Hello everyone. I am Garrett Olsen. AKA NastyNessy, AKA G, AKA G_Olsen90. I am an OG stiff (according to Zach Mikash), and I have been by a few times in the last few years. I used to be a daily stiff/commenter about 7 years ago when I started college. I was a regular every day for the next 4 years (09-13) while in college. This blog used to be therapy for me. All the stiffs were like a group of friends to me. We would discuss all sorts of things. We knew if one was sick, or had surgery or going through good and bad times while all being very well versed on the Nuggets.

In 2013 I graduated college and then life happened. I started a career and I wasn't able to ditch work to talk on Stiffs all day like I was with college. I can assure you that while I wasn't active on Stiffs, I still always loved the Nuggets, even through the tough times. I used to have very strong opinions, and my strong subjectivity could rub people the wrong way sometimes. I will say Stiffs has always been a great platform to chat. People may disagree, but there aren't "basketball snobs" out there..

I was chatting with Zach on twitter and we were talking about my ACL surgery that I had completed yesterday. With that surgery I now have a lot of free time on my hands and I would really like to get my foot back into the Denver Stiffs door. I will say, when I talk on Stiffs I talk from my heart. I am opinionated and I tend to have a lot of "squirrel" moments. With that being said, bear with me, and hopefully you can enjoy this read with a few laughs. I also expect a lot of interaction. Just because this is a fanpost doesn't mean ya'll can't comment. I intend to spark a lot of conversation with the piece and I look forward to chatting with all of you!

The Denver Nuggets. Where do I start? I suppose I could give you my current evaluation of the team. Last year was a bummer and while I wasn't expecting the Nuggets to compete, they did play very poorly. I was very excited to watch our new rookie PG, Emmanuel Mudiay. I thought he had a solid rookie campaign, but this year has been a drag. He certainly hasn't progressed, and if he has, it hasn't been to my expectations. Mudiay has been a disappointment to me and currently I am not on his bandwagon. In fact, I'm a firm believer in the Nuggets needing to make a huge move, or two and of all the young players, Mudiay is at the top of my list to ship out. The PG of the future is currently on this Nuggets roster, but his name is not Mudiay and its certainly not Jameer Nelson. His name is Jamal Murray.

Point Guard

Jamal has already shown more potential in his very limited minutes this year. He has shown flashes of future greatness and stardom. Mudiay is great at penetration and may be one of the best penetrating PG's a few years from now, but that's not how I think this team should be constructed (which I'll get into a bit later). I think Murray has a stronger skill set suited for the one (size being a large factor as well) than the two and I'm not sure I like Mudiay next to Murray as a starting back court. As two top 10 picks both of these guys need to be full time starters as soon as next season. So I don't think the Nuggets need to address the PG position unless it was finding a better backup PG for Murray in the future. I think Mudiay should be dealt before he loses that top 10 spice and juicy potential that some teams crave. In my opinion, Mudiay is a bust and will be an average PG throughout his entire career. His best season he will average 15 PPG and 7 APG. I think that's his peak. I think Murray's best years could be 20 PPG and 6-7APG, but just a much more dynamic player and impactful player and I think Murray will be one of Denver's important bricks to this structure they're trying to build.

Shooting Guard

I love Gary Harris. I think he is a glue guy. He is the mortar that keeps the bricks in place. His D is stout, he's an impactful player and I think he should be the starting two for the Nuggets for the foreseeable future. Will Barton is a nice player on an even better contract but I believe he will be traded this year maybe as soon as today in a deal for Paul Millsap so I'm not going to get into him as much. Malik Beasely, Denver's potential 6th man or dynamic bench player is interesting. I loved his game in college and I am excited to see how it translates, but I think we won't be seeing that anytime soon. Malik lacks in maturity, and you can see that in his demeanor on the sidelines and in warmups at games. I hope he can mature a bit in the D-league and bring a bit more professionalism back with him when he joins the Nuggets again in the future.

Small Forward

This position is tricky. I love Wilson Chandler and hope he sticks around as the Nuggets 6th man, but he may be subject to trade if Denver is able to move some more of these mortar guys for a brick guy. Gallo has worn out his stay in Denver in my opinion. He isn't a leader, he's injury prone and he's now proven that he can't be the go-to-guy on a team. He can't be the face of your offense. He needs to go to a team like the Houston Rockets that has a top 10 player. That way Gallo can play his game. He's a good player, but not great and I think he's due for a change of scenery. With that being said I think SF is the most important position to address via trade for the Nuggets. Juancho Hernangomez looks like a nice player and should be a solid contributor off the bench, but if Denver does what I'd like to see in moving Mudiay and starting Murray next to Harris, I would like to see a star at the three. The two names I think the Nuggets should try to acquire at all costs (anyone besides Harris, Murray, Nikola Jokic) are Paul George, who I think is due for a change of scenery himself and Indy and Jimmy Butler who seems to be on and off the trade block every other week. Regardless, if either become available, I think Denver has to make a move, even if it means overpaying.

Power Forward

The PF position is much like the SF position. In limbo and in desperate need of an upgrade. With rumors swirling around Millsap, I personally am a huge fan of making a deal, especially because a name like George or Butler becoming available may never happen. If Denver can swap Barton/Faried and Memphis' 1st for Millsap and insert Paul into the starting lineup that would be enough to get Denver the 8th seed this year. Will Paul resign? That may depend on Tim Connelly's follow up move(s) via trade or FA. If Tim landed a Paul George or Jimmy Butler as well around the deadline then I can't see how Millsap wouldn't want to be a part of that. If TC doesn't make any other moves, its hard telling if Paul would stay or not. Either way Faried is long over due on being moved and I think he should be moved immediately. He's not even a mortar guy in my opinion anymore. In the interim I think Chandler has played fine at the 4 until Denver can bring in a guy like Millsap. Hopefully the Nuggets can acquire Paul and the PF position will be locked down with another solid brick in place.

Center

Finally, the center position is occupied by Denver's best player. Jokic is a star already and once officials become aware of him, and he stops with the stupid fouls, he will be a top 15 player in this league and he will be considered a super star. He is the most important piece the Nuggets have. He is obviously an untouchable in any trade unless its for Lebron James, Steph Curry, Kevin Durant or James Harden. At backup I think Darrell Arthur is a solid mortar piece and can be a very serviceable, albeit undersized, center. I see Jusuf Nurkic being traded at some point. If not he's a solid backup 5 and have no problem with him serving as Denver's backup center.

That is my breakdown at every position. I see the current state of the Nuggets as being in probably the most encouraging spot they have been in since Andre Iguodala (mole) roamed these parts. I think Denver is loaded with pieces that could be solid building blocks for a young team who already has a star to build around, or for teams looking to a complete and total rebuild. I don't think any team can win in this league unless you have 3 solid brick pieces and then a great supporting cast that stand as those solid mortar pieces. Murray has the potential to be a brick piece, Jokic is already a brick, and now Denver needs to add one or two more bricks to complete the equation and catapult Denver into the top 4 in the west. As a top 4 team in the West I think Denver could compete with anyone in a 7 game series. Paul Millsap could absolutely serve as a brick piece, but at the age of 32 and Murray not yet a star and Jokic still solidifying his stardom, I believe one more star would be necessary to acquire.

An avenue Denver could look at approaching is going all in on a trade for Paul George. Offer the house. Offer Gallo/Mudiay/ three 1st round picks and Kenneth Faried. I don't think the Indiana Pacers could say no to that trade. Bring George in and let him learn the system and get familiar with Jokic, Harris and Murray. This would mean Malone would need to immediately insert Murray into the starting lineup at PG. If Denver made the playoffs as the 8 seed then great! If they won even one game, even better! But that way you head into the offseason and can potentially sign Paul Millsap instead of wasting assets for him. That could leave Denver with a much better bench heading into next season with a starting unit of Murray/Harris/PG13/Millsap/Jokic. A bench of Nelson/Beasely/Barton/WC21/Juancho/Nurkic leaves you with many options and a great supporting cast with a few starting caliber players in the event of an injury.

I know trading for George seems far fetched, but to trade for a wing in his prime who pairs phenomenally with a shooting PG like Murray and a fantastic passing big in Jokic along with potentially adding a guy like Millsap, that's a no brainer to me. With Indy clearly heading into a rebuild and Teague looming for an extension that will probably be a max from a desperate team, Indy can save themselves from maxing out a guy like Teague in attempting to develop a young Mudiay. George loves Denver and the Broncos and I am confident if Denver found a way to add him, that he would finish his career as a Nugget, especially if Denver was competitive every year.

Regardless, I am very excited about this young team. There are guys I see as great fits, guys I see as wearing out their stay, and guys I see as solid players but even more solid trading chips. I understand every time fans start talking trades 99% of the time its just noise but I think TC has made it clear he's looking to make this team a win-now place and is willing to make a tough decision like pulling the trigger on a trade or adding a player through FA. (something that is the complete opposite as the team that shares the Pepsi Center with the Nuggets). I am encouraged. If TC can make a trade or two or add a significant FA before the start of next year I will be very pleased with the state of the Nuggets. If we see Denver head into next season with the same roster and another couple rookie first round picks in the 12-18 range on our roster I will not be a happy fan and it will be time to grab the signs and start a protest outside of the Pepsi Center. This is a huge moment for both TC and Josh Kroenke. Since taking over the Nuggets and Avs, Josh has not bee successful at all. He has watched both teams regress tremendously with the Avs hitting rock bottom since inception. This is his time to right the ship. I hope Denver can construct a roster that can compete. This team is fun to watch. I enjoy coach Michael Malone. His rotations are nonsensical at times but this is also a tough roster to construct lineups for. If you hand Malone 5 no-brainer starters then his lineups and rotations wont be as nauseating as they have been at some times.

Cheers and see you on the comment board ;).