The Denver Nuggets started their 2014-15 campaign with expectations of making a return to the playoffs after missing the postseason for the first time in a decade in 2013-14. The team is just 34 games into the season, and with 20 losses, the chances of meeting those expectations are increasingly low.
The playoff expectations are hanging on a tread, and it’s leading to some in Nuggets nation to call for head coach Brian Shaw‘s head. And Shaw knows it.
“It’s a tough situation that we’re in,” Shaw told the Denver Post on Nov. 13. “If we don’t have that kind of effort from everybody, then we’re not going to ever get out of this situation, and I won’t survive it. And it’s that simple.”
Blaming Shaw for the Nuggets’ current problems is unfair and it’s an inaccurate assessment of his coaching so far. This struggle bus isn’t the second year coach’s fault — Shaw was fighting an uphill battle almost immediately after starting the job. Within the first month of coaching, he lost Danilo Gallinari and JaVale McGee to injuries, and since then then two have combined to play just 43 games for the new coach.
More from Hoops Habit
- The 5 most dominant NBA players who never won a championship
- 7 Players the Miami Heat might replace Herro with by the trade deadline
- Meet Cooper Flagg: The best American prospect since LeBron James
- Are the Miami Heat laying the groundwork for their next super team?
- Sophomore Jump: 5 second-year NBA players bound to breakout
That injured duo represents over $22 million dollars in salary according to HoopsHype, or about 30 percent of the Denver’s total salary for the 2014-15 season. Losing Gallo and McGee is hurting Shaw because he has two less talented options to put on the floor, but the real loss to the team comes in not only what those players could have added on the floor, but also what the salary they earn could have brought to Denver in their place.
Don’t be too quick to blame Nuggets’ second year general manager Tim Connelly for this current mess either. This mess is on the Nuggets’ former general manager, Masai Ujiri.
When contracts are signed in the NBA between players and NBA general managers, they almost always seem like the right move. In theory, free agency should create a model where teams pay the “market price” in salary for the player. When news that Masai successfully signed Gallinari and McGee broke, we celebrated, and it’s hard for fans to realize how long that stroke of the pen ACTUALLY affects the franchise.
Masai’s signatures, and his “never lose an asset.player for nothing” attitude has had a lasting impact on the Denver Nuggets, and the team is struggling right now in large part due to the former general manager’s decisions.
It’s a tough pill to swallow for Nuggets fans. It seems strange blaming the current struggles on the guy that somehow figured out a way to keep the Nuggets relevant after losing Carmelo Anthony. It seems strange blaming Denver’s 14-20 record on a guy who hasn’t stepped in the Pepsi Center for two years, and who won Executive of the Year as a Nugget.
Nonetheless, Masai was responsible for two contracts that haven’t played out in Gallinari and McGee, and while he can’t control injuries, not having Gallinari or McGee (or the $22 million to use elsewhere) means the Nuggets don’t have enough firepower to compete night in and night out in a stacked Western Conference. Frankly, there’s not much coach Shaw can do about that.
Let me be clear on this, I’m not blaming Ujiri for injuries. He wasn’t the one who hurt Gallo’s knee or McGee’s leg.
I’m putting this on Masai’s shoulders because, did JaVale McGee, who has career averages of 8.6 points and 5.6 points, really deserve a higher salary this season than current starters Arron Afflalo, Wilson Chandler, Kenneth Faried, and Timofey Mozgov? No way, not even with a big body and an impressive playoff series against the Los Angeles Lakers.
Gallinari’s a little tougher because he was emerging as a star when the contract was inked, but why not a two-year deal instead of a four-year deal?
Those contracts are killing the Nuggets, and last Thursday’s game against Chicago is a great example. The Nuggets had two players record a double-double, Jusuf Nurkic (10 points, 10 rebounds) and Kenneth Faried (18 points, 19 rebounds), a great game from their best player Ty Lawson (20 points on 50 percent shooting, seven assists), and the team had five players finish with 10 or more points. They racked up 27 fast break points, and outscored Chicago in the paint by nine points.
They played great, Shaw had them playing hard, but it didn’t work – they still lost. The Bulls’ superior overall talent emerged over the full 48 minutes, and the Nuggets just looked like they lacked the firepower in a shootout. They couldn’t punch back when Derrick Rose and Jimmy Butler took over scoring for Chicago.
It’s becoming a theme for the Nuggets to play good teams well, but not have enough for a win. Chicago represents a recurring theme for the Nuggets, as they’ve also lost close contests to Portland, Toronto (twice), Houston (twice), San Antonio and Phoenix. The Nuggets play hard, but come up a day late and a dollar short.
Excuse me, I mean $22 million short.