Imagine telling the kids they are going on a special summer vacation and the family ends up at Water World instead of Disney World.
Welcome to the Nuggets’ offseason.
Hope you like cold showers and sunburns.
While top free agents got the bag across the NBA, the Nuggets got the Bagley, a reserve center on his sixth team in nine seasons.
Marvin Bagley III is a functional NBA player as draft busts go, but didn’t Denver already corner the market on limited 6-foot-10 reserves with Zeke Nnaji and DaRon Holmes II?
While contenders made blockbuster trades in Miami, Toronto and Philadelphia, the Nuggets let super agent Rich Paul know they would like to purchase a ticket in the LeBron James lottery.
The Broncos drove us crazy with their inactivity in free agency, but they landed Jaylen Waddle. The local hoops team continues to rile up Nuggets Nation, and they could not get the Celtics to listen on Jaylen Brown.
You can’t make a team center a trade around stars — but if the Nuggets had made Jamal Murray available, it’s hard to believe Boston would not have picked up the phone. Regardless, when the deal was finalized, it was disappointing.
The 76ers acquired Brown, an elite two-way player, for 36-year-old Paul George, a 2028 first-round pick, an unprotected 2031 first-rounder, two 2028/2030 second-rounders, a podcast and a partridge in a pear tree.
I cannot crush the Nuggets if the Celtics wanted draft picks. I can blame Calvin Booth. He sent six out to shed Reggie Jackson’s contract and draft Holmes.
So here we are on the cusp of America’s 250th birthday, and the Nuggets are holding sparklers.
Boom? More like yawn.
Thursday’s big news? The Nuggets are bringing back guard Tyus Jones.
The offseason priority now becomes retaining restricted free agent Peyton Watson and monitoring text messages about LeBron, even as the Warriors, Cavs, and Heat remain the favorites.
Watson is a worthy pursuit. On a team that needs youth, athleticism, length, shot-blocking, and shot-making, Watson meets all the criteria. He is 23 with an intriguing offensive ceiling after he showed he could create offense off the dribble last season.
Co-GMs Jon Wallace and Ben Tenzer have made it clear they want Watson back. And in this otherwise underwhelming offseason for the Nuggets, they caught a break with all the movement around them.
A few weeks ago, it appeared Watson might receive an offer sheet for $28 million annually from the Lakers or Clippers. Circumstances have changed.
The Lakers spent their money on Walker Kessler, Quentin Grimes, Collin Sexton and Luke Kennard. The Clippers shipped out Kawhi Leonard, pivoting younger, and positioning themselves to make a run at Watson.
But they are dealing with their own restricted free agent, Bennedict Mathurin, a player they would like to keep after they traded standout center Ivica Zubac for him last season.
The Nuggets are operating with patience, painful as it may be. The Clippers seem like the only team that could make an outrageous bid for Watson. With that growing increasingly unlikely, Denver is in no rush.
So what’s next?
The Nuggets are not going to sign Watson for the $6.5 million qualifying offer, even if they could. It would be bad business, an unnecessary slight after paying Christian Braun instead of Watson last October.
The fact that the Nuggets have not traded Cam Johnson suggests they are not rushing to clear salary for Watson ahead of a forthcoming offer sheet.
Which brings us back to president Josh Kroenke and the season-ending press conference. He warned us that he was willing to reward the core and run it back.
It won’t look like the worst decision if they win 52 games in the regular season. Just wait until the playoffs. And the frustration will come flooding back.
Again, it is their choice. Just don’t talk about windows and winning championships. It insults our intelligence.
The idea that this team is a healthy Aaron Gordon from unseating the Spurs or Thunder is laughable. The Nuggets let Tim Hardaway Jr. walk for $6.5 million. He made 224 3-pointers.
Losing him makes you better?
Please.
This team needed to bring in players to change the personality, add toughness and defense.
The Nuggets have signed Bagley. He is not an enforcer.
They brought back Jones. He is a good ball handler.
They have talked up second-round draft picks Trevon Brazile and Bryce Hopkins like they are going to play meaningful minutes, which probably won’t happen without injuries.
They have sat out the first two waves of free agency, making no significant adjustments.
This team is going to contend for a title? OK. Is there a volume lower than mute, because I don’t want to hear it.
And what about Jokic?
Murray did his teammate and friend a solid by traveling across the globe to watch Serbia dominate Switzerland in Fribourg on Thursday. Gordon traveled to Prague in 2022 to watch the Joker.
The problem with this team is not affection. It is competition. Making players uncomfortable. That would show that the Nuggets recognize the truth.
That they know they capitulated in the playoffs to the Timberwolves because they were not good enough. Not because they were hurt. Every time that excuse surfaces, folks neglect to mention they were ousted by Minnesota’s JV backcourt.
It is impossible to fix a problem when you don’t see one.
This is where Jokic’s stance on his contract becomes interesting. Will he apply pressure by not signing his extension? Will he insist that the Nuggets’ brass explain what its plan is, not only for this season, but beyond?
The hardest thing for executives is evaluating their own team. They like the players. They picked them. But they must remove emotion from their decision-making. And that does not seem to be happening.
The Nuggets’ front office hurt when the team bottomed out in Minneapolis. That was May 1. What have been the consequences? Cutting Jalen Pickett?
There is still time to make subtle adjustments, or shock the world and sign LeBron.
For now, it seems like the team is on vacation and all the fans are going to get is a weeks-away press conference touting the return of Peyton Watson.
Wake me when it’s over.
