Denver Nuggets
None of those guys are second or perhaps even a third option for a team, other than Gallinari who is at the very best is a third option. The team with the best number of very good talent in my opinion is Houston Rockets. Donatas Motiejunas, Jeremy Lamb, Chandler Parsons, Royce White,Terrence Jones, Patrick Patterson, and Kevin Martin is very good player as long as he stays healthy.
I think the Nuggets have a ton more assets then the Rockets. Rockets best players are 4 mid 1st picks who havent played in the nba(Lamb,Motie,White,Jones) Patterson and Parsons who are nice young role players and KMart who can score but do nothing else. Nuggets have Lawson, a borderline all star, Gallo, a guy you said is a good 3rd option, Affallo, who can defend with the best of them and averaged 17ppg on 50-45-82 shooting post all star break, Faried rebounding machine who was 3rd in voting for ROY, Chandler an athletic wing, McGee a player with all the talent in the world who doesnt have an ounce of brain in his head, then young unproven prospects like Miller, Hamilton and Fournier. Also Mozgov who can defend and run the floor as a Center.
Nuggets i think should try and build a deep team of young talented studs instead of try and trade for a star. They took the lakers to 7 games and their 4 best players havent even hit their peak yet.
The Nuggets only traded away their franchise player in Melo last year and have nearly recovered to where they were with him there, they traded away Nene to become younger and have probably decided to rebuild with what they have got.
They made a big move for AI a few years ago and before that grabbed K-Mart to try and give Melo support. We all know the Kroenkes like to run a tight ship so I doubt they go into luxury tax and with a top coach in George Karl, they probably feel they will look to develop the current team whilst still looking to make the play offs each year.
I'll also throw in the suggestion that as this team is young, we don't know if any of these guys could go on and be an All Star player in the future. The Pacers at the moment have a couple of guys at All Star level but don't have a top level superstar and the great Detroit team of a few years ago didn't have any guys who were considered superstars when they started maybe apart from Billups and they all developed into a top team.
Denver in my opinion are doing just fine, developing and still being a play off contender, whilst they are perhaps unlikely to be genuine contenders, I could see them maybe making the play offs most years in the 4 to 7 seed range and win a few series with maybe a Conference Final run again.
After reports on J Hamilton's off-season work ethic and summer league play, he is deserving of minutes. Fournier is a useful offensive asset as well, I was impressed with his passing and ability to get his shot off while being defended. Fournier isn't as developed as Hamilton, but he is still someone who should make a roster. So now that makes 2 more wings for the Nuggets.
Too much depth is a good problem to have, but they should definitely thnk about trading their change for a dollar. Obviously, their talent is good enough to pry away a superstar, but they would still be better off with a high caliber all-star type to accompany with Lawson.
As a fan of the Denver Nuggets, I love what our team is doing. We're young and explosive. If we can get out on the break we can outrun any opposing team. We have so many young assets and we also have one of the better coaches and young player developers in the game in George Karl. I love our organization. We will be better this season then we were last year, especially if we can stay healthy (something that didn't happen last season).
JaVale is a very good shot blocker, as is Faried and the newly acquired Anthony Randolph. I now think we have enough depth down low to be able to bang with some of the power house teams. With talented guards like Lawson and Afflalo, and our incredible number of good wing players, I think we will be fine.
could have one of the craziest frontcourts with Javale and Manimal,those 2 can outjump anyone,add potential allstar in Lawson,and one of the most dependaple SGs in this league in Afflao and also potential allstar in Gallo,that team could be scary in 2 years,and also they can keep every one cause they dont have max contract guy,denvers future is really bright,their ceiling could be '04 pistons,almost 5 allstar guys in one team,and very deep bench
I'll be interested to see if Coach Karl can channel Anthony Randolph's potential as he seems to be good at developing young bigs with his assistants. Having assets is always good as they make nice trade pieces which can enable Denver to do deals or other teams will enquire about them which will possibly deliver future picks to Denver.
Why do I never heard any rumors about the Nuggets looking to acquire a big talent? They have by far the deepest team in the NBA, essentially having 2 of everything, sometimes even 3 of certain positions, especially if their young players pan out. Now with all that depth, why not attempt to acquire a star or franchise player? They have so many enticing pieces (Lawson, Chandler, Faried, Harrington, Gallinari, McGee, Afflalo, Mozgov, Q Miller, Fournier, and Hamilton) that im sure they could easily make a play for a franchise. My suggestion would be to go after Kevin Love. If the Twolves start to squander and Rubio proves to not be the same player before his injury, Love may begin to grow impatient and with his opt-out in a couple of years, the Wolves would be wise to trade him while he's hot. Love, Lawson, and Gallinari wouldn't be a bad trio to build around. Anyways, the Nuggets have a lot of assets, now they just have to wait for the right opportunity to use them to gain someone special.