The Denver Nuggets…NBA Champs? It can happen. By Joe Solomon
Guest Author Joe Solomon believes that the Nuggets should take advantage of a certain change in circumstances in the Eastern Conference in order to improve in time to win a Champioship right now.
Follow Joe on Twitter @Joe_Solomon
Read more
It’s time for Masai Ujiri and Josh Kroenke to take a play out of John Elway’s playbook. They need to go all-in on a couple of hall of famers and make a run at the championship.
Last Sunday news broke about the season ending injury to the Boston Celtics point guard, Rajon Rondo. Now the aging Celtics are left in “ride it out or blow it up” mode. The Celtics were hovering around the 8th spot in the East with Rondo, so do they
A: Ride out the rest of the season
Or
B: Trade away their hall of fame players, plan for the future and rebuild.
If Danny Ainge decides to go with option B then Masai needs to get on the phone.
The Nuggets are filled with young talent, good contracts and have a draft pick or 2 they can move. Denver should offer a mix of players and picks for both Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett while keeping the core of the Nuggets together.
Denver should make an offer that Boston cannot resist.
Denver can offer a combination of Timothy Mozgov, Anthony Randolph, Wilson Chandler, Jordan Hamilton plus Andrea Igudala or Danilo Gallinari, plus a draft pick or two. In exchange they would get Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Jason Collins.
Something along these lines: http://espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=a2rravw
The Nuggets starting lineup would look something like this:
Ty Lawson-Gallinari-Pierce-Faried-Garnett
with Miller, Brewer, McGee and Koufos on the bench.
Now some might say that Pierce and KG are over the hill but let me remind you that both of these guys were 5 minutes from beating the Heat in last year’s Eastern Conference Final and on their way to their 3 NBA final. They guys still have it.
Denver’s deep bench along with KG and Pierce would allow them to limit their minutes in the regular season games and get ready for a deep playoff run.
In Garnett you get a defensive presence, championship experience, a leader and work ethic very similar to what the Broncos got in Peyton Manning.
In Pierce you get a true scorer, championship experience, a veteran, and a true go to guy at the end of a game.
With this team Denver would have a two to three year run at the title. After that stretch when KG and Paul retire Denver would still have its young core intact and a bunch of free cap space to bring in free agents.
Personally, I feel we have a good team and they will make it to the first round and maybe the second round, but I don’t see this team competing with the Thunder, Clippers, Heat and Spurs.
Masai and Josh it’s time to go with Plan A and get away from Plan just okay.
