Well Nuggets fans, its prime trading season. For the first time in what seems like forever the Nuggets have made a move (heck they even unofficially started trading season!) by bringing in Mason Plumlee from division rival Portland.
What now?
Does the Nuggets front office get REALLY aggressive and make more trades, push for the playoffs like crazy? Do they sit back, see how this unit gels and make moves in the off season. Do you risk losing Gallo for nothing?
I could talk about all of that, I won't.
Instead I'm going to talk about what might have been. With all this Chicago talk in the air recently about perhaps looking at bringing Jimmy Butler to wear the powder blue and gold, instead I find my focus drawn to another Chicago Bulls player.
Dwayne Wade.
Remember that this summer? Wade meeting with the Nuggets, finally we had a superstar (a bit past his prime yes) but one whose short list included the Nuggets! Excitement like the screening of a new movie flowed through the Denver media for a scant 24 hours at the prospect of landing an NBA Champion here.
We know how it ended, but in case you've been living under a rock these past 6 months, Wades tweet sums up what happened perfectly:
@nuggets I wanna thank U guys for WOW-ing my team and I. The future is bright for your organization. Much respect and this decision was hard
— DWade (@DwyaneWade) July 9, 2016
The Nuggets wow'd him. Made the decision hard but he decided to go to Chicago.
How bad do you think he is feeling right now?
As of today Chicago sits at 28-29 on the season. Good enough for 7th place in the East and looking to take on the very impressive looking Boston Celtics in the first round. Granted the Bulls have a winning record this season against the Celtics 2-1 with one game remaining. All three of the games have been close and personally if I was a betting man I would lay my money on the Celtics to take a series and move on over the Bulls.
Also in the organization is the thought that Jimmy Butler wants to take his talents elsewhere.
Wait a minute, didn't Dwayne Wade go to Chicago to help Butler and the Bulls get back among the NBA elite?
Bulls fans I do hear you, injuries have plagued the team this season, but injuries happen to every team. No excuse.
Lets look at the Nuggets now.
Sitting in 8th place in the west, 25-31. Respectable record for one of the youngest teams (the youngest if Mike Miller was wearing street clothes like he should be) in the association.
The current story lines around the Nuggets: exciting young prospects, potential superstar center, can they hold on to the 8th seed?
According to Basketball Reference Dwayne Wade is good for 3.2 wins so far this season.
Nuggets fans how does 28 - 28 heading into the All-Star break sound now? Instead of "Can the Nuggets hold on" all of a sudden the story line becomes "Can they catch the Thunder? Can they maybe catch the Grizzlies?"
You also don't hear much dissent coming from this locker room. One player complaining (rightfully so, I think he will become a good center in the NBA) about his minutes and one minor incident earlier in the year where Coach became *gasp* human and let out a little frustration.
Wade made the wrong choice, he is paying for it.
We have seen what kind of person Jimmy Butler is.No one doubts his on-court talent. But do we want him here?
The Nuggets deserve better then Wades scrapes a second time. Wade had his moments, he has his rings.
We have the #nextera
