After winning a title during his first year as the Nuggets‘ head of basketball operations, Calvin Booth has no appetite for major roster changes heading into his second season. He tells Mike Singer of The Denver Post (subscription required) that he’d like the team’s 2023/24 roster to look a lot like the ’22/23 group.
“Hopefully we get the whole crew back,” Booth said, in reference to a group of free agents that includes Jeff Green, Ish Smith, DeAndre Jordan, Reggie Jackson, Thomas Bryant, and – of course – Bruce Brown. The Nuggets can only offer Brown a limited raise, but hope to re-sign him.
“Obviously Bruce is the biggest fish,” Booth said. “He has a million options. Waiting eagerly to see what’s going to happen when the moratorium ends. Hopefully he’s back in a Nuggets jersey.”
Asked specifically about veteran leaders Green and Jordan, Booth expressed more confidence in the club’s odds of bringing back Jordan, noting that Green will have “options” and adding that he’ll have to check in with the forward’s agent.
Interestingly, while Jackson wasn’t a key contributor down the stretch for the Nuggets and didn’t have a rotation role in the playoffs, a league source tells Singer that the team would like to re-sign the veteran point guard.
Here’s more on the Nuggets:
- Denver’s roster will look at least a little different in ’23/24 due to an influx of rookies — the club drafted Julian Strawther (No. 29), Jalen Pickett (No. 32), and Hunter Tyson (No. 37) on Thursday. Tony Jones of The Athletic explores what the Nuggets are getting in those newcomers and considers how the team is attempting its own version of a “two-timeline” plan that didn’t work out for the conference-rival Warriors.
- Explaining why the Nuggets targeted Strawther at No. 29, Booth told reporters this week that he liked the fact that the former Gonzaga sharpshooter has played in “high-pressure games” and believes he can improve Denver’s shooting off the bench (subscriber-only story via Singer). However, if the Nuggets’ roster remains relatively healthy, Booth expects Strawther to spend some time playing in the G League as a rookie.
- Despite playing rotation minutes during the Nuggets’ championship run this spring, second-year wing Christian Braun may suit up for Denver in the Las Vegas Summer League, tweets Singer. Some team executives would like to see him seek out his shot and be aggressive in a way he wasn’t asked to during his rookie season, Singer explains.
DJ, Bruce, Unce Jeff, and Ish would be great to have
Reggie and TB can still play real mins so I don’t know if they can return
IMO
Bruce Brown market value is 3 years $42mm
Nuggets can do about 5/$60m or so (including two separate contracts and therefore with a handshake agreement). So $12m AAV vs $14m (if you’re right). I bet he stays.
Not sure any team can afford to offer a role player a 5 year deal, especially with the pay roll crunching that will engulf the league in about 2 offseasons. Comes down to how large of a cog Denver views Brown
Bruce should take 1 yr 7.8 mil and have a shot at the title again, and then next year go big as free agent
Why the Tyson pick? Anyone
It’s not a “two timeline” plan. The group of young players they’re assembling is intended to support their current core during its championship timeline. Not a constitute a second championship core in waiting. The NBA personnel system supports the former, and is hostile to the latter.
Yep , the two timeline thing is a media buzzword and like many buzzwords theres a ton of nuance that gets lost in translation
Debatable if Gsw ( agent zero ) even was trying to pull this off as they traded JW soon thereafter or if it was just the media fluff gsw is known for ( mostly to increase trade values )
But back to the point the ( plan ) would have been to have them be key contributors ( in the Death Star lineups ) en route to championship runs – That’s not what’s happening here or anywhere really , they are simply just looking for back end rotation players like Braun to compliment title aspirations / not to mention these players get oh so much more important under the next Cba
I’m hearing a ton of laker fans irrate over them keeping there own picks( not trading them ) ( * ones that most analysts love btw) and its fallen under this fake cloak of a 2 timeline nonsense
Yes, and a strange narrative it is, and also new. Historically, most great teams had young (still ascending) players as rotation pieces. It was often by design, and considered particularly important with teams that had older core groups. Young players were thought to add energy on and off the court.
Yeah I agree it’s not two timeline at all. Strawther and Pickett are both older, more league ready guys who project more as role players.
The guys GSW drafted were all young lottery picks. I don’t see similarities at all tbh
It seemed as though the young studs the Warriors selected all played a different sort of game. The warriors system called for the big man to sacrifice and focus on defense. That didn’t work for Wiseman, so he doesn’t work for them. Poole certainly didn’t see any sacrifice he needed to make for the team. Dray was right t-shirts will sell well next year.
If they trade players for salary relief, can they have more money to offer Brown?
Nope. They dont have his bird rights, so the most they can offer is a percentage increase of the deal he signed last yr which comes out to like $7.8M
Thanks
Trading Zeke, Cancar and Tyson for cap relief to have more money to sign Brown
DeAndre Jordan will be around for two timelines. Lunch and dinner.
This is good for Denver…
Keeping the roster together gives them a great shot at the title again…
They don’t want to end up like the Mavs… Have a title then disappear…
Or we the north in 2019..
Two timelines is just an annoying new media buzzword. Bring invented by the dubs just makes it even worse lol