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Denver Nuggets: A Summer Of Change

By Kevin C Keller

Apr 12, 2015; Denver, CO, USA; Denver Nuggets mascot Rocky rides into the Pepsi Center on a motorcycle prior to the game against the Sacramento Kings. Mandatory Credit: Isaiah J. Downing-USA TODAY Sports
Apr 12, 2015; Denver, CO, USA; Denver Nuggets mascot Rocky rides into the Pepsi Center on a motorcycle prior to the game against the Sacramento Kings. Mandatory Credit: Isaiah J. Downing-USA TODAY Sports /
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The Denver Nuggets, while always out of the race for the NBA championship too early, always give their fans a summer to talk about. Even going back to signing Kenyon Martin to a seven-year, $92 million deal and playing him off as the perfect compliment player to Carmelo Anthony got all us excited to start basketball again.

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Yes, the playoffs are still on, but it’s the summer to the Nuggets and their fans. The team has looming decisions around hiring a head coach (hopefully one that last more than 1.75 seasons this time), making two picks in the 2015 draft, and deciding what to do with key roster players. The Nuggets may just make signing Kenyon Martin seem like “just another signing” this summer.

The though thing about doing all of that over the next five to six months is that, ideally, you don’t want to move onto the next big step without completing the last. If the goal is to really hire a coach that will lead the team to the playoffs (and beyond!) over the next decade, do you really want to draft without him in the war room?

If the goal is to move key roster players to position the team for growth, do you really want to do that before you draft your next future star? Absolutely not!

Jan 29, 2015; Memphis, TN, USA; Denver Nuggets center Jusuf Nurkic (23) and Memphis Grizzlies forward Zach Randolph (50) during the game at FedExForum. Mandatory Credit: Justin Ford-USA TODAY Sports
Jan 29, 2015; Memphis, TN, USA; Denver Nuggets center Jusuf Nurkic (23) and Memphis Grizzlies forward Zach Randolph (50) during the game at FedExForum. Mandatory Credit: Justin Ford-USA TODAY Sports /

So, the Nuggets are getting to work early. The Denver Post reported that the team is really starting their coaching search this week. Team president Josh Kroenke and general manager Tim Connelly are expected to spend the entire month on the search, which would put them in a great spot to get their next franchise coach all caught up on their draft plans (the draft is on June 25).

Their are too many quality candidates to cover in this article, but my thoughts are that it will be either Melvin Hunt, Mike D’Antoni, or Scott Brooks leading the Nuggets next year.

Then the draft will be here.

The Nuggets have done a fantastic job at getting younger without completely losing their competitiveness (the Nuggets’ average age on their last game in the 2014-15 season was 2.3 years younger than their average age on their first game), and they should be getting even younger before the draft, as they also have 2014 second-round draft pick Nikola Jokic stashed.

Jokic is wrecking in Europe by averaging 15.4 points and 9.2 rebounds, and the Nuggets should sign him before summer league.

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Will Zeke Nnaji be a part of the Nuggets' future? /

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    • Add in a lottery pick, and we have a brand new, very young, Nuggets core. The future of the Nuggets (no matter the coach) is centered around budding star Jusuf Nurkic, but also includes Gary Harris, Joffrey Lauvergne, Erick Green, and Will Barton (as long as the Nuggets re-sign him).

    The Masai Ujiri Nuggets are almost gone, and this is the group that we should see grow up right in front of our eyes.

    Then comes the final piece of the summer, Tim Connelly finishing off his job of dismantling Masai Ujiri’s roster by getting rid of Ty Lawson and potentially Wilson Chandler. I wasn’t the only Nuggets writer to cover how Ty Lawson’s recent off the court struggles have punched his ticket out of Denver, the Denver Post covered it too (but I had it first, ha).

    The trouble gives Connelly the final tool to complete his dismantling project, and having the skilled point guard on the trading block gives Connelly a lot of weapons for draft night. The general manager has made a trade in the last two drafts, and when he pulled the trigger two years ago — he had only been on the job for a month.

    Having Lawson in his arsenal will give him the tools to make a splash at the draft, a splash that means the Nuggets, complete with a new head coach, and a new lottery pick, once again gave us a summer to talk about.

    Next: The 30 Best Shooting Guards of All-Time

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