The Denver Nuggets had a busy week as they inked Nikola Jokic to a five-year/$147 million max contract, and then lured Will Barton back to the team with a four-year/$50 million deal.  So, I hope that you were entertained by last year’s team that barely missed the playoffs, because they’re not going anywhere soon. Jokic, only 23 years old, was due to make a mere $1.6 million this season but the Nuggets aggressively signed the former second-round pick to a long-term deal to keep him off the market.  Combine the existing contract of 23-year-old Gary Harris (four-year/$84 million) and the probable... Read More

As the names were announced in last week’s NBA draft, players such as DeAndre Ayton, Marvin Bagley III, Luka Doncic, and others strutted to the stage in flamboyant suits and logo filled caps to shake hands with the commissioner and celebrate their early first round selection.  Michael Porter Jr. sat awkwardly at a table nearby waiting for his name to be called. Projected at one time as the top high school player in the nation and potential number one overall pick, Porter started to slide down the draft board over concerns of a back issue that sidelined him for most of his freshman season at... Read More

The NBA draft will be held on June 21st and the Denver Nuggets will have to wait to see who is available at pick number 14.  Assuming that no trades are made before draft day, my mock draft looks like this. Phoenix Suns – DeAndre Ayton (7’0 Center/Arizona).  Outstanding athlete for a big man, Ayton dominates the boards with his physicality and can still make the 10-footer to keep the other NBA centers honest.  Along with Devin Booker, the Suns finally have the makings of an actual NBA team. Sacramento Kings – Luka Donic (6’8 SG/SF/Slovenia). The Kings are the worst in the league at evaluating... Read More

              The first three picks in the 1993 NBA draft were Chris Weber, Shawn Bradley, and Anfernee “Penny” Hardaway. The three would go on to star in NBA Finals games, All-Star games, movies, and commercials.  The 14th pick in the draft that year was Scott Haskin, a 6’11 center from Oregon State.  Haskin would play only 27 games for the Indiana Pacers before being out of the league for good. When the ping pong ball solidified the Denver Nuggets lottery position last week, the plan seemed obvious.  Select the best player available to add depth to... Read More

The Denver Nuggets were a mere 4.4 seconds from making the NBA Playoffs.  Nikola Jokic had the ball in his hands and a one-on-one opportunity.  But like a microcosm of the entire season, Jokic and the Nuggets came up just short.  With a 112-106 overtime loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves, Denver will have to watch the playoffs from afar as the organization focuses on next year.  Here are five moves that can get us playoff bound in 2018-2019.   1. Do nothing. Okay, almost nothing.  Nikola Jokic, Jamal Murray, and Gary Harris made great strides this year.  Under Michael Malone, Denver... Read More

Emmanuel Mudiay was supposed to be the Nuggets point guard of the future.  Last Thursday, on the final day of the trade deadline, Denver shipped Mudiay to the New York Knicks receiving only a 2018 second-round pick in return. Visions of Nikoloz Tskitishvili quickly came to mind recalling the former Nuggets draft pick who was taken, sight unseen, with the fifth overall pick back in 2002.  Listed at 7’1, Tskitishvili measured two inches shorter when he arrived from the Italian League, and only lasted four years in the NBA, averaging three points and two rebounds for his entire career.  Tskitishvili... Read More

Last Thursday, the Denver Nuggets may have caught a break against Oklahoma City when officials missed a traveling violation on an out-of-bounds play, leading directly to a Gary Harris game-winning shot at the buzzer.  The dramatic win and solid first-half-of-the-season play has the Nuggets sitting at 27-25 and positioned in the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference.  Failing to call traveling in this league is hardly newsworthy, but as the Nuggets fight for a playoff birth against teams like the Jazz, Pelicans, and Clippers, the breaks just keep on coming.   It’s hard... Read More

With the addition of Paul Millsap and his three-year, $90 million contract, the Denver Nuggets are hoping that the pieces are finally in place to make the NBA playoffs for the first time since 2009. Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray both showed flashes of brilliance last season, but the question remains if the Nuggets have enough to compete in the West. Predicting the top eight. 1) Golden State Warriors – Coming off a 67-15 Championship season, the Warriors still have Kevin Durant, Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Draymond Green, and continue to make other teams look like the Washington Generals. 2) San... Read More

The Denver Nuggets may have been grasping at straws when they traded for Trey Lyles, the 6’10 forward from the University of Kentucky, but the formula seems pretty sound. Select a one-and-done Freshman from Kentucky with a top-15 pick, and just wait for greatness. Lyles numbers were rather pedestrian last year as he averaged 6.2 points and 3.3 rebounds per game, but unless he’s an outlier, good things are coming. 1) Since 2010, there have been 14 one-and-done Kentucky Freshman taken in the top-15 picks of the NBA draft. Those include names like John Wall, Devin Booker, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist,... Read More

With the 13th Pick of the NBA Draft….. When the Commissioner announced that the Denver Nuggets had shipped the 13th pick to Utah for Tyler Lydon, a stretch-four from Syracuse, and Trey Lyles, a 6’10 kid with potential from Kentucky, it wasn’t quite the blockbuster deal fans were looking for. Further selections of Vlatko Cancar, a 6’8 forward that’ll most likely play overseas for a while, and Monte Morris, a 6’2 glue guy just looking to make the roster, will hardly increase ticket sales either. Lydon has some upside, and Lyles could provide some insurance in case Danilo Gallanari leaves... Read More