NBA EXIT INTERVIEW: The Denver Nuggets

NBA EXIT INTERVIEW: The Denver Nuggets

welcome to the box score sports podcast welcome back everybody to the Boxcore Sports Podcast i’m your host and on this clip what we’re going to do on the YouTube channel is we’re going to do our NBA exit interview for the Denver Nuggets we’re going to talk about the season that was we’re going to talk about the offseason and then their longshot moves that we’d like to see them make that might not happen but before me and Clint get into it let us know in the comments down below what you think of the Denver Nuggets off season what they should do and maybe a longot uh pick as well of who you’d like to see them add to their team uh remember to like the video and subscribe to the channel so let’s start with their grade clint uh the Nuggets were the four seed this year they were 50 and 32 they uh lost to the second round in the second round to the OKC Thunder who probably at this point they’re the favorites to win the finals they’re up 3-2 uh so what would you give the Nuggets as far as a grade goes so another team that had quite a bit of like turmoil towards the end of the year i ended up with a B+ for them just because that’s funny i got a B+ too as well yeah 50 wins no 50 wins you took OKC to seven games probably played them um the best arguably spots in that series where you can look back and be like we probably should have won that series correct and had a shot at the title but when you have coaching and GM turmoil that we saw that you know was frankly under reportported and then you see what comes out of it um the mess behind the scenes and even now they’ve they have an interimm GM but they’re letting the assistant GM go haven’t hired anyone in that position draft is next week it’s a big off season for the team um but for just the season I went with a B+ because you saw guys like Christian Braun Brown make that jump look better look more confident in the playoffs westbrook even looked good from times and then like Westbrook eventually it just the magic carpet ride runs out but from the guys they they picked up I think they got more than they probably expected by the way I want to call him Braun too every time christian Brown but just it’s a funny uh spelling um but yeah I I me and you on the same page with his team b+ uh Jokic still the best player i mean like that’s part of the reason why um but Braun took a Braun Brown took a leap and the Westbrook thing worked he was a $3 million player i know people were like “Well he was you know he had moments in the playoffs.” He’s a $3 million player he’s not expected to be a triple double guy anymore that’s not what you’re paying him for i think at times he exceeded what they were paying him for and at times he didn’t you know he was he was a veteran minimum player like the guys you pay $3 million for you don’t typically see play 20 minutes a game they’re like a eight minute a game guy so I Westbrook the whole thing worked i I’m kind of disappointed he won’t be back next season on the team just because I thought the dynamic between him and Joic was kind of fun at times like they worked really well together but uh but you’re right coaching firing GM fired in the middle of the season that’s just not a good look and then their bench um part of the reason why there was such um I guess animosity between GM and head coach is the head coach wasn’t playing the young guys enough the GM wanted the young guys to be played more so that in the playoffs they could rise to the moments if they needed to um and that just didn’t happen and and we saw that in the playoffs when they needed to rely on the badge whether it was Watson or Strawther it just sometimes the moments seem too big for those guys so that that those were uh kind of negatives on the season yeah and and that’s what it comes down to um you know when you’re a coach you’re trying to win and you know when the season started you probably looked at Westbrook and like well this guy has one knows you know we know what we’re going to get from them and the young guys you don’t but um as we get into the offseason stuff when you get to the playoffs and Westbrook has distinct limitations it is then hard into a big series against a team that’s probably about to win a championship to then uh hope that Julian Strawler comes through when you haven’t you know really gotten able to test some more you put Payton Watson who shows flashes but again it comes down to a game five game six game seven it’s really hard to then throw these guys out there um and expect them to succeed when you haven’t kind of given them the reps or at least the confidence or ability through the season to to get in that situation yeah and I also want to add real quick uh totally agree with you and um but the other thing I I think is a con is just the backup center situation like the fact that Jokic can’t rest more than three minutes you know it just blows my mind you got you got Porter Jr and you got Jamal Murray and every time Joic sits down and you keep those guys in they just can’t they can’t work without him and it blows my mind so like the fact that so they I think they got Sarich didn’t really work out uh and then at the trade deadline you didn’t do anything to try to get a center it just it baffles me a little bit so um that that also goes to their B+ grade yeah and they didn’t adjust i mean they drafted Ron Holmes who I really wanted for the Bucks they traded right in front of the Bucks to get him but he tore his Achilles I believe in preeason so but despite that again you’re a team that’s trying to win at the deadline you you got to figure that out to to a degree they basically turned into like how the 76ers were when Embiid would come off the court they had nothing and you’re throwing Andre Drummond out there and you’re like I think we know how this ends same for the the Nuggets that’s definitely something they need to figure out deandre Jordan is not the answer yes um and you got to have something where whether it’s in the playoffs for a few minutes or just in the regular season to give the dude a break yeah and you look like at the Pacers they have Bradley and Bryant and like in moments they both can play a little bit right like it’s like oh if Turner gets into fall trouble like we saw Bradley have moments and Bryant have some moments or like Will Reed for the Pistons he comes on when Isaiah Stewart gets injured and he plays some very valuable minutes for it’s like how do you not have some of these guy team’s third centers to be your backup center just nobody but yeah DeAndre Jordan great veteran he had a time where he was important in this league but he’s just not it so for sure yeah yeah let’s go to their off season what um what do you think about their off seasonason what should be their like priorities where do you think they go from here they they have to figure out their bench a little we talked about it with center but just overall if you’re going to go with the young guys you got to get stronger you got to get Watson minutes um and you got to be good with your minimums like Denver should be one of those teams too that’s just fighting over those guys that like hey sure you could make a little more you can come here you can play we’re going to be good um and I I don’t feel they’ve done a great job like you said Westbrook turned out better than you could ever expect for a minimum contract but he has such distin distinct uh weaknesses that showed up and he overcame a lot of them with he had some good shooting games but you got to do that and you got to figure out what you’re going to do with Porter Junior is basically your uh your option to either get two players for them and maybe they’re not as good but it gives you some depth and something that can a replica of him um because you got this short window with Jokic and you can’t just keep throwing it away especially in the West because it’s it’s tough sledding out there yeah no I I agree um depth is so important i think center you got to hit that you got to try to get a backup center um so there’s that part um I think that uh if you can trade Porter Jr for multiple guys but I think that’s the way like most people are leaning you got to keep Gordon Joic you’re going to keep Murray so Porter Jr kind of becomes this expendable guy which maybe some teams that are looking for uh a little bit of spark a little bit of difference some youth on their team like Porter Jr is not that old and maybe you know he’s expected to be what the third scorer on this team and maybe he needs to be more of a second scorer right because it’s just like maybe he needs a little bit more um shots to put up there’s players like that like if they only get like 10 shots a game they can’t get into a rhythm but you give them like you know 15 and all of a sudden their scoring goes up and their efficiency goes up so I think there is a possibility that there could be a team out there that talks themselves into Michael Porter Jr that’s the direction but I think I’m with you i don’t know if I’d go after like oh let’s trade Michael Porter Jr for just like one good player i’m more of like can we get a couple good players for Michael Porter Jr and they do have their minimum minimum middle middle level and a veteran minimum as far as exceptions go so uh we’ll see what they do with that yeah you have to do something you gota you got to stay I hate to say relevant because they were relevant last year but Michael Porter Jr is uh you know with his injuries hurt his shoulder hopefully that’s nothing that’s I didn’t even check if he had to have surgery or anything I don’t recall seeing that but he’s also had back issues before so you know sometimes the longer you go um you hate to mess around with back injuries right yeah and that’s that’s the other thing about it how hard will he be to trade because of those injuries concerns but he’s only 26 so I can’t you know I don’t know yeah I guess we’ll see okay you ready for the long shot yes give me your long shot for the Nuggets so you can mess around a lot with Michael Porter Jr one that I It involves Miami don’t know if Miami would do it maybe if they uh kind of strike out on some other things but basically Porter Jr to the Nuggets for Wiggins and Jim Hawkins Wiggins obviously now there’s a there’s an up and down wild card of a player um but you know maybe the untradeable two years ago haka can give you give you something in the front court um otherwise you’re go down the route of D Rozan in a pick couple secondaró picks then D Rozan the the great Jeremy Grant as we talked about in the other one you could bring back but I think that’s that’s the range you’re probably you know dabbling in for teams willing to give up for Porter Jr yeah uh Paul George might be another guy that they they go after for Porter Jr uh yeah i you know I got the same names you do wiggins Grant D Rozan but that doesn’t solve their depth problem it brings somebody in that can kind of replace what maybe to a better degree of what they want from Porter like Grant’s a better defender than Porter so he he’ll he’ll uh D Rozan’s just a better on ball player than uh uh Porter Jr so he’ll add something uh Wiggins is kind of I don’t know maybe he’s a Michael Porter Jr light he’s a better defender uh not as good as a shooter but he just the inconsistencies like Michael Porter Jr can have so that’s that’s the only problem with that so I have I have two this one is a super long shot now the the the Nuggets have four picks so it depends how you know like how valuable a team sees those picks in the next couple years with the Jokic like maybe he doesn’t want to play for a long time or whatever uh so here here’s one uh I was on the Herb Jones going to a team trade michael Porter Jr with uh three picks and a pick swap for Herb Jones Jose Calderon and Kelly Oolenic you are on a Herb Jones kick i know i know i know i know that’s what I’m telling you yeah for summer I think it was Herb Jones where I saw that the New Orleans was like “We want two first and a player.” And I was like “Good luck with that.” But um I think Herb Jones is like a perfect player for exactly what Denver needs and I think whether they have to give up order or throw out a future pick that’s what they should be looking to you know to do to refresh that because I think we both agree that Joic is probably going to age fairly well it’s not like he’s dependent on his uh superior jumping ability quickness yeah his lateral quickness I mean it might show a little on defense as he ages but you know that’s not what he’s known for so to get players like that around him um I think would be quite effective yeah i I just thought like if if if uh you get Jones Jose and Alen gives you a a center option that you can almost play with Joic at times because of the way he spreads the floor he can shoot threes uh and then Calderon Jose Calderon is a really good backup who plays really good defense uh he’s a solid backup I should say that plays really good defense so I the depth would be there uh the other one I had is um so Michael Porter Jr is from Chicago right uh so I thought of the Bulls and I uh Michael Porter Jr for Patrick Williams and uh Kevin Herder was the other one so maybe picks have to be thrown in there but you get Porter’s contracts two years Williams is five and then you get Herder who’s a better shooter who might I mean four years I should say i think Williams is four years so you add a little bit of depth and shooting with Herder uh to surround with Jokic so that would been the kind of the other one I threw out there yeah I think that’s like a wild card at least Chicago should think of and I think you know whenever we talk about Patrick Williams I know I think Nuggets fans I think Nuggets fans would do the all Patrick Williams but again from time to time he shows uh kind of what you’re looking for and I think just about anyone looks better when you get to play with Joic the shots you’re going to get uh the movement that the team employs so um it could be one of those buy low targets save yourself some money uh long term but I think that one would be that would be hard for Nuggets fans to just be like Patrick Williams but I think you sometimes as a team you got to look past that and be like what can we what can we do you know to get this guy better yeah the the contracts for Williams and Herder are cheaper than you know those combined kind of equal to Michael Porter Jr’s contract but so they’re a little bit more tradable if you don’t like Patrick Williams obviously if he doesn’t work with Jokic though then there’s a bigger problem you have but yeah it was just like what can we do to add depth that was a trade I I thought of just to get Michael Porter also to uh Chicago so okay anything else for the Nuggets i don’t think so it just be It’s a big season for them so hopefully they figure out the front office stuff yeah agreed and uh so we’re going to move on to the next team but uh I’m going to have a Herb Jones trade for that team as well just because I’m in on this kick but anyway uh for everybody else thanks for watching you can check out our other exit NBA exit interviews we’re doing one for every single team uh like subscribe comment down below what your thoughts are on the Nugget season that happened in the off season to come uh thanks so much for listening i hope you guys enjoyed and we’ll talk to you guys real soon thanks so much for watching this clip of the Box for Sports Podcast i hope you guys enjoyed if you haven’t yet please subscribe to our channel both on Instagram and Twitter or X and uh we’ll talk to you guys real soon see you

On this clip of the Box Score Sports Podcast, I am joined by Clint and we discuss the Denver Nuggets:

– Season Grade
– Some Pro & Cons
– Offseason Outlook
– Long Shot Move

Thanks for Listening and I hope you enjoy.

If you want to listen to more of our Podcast, click on link below

Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-box-score-sports-podcast/id1570732903

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0jHkZ2Q1Ofm3SngoZt0qI8?si=9a0ec6171e4045ce

Please Follow Us :

Instagram — @boxscoresports_
X (Twitter) — @boxscoresports_
Tic Tok — @boxscoresports_

#nba #nbabasketball #basketball #nbaplayoffs #playoffs #sportspodcast #sports #podcast

#nbaoffseason #offseason #nbateam #denvernuggets #nuggetsnation #nuggets #milehighbasketball