the draft and if want to see like a good example of a team doing that about being like Hey we’re in contending position and everyone thinks this draft sucks why don’t we take a shot here the Minnesota Timberwolves Rob Dillingham like that player that could absolutely whiff they could have afford to whiff there like that’s totally fine with the Nuggets I am kind of of this opinion where it’s like okay go find somebody that’s like higher and then go after that guy uh Fernando says Matt can you explain the picket issue is it just projection or why is there so much importance placed on developing an old second round pick look the front office has its guys the one thing I will tell you is the front office really believes that it has the guys like it more so than almost any executive I’ve talked to this front office believes that Payton Watson Christian Brown by the way ownership is in line with Christian Brown uh um they love Christian Brown Jaylen picket Julian strawther Holmes they genuinely believe in those guys ability to be great NBA players now I I am just this is for years I have battled people on the young guys versus the old guys and it’s really funny to see this now with the fan base being like where are the we need veterans um this is the whole thing is like I I just feel that young players are unpredictable and that there’s a wide range that they can turn out as by 25 26 you know who guys are and you can kind of be like I know what I can get from him I know what I can’t get from him Julian strawther could be incredible next year he could not be an NBA player Jaylen picket could be an absolute Revelation he could not be an NBA player and that variance to me is like now I don’t have a Scouts eye either right like that’s that’s why the front office gets paid what it does and I get paid what I do but like that’s to me is kind of like the relationship here the Zeke extension was signed last October the thing here is the front office positioned itself as this is the plan this is the plan this is the plan and that’s where the tension comes through with the front office and the coaching staff where Zeke didn’t really get an opportunity until Midway through the year and then Zeke played well like Zeke Zeke and vaco were doing pretty well not that was the year before Zeke was doing pretty well like there was those moments of like hey Zeke’s actually like working his way into the rotation and then the Dallas game happened and Nothing Was the Same after the Dallas game Nothing Was the Same and so like that to me is like where this comes out is is the front office feels like we invested in these guys who you will not play and now they have no value for us to even trade because no one thinks that they’re any good because you haven’t played them and from Malone’s end it’s do you want to win a championship or do you want me to play the guys that are worse and putting him in that dilemma is extremely difficult and front offic has always believe that coaches should be able to do both like you should be able to do both we I gave you Nicole yic you should be able to win enough games and develop these guys but for Michael Malone badly every night in the NBA every game feels life or death I don’t think either side’s necessarily wrong on it I’m trying to explain where that comes from and if you want to come down on he should not have believed in Zeke he’s not good he should not believe in picket he’s not good he should not believe in in Strath he’s not good okay I think that that’s totally fair but that’s where you’re that’s where the criticism needs to to start and stay is that kind of assessment and I’m very important on there’s lots of reasons for nuggets to be mad nuggets fans to be mad but we just got to be accurate about it right yeah I mean I again I think you have a strategy you have a thing that you’re trying to accomplish a goal you’re trying to accomplish but I am just not of the mindset that if I’m going to do something I’m going to do it at the highest statistical probability possible so if I’m making the youth movement we’re going to make sure we get the quality assets at the top or near the top of the draft as often as possible even with the Houston Rockets you know you just put a tweet out there Jaylen green alrin shenon Jabari Smith aan Thompson Reed sheeper cam Whitmore they’re loaded and they’re taking chance after chance at the very top of the draft whereas the Nuggets just philosophically are on the other end of that where they’re trying to do the same thing but they’re just saying that well we can just accumulate those young assets at the back of the draft and again Jaylen pick it maybe he does work maybe he doesn’t but I think the variance in what you’re talking about of Ni is 29 years old he wants to win more titles his ability to win a title is going to be tied to jayen piet’s abil ability to become a true backup point guard in year two that’s a lot yep that’s a that’s that’s too much in my estimation which which is why which is why we’re gonna see Russell Westbrook in a nuggets uniform we’ll talk about the upside of that decision uh if it comes to fruition plus we’ll talk a little bit more about I’m going to try and and end this with some optimism for you about not going too far down the Panic road you can go a little ways just not too far we’ll do that next here on lock on nuggets back here on locked on nuggets thanks for joining us my favorite thing swipe is everyone’s got something that they want to harp on like the agendas are what’s really funny and it happens with both nuggets media and it happens and the fans and the fan and like there’s this whole interconnectedness where it’s like no no no it’s Jamal’s fault for not for not being better no no it’s Malone’s fault for not playing the young guys no no it’s a front office like everybody’s got an agenda and I’m I’m sit’s your what’s your agenda Matt what do you think yours is I defend Malone a lot but like I’m not Malone’s guy Malone’s not texting me you know like I don’t have a relationship with with Michael um my my thing is more of like everybody’s got to be on the same page man and pulling together yeah like everybody’s got to be held accountable to each other like and that includes NOA who gassed out in the third quarter of game seven and that was a big reason they blew the 20-point lead Jamal being awful doesn’t change the fact that NOA was on the floor as the best player in the world and they blew a 20-point lead in game seven at home and Nola doing that doesn’t excuse that the front office bet big on zek Nagi and it’s now a a a onerous problem of a contract and the front office doing that doesn’t change the fact that pton Watson was removed from the rotation in the back half of the year after I thought he was way better than chrisan brown the entirety of the year like this is they’re a team it’s a team and everybody’s in like it’s all interconnected here so Russell Westbrook’s probably gonna wind up a Denver Nugget um now the problem I will say is like look the longer this goes the longer there’s a chance of some team being like hey we’ll actually give you assets for him we actually we actually kind of want him and the Clippers just moving him now there’s been kind of like an understanding of what’s gonna happen is the Clippers gonna find somebody to take him they’re bu him out and then he’s gonna sign with Denver um Harrison wind has reported This and like I will just tell you I’ve heard the same that Nicole yic is very much in the Russell Westbrook Camp he loved he’s always loved Russ like he loves Russ I think there’s a lot of reasons for that um Russ I will also say this the person that Russ is with the media and all the time that he spends barking at opposing fans is not the guy that he is behind closed doors teammates to man vouch for him everywhere he has gone he has been beloved NBA players love Russell Westbrook uh I have concerns on a number of levels I see the fit as a secondary ball handler I just also like for me it’s more of like I’m gonna have to deal with the bad nights on here is I’m gonna have to deal with people being like why did Rush take that shot why did Rush take eight why did Russ take 16 shots what was Russ thinking we’ve got to move Russ why do we sign like there’s going to be those nights there’ll be good nights and bad nights Russ gives more defensively than he ever has so that’s like how we’ll talk about like what else they got to do but how what is your level of optimism about Russell Westbrook joining the Nuggets well I said last year Russell Westbrook should have been the backup point guard of this team because would and tell me if you think this is untrue I think among all backup point guards you could possibly na he is the closest F simile to Bruce Brown the closest you can find among backup point guards you think that’s a stretch say again Russell Westbrook is the closest fim to what Bruce Brown was for the Nuggets among backup point guards you could find like on the cheap I mean maybe Dennis Smith Jr yeah I would go Dennis Smith Jr but yeah I I see the approximation yes right so you need a rim finisher you need somebody who can penetrate you need someone who’s really good in transition and Russell Westbrook for all his faults it’s a still a terrific passer a terrific passer and Russ will engage defensively you know I.E the Phoenix Sun series two playoffs ago when he had to lock up Devin Booker and he did so Russ is going to play with maximum effort and just to be honest with you the nuggas don’t have a lot of players that are just flying around with the hair on fire all of the time and Russ is always like that and again it’s going to be to the detriment of time but it was to Bruce Brown Bruce Brown made mistakes and Bruce brown lost his minutes in the regular season and then in playoffs he played a different lineup and he he took off and I think that he would give them a true secondary playmaker that would allow for Jamaal Murray to truly play off ball and if you want to talk about someone taking advantage of space and finding open passing Lanes that’s Russ Russ is not going to be a positive shooter if Russell Westbrook shot 33 or 32% from three that would be a screaming from The High Heavens a glorious thank you he’s not that kind of a shooter but he’s very good at what he’s to do and he gives way more effort defensively than a lot of guards do around the league and he’s also still 6’3 and a half and a very good rangy athlete and putting that next putting that next to Nicola yic I think would be very helpful and especially Jamal Murray y’all if he sits out next year for 20 games and you start Russ for 20 or 15 games next year again that’s just going to be I think a net positive next to Joker we’re going to have our moments for sure but I think it’s going to be a net positive personally and again I’m a little bit different on Russ than a lot of people I’m not like a Russ stand that’s not like my guy but I think overall as an individual player there are things that he brings to the table that are really valuable for minimum money so Russ is really good defensively from 20 thou when he was drafted 2008 through about 2012 in 2013 because the offensive load became so much that’s when he started to kind of slide this is part of the reason I’m worried actually about Joker is like starting last year I’ve started to see like I just think Joker’s cutting Corners defensively all the metrics are still good for him but he’s cutting Corners a little bit because you have to save your energy um but Russ now because he’s in a lower usage role like last year it was really great to see like he really committed on defense and he’s s he’s so physical and athletic still even at this diminish Point like Russ is still so physical and athletic that can be a real benefit my problem here is when we look at the overall stuff like oh Russell Westbrook’s gonna start for the Denver Nuggets when Jamal Murray’s out that’s not bad I’m like okay they could probably manage that but this is where the problem of kcp comes in because now it’s not just Russ it’s Russ and Christian and I’m sorry guys I posted this on Twitter Christian had four months of over 40% three months of under 30% from three like I don’t know what to expect from him from three-point range okay um the other shows that you’re gonna listen to which we support and love on dmvr and pickax and roll are very very positive on what Christian’s going to bring I’m gonna be the lone skeptic here I it’s not that I don’t think Christian’s good I want to be very clear on this I think Christian just needs another year I do not see like Christian with his inconsistency driving understanding re and how he gets out of control and has to make decisions in midair a lot of the time I worry about that in the starter versus starter minutes the yic and Christian minutes were awesome because it was end of first quarter end of third quarter versus staggered lineups I worry about him having to execute at this level and boy if you’re facing if you’re on the road versus the Clippers who are going to be worse this year without Paul George but you’re on the road versus the Clippers on a Friday night and you’re starting Russell Westbrook and Christian Brown you need to win that game with defense that’s tough man that that’s just really tough and so like I worry a lot about that and so what you think their defense next year by the way do you think it actually slots no statistically no because like I do think Christian is as good of a Defender as as as kyp was last year overall and like I thought kyp was all defense worthy I think Christian’s impact defensively will be as good even if his technique isn’t as good right the offense is EXA is the point where I’m extremely worried I talked about how like I’m worried about this team’s level of offensive explosiveness like that’s to me is the big that’s where this team’s gotten so much worse is like two years ago they had so much offensive explosiveness MH Bruce and Jeff quite honestly because some of those minutes like you had at least Jeff’s athleticism pop and then losing kcp I’m just like man I’m really worried about the explosiveness of this unit and Russ doesn’t help that if they got Reggie bulock do you think that would be a good assistance for them oh boy additional Flor spacer oh boy um name on the market I like I like Reggie a lot I like Reggie a lot and I think that he’s like Justin holiday a guy that when he plays here would be like oh man like this is how basketball’s supposed to be played mhm but at the same time like he’s just fallen off so hard like I think he pushed himself really hard physically and I think that that’s been like a big a a big pullback um look the thing I would say I want I do want to talk a little bit about the optimism here because I think it’s important you have Nicole yic okay who despite things I have written is still the best player in the world um you have Jamal Murray who NE needs to be better but ain’t bad as a number two um Aaron I’m really worried about just because Aaron’s been through a lot like Aaron’s having like he’s suffered such an extreme family tragedy and like I want to give Aaron as much space as possible to deal with that but Aaron’s still gonna be really good as a professional basketball player next season um I think pton Watson has so much pop like I’m just like I’m all in on him I think he has shown so much more capability I would i’ rather he start to be perfectly honest with you um you rather him be you said him start yeah I’d rather he I’d rather he start at two guard um then at the two yep so you’re on you’re on this train with me that he’s really a two in the future a two three yes yes yeah I fully agree yeah um you’re still gonna be really good you can think that Jamal’s not good enough for your your person that you’re only invested in Nico yic and that’s fine he’s still very good um you can think the team around Nia isn’t good enough for what he deserves which is like five Allstars they’re still good enough and they’re going to be there at the end and the other thing I would say is I’ve been like look I still think you need to be a top three seed to win a title The Mavericks made the finals and didn’t win and were outclass as a five seed I still think you need to be a top three seed to win the win the the title there’s a lot of ways that Denver winds up with the top three seed and it’s still in that conversation or winds up tied as a four seed like they lose by a half game on tiebreaker well they just don’t play their starters as much they lose three more games like yeah like which is what they should have done last year there’s all of these Pathways to where Denver is still in the mix and then they get the right series of matchups like the Celtics did like the Mavericks did and all of a sudden they’re in the Western Conference finals and they’re in the finals and everyone has shut up about all the things that they are certain of including us about how bad this has been like there are all these Pathways one of the good things with the young guys and especially with it being CB and Payton and uh strawther and Holmes and picket those five you get two of those guys to pop pop yeah and this looks a lot better like it just does what do you think what so just realistically so let’s say CB starting what is a realistic like pton Watson Improvement to where it’s like like oh damn they’re still the top of the class in the west oh boy I think he’s gonna have to like he’s gonna that would mean that he has evolved to being a not consistent but like there are nights when he’s a three-level scorer when it’s like man he killed them from all over the floor he got to the rim he hit pull up jumpers off of the pick he hit spot up threes like that versatility I think is what it really takes because like that second unit is just going to need offense right it just is it’s just going to need offense and there’s no good solution for it right now with where the roster at and like I don’t think Russ is going to be the guy that that carries it because Russ isn’t there anymore and honestly my biggest criticism of him in 2017 when I had him second on MVP is I was like look guys he’s done all of these things on the offensive end and the Thunder offense is still on the toilet it wasn’t good when he was MVP level that’s who he was it’s been seven years since then so like I really worry about about the offense um joselyn’s in here dumping on Malone because again everybody’s got their own agenda and I’ll just say this like look Michael Malone has outpaced the win total that’s been set for the team every single season they have made the playoffs every year since 2019 even when they missed two starters like they’re gonna win games guys I don’t know no no your total’s gonna be at 49 and they’re probably gonna go over five yeah yeah like that and that’s the whole thing but if you also ask me like what about the West Dallas is better than them Minnesota’s better than them OKC is better than them be curious to about that Dallas part uh I think OKC for sure on paper should be the favorite out of the West right now um yeah we’ll see it’s gonna be it’s gonna be curious I mean I think again I think the Nuggets I’ve said this already I think they’re one or two players for being from being portable versus any opponent that’s what that’s what that St I think winning 54 games all on the table but that’s regular season but playoff matchups having different Rost different lineups you can play different ways you can attack teams that’s why they were so deadly in 2022 23 and I think they’re going to need at least one or two players to get back to that and maybe Westbrooks the first one and then you know apparently maybe Dario Sark or something be the be the last one so why do you hate the sarch idea so much I don’t think he fits on this roster I don’t think that I think if you’re going to have a big on this team I think blo will be enough enough of approximation for what you’ll get from Sarge a spacer somebody who’s athletic enough to and big enough to play the four but in terms of his defensive ability he doesn’t move his feed enough he’s not a vertical spacer there’s nothing that he can do next to Joker that’s going to help him at all defensively or even and again he can be a spacer maybe next to Holmes or or Zeke or whatever else it is but that’s it he doesn’t really have like any defensive capability that the team actually needs I think voo fits that better than wasar does he see what sucks here is I agree with you but it’s like he used to be that years ago he was great not years not years ago like we’re talking two years ago we’re talking about like 2021 like sarich sarich in the year that the Suns went to the finals if they had had him it would have been massive because they could have gone to that small ball unit but he had an ACL over the age of 30 yeah that’s what happens man um that here’s the other I will tell you I will tell you kind of wrap up with this um if this is as bad everybody kind of thinks it is uh it’s inevitable the change will happen like it’s just inevitable it’s either going to be roster changes front office changes coaching changes or some combination of the three um and that’s normal for any organization like people move on that’s just like how this kind of goes but I will just say like you do need to remember why you’re a nuggets fan and you need to try and remember that it’s more important that the team succeed than you be right and that’s like universally true just like it’s more important for me I it’s more important for me to be accurate with how I talk about this team than it is for me to push an agenda and like those things I just think are really important um with conversation you get to be a fan you get to be emotional but you still want your team to do well don’t root against the team just so you can be right about what it is that they screwed up so you mean don’t do what you do with the divver Broncos every time they do something at all and then tweet and then tweet me at it if I’m slightly off about one of my predictions going into the season something like that lot of optimism again about about this Broncos team a lot of optimism Shawn pyton how are you going to bet against Shawn pyton well he’s not in New Orleans anymore we’ll see what happens let’s going to do it for lockon nuggets thanks for joining us Adam and I’ll be back tomorrow on World’s Finest hopefully we’ll have a Westbrook deal or something else to talk about if not we’ll continue this conversation uh as well as we’ll Adam and I are good about coming up with different angles so we’ll talk about some stuff tomorrow leave us uh some notes in the comments on what you think the never nuggets need to do on YouTube or in the five star reviews on Apple podcast we’ll see you guys again next time on locked on nuggets

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