No Show Nuggets

Free Agency in the NBA has been crazy throughout the last couple of weeks. Paul George went to the 76ers, the Mavs signed Klay, the Warriors got Buddy Hield, CP3 has gone down to San Antonio, Demar Derozan is now a Sacramento Kings etc... The point is that many teams in contention have made moves such as OKC who traded away Josh Giddey for Alex Caruso. I bring this up to speak about the current state of the Nuggets, my favorite team. They lost Kentavious Caldwell-Pope as he signed a deal with the Orlando Magic. The Nuggets needed to bolster their bench and now need someone to replace KCP. So far, they have been unable to and it is not a good look for the 2023 Champs. KCP was a valuable player. Though his shots didn't always fall, he was always good at defense and did an admirable job vs guys such as Ant, Steph, Booker, and any other elite guards in the league. Now with him gone, the Nuggets needed someone who could shoot the ball and compete on defense. Guys like Klay Thompson, Eric Gordon, and Buddy Hield would have been great candidates. Unfortunately, all those guys have signed with their new teams already.

The Nuggets did Acquire Dario Saric which is a solid signing as he is a big who can come off the bench and stretch the floor which was something the Nuggets couldn't do with DeAndre Jordan. They will need to acquire more talent, though, to improve the bench production and it is key they find someone who can replace the production of Bruce Brown. Someone they have been keeping an eye on is Russell Westbrook. Nikola Jokic, according to reports, would love to have Russ on the team and I can see why. His energy and playmaking off the bench would allow Jokic to rest on the bench longer and even allow Jokic to rest on offense when they share the floor together. It is key that Jokic is fresh down the stretch in the season as I believe that was a pivotal reason i our loss to the TimerWolves late in game 7 when Naz Reid thoroughly out played him especially on the boards. Acquiring Russ would be huge and getting someone to replace KCP is a must. If they do those things this team can go right back to competing for the chip but as of now it feels lke they have a second round ceiling.

The West is getting better and the Nuggets need to find a way to keep up.

According to a article in CBS Sports written by Sam Quinn here are some notable free agents:

Luke Kennard

Gary Trent Jr.

Landry Shamet

Isaac Okoro

Tyus Jones

He has some other names listed too but these are the ones that stick out to me as potential replacements for KCP. Tyus Jones would be a solid back up point guard so I threw his name in there as well.