The disconnect between Nuggets GM Calvin Booth and HC Michael Malone cost Denver’s back to back championship run

[MJ Truth]

Star player, white. Coach, white. Somehow a Black guy is still gonna be to blame.

 

[aceboon]

this is pretty much similar to what happened with the Warriors after their 2022 title.

 

[Blackrogue]

I'm gonna roll with Booth on this one. The CBA is changing and you can go all in now and end up with nothing to show for it a few years from now. The simple solution would have been Denver coach not being hard headed and prepare the young guys during the season even if they make mistakes so come playoffs you have a better chance. I mean they were one half of a ball game away from hitting the finals. Those were the cards coach was dealt and instead decided he's gonna ride a few guys which was unsustainable. At the very minimum he could have given them minutes enough to boost trade value and get who you want. Also I believe Denver being good meant it didn't matter what seed they'd come in as as long as they were ready.

Tim Connelly been a success building teams. He was a long time wizards brass and I think they offered him the wizards job a few times too.

 

[iamduval]

GM sounds delusional. Probably bc of the way it was written.

 

[Blackrogue]

GM sounds delusional. Probably bc of the way it was written.

He's being realistic. The type of shyt that can get them over the hump will tie their hands up immensely in the coming few years because of how the CBA has become with the penalties of going over certain thresholds.

I mean look at this shyt from the article.

Teams over the salary cap’s first apron are not allowed to:

• Acquire a player via sign-and-trade;
• Sign players using the biannual exception;
• Sign players using more than the taxpayer midlevel exception;
• Sign players waived during the season if their salary exceeds the non-taxpayer midlevel exception.

Teams over the second apron have even more punitive restrictions:

• Cash can no longer be used in trades;
• Trade exceptions from prior years can’t be used in deals;
• Players can’t be acquired in a sign-and-trade;
• Outgoing salaries can’t be combined in trades;
• Cannot sign players using the taxpayer midlevel exception;
• First-round picks seven years out cannot be traded;
• If a team remains in the second apron for three out of five seasons, its first-round pick is automatically moved to the end of the round.

You fukk around and go over some of these Aprons and you have ended this run that they have completely because it'll take a lot to get out of it. By then the window has closed. and he will be to blame. But if you can try like the rest of the league to get some cheaper help somewhere it's more doable. But the coach said fukk them I'm not playing them cause I don't trust them or the suck. Without thinking about the bigger picture. It came back to bite him cause he had no one ready to play at this critical juncture,

 

[getmoney310cpt]

I disagree cause he's thinking 4 out of 6 from when they won their first chip
You gotta remember this team was ready for contention after they got Aaron Gordon back in 2021, that was when Joker won his first MVP.
Jamal tore his ACL soon after, basically sunk any real chance they had to compete that year
The next year Jamal doesn't play at all and MPJ goes down so that's another year gone
Won in 2023
Lost in 2024
That's 4 years already

Relying on such a young bench was a risk and it blew up in their face. There's also no guarantee the guys they took actually get any better. None of them could shoot in the playoffs and it was a huge detriment

Christian Braun didn’t make the leap they were expecting/needed this season

 

[firemanBk]

What the real big issue for the Nuggets is that MPJ contract
They gave a role player a max that's a massive fukk up
Like he should be making around the same as Aaron Gordon (who I actually feel is the better and more valuable player) but he got nearly 100mil more. Terrible signing

 

[iamduval]

He's being realistic. The type of shyt that can get them over the hump will tie their hands up immensely in the coming few years because of how the CBA has become with the penalties of going over certain thresholds.

I mean look at this shyt from the article.

Teams over the salary cap’s first apron are not allowed to:

• Acquire a player via sign-and-trade;
• Sign players using the biannual exception;
• Sign players using more than the taxpayer midlevel exception;
• Sign players waived during the season if their salary exceeds the non-taxpayer midlevel exception.

Teams over the second apron have even more punitive restrictions:

• Cash can no longer be used in trades;
• Trade exceptions from prior years can’t be used in deals;
• Players can’t be acquired in a sign-and-trade;
• Outgoing salaries can’t be combined in trades;
• Cannot sign players using the taxpayer midlevel exception;
• First-round picks seven years out cannot be traded;
• If a team remains in the second apron for three out of five seasons, its first-round pick is automatically moved to the end of the round.

You fukk around and go over some of these Aprons and you have ended this run that they have completely because it'll take a lot to get out of it. By then the window has closed. and he will be to blame. But if you can try like the rest of the league to get some cheaper help somewhere it's more doable. But the coach said fukk them I'm not playing them cause I don't trust them or the suck. Without thinking about the bigger picture. It came back to bite him cause he had no one ready to play at this critical juncture,

Fair points but I’m not expecting guys drafted in the bottom third of the first round to come in and be day 1 contributors.

I think Denver has a championship window and it’s not as wide as the gm thinks it is.

 

[MoshpitMazi]

GM sounds like a clown.

 

[Flex Grossman]

Julian Strawther on the bench can

Jay Huff us better than Zeke Nnaji and can shoot

Malone don’t trust young players

If I’m Calvin I’m kinda irritated

Strawther probably would’ve been in the rotation if he didn’t miss most of the year with an injury. Zeke and huff are nothing.

The only young guy you can make a case Malone should’ve trusted more is Peyton Watson. But he was rough in the lakers series, and when they benched him, Holliday actually contributed

 

[Joe Sixpack]

That MPJ contract is bone crushing

They might have to consider moving him for two players if they can forreal

 

[nightwing2016]

Julian Strawther on the bench can

Jay Huff us better than Zeke Nnaji and can shoot

Malone don’t trust young players

If I’m Calvin I’m kinda irritated

saying this all year Malone not playing the young guys was going to kill them because there was no offense off the bench and they had no size because Nnaji is terrible and can’t rebound and Reggie Jackson is bad, but Malone doesn’t like playing the young guys and mpj shyt the bed this series and Malone never evolved the nuggets offense

 

[FAH1223]

Strawther probably would’ve been in the rotation if he didn’t miss most of the year with an injury. Zeke and huff are nothing.

The only young guy you can make a case Malone should’ve trusted more is Peyton Watson. But he was rough in the lakers series, and when they benched him, Holliday actually contributed

Huff was defensive player of the year… in the GLeague

And he can shoot 3s

 

[CrimsonTider]

Julian Strawther on the bench can

Jay Huff us better than Zeke Nnaji and can shoot

Malone don’t trust young players

If I’m Calvin I’m kinda irritated

No coach trust young players

 

[areohbee824]

That lack of depth on the bench, it caught up. I kept denying that for a while too