Will the Nuggets improve their roster for next season?

Will the Nuggets improve their roster for next season?

[Music] if you wondered why we were N 9 minutes late kids it’s live television I did not push the live button on time hello everybody and welcome to the 9th episode of the longest tenur Denver Nuggets spin-off podcast in the world welcome to the dnvr nuggets’ Serbian Corner my name is Miroslav chuk and let me remind you to smash that thumbs up uh button if you’re watching on YouTube and then download the show on the podcast app to we are in a war against the evil corporations and the Illuminati so we are working the system if you want to support the show more directly you can become a patreon supporter at patreon.com Miroslav cuk uh so the draft night nights are behind us uh it was the last push from the season that has ended to damage my health by not sleeping just a bit more the first night of the draft was a pretty boring one for me the only thing I was monitoring was which of the prospects from last week’s show would be drafted way before Denver’s range Indiana took Kel wear at 15 and jallen Tyson got picked 20th by the Cavs but then when it was time to Ral the 22nd pick by the Phoenix Suns a trade happened calwin boot took the 28th pick added the 57th pick and two more future second round picks and sent all of them to Phoenix for a chance to pick at 22 you know the rest the worst kept secret in the history of Nuggets basketball came out donon Holmes a 69 big man from Dayton is a Denver Nugget everybody was really excited about that pick but then Calvin boot spoke to the media to almost announce the nuggets are not interested in going into the bidding war and going over the second apron to keep their starter kavus scell Pope he also men they are confident they would be okay without him and it is a tough Bill to swallow and we’ll expand on that on this show next we heard that the nuggets are working on extending Jamal Murray preparing almost $210 million for four years starting in 2025 that is of course something they have to do to make sure there will be no risk of him leaving next summer at the same time this means Jamal is getting paid like he was his 2023 playoff self throughout this ongoing contract so it would be nice to get a lot more consistency from him going forward otherwise his contract will be tradeable as soon as next summer and I hope he’ll be reminded of that by more important people than myself next Rie Jackson is gone after picking his player option for a bit more than $5 million for this season calwin Boot made sure he wouldn’t be playing over jayen picket anymore so he attached almost all of the remaining tradable picks to saler dump him and sent to Charlotte that was a steep price but also reminder of how non-realistic all of the regie plus zek plus a pick fake trades were in the past several weeks taking all of my bad salary plus a pick for a good player of yours usually does not work I’m sure the Nuggets would love to get off of zek’s contract too to sell for salary cap purposes but I don’t think they have enough left in the chamber to sweeten that sour pickle before the training camp uh to help me articulate my draft takeaways uh the offseason moves that have already happened and some moves that are going to happen in in the next couple of days I’m calling up some reinforcements first some call him Connor some call him chill and some even called him child USI you know him on Twitter as Will Barton Union Leader it’s Connor duy welcome back to the show de for the second time Meo it’s great to see you I didn’t mean to say this is your second time on Serbian Corner this is actually our second try of recording this show because we did all all of this already 10 minutes ago so yeah I’m sorry for that well like I said said it’s great to see you brought out to the states um I know that you’re a pick and stash a draft in stash so the dream is alive the dream is alive and it was alive for Petri cornelli as well he even got that uh two-way contract at some point so it’s something that would work for me perfectly like two-way two-way contract money is is real money still so yeah so did you know that Will Barton had to change his name to Will Barton when he was playing for CSK in Moscow since I watched every single game as well as every single game of him in the Puerto Rican League uh that he is currently playing in that I actually no I just found that out via Twitter or via Google but um yes I did know that yeah yeah well this is how how the the announcers called him but actually only the Greeks are going to mandate for you to change your name uh to to to play for their national team or to actually have a Greek citizenship uh OS Ugo too had to change his name to yanis paku even had a Greek first name as well because he was also a Greek citizen at at one point okay so how do you feel about the fact that Daron Holmes Daron Holmes shares the nickname with you dece we can confirm 100% that his friends call him a nickname that’s what we can confirm 100% um there’s been a lot of chitchat about Don Holmes and hearing the nickname locked him in as one of my guys for sure yeah you you know he has a cool nickname and he’s probably pretty good-looking too so yeah it’s it’s it’s a good pick it’s go saying go of course you you cannot be called du if you don’t have the the the qualities for that okay so next he is a wonderful wildlife phographer really could have used on that hiking trip I took with Adam and Brandon so we had to settle with kale for our photographic needs by the way kale I’m still waiting for those photos you know uh he is also a great presence on the Nuggets Twitter and a former contributor to BSN Denver and round ball Mining Company it’s Johnny Domenico welcome back to the show Johnny thank you Mir slav great to see you again and to be fair uh in Kale’s defense the edit part of taking photos is the worst part of the whole thing so I I can feel him there uh okay so I guess these two plus months he had weren’t enough right okay well you know maybe not two months wonderful wonderful backdrop behind you of of Colorado nature I’m I’m really envious thank you yeah I had to stay on brand here hopefully some of the deer will cross behind me that that come through the yard but it’s it’s pretty nice out today up up here and Conifer so had to show it off I’m really jealous of your first name it’s like one of the best first names ever and how did you feel when via conos made the Everlasting hit Johnny do you know that song I don’t know if I know that one which is interesting because I feel like I’ve heard almost every uh song with Johnny in it and then there’s quite a few of them Flo is gonna murder me because my French is horrible but it goes like Johnny Johnny joh Johnny so yeah beautiful yeah it’s a wonderful song It’s a Bel I love it already yeah thank it’s a group from Belgium and it they they they sing like in five different languages it’s it’s a wonderful well I don’t think they’re they’re still active they used to perform in like 80s and 90s support them yeah you should you should last but not least he is a host of The Box State boys podcast and also the host of The Talking BS YouTube channel where he did the offseason preview of all NBA teams in the past few weeks make sure to go and check that out he is also a Denver Nuggets die hard but most of all a swell guy it’s Steven Zamora welcome back to the show Steve you are muted sorry how’s it going everybody thank you for having me again Mir appreciate you my man uh you know always a pleasure to be here on Serbian Corner my man so tell me Steve of the top of your head how many teams in the west do we expect to be better than last year not better than the Nuggets just better than what they were this season like because I’m not sure the nuggets are going to progress the in the right direction this this next season I might be wrong but how many teams do we expect I mean we always say that the the West is a is a nightmare to go through how many teams do you expect to be better than this season um so I think an easy answer would definitely be Memphis is probably going to be better um I mean you know they had so much bad injury of luck last year they’re definitely going to be better next year um I personally I’m really high on Houston I think Houston’s going to be really good next year um they’re they’re one of my favorite teams so I’m really high on them I even I made a prediction on Twitter a couple weeks ago actually like the day I was doing their offseason preview and just projecting all the stuff that they had going forward I was like man I think these guys are going to be a top four team in the west next year um uh there there’s a handful of teams uh but also on the you know same Spectrum though I mean teams like La I don’t think are going to be as good as they were uh Golden State you know might collapse uh you know a lot of older teams are probably going to fall off here so you know there’s room for optimism so do do do you have another team you expect to be better next season I think Thunder the easy answer um and I I mean I like the Murray trade for New Orleans I mean I think they needed I think there’s a lot of Talent on that team and I just think guard was the weakness for them so even though I’m not a huge Deon Murray fan I do I do really like that move for them so I think those are two teams just in the last week that have gotten gotten better Johnny we’ve heard Memphis we’ve heard Houston we’ve heard uh Thunder and we’ve heard Pelicans any other teams you expect to be better maybe I mean yeah I’ll be interested with the Mavericks you know now uh they they saw success and they’re probably hungry for more um I know they had a lot of bad injury luck last year too so I I think they’re going to be fighting for a top spot I think Oklahoma City was another one obviously they were great last year in the regular season but now with the experience I think you know all feel like they’re more of a threat this year than even even though they were the one seed I never really felt like they were a huge threat last year so I’d agree with them too yeah and we’ve already seen a couple of really good players coming from east to west one is deori the other one is is Alex kuso coming to the thunder so yeah come on guys please just stop stop getting great players out west like depleting East even even more so like like what the hell okay uh let’s take one short break and then we’ll start to talk about what happened uh when was it two days ago right don’t go anywhere okay we are back so let’s start with Theon h what are your first impressions about the way calwin boot acquired him from telegraphing his pick weeks ahead to trading a big number of relatively worthless picks to move up in the draft let’s start with dece yeah I was I mean I did Booth is interesting because he’s very I think open which I think is really endearing from players um because we don’t necessarily get it a lot from a GM it I also enjoy it but it’s not necessarily a strength um in regards to that position so you know I thought it was I thought it was odd how open it was but I just from his prior things whether it was the KOC interview or you know even how he talked about kcp it’s it’s it aligns with how he carries himself as a GM that being said I agreed with what the guys said on the podcast this week where it’s like hey wanted his guy and they ended up getting getting the guy uh I don’t think the cost was large I think when you mix it in with how they’re they’ve managed their assets otherwise that’s where we get into conversation about the cost and just you know kind of slowly dwindling on assets to use um but for me I said a month ago I said two months ago if you’re going to use this pick it needs to be on a big in my opinion um so I’m not the best person to talk about a draft prospect but taking a big there I thought was fantastic um and I think there’s a question you know hearing Booth say he’s a four kind of looking at his size I think you know if You’ asked me I would have said I wanton a center so I think there when it comes to Quality on the court next year I think it’s pretty likely we’re going to be in the same situation we were in this year to be honest with Don Holmes that being said the upside of his ability to play with jic is you know the perfect fit of what you want from a backup big as opposed to are just a you know a center that that sets picks and you know rolls towards the rim so I think I think quality on the court next year from that position is still going to be a big question but I love that they drafted a big and I’m super intrigued by you know I think he can play next to yic uh in the future so I think that’s really exciting so Johnny it’s obvious that Calvin got the guy he wanted he he said so to the whole world like like two weeks up front uh I I guess we should feel good about it like we got our guy but is this like a trend to to be worried about or do you found it do you find it fresh yeah I mean it’s I it it’s nice it’s nice to kind of know but yeah it could be scary down the line I mean I I always have the um the memories of OG you know everyone knew the Nuggets wanted OG and he got picked one pick before they could get him and traded back and and really Played with Fire in that draft and so you know that’s the risk that you run if everybody knows who you’re going for someone could jump right ahead of you um to snag him and I know this time around giving up uh future seconds doesn’t bother me at all he seems like he’s a great fit um the versatility of what you can do um in the nonic minutes went up um with picking him up but um yeah longterm you know may maybe he’s maybe it’s a rope a do maybe longterm he’ll he’ll set up people thinking he’s going to take someone and go a different direction but you know I I can’t blame him I think we all uh get our draft prep from CT faio and he he let us know this is the direction we were going right from the start so um hey I Can’t Blame Calvin booth for that too you know he told us which first round pick we’re going to get for the third season in a row like what like what crazy run crazy crazy run are are we sure there are guys in the Nuggets front office that are better than cidd Fazzio or Better Than Jake coin with the with the CBA stuff like just hire those two guys like what what we save a lot of money that way yeah exactly probably yeah probably I mean the cronas would be interested in that so St let me ask you I don’t remember when was the last time the Nuggets traded up into draft that was like a really fresh really really nice surprise to me is it is it something to be pumped about or is it just like we had no plan B we needed to execute this right I yeah I think I think it was smart um you know I mean like deuce was saying like you know Booth kind of telegraphed this whole thing from the get-go um you know nuggets Nation itself has been pining for Don Holmes this entire time CT fio you know been talking about it forever um and and like if you just look at it he’s such a good fit next to you know joic and you know backing up AG or you know just as in that big man rotation I think it’s just such a good fit that you know it was pretty easy to see that uh a move like that would would have been smart um like I think we referenced the OG and anobi trade or uh pick from a few years ago you know I personally feel like that we kind of did just did that same thing to Milwaukee um when we picked 22nd I feel like donon Holmes could have been a really good Bobby poris replacement or you know we heard that Tim connley could have picked him at 27 as well um so I think it was smart for them to go up get ahead of Milwaukee specifically I mean if you look at who Milwaukee picked at 23 it’s a guy who you know wasn’t even a second round pick on a lot of people’s big boards uh so I think they kind of did the same thing they kind of panicked and they went and got somebody else that you know they just took a big swing and stuff so I think it was smart I think you know like you said we when Tim Colley was in charge we didn’t make moves like that we didn’t you know and it ended up biting us a lot of the times so I think you know Calvin boo learned from that and you know he’s learning like you just got to be aggressive and he’s really good at like identifying the guys that he likes and going and getting them so du you you mentioned that calwin boot said that that donon is a four he is a power for this is what he’s going to play in the NBA and also his versatility will allow him to play next to Joker next to AG next to Michael Porter at the four like like a four five small ball combo but how optimistic are you that he’s going to be in the rotation from game one and also on whether he’s going to be a positive impact of the bench you know from the GetGo I don’t think I truthfully not super optimistic I’d probably say about a five out of 10 um I think depth chart right now would be backup four Holmes backup five Zeke just based on based on the roster that as it stands right now um so I think he’s going to get that opportunity but I do just think you look at the last seven you know 10 years of Nuggets basketball we probably see him playing some minutes here and there in you know 2024 and then he either earns his spot and and gets more minutes um but again I mean it kind of seems like the type of player he is he isn’t necessar necessarily A plugin five at the NBA level I think I think that’s what we’re going to kind of have to see at Summer League maybe and just see what it looks like but but um I do just think he has the energy that can help the second unit and kind of like the ball skills um where he’s just kind of like a more gifted basketball player than Zeke where I do think there is certainly a chance he’s you know playing 10 to 15 minutes right away um I think just him being kind of a four five tweener perhaps leaves that a little bit more questionable to me if he’s Plug and Play Johnny do you think do you agree that uh Pat for Darren is cleared enough for him to to like start in the rotation from game one yeah you know I don’t I don’t know that it’s fully clear I I do think that just kind of the way the nuggets have operated Zeke will probably get that shot first you know he’s he’s put in the time and has the experience but you know with with the history we know a Zeke too you know if he is on the roster still at that point um you know we don’t know he’s going to be healthy the minute he starts showing any promise it seems like some injury comes up and um and now the fact that there is somebody with upside uh just kind of waiting there for that opportunity I think even if it isn’t game one to be in the rotation I think there’s a very clear path for those minutes to be there and especially with Malone um once he kind of you know was able to think back on the season almost recognizing that he played the starters too much um and and that people were worn down um by the time the playoffs got there I think having more options is just going to help with that um and and I think that um it will be exciting to see because it it seems like from from everything I’ve seen he has the ability to play the five um I think um you know whether it translates uh at the the speed and the size of the NBA um coming from from um a small you know college team is going to be interesting um you never really know how that’s going to go but it it seems like at least the skills and the IQ he has are going to translate pretty easily so Steve you’re a grinder I’m sure you’ve watched a bunch of of of uh video on on Holmes do you think he he can be a a positive impact of the bench from the GetGo yeah I think he can um I think we’re a little bit we have a bit of a log Jam um you know between blacko coming back um and you know pton Watson playing some for and stuff like that but I think I think Holmes was probably the best option um as far as just like being able to play four and five um if we’re going up against like bigger matchups so he’s six eight and three qus uh without shoes so about 610 um with shoes on um 236 pounds I think is what he was measur measured at so he’s got some size to him he’s definitely going to have to fill out a little bit more um but he was 38% from three last year so he could definitely stretch the floor he has a seven foot wingspan so he’s you know positive wingspan average two blocks a game last year uh so he could be a rim deterrent on one side he could hit threes on the other side I think it just that fits really well next to jic um and if you know like if we’re going against a big team like a Minnesota you can play him at the four next to joic and that’s a really good you know that could be really positive if you’re going against a smaller team like an OKC or something you can run him at the five and bring in blacko and and put him at the four you know and play five out like there’s just a lot of optionality with uh Holmes like when I first saw him uh like I I think I kind of started the whole he’s Zeke Naji again hype train um because I was not high on him I did not I did not have him super high on my board and then just the more I looked into him and the more I watched like I just kept loving him more and more so like I went from complete like I think he was just zi again to I think he he could be a really big role player on our team next year I am I agree the versatility is on both sides of the of the court is is what interests me the most I like to see him doing like little things U on offense you know screening um stuff like that it’s always tough to predict what a rookie is going to look like when he starts playing against much stronger much bigger guys than what he he’s used to in the NCAA but yeah I I I agree and I’m am really high on Calvin bot as a talent evaluator I think that’s his strongest U the strongest part of of his GM personality and I’m I’m really confident in in his judgment here it he obviously got his guy so you know hopefully hopefully we can expect something similar to Christian Brown’s rookie season which means you know playing practically from the get GetGo uh earning a bit more minutes during the season and then actually being in the playoff rotations maybe not in every game but but something uh something to monitor so I’m I’m I’m really optimistic about that part the nuggets are going to lose several guys uh this season and we know we got this one back so so I’m really I’m really optimistic about that part let’s take one more short break and then we’ll go and talk about a guy we might lose uh as early as tomorrow don’t go anywhere okay we are back let’s talk kcp so Johnny let’s start with you this time on a scale of one to5 how important do you think it is for the Nuggets to keep kcp no matter what the cost is that’s a really good question I think um I think it’s really I mean it it was underrated how important he was to um both the offense and defense of the Nuggets um and and how effective the starting five was um the fact that he was a knockdown Corner three-point shooter uh meant there was no one you could you could play off of you know that everyone was dangerous on offense for the Nuggets um and and the point of attack defense is something that was awful for years and years on the nuggets and getting kcp finally shed that up um and so I think that Elite level on both sides is going to be hard to replicate um without kcp I don’t think there’s an obvious answer to to maintain that that high level of play um that being said I think you know the cost of bringing him back um is going to hurt in other areas and and we already saw how not having a bench um Can Hurt uh both in the regular season wearing down starters as well as in the playoffs um um W with the way things ended this year so I think you have to think long term and and part two of that is if you’re going to have to give out a four-year contract he’s 32 years old and is a guy that relies a lot on athleticism um especially on the defensive end to be able to keep up with those quick guards so um one to five you know I think from an immediate immediate cost you know I would say we got to have him he he’s the one that that keeps us as an elite um offense and defense but when you have to think about the long term and how it affects the um the team’s ability to go out and get other people you know I I think you know there are things you can do there there are ways you can replace part of what he does and and make it up in other ways so I’d say right now I’d put it about a three out of five kind of thinking about his age and the the flexibility you lose if you if you pay whatever um the market value is but man I’ve been a huge kcp guy he was I was pushing for him for Mr nugget even though I knew it was a losing cause all along um just because of all the little things that he does but um I I do think there’s ways to replace some of what he does and you can work around it um to maintain that flexibility so Steve on one side we have kcp who is Practically Perfect for the Nuggets he is a guy that does all the little things on the outside to protect the backline that to protect Nikolai yic behind him and and make sure uh not too many guys are you know going around the screens and and uh uh having advantage over there on the other side we have the the second apron and we are mostly listening about the consequences of second apron in regarding to team build to uh to trade limitations to limitations on free agents uh not being able to buy pics with cash stuff like that but there’s this other part of of second apron and it’s it’s the cost of it like the money is huge I I just saw the projected the projected uh uh value of salaries for Phoenix Suns for next season so not not this season that’s coming up but for the 2025 2026 and that’s like 500 and more million dollar with with added tax like the the the luxury tax is like 150% of what the whole salary uh for the Phoenix Suns is going to be projected right now and that team sucks that team sucks like that team just exited in the first round and you know what they’re bringing everybody back on bigger contracts so Steve how would you weigh between these two things uh kyp’s importance and dire consequences that te might face because of that contract um so I kind of I kind of have an agenda with this whole thing because me too I’ve seen uh both sides of the argument you know um me I am a 100% you have to bring kcp back I am 100% on that train um so I broke I I broke this down if you don’t mind me breaking this down real quick so uh the second apron is $190 million um after dumping Reggie salary and drafting dwn Holmes as of right now we are sitting at $188 million um if we were to bring kcp back kcp is looking at a contract from Orlando reportedly uh for $25 million a year for the span of two years in my opinion and I went on the what’s in the game podcast um a couple about a week ago and I propose that Denver should offer kcp a front-loaded um a front-loaded contract where we offer $25 million on the first year so that he does he initially gets his10 million pay bump and then it declines by 5% every year so it would go down to 23.75 and then 21 or 22 and a half on year three and if you really wanted to for the extra security um you could do a team option fourth year just to give kcp some more options or you know another year uh potentially um if he’s still playing that well um and like I think that’s a perfectly Fair contract I think it declines with his age I think it gives him his pay bump I think all sides are happy in that scenario um he gets to stay in Denver he gets to stay with joic he mentioned when he first got here that he’s tired of moving everywhere that his family is tired of moving everywhere um and like you guys were saying like he’s the perfect piece you can go and you know I’ve seen guys mention Klay Thompson which is I don’t think is realistic at all and I’ve been arguing with people on Twitter all day about that um but I don’t think that’s realistic but even if we do Klay Thompson isn’t half to defend kcp is anymore he sure he could bring it on the offensive end and hit those Corner threes but then you’re slacking on the defensive side you can bring a guy like you know I don’t know DeAnthony Melton who I’ve seen proposed as well and he’s not the shooter that kcp is and frankly I don’t think he’s as good of a Defender either so you know I think you bring kcp back you have that asset you face the luxury tax because the whole reason the luxury tax and the second apron exist is for teams who are contending you have Nicole yic in his prime right now you have to take advantage of it and you have to help him get his you know his legacy solidified help him out help him win championships kcp is the perfect guy for this and there’s no reason to let him walk if anything you can take that contract and you can split it later on if you really have to so dece how would you feel if the Nuggets I want to I don’t want to say lose kcp let kcp go because they would not lose him like they can keep him they can give him whatever I’m sure he wants to keep playing for the championship level team I’m sure he enjoys his role here and I mean he’s getting the pay bump he wouldn’t have get got like in Washington or in Detroit or whever Lakers he got it because of playing with Nikolai yok playing in the in the best uh or we thought the best starting five in the league how would you feel about it when you put everything into perspective yeah I mean I’m I’m OBET about it because I’ve kind of I think everything points to him leaving I mean at this point I think you know we can hope he’s going to be back but I think the writing’s been getting put on the wall and I mean I’m upet about it I iine was iine was Steve about it um I mean I think so so if I take that and you know kind of put myself in the Nugget shoes and try to spin this I don’t I don’t just want to be negative about it um if there’s a starter you can afford to lose its kcp obviously the last two years boo drafted shooting guards um so for me losing KP is essentially taking a step back this season is that acceptable uh you know I don’t know probably not but I can understand the risk in hey we’re gonna pay AG next summer we’re paying Jamal Murray and Max um if we sign kcp for a 4100 deal which I would do by the way I think that’s fair market value uh any tears as ACL this year God forbid and we’re stuck on that contract can we not sign AG I don’t know I’m not J coin so I don’t know but I can I can understand the risk the organization is taking it’s easy for me to say sign kcp 4400 trade him next summer sign Christian Brown he’s the starter easy for me to say that that’s what I would do if I was writing it down on paper um so yeah it is upsetting though because I think it’s a step back there’s just no two ways around that um and I actually don’t hate Christian as a starter I think he’s going to be fine um I’m high on Watson I’m high on strw but it’s just end of the day we werein last year I mean we were a bad bench six through 10 last year and you lose a starter for no value you know it hurts your team more there’s just there’s just no way around that and you’re all in on three first round picks there’s no guarantee they’re going to be good so that’s just the position Booth believes in and some of it I align with but the reality is you know we’re all along for this ride and there’s some risk in and betting on these young guys so Johnny Cas Dave lost Bruce Brown last year they they couldn’t do anything about it and they took a step back like it’s obvious they they weren’t as good as the season they they won a championship in and this would be I don’t I don’t know if I can say this would be a bigger blow to them comparing to Bruce Browns because kyp is a starter because I do agree that Christian Brown actually has a lot of qualities of stepping in into that starting lineup uh his net rating with with nikolic is amazing that of course has a bit to do with uh who they were they have been playing against not the starters but the mixed uh lineups but on the other hand now you don’t have Christian Brown on the bench now you have Julian strer or or whoever else is going to be there is that the the bigger uh drop off there and and is there anything the Nuggets could realistically do to compensate for losing that quality in in the two guard position yeah I mean I think you have to think of you know what’s possible to do because I mean the the re reality of it is kcp might go somewhere else and you know I when you find a starting five as good as what the nuggets have had you want to keep it together but um you know the the truth is he may go somewhere else um we got to find that fill in and um I do think you know St we don’t really know fully what we have in Julian Str yet um I think that’s another piece with um this past year both Jamal and Str getting hurt for a good chunk of the season um the back court was really taxed you know Reggie Reggie wasn’t supposed to play um as much as he played during the regular season they didn’t really expect him to have as big of a role as he did um in part because they thought they were going to get more from both Jamal and um Julian St so I think there’s there’s a lot of unknown just because of the health of the back court um but obviously being more thin there with health concerns for both of those guys isn’t ideal either um I think you know obviously there’s the clay rumors I see we’re already tracking clay he’s we we’ve seen photos of of him and Boulder I see in the chat we’ve got the uh Cherry Creek Reservoir boating out there so we’re on Clay watch I think we’re all coping with grasping at anything right now uh if kcp goes somewhere else but I think what what popped into my head when those rumors started and it has a little to do with Clay but really just rethinking the whole thing if if Christian Brown becomes a starter um rather than trying to replace what Christian Brown does hey I like that Billy B I I know Billy um um if if Christian Brown becomes a starter instead of trying to get a new Christian Brown I mean maybe you do go with someone who brings more offense you know the bench uh has a lot of versatile Defenders now Payton Watson um you know and I know they’ve even talked about Watson being more of a two3 um and STW plays a little like Jamal kind of as that combo guard point guard too um you know maybe you do find somebody who can bring more offense to that unit um especially with Holmes being a little more versatile offensively um and maybe we don’t feel like the bench is just going to go scoreless for five minute stretches when joic is off the court too so um you know I think I think uh in my mind you can’t just keep trying to do the same thing over and over if you lose a player like kcp you got to think what are the opportunities now that the the um Dynamic has changed so Steve we already mentioned kcp is perfect for this starting lineup but on the other hand he is the only guy the Nuggets can realistically have on a 20 or 25 million per year contract like if they lose him they cannot sign anybody else outside of their current roster to that big of a deal that big of a chunk of money so is this second part even the bigger problem than his actual perfect fit on the Nuggets I think that’s a really big part of it um I mean you know we’re talking about the clay watch thing clay declined a a $48 million contract from Golden State um you know Midway through the season last year because a he wants more years um and I I think he wants more money than that too so to think that Klay Thompson’s going to come to Denver for a two-year deal making $10 million just to stick it to the Warriors I just don’t believe that’s a possible thing you know um like Reggie Jackson was who we signed with that taxpayer mid-level exception and we had to dump him at the end of the day with three second round picks to get off of it so there those are just the type of valuable guys that you’re going to get for that $5 million taxpayer mid-level exception if you let kcp walk so I mean you you might get lucky and get like an eighth or seventh guy on the bench for that much money and you know you lose a starter so to me in the immediate it just doesn’t make much sense to let him walk and then try to replace that with a $5 million contract somewhere else dece any closing thoughts on the kcp conundrum I mean I just you know I think the nuggets are a worst team without him it would be wonderful if they get him back I mean I just said in the chat like you know there’s a chance Philly gets Paul George he just declined his player option he’s an unrestricted free agent there’s a chance Orlando doesn’t want to sign kcp I don’t love that fit for Orlando anyway I mean they’re like an elite defense their problem is they can’t score um you know so there’s still a chance the Nuggets get lucky and can you know not have to give kyp a four for 100 type deal to keep him um but yeah I think it’s I think it’s for us to be stressed that it’s a tough build to swallow that he won’t be back if that’s what the organization is you know preparing for because he’s an excellent fit um the Nuggets need an elite defender in that position based on their starting line I see someone just mentioned the sad faces I just wanted a brief fairy tale ending if we do lose him Gary Harris comes back rejuvenated to Denver yeah helps replace kcp gets his championship with yic that’s so that’s my fairy tale ending if kcp Gary Harris comes from 2018 and what about will barttin Monte Morris let’s do it we need a Hooper we need a Hooper on the team let’s do it you know how how how you have those uh city city jersies you get to wear like four times a year whatever like imagine if you could have like a city unit of players you can use from time to time like get all of those guys will and Gary and Monte and just like play them every every other Monday or something like that that would be pretty cool we’ll we’ll we’ll Workshop it we’ll Workshop it we have the whole the whole summer to propose new stuff to to Adam Silver okay before we take the last break I just wanted to ask you guys about Jamal’s extension so it is 209 million for four years I believe can sign it on July 6th right something something like that this is this is when when he can sign it uh I mean it’s obviously over like they already agreed on it but if you were the Nuggets front office would you try to do something different like would you try to get a more Team friendly deal with Jamal considering his last four seasons let’s call it like that or would you maybe postpone the extension talk for later in the season when he proves he deserves it going forward or is it just too much of a risk whoever wants to start sign the paper baby I mean stick to Our Roots believe in our guys uh whether we like it or Jam whether we like it or not Jamal’s a great partner for jic even if you’re in the business of trading him easy easier said than done to get an upgrade um so sign the paper believe in your guy that’s my take yeah Johnny oh sorry no yeah go ahead Johnny yeah I was gonna say the same thing I think there’s too too much time has been put into that relationship with yic and Murray and you know the two-man game um I think is just so effective they know where the other one’s going to be and and to to try to rebuild that um I think would be frustrating for yic you know I’m sure he’d get there he could do it with anybody but um I think if you if you delay it all you’re frustrating Jamal you’re frustrating uh yic you’re you’re you’re frustrating people you don’t want to frustrate so sign it um get that continuity going yeah I uh so like I was I was debating it at first just because I think I think something that we all want to see is Jamal come in healthy and motivated and in shape you know stuffff like that and typically like you want to hold a contract over guys typically like that like if you’re you know a a little more Cut Throat I guess uh but like these guys said man you just Jamal’s the best player for yage at the time I mean they’ve built that chemistry over the years like Johnny was saying um and this is you know like deu was in the the Nuggets Amo we’ve always paid our guys you know it’s about loyalty man taking care of your people so yeah I agree man we just got to get it signed and get him here yeah we we all agree on that and we have a question here from Joshua asking is it possible we start the season with Jamal and picket and one or two empty roster spots well the CBA says that you can have one empty roster spot you can have either 14 or 15 guys on your regular roster spots actually very expensive teams tend not to have the 15th guy just to like uh save a bit of money on on luxury tax and also to have a bit more flexibility um going to the to the trade deadline I don’t remember the Nuggets doing that in recent history I think they’ve had 15 guys in all of the last five or six seasons throughout the season but we’ll see we’ll see it is possible because they are getting more expensive every year okay let’s take one last short break and then we’ll try to figure out what’s going to happen with the empty roster spots uh starting tomorrow don’t go anywhere we are back and it is time to bring out the old uh presentation look at this wonderful picture there are five guys on this so this is a starting five that could win probably I mean we could win against Detroit right like like once maybe I don’t know I D Holmes definitely definitely uh glams us up in this starting five but let’s see what I came up with uh regarding the the positions the Nuggets right now have I did not put vatco on this list yet because he didn’t sign a new contract yet I did not put kcp in yet or at all so right now what we have is four guys I call Veterans and it’s basically four guys that have played more than like I don’t know 3,000 regular season minutes something like that so Jamal Murray Michael Porter Aaron Gordon and Nikolai yic then we have three guys I call young experienced guys and those are Christian Brown Payton Watson I can call him experienced and Zeke naagi I mean not a great experience but still experienc four seasons in the NBA and then we have four more guys uh that are practically rookies Jaylen picket Hunter Tyson donon Holmes and I I think we can call Julian strotter a rookie as well because he didn’t really have a real rookie season last season he missed too much time I think he played only for like 400 minutes last season so when you look at this um this graphic here we see there are four four empty spots there what is your guys’s um prediction on how these four spots are going to fill out let’s start this time with Zamora um okay so if you don’t mind miros slob I came up with a list of um potential backup point guards by by the way before you begin I just wanted to mention here I put pton Watson here as a three and Hunter Tyson as a three because I don’t want a log gem on on four I only have donon Holmes and Aaron Gordon at the four and then Zeke Naji and nikol at the five I want this team to be big I don’t want guys to play up a position like they used to last season like let’s finally use the physicality of the guys we have I mean I’m not sure Malone is going to do that but this would be a way for me to do it I like yeah I I agree I like that philosophy too I like going a little bigger especially considering we just played the Timberwolves last you know in the playoffs and stuff and I think it’d be good practice to uh practice playing bigger lineups as opposed to smaller lineups considering that so um but I did come up with a list of potential point guards and a list of potential centers if you want to listen to them um so they’re gonna go from in my opinion like the worst option to the best option um so I got Campa ish Smith Pat Bev Spencer Den witty Killian Hayes Patty Mills Aaron holiday dlon Wright and Chris Dunn so I think any of a lot of those guys I don’t about any of them a lot of those guys I think could fill in as that backup point guard um my favorite is Chris Dunn I don’t know if he’ll be able to you know if we’ll afford him I don’t know what kind of contracts he’s looking at but if we could get Chris dun on a minimum that’s I think that’d be huge I think that’d be really good dlon Wright I think would be a really good answer Aaron holiday played really well for Houston last year I think he’d be really good here um even Patty Mills even in his older age I think just having a veteran there um because you know Jaylen picket might work out I’m not a huge believer in Jaylen picket myself but you know I think it’d be smart to have a veteran there just in case um that’s the thing I don’t really understand with the whole dumping Reggie Jackson thing is you’re you’re it seems like Booth is trying to handcuff Malone from playing veteran guys and play his guys but at the same time you’re relying it would be irresponsible to go into the season with a second round pick as your only backup point guard option so I don’t this is you know a list of guys I think they could look at but what would be your prediction like which guy would you predict from that list to be there considering that cin boot really wants jayen picket to to to work so somebody who would like probably allow picket to play more I would say maybe like Patty Mills would probably be the you know around the general area of a guy who’s like a little bit older can provide some experience um but probably isn’t going to be great for 82 games and in the playoffs and everything like that so I think that’s a pretty good Target we could probably afford him on a that minimum I think that’d be a good Target maybe even Aaron holiday um I think might be a better one okay before we go to the center and you want to elaborate that let’s let’s go to dece and talk about the shooting guard position de do you think the Nuggets need to sign another shooting guard when you look at this list no I mean if you ask me I think they’re set at shooting guard I mean I don’t want to steer the conversation I think you just got to roll with the bigs The Bigs are gonna suck it is what it is I mean to me they have to get a ball handler period I mean Jamal Murray missed 30 games last year if you’re going to tell me Jaylen pickets the one other ball handler on the roster irresponsible as Steve put it is putting it lightly you know what I mean like to me they have to bring a ball handler in whether he’s a combo guard or a point guard I don’t know but if Reggie Jackson dump was just for salary relief you know I mean he Reggie Jackson isn’t good but like it’s a position of weakness um so I’m gonna hope that they use that money to bring in a guy that can dribble the basketball because there’s like two on the roster um but to me it’s like Big’s going to suck it’s fine Zeke Naji backup center whatever you’re paying him $8 million you might as well play him it is what it is that’s my opinion uh bring DeAndre back fine you have to bring a ball handler in I mean whether it’s trade if it’s a minimum it’s like that list is dark man I mean I’m just gonna be like are those guys definitely better than Reggie Jackson like Chris Dunn probably is but like we’re playing Harris so I would hope for a solid solution at ball hner just because I I don’t even hate Jaylen pigot I kind of like Jaylen Piet but if you just look at Jamal Murray’s injury history I feel like you need more ball handlers and Julian strer and Christian Brown I would say are not combo guards they are two guards they’re they’re wings so that’s my take there you go so so Johnny H how would you deal with with this uh point shooting guard conundrum yeah I mean I would love if if picket and staler could come through I I do think that there’s potential you know especially with st because I do think the way he plays is similar to Jamal but I don’t know if that’s ideal from a less experienced um player coming into the league um especially without a veteran um ball handler behind him you know I think it was so nice with Monte um he wasn’t Dynamic but you knew you could trust him to bring the ball up the court um you knew he could get into the offense when when Jamal was not playing or if joic wasn’t out there to run run through him and so I think you you do you need that person that you can trust um and you know like that list there there are some people you know I do think Chris Dunn would be great I think defensively it’d be nice to have him out there um especially for moving Brown into the starting lineup um up until last season I would have loved to have Spencer deny as a as a backup guard um but I he looked awful last year and especially I mean against the nuggets and the playoffs with the Lakers I mean uh I felt great anytime he was on the court for the Lakers but you know I think he at his best would be someone um I wouldn’t mind having as a veteran in there but um I don’t know it’ll be interesting you know if if we do lose kcp you know knowing that there’s also some sign and trade opportunities um out there maybe maybe there’s a someone that we’re not seeing that would be possible um if we’re having to do a sign and trade but I agree just anybody that you can trust to bring the ball up the court um would be huge for that bench unit because they have a lot of Versatility um and a lot of different skills that I think could fit well together but that that’s the one thing missing is just that person to get him into the offense you mentioned Spencer and DVD in a horrible season he he’s had L season I have a a funny story to share about him when I I had a chance to be courtside in in ball arena for game two against the Lakers you see the guys warming up for the game and everybody’s hitting everything like from every position even the worst worst Shooters on the teams were hitting everything except for Spencer D he didn’t sh hit anything I don’t know why and it was Andy Bailey next to me he told me look at this guy he’s not gonna hit anything and he was right so I don’t know I don’t know what happened with his shot uh yeah uh so guys would you agree like if we lose kcp would you be fine with bringing back Justin holiday as a shooting guard like he he did play at that spot uh in several games this would that be like a good enough solution because you know you don’t have a lot of means to improve your your roster as that like the because if we lose kcp we’re going to have the taxpayer midlevel except is that what you would want to do with that yeah but not for the shooting guard like I I would love to save that for the point guard oh okay or or possibly a backup center with probably point guard so just like a shooting guard like a like plug a guy into this hole we have right now would Justin be like a would satisfy you guys as a as a solution there I would just because of roster availability I would want to focus on getting another big man personally yeah we we we we’ll go there as well we’ll go there as well at the point at the power forward we have one empty spot right now and I think that’s going to be uh vlat Co chancha pretty sure that’s going to happen so no need to talk about it too much backup center like yeah right now you can say niik is backed up with both Daron Holmes and zek Naji we’ll see if if Colin Woods really wants Theon Holmes to play at a power forward he might be able to to uh convince Michael Malone to do it as well do you guys wanna like what would be the kind of a backup center you would like to see here and not like but expect to see here uh starting tomorrow honestly I’d be like like I said I’d be fine bringing back DeAndre like I the question we have with Malone and Boo’s relationship and why it’s essential they got get on the same page is we don’t want a championship potential roster sacrificing talent to play young guys or to to bet on young guys we want those young guys to earn those spots or we want Malone and Booth to be on the same page and not sacrificing Talent so I think like in my opinion would it be nice to sign Daniel Ty for example at a minimum yeah I think it would um because I think he’s better than Zeke Naji I think he’s better than DeAndre Jordan um so I’d be interested in that um you know obviously the question for us is if those two are on the same page but personally like as far as I feel I kind of feel like we have one more contributor move in us for me like I said it would be point guard I mean backup a big spot I’m kind of okay accepting that it’s just going to be a weakness for us and can Zeke Holmes and DeAndre hold the backup center spot yeah I’d be I’d be fine with that assuming we brought in a contributor at the guard spot for the bench good Johnny yeah I kind of feel the same way I I think um you know it’s interesting thinking about holiday too I think there’s regular season moves and there’s postseason moves and ultimately the team has shown that they care more about the postseason um and I think they went a little too far this past year in that direction but I think breaking the bank for a backup center who may not play a whole lot um when once you get to the playoffs uh I think that’s less of a priority I think um and and similarly to my thought on holiday I think I loved holiday in the role he had this year he could probably do a little bit more but I worry that playing him too much in the regular season you’re going to lose the effectiveness we saw from him in the postseason 2 so I think any of these moves need to have that um who’s gonna what are we going to need once we get to the playoffs too and I think that’s where that backup point guard is the priority and and I’m the same way I think between vco Holmes Zeke um um Aaron Gordon I mean all those guys especially playing together um with someone tall like mpj or Payton Watson there um with some Rim protection athleticism too to me it’s not a huge priority but yeah like you know the Daniel Ty I think there’s other centers too that um having some size there even like DeAndre Jordan just having someone who’s Big that can bother another team on occasion um is not the worst thing in the world but but I’d agree it’s not not the priority with the other holes that we have right now so Steve you have a list of centers I’m guessing yes I do um so and like d said it starts off dark okay but you know as we go on it gets better so my the the worst one that I can think of that might be able to contribute for Denver Damen Jones Cody Zeller bismack biombo Luke cornette Mason plumbley Alex Lyn dariio harch Xavier Tillman Goa baz and Andre Drummond so I think any of those guys you know like even Damen Jones I think during the regular season could provide just relief um just as a big body if you’re playing some bigger teams my what I’ve been trying to you know put out there for a long time is has been going and getting goo baz from Orlando um he’s like one of those analytic Darlings that like a lot of teams just don’t value and he’s a really good player um he’s huge he’s a big really big body so like if we play one of these big teams you that’s what I mean by when Don or Don Holmes comes and could play that four you could play him next to googa both of them are really good passers um goa’s a really good rebounder when he started for Orlando Orlando was really good even in you know the times when wend Carter Jr was out um to the point where wend Carter Jr is now um disposable in Orlando like they’re they’re looking to move him and stuff because Goa played so well with that team um so I don’t know if we’ll be able to afford him because I think he is GNA have a market but if we could get somebody like that I think that would be really good um but even you know even like d said like I don’t think we’re going to we need a a massive upgrade at the backup center position um so like even a guy like a l cornette you know Mason plumbley um Alex Len you know a guy who could just come in and just not bleed 20po leads when yic is sitting down you know I think that’s all we really need and just some versatility play big if you going against bigger teams because as of right now I have no confidence that if we’re playing a bigger team and we have to go to a Zeke naagi and Don Holmes lineup like that’s just we’re we’re going to suffer for that so I think it’s just would be wise to bring in a big body for teams like Minnesota or you know any of these other big teams out there I I would love bismach biombo I remember when he was playing for Phoenix recently I was like why why can’t we have such a guy off the bench like a guy that can score in bunches like look great against our backup unit yeah uh of course Goa is a really good player Goa is a former Mega basket player and I mean I’m pretty sure the Nuggets could get him if they really want it because you know the agents and stuff like that I’m not sure they’re going to go that route I would actually guess they’re not going to bring in anybody uh to play the backup five because they’re actually getting homes and getting vatco presumably back on top of not getting rid of Zeke and then you have Joker and and Ag and even Michael Porter so yeah I I would actually guess they will not feel that that uh position at all and maybe maybe start the season with 14 guys but we’ll see what do I know okay this is all we prepared for you today my dear listener and please for the love of God take the word prepared Loosely I announced previously that this would be my last show before going for a summer break but there is a better than 50% chance you’ll get another Serbian Corner sometime midweek next week and that would be the the Centenary episode episode 100 with some very special guests be on the lookout uh for that on Twitter or if you are not using Twitter it will just show up on the YouTube channel I’m hoping you’re already subscribing to uh on your podcast thingy where I’m almost certain you’re subscribed at so uh just go and and follow dece and Johnny and Steve follow Steve’s uh YouTube channel talking BS talking Bill Simmons right this is this is what it means right it’s it’s a great it’s a great Channel breakdowns of all the all all the NBA teams so even if you want to get a peak of some other teams other than the Nuggets you can get it there be well be safe be kind to everybody I call your mom and until next week Malik Beasley

On this week’s Serbian Corner, Miroslav is joined by Connor Ducey (@chillducey), Johnny Domenico (@johnnydomenico), and Steven Zamora (@ZamoraBSB)

The squad talks about the Nuggets drafting DaRon Holmes, salary dumping Reggie Jackson, max contract extension for Jamal Murray, and filling out the 4 roster spots in free agency.

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