Are Denver Nuggets the Best Team in NBA? New Rotation is STACKED

Are Denver Nuggets the Best Team in NBA? New Rotation is STACKED

Are the Denver Nuggets the best team in basketball right now? I cannot believe we are here. Specifically, I cannot believe I am here. This is Locked on Nuggets. You are Locked on Nuggets, your daily Denver Nuggets podcast, part of the Locked On Network, your team every day. Welcome to Locked On Nuggets, your daily Denver Nuggets podcast, part of the Locked On Network, your team every day. Thank you for tuning in for this entire week. We’ve had stacked amazing episodes throughout this time. My name is Ryan Blackburn, host of Pickaxe and Roll and at Mile High Sports. He is Matt Moore over at Buckets, the Action Network, the Denver Dig. Very excited. have a lot of great content over the course of this week. Uh, this podcast, as you know, it’s brought to you by Monarch Money. Uh, take control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use code lockdown NBA at monarchmoney.com for 50% off your first year. Okay, Matt. The Denver Nuggets are the best team in the NBA now. They are. This is This is the best team in the NBA, and I cannot believe they are here. You do realize that Doug Branson’s gonna clip this for lock on NBA tomorrow.
Tell him to clip this for lockdown NBA tomorrow.
Great. Hey, the the OKC Thunder, they had their run. They’re going to go back to being the OKC. I’m just kidding. No, no, I actually like here
now. I’m saying it’s a lock to lock on Thunder for for Ryan Styles to discuss on his show. I I I I’m just joking around a little bit because look, I I think Nuggets fans are all feeling the juice a little bit around this team. I think everybody is very excited about not only making the Michael Porter Jr. trade for Cam Johnson arguably a better player, certainly a better fit for right now. They have also put a real rotation around Nicole, this amazing starting lineup that Denver has had for a while. And that was the the sort of thing that everybody was talking about, right, was make sure that the starting five, the core or the core five, whatever you call it, is the best that it can possibly be and then give the rotation some help. And I think the Nuggets have done that. I think it’s been interesting the reactions on Cam because to me I did a whole big thing on um dig about it on the Denver dig and to me the biggest thing is he’s got so much of an ability to play off the bounce in ways that MPJ couldn’t. And Mike had a really good start to the season with some of that stuff. But by late in the season, we were back to just like he can’t drive. If he drives, he’s going to lose the ball. And Cam’s not hyper explosive, but he’s extremely patient. And like he’s just in control. And he makes really good reads. Like he just makes really good reads. He’s not like an elite playmaker, but for your third weapon offensively, fourth weapon, he’s able to make not just base level reads, but second and third level stuff. He’s able to run twoman game. You can run pick and roll with him. You can run like the DHO stuff is very good with him. And that will be true with both Yoke and with with Valenunis. And there’s just like a lot more you can do with Cam. You can just do a lot more with him. I think um you know from the perspective of how good this team is, everybody does this the on paper stuff in the off season and I don’t know that I’ve ever had a time Ryan where I believe in the on paper stuff less you know the
except when OKC on paper was a 65 win team. Yeah, but even then I think what made them great wasn’t the individual talent. It was the combination and the like I’ve really gotten to this point where I’m like it’s not about how good your star players are. It’s not even the misconception is that it’s about depth. And I don’t think that’s true. It’s how many good fiveman lineups can you put out there.
Yeah. And the Nuggets can put out so many more fiveman lineups that are are better. Like they just have the ability to put so many different ones where it’s even the ones that are like we’re just trying to buy some minutes here are going to be so much better.
Oh yeah.
Just having Tim Hardaway Jr. is going to be significant just by having a guy where it’s like yeah, he’s an NBA like he’s not going to he’s not going to get completely lost defensively. He’s going to So like it’s it’s him. It is another year for Pton Watson, Julian Strather, Jaylen Picket, those guys. Uh, we’ll see what the young guys can actually put together. But here’s the thing. I can put a lineup together. I could put a rotation together in the playoffs that includes zero young players now. It’s going to be Bruce Brown, Tim Hardaway Jr., Jonas Valenunis, like playing 10 minutes and then Denver starters play 40 like they did this last time. So, anything that the Nuggets put together going forward with their young guys, I think is going to be awesome. Uh, hello. Uh, what’s up? What’s up, Katie’s lady? How are you? Just wanted to wanted to say hello. Happy birthday.
How are you? Um,
sorry, that that came out wrong.
They would have beat OKC if they had the current team in the last playoffs.
I think that’s an argument.
Is a chat comment. No, I did not.
Yeah, it is an argument though. Like that’s that’s the one thing that I know you don’t like to do this and I understand why that basically uh every single time everybody puts together oh if you you could have won game four you could have won game five uh there were some certain times that you could have turned that series around. I I still think that OKC would have won the series last year had they one thing gone Denver’s way. Uh, but I do think that now that you have those options, you you’re not going to have as many times anymore where Nicole Joic, you’re just throwing the ball into the post and everybody’s collapsing on him all the time.
Like, go ahead.
TJ is a terrible defender and a very inconsistent shooter. Yes. That’s why he’s the eighth man, ninth man on this Denver Nuggets team.
Yeah.
Like we are we are just talking about you just need to because the other thing is and like Pistons fans would tell you this, it’s like no, you’ll get some good games out of him. Like he’ll have nights where we’re like, you know who had a good game tonight was THJ. We’re gonna have a lot of nights like, you know who was terrible tonight? THJ. He was terrible tonight.
Yeah.
Like,
and that’s okay. But I will tell you that just the baseline competency that veterans bring of not getting lost helps the other guys a lot.
Like watch Nola when he plays with inexperienced players and watch the fr frustration just emanate from him and Tim Hardway Jr. will make fewer mistakes most likely that will frustrate Nicole Joic.
Yeah,
most likely.
And like he’s willing to live with it because he knows who Tim Hardaway is. He’s played against him over and over and over again. He understands his game. He understands his tendencies. Like they these guys will figure it out. Uh but the other thing is like one one of the great things that OKC consistently did, Indiana consistently did was that if your sixth man doesn’t have it, you can go to the ninth. If your ninth man doesn’t have it, you could go to the 11th. you could go to these other guys and feel like you at least have some competency there, some baseline there, uh, that they can Hurricane who’s been very negative about this entire like revamp is saying they still need two more guys.
Yeah.
Okay. Julian Strawther came into a playoff game against the Thunder and had a massive game. Like Julian’s gonna be a guy. He may not be he’s not gonna be a star, but like he can be a rotation guy in this league. Yeah,
he can absolutely be a guy. Peyton Watson, if they retain him, can definitely be a guy. Like you have the, you know, the rotation is the starters with Cam, Bruce, Julian, Payton, THJ, Valen, that’s 10. That’s 10. That’s a 10-man rotation. Any more than that on honestly on any given night and you’re just It’s hubris. You’re running 11 12. You’re running too many.
Yeah. like now OKC was doing it and they were able to get through it in part because like those guys will consistently buy in. Denver in all likelihood is probably going to get to 10 and they’re basically going to like whenever guys have a bad stretch they’ll probably rotate out to an 11th person and and it’s not like you’re not going to extend the rotation past 10 guys, but you can. And so that’s that’s the goal here for Denver. The other thing is like Matt, it it was so important that Denver had a player that they could drop Nicole Joic’s minutes from 36.7 minutes per game down to about 3233. And I think that Yonis Valenunis can average in the games that Joic plays about 15 minutes per game. That is such a big deal. It’s so huge. I agree. Um I totally agree. Jacob says, “What’s the most games that Cam has played?” He usually only plays like 47. He played 57 last year. Uh 47 the se season before and 25 41 the season prior in Phoenix and Brooklyn. Um what I would tell you is I looked back at this and I wrote about it on the dig. There’s no like major there’s no major knee like injury stuff. He had the meniscus repair back in 2022. He had a quad contusion two years ago. or this this last season, I’m sorry. That’s it. That’s like there’s no major injury stuff there. He could keep getting banged up. That’s possible. But I would tell you that the context of where Brooklyn was at probably indicates a lot more of how many games he played rather than this other kind of thing. Like he played 60 games in 2021 because they only played 72 games that season, you know? when he played 66 the following year. That was when he had the knee surgery. Like I don’t know what to tell you here. Like I I do not have the same kind of injury concerns about Cam Johnson that I do about Michael Porter Jr. and be like but but MPJ played more games. He did. But like you just cannot get guys the back surgeries are a big deal. I don’t know how else to tell you this just because they have not directly impacted your life outside of you know the season that he missed entirely. two seasons, his rookie season, and then the other one.
It’s very possible that that follows him at some point. Like, we’ll we’ll see. We’ll see what happens. Like, there’s at least like look, Denver made a bet here and I think that they’re going to get it paid off. I think that they have a great mix and I’m very excited to see where it goes. Tell you what, let’s take a break. When we come back, I want you, Matt, to come up with your favorite fiveman rotate or your favorite fiveman lineup that is not the starters. We’ll be right back here on Locked on Nuggets. Today’s show is brought to you by Monarch Money. Do you ever wish managing your money felt easier? With Monarch Money, it can. Whether you’re growing your savings or planning a big purchase, Monarch puts you in the driver’s seat. It’s like having your own personal CFO, giving you full v visibility and control on your finances. Monarch is more than a budgeting app. It’s a complete financial command center. you can track all of your accounts, investments, and spending in one place. So, in addition to managing your money, you’re also picking wealth. Uh, is there a specific category like takeout or subscriptions that has added up for you more than expected? Because it has for me. Uh, that that I definitely need to get track of, especially on the subscription front. Take control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use code lockdown NBA at monarchmoney.com for 50% off your first year. That’s monarchmoney.com. Code locked on NBA for half off your first year. We’ll be right back here on Locked on Nuggets. Back at it. Locked on Nuggets. Thank you so much for tuning in. Hurricane says Mike has missed two full seasons in his career, yet he’s played five more games than Cam Johnson over his career. Uh, look, I just want everybody to be fully charged for the playoffs, man. And the great thing about Denver’s rotation now is that if you have to start Bruce Brown, you can. If you have to start Tim Hardway Jr., you can. If you have have to start Payton Watson, you can. You’re gonna really feel bad about resting Cam Johnson for five game stretches here or there. I’m just not going to worry about it. Yeah. I I just think um I we we spent a lot of time appreciating Mike for how much he put into playing. Yeah.
And we credit him a lot with that. You guys should also know like it takes a lot for Mike to do that.
Yeah, there’s a lot that’s been taken out of him over the course of this. He has put a lot into the years of this contract specifically. Uh just just so everybody understands.
Um
uh Okay.
I want to I want to hear your fiveman. I want to hear like so Denver’s lineup obviously that they’re going to play the most is Joic Murray, Cam Johnson, Aaron Gordon, Christian Brown. like that’s the group that they’re going to spend the most time on. But I’m curious what other groups you would like to see. Bruce, Christian, Payton, Cam, JV. Interesting. I thought you were going to say Jokic and I thought that that was going to be kind of a like a first rotation off of the first and third quarter, which I really like. I really like that particular group, but you like this as kind of a bench lineup.
Uh I am also good with it with Jokic. It just feels greedy to ever use three starters in the in the in the rot in the stagger lineup, but yeah. Um I like it better. Obviously, I’m so surprised I’m gonna like it better with Joker. Um the capability there to kind of build. I really like the Bruce, Christian, Cam defensive combo.
Like, I just think those lineups are going to be extremely solid. They’re going to be able to get up into guys. They’re going to be disruptive. They’re going to communicate, which is going to help a lot. They needed more guys that were going to speak on this team. I think both Bruce and Cam can help with that. Um, they could shoot with Cam. Uh, they can’t shoot with Christian and Peyton. And then Bruce is a question mark there. So, the shooting is going to be a little bit of an issue, but they can run. And it gets back to that lineup that I think we all kind of liked, which was like Bruce and Christian are Bruce and KCP
when it was those two just wrecking in 2023. They can get back to that a little bit, and I think that’s really exciting. So, it’s for me, it’s like what Bruce is able to bring at point guard alongside some of these other guys. Um, I’ll also say like one that I’ve really I’ve really liked too honestly is Bruce Julian Christian Cam Jokic. I like that one a lot too.
Um, I I I’m high I mean look I I’ve I’ve bought in on Julian when everyone was out on him and I have taken up that island and I still think that you know one of your questions here is like is Julian Straw the odd man out? He might be in the last spot for sure. I still think that Christian’s gonna have a big role on this team and I think he’s gonna have a great season.
So, let me ask you this. So, I I kind of pigeonhold it as, okay, you’ve got three guys off the bench that you know are going to play. It’s going to be Bruce. I think it’s going to be Payton. I think it’s going to be Jonas Valunis. Uh Payton’s like your your perimeter defensive guy. Somebody who can cover for Yonas Valunis kind of on the the defensive rotation sometimes. Uh, I could definitely see that working, but then you’re going to need a shooter out there, and you might even want two with Julian and Tim Hardaway Jr., Uh, do you go with Don Holmes as a a second big next to Jonas Valenunis on that second unit or do you go with kind of a smaller group, move Payton over, have Cam Johnson maybe stagger with the second unit and be more of a a quicker, spacier lineup and then maybe you even stagger Jamal in some of those looks too. Yeah, I mean this is this is one where I think you get to play with what you want to do versus the opponent where if you’re facing a big lineup and you’re worried about the glass, you put Don next to JV or you bring an Aaron to shore up that position. If you need spacing and versatility and a little bit of speed, then I think you play Cam at power forward and then you slide in. Like I really like the idea of moving Christian a little bit to the three and having Christian and Cam together in those combos. I like going smaller in the guards with the skill set that they have in the guards and then moving Christian to the three. I like some of those those lineup combos. I think that they’re very effective. I mean, part of it is Payton can guard twos, Christian can guard twos, Payton can guard threes, Christian can guard threes. Payton struggles with fours unless it’s a stretch four. But like you’ve got, this is one thing that I I thought about a lot. It’s how much better their switch all defense is going to be. It’s just going to be a lot better when you don’t have the ability to be like, “All right, well, I’m gonna go ahead and put get Jamal on me and then we’re going to run that action into MPJ and then that’s bucket, right?” And like not having all these different target mechanisms I think is going to be very very helpful. I love it. And I think that’s it’s one of the values of being able to work with that.
Um, more of a switch all group. I would say I like the idea of Jamal. Let’s say Jamal and Joker are in a lineup, but you want to give the other guys a rest. Think you could get Tim Hardaway out there for spacing. You could get Payton Watson out there for defense. You could get Don Holmes out there for activity as well. Like this is this is two guys in like two young guys in Payton and Don Holmes who are like you want to get them some activity. You want to get them some like defensive impact like rotating on the back line. I don’t know how well they’re going to do in that regard, but and that’s kind of an untraditional one, but with Jokic, you want to be able to use some size as well. And I do think that that could be a way for Don to get on the floor.
So, one thing they might want to do is they might want to you might want to try and avoid Tim Hardaway Jr. JV lineups. How come?
So, JV is a drop, right? He’s a traditional drop big and Tim just isn’t really ever been like he falls asleep a lot defensively and so if he’s off ball there’s a possibility of him sagging off and then getting caught which you can’t do. The whole point of playing drop is not allow those. And then if they put him in the actual pick and roll guard action, Tim’s not like he’s no longer as athletic as he was when he was younger. He’s an older guy now. Um and he was never really like hyper athletic anyway. He’s just like a good allaround guard. And so that could be a combo like I’m not gonna be surprised if the Tim Hardaway Jr. JV splits are really poor. Um the question will kind of be like what are the what are the combos with JV that are positive?
And if you can find those and stick to them and make them and really accentuate them, then you’ve got something I think you can really use to shore up the benchmar factor from night to night. I think you brought in Bruce and you brought in Tim Hardaway Jr. you want to you’re going to want to play Julian and Payton. So, you’re probably not playing Jaylen Picket that much. You’re probably not playing Hunter Tyson that much. You’re probably not playing Zeke Naji that much. Although, I think Zeke may get an opportunity to play four over Don Holmes and they might force him to earn it, especially if he’s not quite ready. Uh, but it’ll be interesting to see who actually fits in there. Uh, if they go to nine, uh, Bruce, Tim Hardaway, Payton Watson, Jonas Valenunis, I kind of think that’s just really good all around. And there’s there’s a lot of different ways that they can mix and match with that. Uh, just going to be very interesting to see how they stagger and I’m I’m curious to see what David Adelman’s and how he’s going to run that rotation.
What do you think of this? Grace is worried about can a power forward. What do you think about it?
I’m not worried. I I just I don’t like especially for for a team like Denver so much of them like so much of their their scheme and so much of what they do it doesn’t really like I think more perimeter and point of attack defense is more important than some of that rotational stuff and if you’ve got a guy like Jonas Valenunis out there so much of the reason why guys like Peyton Watson at the four Michael Porter at the four really struggled was because when they were playing with Darius Arch or Zeke Naji or even DeAndre George is just now like super mobile like couldn’t get those rebounds the way that Yonas will be able to. So I I think that they’re smart enough and it’s just a higher level of basketball IQ out there that will be able to handle it. They know their weaknesses. Um I I’m not going to sit here and say they should play it all the time, but it’s a wrinkle that they they’re going to need.
You can play it versus when you’re not getting killed in terms of the glass. So, like uh Grace says Cam’s even smaller than MPJ and MPJ at the four was a defensive nightmare. Yeah, but Grace, that’s because you were having the biggest problem with MPJ was he was having to cover the weak side zone where he had to handle the guy crashing and the corner guy and he couldn’t do it. Like MPJ could not help down and when they played at level, MPJ could not help down and then recover to the corner. Cam can like I have I put clips in over the dig of him doing that. And so that to me is like the biggest differential here is you know we’re there’s just not a lot of pure power forwards left. Like there’s just not a lot of them right. If it’s Kevin Durant are you worried about Kevin Durant bodying Cam Thompson? No. Like I don’t know what the concern really is for um playing Cam at the four in spots. I think in general the I don’t want him playing a lot of it. I want him playing very sparingly in very select lineups. I don’t want it being his normal rotation. He should not be the backup four. But I think it’s something it’s a tool you can use for sure.
You don’t think that he can be the backup four like with Payton Watson being the backup three?
No. You once again are are trying to get guys killed and I will continue to fight back on your urge to murder people. You want Aaron Gordon at the five and Cam Thompson at the four. And I am trying save these men. I am trying to save them from you and the let’s go small.
I could understand the five. I do not think that playing the power forward position is vastly different than playing small forward for those. They all talk about it. They say it is the five certainly. I don’t think it’s the four. I don’t think that that’s a thing.
No, they definitely talk about it. They definitely have talked about it.
I’ll have to ask. That’ll be that’ll be interesting. Okay. Hey, let’s take another break. When we come back, we’ll talk about some possible pitfalls and then talk about the 15th roster spot for Denver. That’s going to be an interesting one whether they fill it or not. We’ll be right back here on Locked on Nuggets.
Stop trying to murder the Nuggets. All right, final segment. Locked on Nuggets. Thank you so much for tuning into the show, folks. Hit that like button, hit that subscribe button. We’d really appreciate it. We’ve had such big uh such big episodes over the course of these past few days. It’s been a lot of fun. I like there was a world Matt where they did not do any of this and we would be like sad sacking like just doing what I would normally do. Uh it would be would be very interesting to uh to go through that one, but I don’t want to live in that era because now I’m happy. Uh, Matt, uh, we talked about before the show, we talked about this before the show and it was like Ryan’s so happy now. I have to like I was ready to be the optimistic one all summer and was excited for it. I was going to be the one to get back in the good graces of Reddit. It was going to be great. But now I have to pivot and now I have to turn into the one that’s going to be like, well, I mean, okay, like cal like we can settle down like a little like Houston’s really good. Like maybe we can like calm down like a little bit. I don’t I hate this. I hate it. I hate that they’ve made you so happy. Not fair. By the way, I called him Cam Thompson in the last segment. I have no idea why. I don’t even know what I was referring to. I don’t think
Clay Thompson, baby.
Clay Thompson. I don’t think so. I have no idea why, but I called him Cam Thompson. Cam Johnson. I told you.
Does Reddit not like me? Is that a Is that a thing? Because of
Oh, Reddit hates all of us.
Oh, okay.
All of us. Although, it is great because you’ll get the comments that the threads are always like, “I don’t mind Ryan. He’s pretty good, but god Matt sucks. And then the next one will be like, I like Matt. The unbiased opinion, I I really value, but that Ryan guy, oh my god. And then all the Swipe comments are either like, Swiper rules, he’s the man, or Swiper is the worst. I want him to go away. They’re all independent. You and I are tied, though.
Well, that’s why uh that’s that’s why we have a three-man panel, so it’s something for everybody. Oh, Carlos figured it out. I combined Cam Thomas and Cam to and Cam Johnson into Cam Thompson. That’s what I did.
I love it. Um, okay. Tell me your biggest worry about the current Nuggets rotation. Um, Jamal in the second unit. You don’t think that’s going to be good, huh?
No. When has it ever been good?
I I thought we were doing this thing last year where he actually was pretty solid with those non Jokic minutes and that was with DeAndre Jordan. Well, DJ’s not around anymore, Ryan.
Oh, yeah. So, Jamal can’t uh Jamal doesn’t have his parachute on now. No, I think um I I still am always going So I think the biggest question with that rotation is all right, if you play Jamal with the second unit and it’s like Jamal and Bruce with one of the other starters either uh Christian
I like it with AG for what it’s worth.
Okay, you like it with AG. Um so let’s say they bench Christian and Cam. They play they tie those two to to to Joker. Um, I don’t know if I want to do that because like I kind of want Cam Thompson’s skill set on the floor more, but I get it. And more different lineup. I did it again. Cam Johnson’s lineup. Cam Johnson’s skill set on the floor more. Uh, because I just think that Cam’s got a lot more floor game. Like he’s one of the few Nuggets that has like a floor game. I think you want that on the court a lot more, don’t you?
Uh, I do. So, does that mean that okay, if you don’t want him at power forward, you’re going to have him at small forward. Who plays power forward in that lineup? Uh, drawn Holmes. Okay. So, sounds like not as many minutes for Pton Watson then. Um, I think you can play Payton Moore with Joker. Cassie how that goes. So, I you know, I think it’s like
it’s it’s tough. Um,
it is there’ll be a little bit of a crunch on the wing, but that’s what you want. You want it to be like, hey, we have all these different wings we can use when we when we need them.
Yeah. No, that’s I mean that’s the like it’s a great problem to have. Oh crap, we can’t fit all of these good players into our rotation. Uh, that’s not something that they’ve had to worry about lately. Uh, so it’s nice to see that. Okay, that’s that’s one issue. I kind of like the Jamal, Bruce, one of Tim Hardaway Jr. or Julian Strawther lineups where you get three guards out there and then you get Don Holmes and Jonas Valunis for the size. So like you’re a little bit weak on the wings uh especially defensively, but it’s not as big of a deal if you’re not playing an actual scoring wing out there. So
let me ask you this. Who does Jamal and this is not me trying to like just snipe at Jamal because I’ve been the one that’s kind of been trying to back off the raging fires against him. Who does what type of player does Jamal make better? Because he’s not a great lob thrower because he grew up playing with Joker. So, he never learned how to throw to someone who can jump and he’s not like an isoscentric get downhill and then kick out to shooters guy either. Who are the types of players that Jamal makes better? Because he has really good playmaking ability. I’ve talked a lot about that about how good his passes have become, but I don’t know what archetype where I’m like, “Oh, those guys play really well next to Jamal.” I kind of think Bruce does. I kind of think Bruce or certainly did during that year. I’d have to go check the numbers and the the play-by-play data. Obviously, a lot of that is without Jokic on the floor for a purpose, but uh like I just remember a lot of lineups where Jamal would take on a lot of responsibility and then opposing teams would bottle him up eventually. they’d figure out how they would do it, but he would allow the secondary playmaker to actually be helpful. Obviously, you’re going to tell the regular season numbers that they were like minus 10.
Well, it’s just funny that we that the way that we remember it because I remember it as like Jamal was not good,
but it was the fact that they had KCP and Bruce together.
Like KCP was the part that I thought made those those lineups really work
was was how that’s how I remember it. But again, like memory’s fuzzy here. Maybe Aaron Gordon. Aaron Gordon I think is a guy that like especially when Jamal is looking for Joker, Aaron gets a lot of that like he he takes advantage of that attention and Jamal does find him a fair amount. So I I would say those guys probably and then the the twoman game with Joker I think is still a staple. Uh, but I I think it’s fair like that’s a fair criticism of Jamal is that he mostly operates within his own space and his own game as opposed to being the uplifter and that’s one of the reasons why he’s really struggled to uplift other lineups especially the ones without Jokic. Um, okay. What is your biggest concern? Um, not having that traditional backup point guard definitely is something. Um, I do like the idea of them going with a bigger group that’s a little bit more switchy. You don’t necessarily have to be tied down all the time, but there are going to be these situations, especially like, hey, you don’t have Joker. Jonas Val, Jonas is not playing well. Like, you’re you’re probably going to have to create something out of nothing. And it’s going to be a lot of Bruce Brown kind of dribble into nowhere, firing up a floater, and that may or may not go in. So, I I would be a little bit worried about that. Uh, but outside of that, man, I don’t have a lot of concerns. The youth and just taking the next step is my next thing. Like if if Denver can get one of those guys, whether it’s Payton, Julian, uh, Jaylen Picket, Don Holmes, to really just be like, “Oh yeah, they’re definitely a rotation, like they’re definitely a playoff rotation player.” Then that is the next concern. Uh, Grace says, “Jamal’s actually a good lot passer. We just haven’t paired him with that kind of big.” I think his passes, the actual lob passes are good, Grace. I do not think he looks for it enough. So, there’s two two parts of that is like, can you see that pass and can you make that pass? To be clear, I can’t do either. But Jamal can make that pass, but doesn’t see that pass as often as I think maybe he could in some situations.
Um,
what do you think they do with the 15th man? Um, I think they add somebody, whether it’s a, you know, whether it’s a a minimum contract kind of prospect reach, undrafted free agent, somebody they find in summer league, bring back Russ, add like whoever is left on kind of the market. I am kind of surprised that there’s so much of a drive for like like everybody’s like, “Okay, who else are they getting?” And I’m just like, guys, they got a backup big, an upgrade on the wing, and Bruce Brown. Like,
they did the thing.
Yeah,
don’t be greedy. Like, they did the thing. They got a playoff rotation now. You got more guys. I’m not saying that like they shouldn’t add somebody else. They should. But I also don’t think that, you know, if they if they land CP3, great. Terrific. But do I think that it’s more likely that it’s just kind of like a name just like a guy? I think that’s probably more likely. How do you feel about Kyle Lowry or Corey Joseph as like a a third depth point guard that you can trust at times? Is Kyle not back with him?
I I didn’t think that he was back.
I thought he was back with that.
Maybe I missed that. It was It’s been a busy couple days.
I mean, I wouldn’t mind having Cory in the locker room. Cory’s Everyone loves Corey.
Yeah,
everybody loves Everybody loves Cojo. Everybody loves him.
U anybody with Spurs experience, I think, is helpful. So, I wouldn’t mind that. I just you you know honestly that’s probably the best use of that slot is to find the DeAndre guy.
Yeah.
Is you probably need like you want a good vibes veteran dude to be chill.
I think that that’s a perfectly reasonable thing for them to do. They do not need another guy who plays. That I think is a misnomer that some folks are putting out there. Like if it was Chris Paul that would be awesome. Um Zach asks, “Do you think they are better than the championship year roster?” Unequivocally yes. Okay, I do not I will go the other way. This is a an insane take, but I applaud you for having swung so fast that I now have whiplash and I’m going to consult a lawyer to sue you for giving me whiplash with your move.
Feel like I I kept a straight face for almost as much of that as I possibly could. That was that was pretty good. I I do believe it though. Wow.
Yeah.
Um
it’s just the rest of the league is also better.
You guys You guys ask like the chat saying that they don’t want CP3. You’re insane.
You’re insane. CP3 would make this team better. Like he would
he’s like the absolute definition of professional and you’re going to be like, “What of all the cheap shots?” Yeah, because he cares about winning that much. He’s a psycho. He’s He’s amazing. By the way, uh Jamal Murray, Bruce Brown without Nicole Yogic 2023 minus 11.6. I It was worse than I thought. Uh playoffs, I assume it was way higher, but uh uh probably not that much higher. Like there was a misnomer of that for the for the actual numbers.
It was good when they had KCP on the floor, though. Well, hey, uh wish they had a guy. Actually, they they do have a guy like that. His name’s Christian Brown. That is going to do it for this episode of Locked on Nuggets, everybody. Thank you so much for tuning in. Uh, Swipe and I will be back on Friday. If there is another thing that happens, we’ll absolutely uh put out another episode. Uh, but until then, thank you so much everybody. Hit that like button, hit that subscribe button on the way out. We’ll talk to you guys very soon. Ring culture.

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