As once a team with a promising immediate future, the Denver Nuggets are reportedly planning to all but trade away their playoff chances
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Before the beginning of the season, the Denver Nuggets looked to be at least a fringe playoff team, capable of squeaking into an 8th seed in the Western Conference and possibly making noise. Now, they’ve traded Timofey Mozgov and Nate Robinson, and as rumors have it are looking to trade just about everyone with the exception of Ty Lawson and Kenneth Faried.
"[via Ramona Shelburne — ESPN]Since Mozgov trade, everyone is calling Denver on Chandler & Afflalo. Heard Heat, Clippers, Hornets have all discussed Afflalo.[via TNT’s David Aldridge]Hearing the Nuggets are shopping Wilson Chandler (one year remaining, team option for ’15-’16) hard as they continue getting future assets."
The amount of confusion that is going on inside the Denver Nuggets front office is insane. They seem to be stuck somewhere in-between tanking and fighting for a playoff spot, not sure which direction to go — the exact place that you don’t want to be in.
The coaching by Brian Shaw has been suspect, the team itself looks to be demotivated and lazy, but then there are times where there is a spark and they look like a halfway competitive team.
I don’t see how this this doesn’t end with the Denver Nuggets not making the playoffs, but not being bad enough to get a good lottery pick, in the NBA’s version of purgatory.
On the other side of the coin, what do you do if you’re the Nuggets? You have two very good players in Lawson and Faried, but they are nowhere near good enough to compete with the cutthroat Western Conference. Yet if the Nuggets blow it up and tank, it would mean giving up their two best players. The Nuggets are in a Milwaukee Bucks-like limbo of mediocrity that looks to have no end in sight the longer they decide to keep their two stars and trade everyone else.
The recommended course of action at this point would be to sell high and try to max out on Faried and Lawson. You can still trade these two for (potentially) multiple first round picks and the rest of the team like Wilson Chandler and Arron Afflalo would make good extra pieces in acquiring additional high value picks.
The future is bleak for the Denver Nuggets, at least it just seems that way right now, as they are stuck in-between being too good for a good lottery pick, but not good enough to make the playoffs. History has shown in the NBA when a team is in that position, nothing good ever comes of it for a long, long time.
Which is why many teams have decided to embrace the tank. Maybe the Denver Nuggets should do the same?
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