Russell Westbrook to Nuggets update + Julian Strawther shines

Russell Westbrook to Nuggets update + Julian Strawther shines

[Music] [Music] all right folks welcome in to pickax and roll brought to you by our good friends over at bet online number 38 I am your host Ryan Blackburn at NBA Blackburn on Twitter part of the Mile High Sports podcast Network and I’m excited to check in on a Monday night here pretty low-key podcast not going to get into too too much but I didn’t podcast after last night’s Summer League game we got a Russell Westbrook update I wanted to talk about Julian strw and I also wanted to talk about the Nuggets depth chart as I was looking at it today and realized oh I have some concerns we’re going to get into some concerns in just a few minutes here but uh really quickly want to thank everybody for stopping by always appreciate it when folks are hanging out in the chat on a July 15th kind of day uh very excited for all of this and always helpful if you like And subscribe to the video the Russell Westbrook update will be in the second segment so if you are waiting for that probably skip ahead just a little bit uh if you’re watching this after after the fact but for the most part I do want to talk about that in in a little bit here but I’m going to go over the summer nuggets first real quickly though this podcast is brought to you by our good friends over at BetOnline they’re doing a great deal where you can make sure head over to their website today use promo code believe and you’ll get 50% off on your welcome bonus on a first deposit up to 250 bucks that’s a lot that’s a pretty good deal they’re your number one source for all your sports betting needs from baseball and Golf to soccer right on over to the top fights with UFC MMA and boxing every stat every match up and even live odds and spreads head over to their website today and use promo code believe ble a v on your first deposit bet online the game starts here okay let’s get into this now going to be interesting to see how Denver sort of evolves over the course of summer league but through two games of Summer League they are 0 and2 obviously and I I I said this last night online the donon Holmes injury it took the wind out of the sales of everything for me it’s hard to talk about just how awesome everything is and then how players are doing when a serious injury like that happens update on donon Holmes he had surgery on his right ailles tendon at the UF uh the UC Health Clinic in Denver they didn’t actually say that it was successful but I’m just going to sit here and say it was successful because I I mean they usually in these situations they say successful surgery I don’t want to get anybody like worried or anything like that but they did say he had surgery and that quote updates on Don’s status will be provided as appropriate which most likely to me means that he’s going to be like out for a long time and an update will not occur for a long time so don’t expect any updates in the near future I’d also like I said before expect them to be out for the 20242 season he can make a full recovery but it is going to take a significant period of time perhaps a full year maybe more maybe the next time that nuggets fans end up seeing Don Holmes is in next year’s summer league and we will be able to go over that when it happens okay other updates and other thoughts on the team without donon Holmes because obviously Denver built this roster with the idea that Don Holmes would be a big part of it that he would be getting a lot of minutes yes he’s pretty new and obviously like Denver knew going into it that he would be a rookie he’s not going to immediately assume responsibility for a whole bunch of stuff but he was going to be their starting power forward next to PJ hall and then he probably would have moved over to backup or to starting center at some points where they kind of change up their lineups a little bit without donon Holmes the team is suddenly very small very unathletic Denver in this last game without Holmes started Trey Alexander and Jaylen picket together Julian strawther moved over to the small forward spots while Hunter Tyson moved to power forward and PJ Hall to Center and then Denver played an eight-man rotation which I thought was pretty interesting a ninan rotation in game one and an eight-man rotation in game two pretty small trying to give those guys as much minutes as possible they are skilled clearly the entire group there is pretty skilled with outside shot making but there’s very little Rim pressure and very little Rim protection on the other end of things and so you just got to know what you’re getting with this kind of team Denver shooting a very low percentage from two-point range they’re not really finishing that well and they’re bothered by contests so I think that that’s going to shape what their roster kind of and how it plays obviously wins and losses don’t really matter in this stage but they’re going to really struggle with Al Holmes because he’s the guy who provides athleticism shot blocking Rim pressure things like that so I I you got to take this all with a grain of salt because Denver was built around Duron holmes’ athleticism now they don’t really have that but other than Duron Holmes some notes that I have on different guys I’ll start off with with Julian Str because he’s the one who’s made the largest Splash he’s averaging 28 and a half points per game between the two games at 25 in game one had 32 in game two the first game was pretty inefficient and I I think it was very emblematic of a gunner shooting guard whose sole purpose is to come off the bench hit some shots at the NBA level that’s what Julian showed in that game and he showed enough and I I felt pretty comfortable in his role and what he was going to be asked to do for Denver after game one and then game two happened and he played a lot better A lot better it was nice to see for sure 20 free throw attempts was notable to me he’s going to need the ball and he’s going to need to make his free throws in order for that to happen but he’s operating on and off the ball it’s the right call for his development I know that there’s been some push back especially on the timeline to hey why does he need to have the ball in his hands what’s the what’s the point of that well to me if the Nuggets want Julian strw to be more than just a backup bench shooting guard Gunner like somebody who I’ve coined Terren Ross Terren Ross could never really be a starter at the NBA level because he did one thing really well and that was shoot the basketball he was not a good Defender not a good passer and didn’t really connect well with teammates by doing other things um staler is kind of like especially if you just look at his rookie numbers kind of fits into that realm but when you squint hard enough and you start to see some of the skill development the free throw shooting and the free throw drawing was pretty important and I think the passing and being able to handle the ball and handle playmaking responsibility is really important for being a starter especially in the modern NBA where point guards don’t control the ball all the time they can get off the ball they can just be scorers they’re not just facilitating trying to set you up for shots Denver’s a little bit more unique because they’ve got yic but for Denver you’ve got to be able to run pick and roll and dho if you are a guard in order to operate with joic and I think that STW can do that after what I’ve seen so far he can run that it’s going to need some work it’s clearly he’s not perfect he’s averaging a high number of turnovers but he’ll be okay on that front and like this is where he is in year two I can imagine where he’ll be in year five year six and be very happy about that of course that is kind of the rub with all of this uh Youth and development because Denver may not have to like he may not be perfectly perfectly ready for this in year two and the peak of what you’re probably getting from Julian STW it’s a little bit down the line so we’ll see how that affects next season the defense was fine in a summer league standpoint it will be fine he competes I’m not really worried about it being 67 and reasonably athletic not a super athlete or anything like that but like solidly athletic he is fine in that regard on the wing but just going back to the numbers as a rookie I want to make sure to point this out and make sure that this gets hammered home STW had a 20.7% usage rate and a 48.2% true shooting percentage in 545 minutes as a rookie I went back through the database on staad basketball references database and I looked up different rookie that played under a thousand minutes and had those kind of shooting numbers it is not kind it is not a good profile for a player that is ultimately successful in the NBA you’ve got some names in there like Michael Porter Jr who like obviously had a higher true shooting percentage than that I mostly talk about the usage in the minutes load but guys like Will Barton uh like he ultimately became successful he was a success story for Denver but for the vast majority of those players they do not pan out they don’t ever become valuable rotation players not even starters so stw’s already operating from a position of weakness here and it’s got to be about the skill development and just play and becoming a better player for him to actually translate that to the NBA he’s got to be more efficient 48% true shooting is horrible it is disgusting especially in the modern NBA where average true shooting at this point is around 56 57 like we’re creeping up higher and higher because the game’s getting better and better I don’t expect Julian to be automatically at that level in year two but for the Nuggets to give him a role that means a lot of shooting that means a lot of scoring and decision- making and playmaking over 1500 minutes which I think he’s going to play kind of like Payton Watson last year I think he’s got to be more efficient for sure it’s got to be more it’s got to be impactful and the team has to trust him we will see what they ultimately do and how he ultimately responds to that but I thought game two showing some passing showing some uh off the dribble game where where he was getting to the Rim if he can get to the rim make free throws because he sh he shot like 71% last year and actually was like a 74% free throw shooter in college if that goes up if that’s like 80 85% that he’s actually getting there more consistently then you’re starting to talk about a real weapon as a scorer so I hope that he can get there I think he’s got the talent to do it but we’re going to find out for real like we’ll see because he’s going to get the opportunity Denver does have like they just like I’m gonna go over the depth chart in a bit they do not have another Choice like stw’s gotta play so we will ultimately see what it becomes okay spent a lot of time on Julian Jaylen picket he has really struggled to do anything right now had a nice transition Block in game two in the clutch has had some moments where he set the table for guys like Julian’s gotten some open shots Trey Alexander’s gotten some open shots in order to like like make some of their buckets and that’s come because Jaylen has set them up unfortunately those have been few and far between and they got even fewer in game two the big issue with jayen in my opinion is that he is really struggling to generate any space any guys are hounding him you know the the point guards that are like think about the way that Jamal Murray was being dealt with and defended last year like Austin Reeves was picking him up full court the entire first round and then nikil Alexander Walker uh Anthony Edwards and jayen McDaniels took turns in the second round just hounding him full court and he couldn’t get free because he didn’t have the burst the athleticism the health to be able to do it picket looks like that at the summer league level right now and picket 24 while some of these other guys are younger than him I’m worried about that that to me is very very scary about his actual development because I did not expect that to be an issue for him whether it’s in the like getting the ball across the timeline whether it’s turning the corner and pick and roll whether it’s isolating against a big man in the switch he is not getting space against anybody and he just looks really uncomfortable in most of these situations because like he’s having to give up the ball more and more and in game two he scored one point I think he took like three or four shots because the better option was to get the ball and put it into Julian stw’s hands or even Trey Alexander’s hands who Denver just drafted so that is not a good indication and I’m I’m worried I would like to see pick it bounce back I think he’s capable of bouncing back but he has to be aggressive and actually believe that this is going to happen and if he doesn’t believe in it if the Nuggets don’t believe in it then that’s going to be an issue I thought that Jaylen being the the strong like physical point guard that he was built to be I thought that he’d be able to carve out some space that way but between the jumper which just looks so off and then not really attemp any layups or anything like that I am like that’s not a good indication so the defense has also been subpar teams are shooting over him and some guards are also driving right by him in isolation and that happened in the clutch yesterday so it just can’t happen like J jaylen’s got to be better and I look forward to seeing whether he can respond in this moment because it was a really really really bad look in the first two games and I think he can get better but we got to be honest about it right like it has been tough Hunter Tyson I have him labeled as a limited shooter right now still making his outside shots when open but teams are starting to learn to close out really hard on him and the reason why is because he’s not a big threat to put the ball on the floor he’s got limited quickness players are able to catch up to him as long as they don’t leave their feet in a on a close out and when he does that there are some times where he can actually make plays and you can actually see the floor reasonably well he he’s made passes to PJ Hall I think he set up donon Holmes once in game one he can make some plays off the dribble for others and that’s a good thing to see like he can he could he has his head up he can see the floor it’s not like he’s entirely inept at making a play for other people the defense was better in game two than game one I thought the game one defense was horrible from him that could just be anecdotally I didn’t go back and watch it but he’s still struggling in my opinion Hunter Tyson to commit to Closeouts when he has to recover out to the perimeter and often that leads to two things one if he closes out short guys are shooting over him and they’re making or they’re missing but it’s an open shot and like you don’t want to give up too many of those or the other is he closes out too hard gets blown by to the rim and forces the defense to rotate and then that generates an open shot somewhere else he competes really hard there’s no question about that no no question at all and like the shooting I think is real I think he’s got a great stroke but he’s just a limited player at this stage and I’m not sure where that athleticism is going to come from he just to me seems like a player that is going to struggle at the NBA level to execute team defensive schemes especially defensive schemes run by the Nuggets where players have to collapse into the paint pretty hard in order to cover for joic in order to cover for let’s say it’s Dario charage Dario is not a mobile guy and he’s going to be in the middle of Denver’s defense and their bench a lot they’re going to need to play smaller they’re going to need to play with more athleticism on the perimeter and that to me is like I struggle to see Hunter Tyson getting minutes with the nuggets for that reason at least next year maybe it happens in year three maybe there’s some athletic developments that he can continue to make I just have questions he was a I think a college guy for five years I’m not sure where that athleticism is going to come from at this stage but who knows maybe he surprises and maybe he looks better in the upcoming games like that could absolutely happen next Trey Alexander I think tre’s an NBA player he’s been the behind Julian STW he’s been the second most impressive nugget for sure and whereas picket has struggled to generate separation I feel like Alexander’s done a pretty good job consistently of getting open and then even if he’s not like fully open just taking advantage of the space that he does get whereas picket I think is is navigating a little bit too much he he plays with his back to the hoop a lot of the time Alexander’s got his head up and he is moving he’s looking to score off the dribble game is nice and smooth he leverages that into some playmaking opportunities it’s been good to watch can get lost defensively at times for sure but when he’s on the ball he makes his opponent work and looks pretty solid and he also has recovery capabilities with the wings Spin and the athleticism that he has he’s 6’1 and that’s going to screw some guys up like whereas I think Jaylen picket is more of like a six fo five 6 fo6 kind of wingspan Guy having four extra inches uh heyo uh and some more athleticism uh definitely helps in defense definitely helps in Closeouts definitely helps uh poking away the basketball at times like that will be important for Trey Alexander’s Development I’ve liked it I I think he looks great there have been some comparisons made to Jamaal Murray in terms of how he shoots how he plays and I can see that so if he continues on this track might get some minutes next year like that’s crazy that’s crazy to me so like look and he might deserve it that’s the thing so we’ll see where he happens what what ultimately Becomes of it but I am looking forward to what we see from Trey Alexander for the rest of his career and finally PJ Hall uh not enough other guys have played consistently for me to really cover too much but I think PJ Hall after a tough game one bounced back a little bit in game two the thing that stands out most to me with him is that he’s undersized at the center position and rebounding is going to be a weakness there have been too many possessions where the ball kind of bounces outside his area and he’s not able to collect it some guys that’s going to happen to pretty consistently and you’re not like always going you’re not always going too bad like I think that I think that PJ can succeed at the NBA level he’s got to be a jump shooter though like he’s got to be able to take the pick and pop three I saw at one point I think it was Sam Vini of the athletic make a Mike muscala comparison with him and I can see that Mike muscal is not a big player he’s I think more like 69 610 but he’s got pretty close to what PJ Hall’s wingspan is so it’s it’s basically the same and the thing that made Mike muscala valuable at the NBA levels he became a pick and pop five not a good defender or anything like that but he can make the offense better by being involved in the action making plays PJ Hall hasn’t really had success out of the post but he has been okay on switches and especially in in the the defensive side of things on the offensive side of things I think he needs if he wants to be in the post he’s got to find more opportunities for the switch against guards against Wings he’s been posting up too many bigs and that to me is just like like look that’s probably not going to be his game and that’s fine I don’t think he’s athletic enough to be at the four consistently but I think he would be fine defending on switches I think that’s not going to be much of an issue but again backup potential for jic maybe down the line I’m not really thinking about it that hard he he will play in the g- league for most of the time and I actually think that he could be a pretty good g-league player for Denver but we’ll find out we’ll find out we will see and I am looking forward like Denver’s got so many bigs and we’re going to talk about them in the next segment but they’ve got so many bigs I don’t expect PJ Hall to ever be considered for playing time much this year but if he did play I think that there’s at least a potential that if he shoots 35 Plus percent from three there’s at least some utility in that okay let’s take a break when we come back we’re going to chat about the Russell Westbrook rumor see we got some more people in here for that should be very interesting um I will be discussing that and I’m also going to be discussing like why I think he will be going to the nuggets and I’m not as concerned about the trade aspect of it we will be right back but first I got to tell everybody about number 38 the affiliate for Mile High Sports and one of the best bars in the Rhino area great opportunity you get a wristband you put it on you scan it uh sign up for that not it’s not really like a signup process you just check it in and then you use your wristband to pay and you don’t have to use your card until the end of the night it’s great it’s really really easy so I’m very excited for all of that all the things that they do if we ever do any more events over there which I assume that we will starting up in the football season head on over let them know that you came from Mile High Sports they’ll do $15 pitchers and pctures are pretty good we’ll be right back on pickaxe and roll all right we’re back pickaxe and roll Ryan Blackburn here thank you so much for tuning into the show hit the like button hit the Subscribe button really appreciate it um Cedric I am not giving you hot take ideas for a separate podcast like what are we doing come on man like I’m friends with the dmvr guys but like come on okay here let’s let’s think of one then let’s think of a funny one then um let’s say that Michael Porter Jr is going to average over 22 points per game next year after never averaging 20 points per game before in his life that’s my guess that’s that’s a good hot take and I think it’s like not crazy um because of the role that he’s G to get I think he’s gonna take more threes I think he’s gonna take more shots he’s gonna have more responsibility and part of that is just gonna like that’s absolutely going to lead into more points so I do not expect him to average 16.7 points per game I expect it to be much closer to 20 and if it pops If he if he does pretty well then who knows maybe it’s even higher than that it would be pretty funny if uh yeah don’t bring up Murray that’s a that’s a good call um but yeah it would be pretty interesting if if Porter averag more points than Murray I don’t think that’s ever going to happen though um okay hurricane I think that’s undoubted and that’s all I’m GNA say to that okay let me go back to my notes let’s talk about this Russell Westbrook update sham chirania and his notebook today uh for the athletic came out with a just a a little quick note it’s nothing crazy I’m going to share the entirety of it here in quotations quote the Clippers and Russell Westbrook planed to part ways this offseason and the franchise continues to discuss trades for the former NBA MVP team and League sources said the Denver Nuggets are a front runner to sign Westbrook if he becomes a free agent end quote okay so couple things team and League sources is an important distinction there because like the Clippers are trying to part waste like it it’s become very clear everybody’s known it the Clippers do not want Russell Westbrook again on their team I don’t know if that’s like a Russ thing because Russ said that he would be happy being there playing any role he opted into his player option but it also just kind of seems like he was not necessarily super comfortable playing behind James Harden Paul George kawh Leonard and then getting benched for for guys like Terrence man apparently and I heard this off the Record he didn’t necessarily have a great response to Norman Powell getting a whole bunch of six-man of the Year Buzz uh that’s not great especially if you want somebody who’s just willing to buy and wants to win a championship you can’t really do it on your terms especially if you’re making four million a year and then like I I think what the what’s going on right now now let me break it down Clippers don’t want them they don’t want them they want to continue to find a spot for him the Denver Nuggets are a front runner to sign Westbrook if he becomes a free agent if he becomes a free agent the Nuggets do not want to trade for Russell Westbrook that’s not what they want they prefer for him to be bought out or waved by a team and then to sign him for the minimum that’s what they hope one they do not want to trade for him because of the4 million versus the $2 million veteran minimum there is a goal to save some luxury tax money if this is what it comes down to um and I think that is what it comes down to here’s a question even for Zeke asks evil Lord beerus um shout out beerus um I don’t think that the Clippers want zek Nagi and I can say that pretty certainly like maybe the Nuggets would be willing to offer zek Nagi but I do not think that the Clippers want them because they also have I believe like 15 roster spots taken up and they haven’t officially signed Chris Dunn yet because Russell Westbrook is on the roster so they’re waiting for this to happen I don’t think they want to take anything back and so they’re just trying to get any asset that they can they want somebody to take on Russell Westbrook’s $4 million and they would like a second round pick a top 55 protected second round pick whatever it is they just don’t want to have to pay to get off of Russ they also don’t want to wave him for nothing because they like everybody else uh are worried about the second apron they’re worried about the luxury tax and and things of that nature there are some kind of schematic things they don’t want to wave him because they want to use some of that money to pay Chris Dunn the money that they can so because of that we’re kind of at an impass the Clippers also just don’t want to do the Nuggets any favors by just waving him and or sending him out along with an asset just so that he can get cut and then sign with the nuggets for vet minimum that’s not what the Clippers want so they are holding this thing up the Nuggets feel rightly or wrongly that they can get Russell Westbrook without having to trade for him and so I decided because I thought um that doesn’t sound right can’t the team trade for $4 million of Russell westbr couldn’t they justify having Russell Westbrook as their backup point guard I couldn’t have a contender somewhere justify that so I went around and looked I looked at all 30 teams actually no I didn’t look at all 30 teams I looked at every team that feels like they’re a playoff team which is basically 12 teams in the west and like eight or nine teams in the East and I basically said okay we’re gonna go through this list which of these teams has a h backup point guard that they feel like Russell Westbrook could fill and it’s actually Justified so the West playoff teams you’ve got the Thunder the nuggets the t-wolves the Clippers the Mavs the Suns the Lakers the Pelicans the Kings the Warriors and The Grizzlies I think that’s 11 the teams that are absolutely not no way in hell we are not taking back Russ obviously the Clippers obviously the Lakers and I put the warriors on there because they’ve got 15 players on their roster they’ve already got uh Steph they’ve got pods they’ve got some young guys they’ve got some guards the Anthony Melton’s on their team like Russ doesn’t really fit there and I don’t think they have the money to do it anyway doesn’t make sense you’ve got the t-wolves who just drafted Rob Dillingham they’re not going to block him the Mavs they don’t have the money to do it after all their caption anigan and the Suns who just signed uh Monte Morris and then maybe I could justify it if I wanted to the Thunder the pels the Kings the Grizzlies for various reasons I think that they could justify it the Thunder probably have too many guards but you could see why they’d be interested in Russell Westbrook the Pelicans I don’t think they have the matching contracts to trade for him but they would potentially want to sign him for the same vet minimum that the Nuggets would the Kings ah I don’t know Kings Kings is an interesting one I I we we’ll see about that one they did like just bring back Malik monk but I think that and like the Russ and Demar kind of pairing seems interesting and then the Grizzlies who right now their backup is either Marcus Smart kind of staggered from the second unit or it’s Derek Rose maybe Desmond Bane I I think that they could justify but then the only team that really makes sense to me is the Nuggets who have a clear need for a backup point guard and like they’re desperate among the East playoff teams you’ve got the Celtics the Knicks the Bucks the Cavs the magic the Pacers the Sixers the Heat and the Hawks the absolutely not teams are the Knicks and the Pacers the Knicks just signed Cameron Payne today he is their third point guard maybe their fourth because they’ve got Duce McBride obviously Jaylen Brunson and they just drafted Tyler KCK so I I just don’t think that like Russ makes sense there Pacers obviously have halberton Andrew nard and T.J McConnell that’s a no and you’ve got the Celtics the Bucks the magic and the Sixers who for various reasons it doesn’t make sense maybe I could justify the Cavs the Heat and the Hawks Cavs I think I could justify more than any of them because they’ve got like they’re going to stagger Darius Garland and Donovan Mitchell but both of those guys can play off the ball and can space the floor for rest of times and I think that that could make some sense but the others like the Hawks they just drafted Kobe bukin I think a couple years ago they’re going to want to give him an opportunity they just broke up to Jon Murray and Trey young you really think they want to pair Russ and then the Heat have 15 roster spots already taken up so they’d have to move somebody obviously they would but like the matching contract salaries that make sense are players that they just signed this year so it’ be tough that’d be a tough one maybe like Josh Richardson although I don’t know if you signed this year if you signed last year either way either way I don’t think any team actually makes real sense for Russell Westbrook other than the Nuggets all the reporting everything I’ve heard behind the scenes everything that people have told me everything that has been reported the only team that has been paired with Russell Westbrook as a destination is the Denver Nuggets Jake fiser sham chirania uh I don’t know if wo just said so or not but like it’s it’s like all the major news Breakers have said it I have heard it other nuggets reporters have heard it like this is not just coming out of left field and I know the people are talking about clickbait and things like that this is not clickbait this is probably happening it’s just taking a lot of time because the Clippers are holding things up here’s what the perspective means the nuggets are so desperate at this point that they’re even considering this given the way that Russ has kind of worked out for each of the last four or five stops that he’s had that is a desperate team that the nuggets are right now I’m not sure whether this is a good plan whether it’s a bad plan but there are not a lot of other teams that are justifying trying to go get Russell Westbrook at $4 million so take that for what you will this also says to me how little leverage the Nuggets even have against them despite the fact that the nuggets are as desperate as they are like the Clippers are perhaps like with out of Leverage like it would be crazy so like with the Clippers wait it out as long as they can but are they willing to bring Russ to Media day are they willing to bring him into the season would they keep him at home would they just play 14 players don’t they want that roster spot these are the things that they’re having to kind of weigh Russ is probably going to be a nugget at the end of the day which if that was the actual plan it does mean that the Nuggets executed their plan but it’s Russ and Dario shich as bench reserves and then part of their plan was Don Holmes who like nobody can predict it but he TS Achilles it’s horrible but if that was the plan along with kind of elev every young player uper rung in the ladder not sure if I like it last thing here we’ll probably spend like eight to 10 more minutes on this the Nuggets depth chart is as follows at point guard you’ve got Jamal Murray hopefully Russell Westbrook if this all goes according to the plan jayen picket and then Trey Alexander as a two-way contract guy at shooting guard you’ve got Christian Brown and Julian St at small forward you’ve got Michael Porter and Payton Watson at power forward you have Aaron Gordon vaco chanar Hunter Tyson and then Don Holmes who’s out and then at Center you’ve got nikolic Dario Shar zek Nagi and DeAndre Jordan and then PJ Hall is the backup there you can quibble with some of the positions like maybe want Hunter Tyson as the small forward maybe you want zek Nagi as one of the power forward options going forward okay the point of this being is that Denver is very light in the back court they do not have a lot of guards they do not have a lot of wings with kcp and Bruce Brown leaving Reggie Jackson getting traded and then Denver kind of pivoting like they haven’t brought back Justin holiday I don’t expect him to come back Denver suddenly has 10 front Court players and only four until Russell Westbrook signs backourt players and two of the front Court players that I’m talking about Michael Porter and pton Watson also kind of Trends toward the power forward position instead of the shooting guard position so like I wouldn’t call them backourt players at all and yet Denver’s going to have to play those guys in big lineups because they do not have a bunch of wings then used to have more they certainly used to have more but kind of going away from that and not really replacing it and Zeke n is still on the roster and I’m not sure if he’s going to stay I’m not sure if Denver’s gonna pivot but because of the way things have kind of worked out Denver’s got a lot of bigs they’ve got a lot of power forwards they’ve got a lot of guys that should play power forward and and they do not have a lot of wings which help them win a title so with that in mind Russ should help obviously but a backcourt injury is going to hurt them they will and Jamal Murray who just played 59 games who has shown that he can’t play more than 65 for most of like most every year if he’s going to be your main guy and then you’re elevating third-year guy Christian Brown into a shooting guard spot you’re trusting Julian St seconde player to be one of your primary backups and you’re trusting a volatile and like nobody can argue with that a volatile Russell Westbrook as your backup point guard that is dicey and then if you remove one of those those guys from the equation it feels like a house of cards like it’s just going to come come toppling down fortunately Denver has yic but if you miss multiple of those guys then you’re all of a sudden in a lot of trouble so can Denver go into the season that way maybe if they feel like Trey Alexander can play maybe they’re fine like if you feel like Trey Alexander is actually a weapon and can play maybe he plays a little bit of point a little bit of shooting guard maybe that’s fine maybe that’s okay I just get very nervous about it because after watching the NBA seeing where things go seeing how Denver like they are in the stage they’re in the stage of their tenure as a as a title team where guys start to get hurt and like start to get really hurt because they are older and they’re surprisingly older especially with their starters it’s one of the reasons why calab booth has gone more for young guys off the bench he wants energy and athleticism and uh some guys that are healthy guys that can bounce back that would be great but I just don’t believe in it I just don’t know and I am just very worried that the wrong injury at the wrong time or maybe like joic misses five games in a row and the team goes one and four in that stretch is really going to depress Denver’s win total in a very constant like in a very constant way where like they’re all of a sudden fighting for a fifth seed or a sixth seed and people are not going to want to hear that but that is on the table I don’t think that they can be any lower than a six seed realistically unless knock on wood nikic has some sort of longer term injury I think they can survive even Murray being out for a significant period especially if they have a player like Russell Westbrook who’s like the good thing about Russ is he stays pretty healthy like he plays a lot and then Christian Brown played 82 last year so we’ll see we will see what they ultimately look like what this ultimately does but I just don’t think the Denver’s roster is quite balanced enough and I think that if I’m if I am looking at potential issues that the Nuggets could face this upcoming season that is one of them that let’s say Christian Brown who you’re expecting to play like 80 games let’s say he misses three weeks or let’s say he breaks a wrist or something like that then you’re all of a sudden in really thin and just puts a lot of pressure in the wrong places and I think that could be very very difficult okay folks I think that’s going to do it good episode today I think this one was pretty good I prepared a lot for this one wanted to make sure to give you some good content I hope you agree leave a like subscribe to the channel going to continue to try to do some things over the course of this offseason I know you see that uh lamp that’s in front of the Denver Nuggets poster uh I am in the process of moving so over the course of these next couple weeks you’re going to see the setup change I’m going to do my best to give a really a much better setup that makes sense for a podcast everybody thank you so much for tuning into the show really appreciate all the 11 sport on the podcast as always let me know what you’re looking for and if you agree with any of my takes and what comes next I’ll talk to you guys very soon

In the latest episode of Pickaxe and Roll, Ryan Blackburn breaks down the latest Russell Westbrook to the Denver Nuggets rumor, discusses the holdups, and makes a prediction for what the Los Angeles Clippers will do. Ryan shares his thoughts on the Nuggets depth chart. He also goes over Denver’s 0-2 start in Las Vegas Summer League and how Julian Strawther and others are faring in their Nuggets audition.

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