EMERGENCY PODCAST: Denver Nuggets sign free agent Tim Hardaway Jr.

EMERGENCY PODCAST: Denver Nuggets sign free agent Tim Hardaway Jr.

He’s not as good as people are. [Applause] [Music] Fired up, Kale. Fired up. We’re back out here. What is everybody? Welcome to another emergency podcast edition of the D of Nuggets podcast. Let’s go. Let’s go. My god, I have to apologize. Josh Kronkey, John Wallace, Ben Tenzer, I was not familiar with your game. The Denver Nuggets make another addition. The vet minimum, Tim Hardaway Jr., another shooter, and the man who called it, Harrison Wind, is here. You know, somebody once said, an executive for the Denver Nuggets once said, “It doesn’t take a genius to know to surround Nicole Joic with shooting.” Somebody once said that.
Somebody did. And look, man, it’s
it was definitely a need. And now they have more shooting. So, the Nuggets have been very active. It’s We’re not even 24 hours into free agency wind and already I this might be their last deal. I don’t know. There are we’ll talk a little bit about some other things they could or maybe even should do, but Tim Hardaway Jr. to me is a very serviceable playoff proven player. It’s not that he’s the best player that he’s been the fifth guy on some teams. He’s been the sixth guy on some teams. I think here in Denver, he’s likely to be the seventh, eighth, ninth uh guy on a team, maybe even 10th guy. But the Nuggets got him for a veteran minimum. And there’s no question he would have been an option to the Nuggets in the playoffs this last year and now he’s added to the roster. Yeah, getting him on a vetman is awesome. Um, and I mean shooting is definitely the thing he brings to the table. He’s a veteran, 33 years old last year. Played in 77 games for a good Pistons team. Before that, played in 79 games. Big minutes, too. So, he’s durable. And I just have one stat for you that I want to start with. Just one stat, Adam.
Okay.
Jim Hardway Jr.
made 63% of his open spot up three-point shots last season.
63%. He shot 36 of 57 on wide openen spot up threes. Man, I is that Do you think he’ll get any open threes in Denver? I mean, you got to be playing off like other good players and you need some good passers. I I think he’ll get a couple. Yeah. So, I my first reaction to this is this is a really good player that you need to have on your roster for the Denver Nuggets. Like, they needed depth. They added Valenunis, who to me is a real center. We’ll see. Denver has not had luck with guys we thought could play rotation minutes. I think Valenunis is more proven like he should be able to play no questions asked 15 minutes a night. So they add that Bruce Brown, we all know what he’s done in Denver. Are there question marks around him because of the injury history in the last two years being underwhelming? Sure. But we’ve seen it not that long ago and we believe he could be another piece. So there’s another depth piece. And now you get Tim Hardaway Jr. and you really haven’t lost much of the guys that are playing. You know, DeAndre Jordan, Black Oshar, but you haven’t really lost guys that are playing minutes just yet. So that’s my first reaction is Denver now has enough playable guys that I think they can make it through a regular season. They have shooting and they have enough options that going into a playoffs you should at least if David Adam should be equipped with choices with optionality which is not something the Nuggets have had really in the last three years even if you go back to the championship year they were lucky everyone was healthy but it wasn’t like they had guys waiting in the wings in case something wasn’t working. It just happened to work. The Nuggets now have, I think, uh, uh, more depth than we’ve been accustomed to over these last few years. Say what you want about Calvin Boot’s plan, but right now, the Nuggets are building their team like a normal championship contender. Like, this is what normal championship contending teams do. They go out and find veterans, proven guys, big men that can take some of the burden off Nicole Joic. Uh, championship winning guys vet like people who you know you can trust in big situations. That’s what this free agency has been about. It’s kind of been a return to normaly and normal roster and team building. And that’s kind of what Tim Hardaway Jr. represents. He’s gonna play the Justin Holiday role. He’s gonna be just a guy you can plug and play. Some nights he’ll be in the rotation, I bet. Maybe some nights he won’t be, but he he he’s the a perfect like guy to split the difference between we needed a shooter. We needed somebody in that role, but also somebody we could trust and also somebody who’s going to be okay not playing 20, 25 minutes a game. Well, even if you just look at how Denver fell to the Thunder in this last round, I mean, oddly, Michael Porter Jr. was so important to the run, even though he wasn’t making shots because Denver had three shooters. They had Jamal Murray, Michael Porter Jr., who wasn’t making them, Julian Strawther, who gave you an important game in that series and flipped it. And now you just add to that Bruce Brown can shoot. You add Tim Hardaway Jr. So now you have more guys that you can go to. It’s just optionality. Is Tim Hardaway Jr. the best player? No. In fact, there’s a lot of teams that are, you know, it’s almost reminds me in some ways of the Westbrook thing. Mavericks fans are going like, “Oh, yeah, get excited for him now. This is the arc, but is he going to make shots?” Blah, blah, blah. But he’s replacing nobody in a lot of ways. Denver had no one to go to. Now they have an option uh that they can go to for some extra shooting. So, to me, this was just a no-brainer. And it’s a one-year vet minimum.
I mean, could it more low risk? Yeah. And I mean, Tim Hardway’s been around the block. played for the Pistons last season.
Yeah.
A staple on the Mavs for the five years before that. And he’s he’s taken and made a lot of threes. I mean, if you just look like per 36 minutes last year, seven and a half threes per game. The year before that, 10 threes a game. So, he can get him up and he’s not shy about it either. Um it again, it’s the exact type of player they needed to kind of round out this roster. I believe now they’re at 14 guys. May maybe they’re done. We talked about earlier today how they might leave a roster spot open, but um definitely a guy that’s going to jive with the locker room, not be cause any drama or anything. And um again, it’s just a a normal signing like a a normal signing that any contending ring chasing team would look at.
So the second thing I think so first of all, I think this move works because it’s again you just need a depth. you’re gonna have competition, you know, you need depth and you have guys you can go to. Knock on wood, Denver should be able to survive a regular amount of injuries. No team can survive horrible injury luck, right? You lose key guys or whatever. Knock on wood that doesn’t happen. But now when you talk about I mean last year it really was the case where if any Christian Brown’s out of game or Michael Porter’s out of a game, Aaron Gordon’s out of game, you start to look around and you’re like who’s going to fill in man? There’s just nobody. Who do they go to? Right now I look at it and say Denver has guys. they have choices they they can go to. So that to me is as much a part of depth as who are their core guys. But the second thing I think about wind is this reminds me in in a lot of ways of the Justin Holiday deal in that Tim Hardaway is an option but I don’t know that you pencil him in and say oh he’s now playing in every single night. He’s gonna compete with Julian Strawther and Payton Watson. That’s the second thing I think about and there’s a lot of layers to think about when you kind of see that that also is the fallout from this meal this deal.
Yeah, we spent a lot of time talking about Peyton Watson in particular and you know what his future holds and like him and Peyton Watson couldn’t be more opposite of players too.
Yeah. Holiday, veteran shooter who definitely knows his role, knows his game, trusted Peyton Watson, young defensive weapon who is still kind of figuring out where he, you know, stands on the Nuggets. So, I think it’s a nice yin-yang in that perspective, but it’s also interesting because you could probably say there’s room for both of them on this roster. I think, see, to me, this is what it is. And there are going to be some issues. You know, Payton Watson’s in line for an extension. I think his minutes have been yanked around as much as anybody not named Zeke Dodgy over the last, you know, handful of seasons. So, you know, I think that I see a lot of people are like, I get rid of Pton Watson this or that. I still think Denver is better if they have the option to go to the more lengthy defensiveminded Pton Watson. And my hope and I think the team’s hope would likely be that they can get him at an an extension at a good price and that he wins that battle. The difference is just as we saw from Oklahoma City, the Oklahoma City Thunder, there were series where they were playing Wiggins a bunch of minutes. AJ Mitchell played uh they would go to Kenny Hustle, Kenn Williams, Jaylen Williams, they would go to guys and then they go to another series and say, “Okay, we need something different. Let’s go to these guys.” And I think for Denver, that’s your hope is that you now have the ability for a Payton Watson or a Julian Strawther to just outright be better in all aspects than a Tim Hardaway. But if not, you have a proven vet who can fill in and play that role. So, it’s a good thing, but it does come with some, you know, I think we’re going to like this more than say Julian Strawther and Payton Watson will.
Sure. Sure. But again, it’s just kind of a sign that the Nuggets are turning a page a little bit, I think, on what their mentality has been the last couple of seasons. The time for, funny enough, internal development seems like it might be ending. Maybe there’s some internal development still to happen, but that better happen quick.
Yeah.
You know, early in the season, like there needs to be a lot of it this summer. And it’s just like, all right, we’re we’re done bullshitting around. Like, it this is go time and these are the guys and these are the types of guys that can get us there.
And equally as important in my opinion, I’m so impressed by the depth of the Houston Rockets. And there are questions there, too. Reed Shepard, is he going to play? Cam Whitmore, does he get a chance? They have questions on their roster because they have so many guys. That’s so much better than not having enough guys and saying, “Will it work if this happens?” Denver. Now, I think when we look at the totality of moves, we can look at it now and say, I could see several ways this breaks. I could see it working where Payton Watson becomes the sixth man. Forget the seventh, eighth man, the sixth man, and he’s versatile enough to play the two, the three, the four. I could see it where that doesn’t happen. Maybe Julian Strawther takes that. He could play the two, or the three. Jaylen Picket playing more, Bruce Brown playing a point guard. Tim Hardaway Jr. takes one of those spots. Denver now has options of how this could break. And I’m not sure which one it’ll be, but it it is nice that Denver now is not all in on a singular narrow vision of how things have to work.
Here’s a stat from friend of the show Andy Bailey. I just saw last season. Julian Strawther led the Nuggets in three-point attempts per 100 possessions. And he ranked 111th in the league in that category.
Wow.
The leader of the Nuggets was 111th in three-pointers per 100 possessions. Both Cam Johnson and Tim Hardaway took more threes than Julian Strawther did per 100 possessions.
So in the first pretty much 24 hours of free agency, the Nuggets have added two higher volume shooters than they had last season on on their entire roster. We have normal spacing again,
right?
We’re going to have a normal offense, man. Like last year was so tough. the the screenshots that we saw, the the possessions throughout the regular season, the stuff that would go viral of three non-shooters on the court, sometimes four non-shooters on the court, Nicole Jookic getting quadruple team, five guys around him. We’re not going to have to deal with that anymore. It’s going to be so great. Yeah, Denver can throw out lineups now that feature any of Cam Johnson, Jamal Murray, uh Tim Hardaway Jr., Bruce Brown. Like there’s just a lot of options you can throw out there that have good shooting plus value shooting. And then your hope is that guys like Christian Brown, Jaylen Picket, you know, they’re Payton Watson, even Aaron Gordon, they’re reliable shooters. So I do think that I look at it right now and do I think the Nuggets are the best shooting team in the NBA? Absolutely not.
But I also don’t think they’re the worst. And that’s where they were last year. They were low volume and they just were so held together by very narrow lineup. Joic Jokic, but it was like we have to have Murray or Porter or both on the floor or this or that. Now there’s options where you can say, “Hey, that’s a good shooting lineup. That’s a good shooting lineup.” You know, there’s a couple different options. So, to me, that’s what it’s all about. Um, and to be able to get it done on a one-year minimum, it’s just such a slight deal. Is this, by the way, wind? Do you think this is a Bruce Brown Tim Hardway Jr. looks around and goes, “You know, I think I got one more deal in me. Let me go play with Yic and see if I can’t get another contract.
I don’t know. Tim Hart Tim Hardway is only 33. he’s younger than me. God damn it.
Hey, Brandon Vote is here. Would you let him welcome him in? What’s up, fellas? Can you see me? Hear me? All right. Internet seems a bit bit wonky on my end.
You’re a little fuzzy, but uh you know, we can hear and see you, which is which is good. Um, go ahead and finish that.
No, no one wants to see me. Winn, do you want to finish your thought though real quick on on
Where’d he go? Yeah. Um, I think it could be that, but he he’s probably signing up for a definite smaller role than Bruce Brown had when he came to Denver on that one-year deal, for sure. Um, but I don’t know, maybe it’s being advertised to him as a bigger role. So, there could definitely be some of that. I’ve always been just really confused why there are not more ring chasing vets who could follow the Bruce Brown playbook and recognize that they can follow the Bruce Brown playbook. Your stats go up so much. You play so much better in Denver. Your stats are going to be so much more efficient next to Nicole Joic than they’re going to be pretty much anywhere else in the league. That message just somehow has not gotten through to enough guys. Maybe that’s, you know, part of Tim Hardaway’s thinking here. Um, it would definitely be smart if it is. Well, there are players that have come here and that has not worked out for them. So, I I do think that
Oh, yeah. Just just not backup centers.
Backup centers. But, you know, even if you look at it and now we bring to the the fallout of this one because I while I think this is a home run deal for Denver, I think it’s been a home run off season. I couldn’t be more excited. I do wonder if I’m Julian Strawther and Pton Watson. I look at this and I say, “Am I sure to be playing next year?” If I’m Julian Strawther, am I certainly in the rotation on opening night? That now becomes a thing where and and it’s fair. This is how the the world should work. No, you got to come in and win that spot. Pton Watson’s put in three years. He’s now up for an extension. I think you look at that and say, “Okay, even if I agree on terms on an extension, I’m still trying to ascend. You know, is am I am I guaranteed a spot next year?” And I think the honest answer is no, you’re not guaranteed. You had a great chance, but you’re not guaranteed.
Yeah. I just love the optionality, man. the Strawther Pwad and Tim Hardaway Jr., they really complement each other all, you know, they all have kind of different skill sets, the defense, the shooting, the length. Um, Strawther may be a little more off the dribble game than Hardaway has at this point. So, I I just love how all three of those guys complement each other. But, yeah, I mean, this is about competition. Peyton Watson, Julian Strawler, those guys have to come back as better players in the fall at training camp if they want to be in this rotation. And I love that. I love that. Like we don’t have time to wait around for these guys anymore. And we’re also going to have, you know, I’m talking like I’m Ben Tenzer and John Wallace here. We’re also going to have maybe another roster spot to bring in more competition as well. Yeah.
So, the the Nuggets again, we talked about this earlier today. All these moves are smart and thoughtful. Like everything feels so planned out and so executed perfectly. Yeah, I I agree. And I saw a comment on here that is interesting because I know we all like to do the light righteous indignation card and somebody said ESPN just today was saying the nuggets are cooked and they did this. That’s not what was said by Tim Bontemps. Tim Bonds, who was critical of the Nuggets’s move of Michael Porter. What he was saying was this move was a move that got them below the tax. And if that’s what the Cronies are doing is shedding salary, then it should be criticized. And even if you like the one move, if the Nuggets are staying below the tax, that should be criticized. The Nuggets might very well be below the tax. There’s still a possibility, even with this signing, that they can duck the tax. But as Dline said on the show today, who cares if you’re better? And to me, the Nuggets are undoubtedly a better team right now. And they might have also accomplished this flexibility going forward that will pay off in the end. So I don’t think Bond’s got anything wrong other than to say, look, let’s wait till the dust settles before we grade it. Now the dust is settling. The Nuggets are better.
They’re so much better. I mean, if you just compare all these guys on the roster to who was in that place last year, I I think Bruce Brown and Russell Westbrook somewhat similar makeups of players. I would rather Bruce Brown on this team. I think he’s better in the locker room and on the court. Cam Johnson to Michael Porter, pound-for-pound, I think Cam Johnson’s a slightly better player. I just do. And then, you know, Tim Hardaway Jr., I think he’s probably better than Julian Strawther and probably better than Payton Watson. Definitely better. So, they’re just upgrading here in the starting lineup and on the margins. Like that is what’s so impressive. They Ben Tenzer and John Wallace talked about winning the margins and that’s like such an ambiguous phrase. Like who really knows what that means? It means something different for every team. I think this is an example. I think they probably feel pretty confident that Tim Hardaway Jr. will work out here. That would be a huge win on the margins. Um, and then I didn’t even mention Valenunis. Definitely an upgrade over whoever you want to say was the backup center last season, DeAndre Jordan.
He could start for a lot of teams. So maybe another one of those margins is Spencer Jones hitting on a two-way spot and they feel pretty confident about him being a player later this next season or, you know, a season from now. So, if they can hit on those margins and do what I think, you know, they’ve done with their real real guys, hit on those starters, too. Uh, it all seems like it’s working out. This puts David Adelman to me in the spotlight now because his job both got more options, but options can be tough for a coach. But I think in a weird way, it’s almost nice. And I think Michael Malone almost knew this in a way like the fewer options he has, the better. Cuz nobody will complain and say, “Oh, you should have played Hunter Tyson or you should have played this or that.” But there will be that throughout the regular season when you have a lot of players and one guy has a bad game. It’s easy to say, “Well, why didn’t you play the other guy?” And I think that is going to be the challenge now for David Adelman is you’ve got to spend time if you’re going to invest in Pton Watson, especially if you give him an extension this year. And if you view Julian Strawther as flexibility going forward, maybe a cheap option down the line and you want to keep this window open, you and Jaylen Picket as well, you have to develop those guys, which means you have to play them and play them a lot of minutes. So I think it’s nice for him to have options, but at the same time, finding the right balance, I think, will be one of the key challenges for David Adelman this year.
Yeah. And I mean, every coach says they want competition, but then that naturally just leads to tougher decisions,
right?
It’s it’s a funny kind of give and take there, but I like it, man. Um, it will be interesting to see how, you know, David Adelman’s staff continues to come together as well. We talked earlier today. JJ Bere is going to be an assistant coach. JJ Breer, I’m guessing he was a teammate of Tim Hardaway Junior’s in Dallas.
I think he might be right actually. I believe he was definitely for at least a couple seasons. Um, so there’s a connection there. And then, you know, getting Rodney Bilips as an assistant as well. Two guys that are going to really be able to communicate well and have a strong relationship with these players. Um, so I love the direction the staff is going to. I’m excited to learn, you know, who might be some of those more names that that we get there. But um man, just it’s been a it’s been a great off seasonason. You just feel so good about all these moves.
Two years, by the way, he he crossed over with JJ Beret in Dallas. So they played two years together out there. That’s a good pool win that that is another connection that they have.
He also played with Luca Donic.
Just hey man, just saying just we’re going to keep just saying just in case. Uh I think um the other thing I think about now is that the Nuggets have 14 roster spots committed to. There are things they could do. try to buy out a Hunter Tyson or trade him out or do different things, you know, to open up another one. You could say with Zeke Naji, I know they would like to trade that deal. Other teams have bought out and stretched. I don’t expect that one. There’s other things they can do to open it up, but I don’t know if they’re going to. I don’t know that they’re not. I just want to be clear. I’m not trying to report that they’re not doing it. But I would not be surprised if this was the team that they go forward with. If that’s the case, if this is their opening night or, you know, roster minus the two ways, which I think they will add a couple two ways, but if this is their roster, how would you feel about it?
I’d feel great about it. Um, the biggest question mark is now point guard.
Yep.
And just what it really looks like after Jamal Murray. Um, I feel like shooting to me was still a bigger need than that. So, I’m I’m glad this was a signing that addressed shooting. your front court. It’d be nice to have, you know, an upgrade from Zeke there. Um, an upgrade or a more known commodity than Deron Holmes there, but you’ve got bodies in the front court. So, that’s that’s not a need just with how this roster looks right now. Unless they pull another rabbit out of the hat and find a team to take Zeke Naji just like they found a team to take Dario Charich. Who knows?
Yeah.
Um, un unless something happens there. So point guard ball handling is still kind of the one semihole, but just with how the roster looks around the guys they have there going into the season with Pickicket and Bruce Brown kind of manning the backup point guard, backup ball handling responsibilities. I feel pretty good about offensive options off the bench. Julian Strawther, Tim Hardaway Jr., Valen Tunis maybe Don Holmes you know just in terms of spacing the floor from the power forward position Bruce Brown to me Jaylen Picket offensive options if you go to defensive options Payton Watson Zeke Naji uh you know and then you got some so I think the offensive options are almost more than the defensive options but Denver had some defenders and they’re not going to play five bench guys except for garbage time so you can now kind of rotate ins. But I look at this and I say Denver has now some offense to where at least their bench should be able to score without Joic on the court. It might not be the exact same way they score with Joic on, but they should not have these runs. They had these ruts 100 run because Denver just couldn’t score in the half court.
Yeah. And honestly, I’ve said this before, but that I think is one of the biggest challenges and biggest items that David Adelman has to address, you know, early on next season. Can we build somewhat of an offensive identity? Can we have some go-to stuff when Nicole Joic is off the floor so we can score on offense when he’s not out there? Michael Mullen was really never able to do it over the last couple of seasons. The roster last season didn’t help in that regard, but the optionality they have this season can allow David Adelman to to do a bunch of different things. So, um I’m really excited for that as well. And dude, Ben Tenzer, that slide dog, man, he stood up there at that press conference and all indications were it was going to be a pretty quiet off season, you know, pretty quiet. Probably just going to run it back. A lot of internal development. Um, great job.
Well, I will say this, they did add two veteran minimum players, which is in line with what we thought. Did we We earmarked Bruce Brown. Did we earmark Tim Hardaway Jr.? You did. So, it’s not that surprising that they added two guys on vet minimum deals and they happen to be two guys that we’re excited about. The moves that surprised were getting rid of Dario Sarich for Valenunis, which feels like a huge upgrade, and then trading Michael Porter Jr. for Cam Johnson, which also feels like an upgrade, but it should be noted they did part ways with really their last remaining asset. They now don’t have tradable first round picks. I mean, they’ll be able to trade them at the drafts, but they don’t have those gap ones. So, it is this thing where Denver was able to wiggle out of it. They created a great roster. Future flexibility from draft capital standpoint will be a little tricky for sure. Um, I mean, this is going to be the team probably again unless they pull off another miraculous trade and and can offload Zeke Naji for something. And, you know, I’m I’m happy about it to be honest. Um, I’m glad that we have obviously Joker and I’m glad that, you know, we’re gonna see what Nicole Joic and Jamal Murray can do again as, you know, the two leaders of this team. I I think right now they’re set up better around those two than they were last season and the season before that just in terms of firepower and, you know, backup center being the biggest one there. they they can really just lighten the load on Nicole Yogicer in the regular season. And you know, this team with Bruce Brown back, it still feels like the Nuggets. And I’m I’m really happy about that, man. It still feels like not the same exact core, but we still have some DNA of the championship team here. A lot of it, you know, a ton of it. We haven’t lost that. And going back to, you know, a lot of things that Josh Kroni has said about, you know, we don’t need a full reset. The culture here isn’t completely broken. We just needed to clear out a few things and kind of have a have a slight reset.
That’s what the team right now looks like to me. You know, this is a slight reset. Um maybe bigger than we thought. You know, the Porter trade isn’t something I think we had on our radar, but this still feels like the Nuggets to me. And um I’m I’m happy about that.
One thing that I think though is as we just kind of go back and and evaluate Cam Johnson was somebody that was reported obviously connected to Denver. Denver wanted him. They traded a pick that they was not available to him last year. And so I as much as they wanted to make this deal happen, I’m not sure they could have at least for the value they got until this pick was available to be traded, which was now this off season and they made it. And also, by the way, I don’t think the Cronis love trading away picks that into the future. So, to me, I have to give a hat tip to Josh Kroni to be willing to move on from that piece. The moment it became available, he said yes, but now is the time. So, there are some things while they are kind of getting below the tax or have the option to get below the tax. Maybe they will. They are trading in assets to be aggressive to say no, but the window’s open. We have a team now. So, I just put all of that in context to say I know it’s easier to compare last year, this year, this different things. The Nuggets used the things that were available to them this year in a very creative and I think aggressive way.
Yeah. And now they have a team that you can firmly say is in the inner circle of contenders.
I agree. Clearly, clearly you got the Thunder. They’re going to be amazing next season again, but the Nuggets took that Thunder team to seven games and had, you know, Michael Porter Jr. with only one working arm and Aaron Gordon with only one working leg.
Yeah.
And now they have a better squad. So the Houston’s had a great off season as well, but the Nuggets, the moves they have made, they are firmly, absolutely firmly in the inner circle of contenders and that was the goal and they executed it.
I still think they’re, you know, Oklahoma City Thunder should be favorites. They’re reigning champs. you know, they’ve got and I think what Houston did is scary. They have a lot of really good players, but I do agree with you that the Nuggets have some optionality now that I just think is so exciting. I will say this because I know a lot of people trade Pwatt, who cares, get this. The Nuggets do have Bruce Brown who will expire this year. And I think by Bruce Brown’s hope is almost certainly to regain his value to go elsewhere, right? Not I think he would rather be in Denver, but can Denver pay him? I think this is very similar to 2023 when it’s like you should think of him as a one-year really get value and then he moves on. Tim Hardway Junior’s on a one-year deal. You do have Jonas Yonis Valenunis uh two years, you know, so you have a little bit of wiggle room there. But the point is Denver will need Payton Watson and Julian Strawther in the future because they’re going to need cheaper options. This the only way to keep a window open is you have to have some guys that are coming through the system that are getting better. I think even the same is true of Jaylen Picket. So to me, even if you’re not a Peyton Watson fan, I do think you should look at this and say it’s great because Denver has the chance that if they do it right, they develop him into what they’re going to need in the playoffs and in the years to come while also having a safety net or another option in Tim Hardway Jr.
Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it’s an ideal situation for sure. Do you think a Pton Watson trade, a a Peyton Watson deal or of some sorts is something that might still be on the table or having Tim Hardaway Jr., you know, an offensive first option off the bench quiets that for now? Well, what we just did was we talked about defensive options for Denver and there was almost more offensive options than there were defensive ones. I think when you look at the defensive options, Peyton Watson, if you took him out of the occasion, Bruce Brown, Jaylen Picket can defend, Zeke Naji, I don’t know that you have a lot there. So, I kind of think that he actually still retains an enormous amount of value to the team as their defensive choices there. So,
yeah, that’s kind of how I look at it. And then again, the future flexibility to me is so important.
Yeah, I’d I’d agree with that actually. Like if you were thinking about a Watson Cam Whitmore swap, you’re like, “All right, we’ll trade you our defensive project for your offensive project.” I don’t want the Nuggets to get too far away from like we don’t have any defensive options out there,
right?
We still need long lengthy athletic defenders. Pwatt is that he’s got a lot of other stuff to work on as well. But I do I do kind of like, you know, the balance there w with Watson and Hardway and just the offense defense uh synergy with those two.
Yeah. Yeah, that will that’ll be interesting to kind of watch as well. Um you probably are too young I don’t even know. I don’t you’re probably too young to remember Tim Hardaway’s dad. Tim Tim Hardaway senior. He had a disastrous stint with the Denver Nuggets.
Did he?
Back in like he came in the same thing kind of the end. I mean, those were probably the dark ages, right?
They were the dark ages of Denver. Denver was the Denver Nuggets were like, you got sent there. You were like, “Are you kidding me? I’m on the Nuggets now.” And it ended with him grabbing a monitor. In the old days, it was an actual TV monitor, like a square, probably 50 pound little TV thing, and he threw it onto the court and kind of an iconic meltdown on the court. Alltime Nuggets meltdown. So, uh, I am curious what Tim Hardaway senior thinks when he sees his, uh, his son going to the Denver Nuggets. What number did Tim Hardaway wear last season? Number eight. That’s
Pton Watson. That’s Peyton Watson’s number.
That’s Peyton Watson’s number.
And he’s he’s branded it and everything. You know, Tim Hardway is gonna have to find a new number. Is 10 available?
That’s what his dad wore. Is 10 available?
I I believe 10 is available.
Number 10 looks like it is available. There you go.
Okay. Number 10 available. There you go. The Nuggets did it, man. I mean, honestly, to go from what we were expecting,
he wore 10 with the Mavs, so I’m sure
what we were expecting based on uh and now compared to what the Nuggets got, I just very very impressive what the Nuggets have been able to do. And now to me, I’ll we’ll see if they try to make another move. I think it’s still very possible, but I also wouldn’t be surprised if they don’t. And so now the question will be at what price point are you able to get Christian Brown and Payton Watson signed into extensions? Because while the Nuggets this year to me look like they are poised to once again have serious odds at contending for a title, the future is still something that you don’t want this ride to end. They did lose out on one pick, so they have fewer picks in the future to to to trade away. So they have to be able to get smart contracts on their books that carry over into next year. That’s why those two contracts are so meaningful.
Yeah. I mean, the biggest thing we have to find out now is does Ben Tenzer or John Wallace accept the executive of the year award. That’s that’s when we’ll know who is higher on the hierarchy. That’s probably the one thing left to
to find out here.
And now the pressure is on Jamal Murray. It’s weird that Jamal Murray once again now comes to my biggest like X factor of 10 per season. What version are we getting? Because point guard is the weak spot. You know, you have Jamal Murray. He’s obviously phenomenal, but I love Jaylen Picket. I have a lot of faith in him. Not everybody does, but if that’s who they roll with, you really need Jamal to be healthy and available all year long and in good shape. And so that’s the one maybe vulnerability you can see in this roster. And yeah, all eyes will go onto him now and see how he approaches this season.
Yeah, backup point guard is the one quote unquote hole if you’re looking to, you know, pick apart anything. But I feel like at least to start the season, they’re in a pretty good spot with just the depth chart. Jaylen Picket, you know, for everything that happened last year, he had a pretty decent season. Like there were a lot of points throughout the year where you, you know, watch Jaylen Picket play in the rotation and you were like, “Oh, Nuggets look pretty good with him out there. He looks fine. Looks like a real NBA point guard.” So, there were moments last year that that I’m sure gave, you know, Ben Tenzer kind of some hope that Picket can be a rotation guy at times this season. And you have Bruce there now. So, you don’t really need Picket to save you by any means with Jamal off the court. Um, but I’m I’m fully comfortable rolling into the season with this group of guys. And then you see, you know, you see what kind of transpires. you have an open roster spot to maybe pick up another veteran, take a chance on a guy, and just kind of go from there.
We got some super chats, SC, I guess. V is V joining? Did he duck out? I kind of want to hear his thoughts on this.
I I do not know what the ultimate conclusion was. Last I heard, he was looking for a room. Well, if he joins us, we’ll get his thoughts because I am curious what he has to say. But let’s go to some super chats for now. And obviously, we’ll do this is an emergency pod. We’ll have another pod tomorrow
because there’ll still be more to talk about.
Oh man, love there’s nothing we love more than an emergency pod.
It’s an emergency, man.
Uh Trenton, just an insane off season from BJ and it’s only been two days. Yes, chef.
Chef.
Can’t wait to see what Jokic can cook up with a relatively competent bench.
I love it, man. I think Yolk’s got to be happy with the moves that have been made. I gotta think. I mean, we’ll see.
I gotta think he’s ecstatic about getting Big Val. Yeah. And obviously Bruce who he loved.
Bruce Eye B.
Makaoo. We are back. Yes, we certainly are.
Last time Bruce Eye B was in Denver, he didn’t have horse money. He’s got horse money now. Wind.
I know. Like last last time he was probably shelled up in like a downtown apartment by the arena. Now he can just buy himself a ranch.
A little ranch. A little little casa on the mesa. Sun Valley Drive. Second super chat for DNVR show in honor of me missing work again for another pod. Yeah, sorry man. It’s the dog days of work, man. It’s the dog days.
No, who really works in the summer anyway?
No, nobody works in the dog days. Johnny Keane, front office husband. Fire Brogden would be icing on the cake. That would be insane, man. I love my guy pick it. I’m I’m I’m good with uh cheaper Brogden. Cheaper Brogden. Uh Johnny Keane again, even if all these signings don’t help in the playoffs, the fact that they can help in the regular season makes the Nuggets much more rested for the playoffs.
I agree. But I also think they can play in the playoffs. I mean, it’s not like you’re counting on Tim Hardway Jr. to give you 17 points. You’re counting on him to be an option for you when you need shooting in certain configurations.
Yeah, Yonaton, I think we can agree. All the Nuggets are good. We are so back.
I’m kind of getting there, man. I’m kind of getting there. This is kind of an all the nuggets are good kind of offseason. Bobby Gonzalez D&VR playing with us now. Mars with Vow and Win with Hardaway Jr. Breadcrumbs left all around. Offseason has been amazing. Mars is still the homie.
Still the homie. He said cuz he doesn’t love Picket. We weren’t homies. But
you know what? Still the homie. You’re going to come around. I This is what I like. I’m like tripling down on Picket. So if they keep him, I’m like, you know what? I’m all right. Let’s do it.
Tripling down, Adam. That happened two summers ago.
Quadrupling down. History Channel 5280. Vets around the league are finally buying into the Jokic bump after seeing Joic resurrect Westbrook’s career. Hey man, maybe. Although
Westbrook doesn’t have a team right now.
I don’t know if it worked for Westbrook quite that way yet.
I thought it was going to work though. Robbo Cam Johnson plays really well in the playoffs compared to MPJ. Something to take note of. That’s interesting. I haven’t thought about
I’m gonna rest of the day today. I’m hopeful, man. This news keeps breaking. I’m hopeful I get to do a little film study on Cam Johnson. That’s my That’s on the docket if I can get to it.
Nice. Kyle M. Hey, Adam.
Ah, I got this one. I got the Tim Hardway Jr. one. Let’s go. Jamie, awesome coverage, guys. I’m not trying to speak this into existence, but could any or all of our free agent acquisitions be undone if MPJ fails a physical?
Of course.
Yeah. Yeah. if they pull a Mark Williams if they with the Lakers, but I I mean, knock on wood. I don’t think that’s going to happen.
I I don’t I don’t think so either. The the feverish feed. Uh can you screenshot this one, Kale, and uh text it to me, please? Harrison, what’s your skin routine? You are legit glowing. Stay cool, hot stuff. Thank you very much.
My god, I can’t believe he just got that one. Come on. Come on, people. Uh Nash Sweden, are we done with Vlatco? Yes,
I really hope so. I I think Vlatco is not returning. Yeah, it appears that he is gone. Pour one out for Vl for Chaki, man.
Man, it’d be great if we could get him on the podcast for one one last Swan song, but he’s probably not in the country.
Yeah, you know what? We’ll hit him up. We’ll see what happens.
Yeah.
Is that everything? That’s it.
Um I’m guessing no vote. There it is. Uh 40 minutes. Man, we went longer than we expected here, but the Nuggets, Ben Tenzer, John Wallace, they’re cooking behind the scenes. Absolutely cooking. What a great off seasonason so far, man. Um, maybe no more emergency podcasts today or tomorrow, but I who knows. It’s
just regular podcast.
I can’t say that for sure. We’ll see.
Everybody, thanks for tuning in. We’re going to have a great show. We have a lot to talk about tomorrow, so I’m excited. I’m going to go hit the film study now. I have more for you. Stay locked on the dnvr.com and our dnvr YouTube page. We’ll see you later. [Applause] We all sitting like the mayor.

The madness continues! After big splash trades for Cam Johnson and Jonas Valančiūnas, the Nuggets signed both Bruce Brown and now Tim Hardaway Jr! What do we make of the new signing and the new look Denver Nuggets? Adam Mares and Harrison Wind come to you LIVE for this special emergency edition of the DNVR Nuggets Podcast!

Start – 0:00
Tim Hardaway Jr to the Nuggets – 1:30
Turning the page? – 10:30
Vogt joins the show – 14:00
Last roster spot and other needs – 22:45
Superchats – 36:50

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