The brand new year started as much of the same for the Denver Nuggets. The Nuggets lost to the Chicago Bulls 106-101 on New Year’s Day 2015, making them losers in six of their last seven games, and basically sealing their fate as a Western Conference lottery team. Wow, remember when we all thought 2015 would be the year the Nuggets would get close to a return to the playoffs?
Despite the team failing to live up to expectations this season, the new year still gives us a chance to analyze what the team needs to do to get back into the playoff conversation. At the end of November, the team managed to pull to an even 8-8 record, but after losing 11 of 16 games in December it’s clear the roster has holes in multiple spots and needs some shaking up for the Nuggets to start their path out of mediocrity.
It’s not going to be an easy job for general manager Tim Connelly to get the Nuggets out of their current shape. Visualized by the Denver Post’s Nicki Jhabvala’s tweet the other day, the Nuggets currently have two of their three highest paid players in Danilo Gallinari and JaVale McGee sitting on the bench hurt, and neither player is showing signs they can return to the level of play that earned them that pay.
If Wilson Chandler is out now too, and Darrell Arthur is still hurt, nearly half the Nuggets' payroll is on the bench pic.twitter.com/R7L90X2L3t
— Nicki Jhabvala (@NickiJhabvala) December 31, 2014
Which brings us to New Year’s resolution numero uno: The Nuggets need to unload a big contract that’s plaguing their salary cap.
Denver’s combined salary for the 2014-15 season is $73,839,525, according to HoopsHype. That number is over the salary cap, represents the 14th highest salary in the NBA this season, and is higher than the combined salary for Western Conference powerhouses Golden State Warriors and San Antonio Spurs.
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The Kroenkes (the Nuggets ownership) are known to pay close attention to the paychecks (see Avalanche, Colorado; Rams, St. Louis, and Arsenal) and there is no doubt they should demand Connelly to reduce the salary based on the current performance on the court.
Now, finding trades that would reduce the salary is a full article in itself, but it’s going to have to come in a package deal. For example, the Nuggets shipping Timofey Mozgov to the Cleveland Cavaliers (something that’s come up in the NBA rumors-sphere) but only if they take Danilo Gallinari or JaVale McGee with him.
Kenneth Faried‘s new contract, combined with his recent surge, makes him a good candidate in a package deal where the Nuggets can get some good assets back and reduce the salary too.
Which brings us to New Year’s resolution numbero dos: The Nuggets need to define their core going forward and build on top of it, starting NOW.
It feels like this current roster has too many similar assets, and it’s keeping them from having a real, defined core. Not to mention it’s causing head coach Brian Shaw‘s goatee to grey faster than normal because he can’t decide on a lineup to finish the game.
It’s not really his fault though. J.J. Hickson, Kenneth Faried (before his recent hot streak), and Darrell Arthur give you comparable numbers no matter which plays. Gallinari, Wilson Chandler, and Arron Afflalo all have similar drive-first playing styles and decent three-point shooting styles. Jusuf Nurkic and Timofey Mozgov both play like big European centers, and finally Nate Robinson is so inconsistent this season he might as well be rookie point guard Erick Green.
Not to mention, Randy Foye and Gary Harris are both supposed to go out there to hit threes and play defense. The whole roster is built through duplicate types of players.
All these similar, mediocre assets/players have turned the Nuggets into a mediocre team stuck in roster gridlock. Connelly and owner Josh Kroenke mentioned before the season they really haven’t been able to evaluate all their assets because of injuries. Unfortunately, the window for waiting has closed, and it’s time to start building around a young core of Ty Lawson, Kenneth Faried, Jusuf Nurkic, and Gary Harris.
It’s time to build around those four with a roster that fits Shaw’s defensive-minded coaching style. Lawson, Nurkic, and Harris give the Nuggets something to start the match, but the last thing the team needs to do now is stay put in 2015.