NLL Insider - Team by Team: Denver Nuggets

by wizkid, updated on Wednesday, December 09 2020, 03:46 pm EST

2019-20 Finish: 35-47

Season Highlight:

The first quarter â€“ after stumbling out of the gate, it looked like the team was in a decent position to be a playoff team through 5 weeks. Certainly there were signs that they werenâ€™t dominant, but with multiple 4+ game win streaks in that short of a time and everybody healthy, it was feeling pretty solid.

Season Lowlight:

Injuries â€“ looking at the top of the roster sheet â€“ Gasol/Millsap/Isaac/Bridges/Conley seems like a workable lineup. But injuries to almost all of those guys and some roster balance issues had the team running crazy lineups like Paul Millsap at SG. The injuries went to an even lower-low when it was announced that hopeful-cornerstone Jonathan Isaac went down with another massive injury that may keep him out for all of next season as well.

Best Trade:

The Brooklyn Nets send a 2020 2nd-Rounder (Mil) and 2020 2nd-Rounder (Bkn) to the Denver Nuggets.

The Brooklyn Nets receive 18 GM points. The Denver Nuggets trade -18 GM points.

The Denver Nuggets send a 2020 2nd-Rounder (Den), 2020 2nd-Rounder (Mil) and 2020 2nd-Rounder (Bkn) to the Detroit Pistons. The Detroit Pistons send a 2020 2nd-Rounder (Min) to the Denver Nuggets.

Iâ€™m combining these two trades into one because that is effectively what happened. Ultimately Denver combines 18 GM points with their 2nd rounder to move up and snag a guy that went in the 1st round in the NBA draft. Very low risk move, and itâ€™s always nice to have those players on the 4 year rookie deal with 2 team options and RFA afterwards.

Worst Trade:

The Denver Nuggets send Tomas Satoransky to the Houston Rockets. The Houston Rockets send Delon Wright to the Denver Nuggets.

This was the only other deal that Denver made â€“ meaning between last yearâ€™s draft and the end of the season, they made one deal, and it was swapping one backup PG for another. Personally, I like Satoransky more than Wright â€“ even if this was a forced sign and trade, so it gets the dubious honor of being the â€œworst tradeâ€ by default. But I feel like itâ€™s about as lateral move as you can have when youâ€™re forced into a sign and trade.

Other Notable Trades:

None, at all.

Free Agency:

Outside of the normal retaining their own rotation guys, they did bring back a fringe FA signing of theirs from late last season in Danuel House. House fits the much-sought-after 3&D role and is on a bargain of a deal for 2 more years, so picking him up off the scrap heap of 10-day kind of guys at the end of the 2019 season pays big dividends.

Star:

Jonathan Isaac -F

When your team is way better when the young guy youâ€™re building around is on the floor, that is a GREAT sign. Isaac lead the team in all of the +/-, On/Off kind of stats. Despite the fairly low raw stats (11.7 ppg, 6.6 rpg), his calling card is defense and he made a big difference on that end â€“ lineups featuring Isaac at SF had a 103.4 DRatâ€¦ compared to over 118 for the rest of the lineups.

Goat:

Mike Conley â€“ G

Ok, him being not injured makes him a pretty big upgrade over John Wall. But heâ€™s the teamâ€™s only true starting-level guardâ€¦ so the fact that the team was better with him OFF the court is very telling. When youâ€™re making over 30 mil, the other options at the guard spots are Delon Wright and a 20-year-old that isnâ€™t ready to play at this pointâ€¦ yet theyâ€™re still out performing you, it was an awful season.

Draft Grade (courtesy of JWalk):

Udoka Azubuike (24th): B+

Big traditional centers like Azubuike can still make big waves in the NLL despite going out of style in the NBA. Unfortunately, his NBA situation got a little less ideal with the Jazz signing Derrick Favors, moving Azubuike to third-string center behind Rudy Gobert and Favors. Still, a solid pickup right around the range he was taken in the NBA.

Immanuel Quickley (34th) B+

Rootsey moved three picks from the middle and late second round to jump up to 34 and itâ€™s not hard to see why. Quickley was in free-fall from his 25th overall selection by the Knicks IRL and the former Kentucky guard has a desirable skillset. Heâ€™s a tweener guard, too short to play SG but not enough PG skills to man the point, but he has the makings of a good scoring spark off the bench. Itâ€™s a solid pick for this range.

Overall Grade: B+

Denver didnâ€™t get anyone likely to develop into a star, but thatâ€™s to be expected picking in the late first and early second. They got two players who can become solid role guys and contributors.

The Future:

Itâ€™s really looking pretty bleakâ€¦ Isaacâ€™s aforementioned injury really leaves a cloud over one of their only big bright spots. Conley is aging and overpaid on an expiring deal. Gasol and Millsap are aging and free agents, outside of Conley theyâ€™re pretty much empty at guard. Theyâ€™re at least in control of their own 1sts and have a handful of guys like Azubuike, Quickley, Bridges, Simons, and Bazley to watch grow. None of them are the top-tier prospect that Isaac is/was, but they keep at least some hope alive for the future. The team is awkwardly straddling a rebuild and an aging roster â€“ which is usually a sign that you should cut bait on the older guys, even if you donâ€™t feel like youâ€™re getting a lot in return.

NLL Insider - Team by Team: Denver Nuggets

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