After missing the playoffs for the fifth consecutive year, Nuggets brass is playing it safe. And not just by retaining coach Mike Malone--the equivalent of the Chicago Bulls keeping the pedestrian Doug Collins rather than hiring Phil Jackson--but by standing pat with GM Tim Connelly as well. Malone makes Eeyore look like an optimist and his lineups look like they came out of a bingo tumbler some nights. The FBI is still trying to locate some of the players Malone has buried in his doghouse (anyone seen Kenneth Faried in months?). The Nuggets could go after the best coach in college basketball, Jay Wright, but they refuse to pay real money for good coaches.
Connelly has no doubt done some good things (most notably the 2014 draft where he snagged Gary Harris, Jusuf Nurkic, and Nikola Jokic) but his recent record is far less stellar. In 2015, he whiffed on drafting Emmanuel Midday, who never lived up to his potential. In 2017, he panicked and traded a pouting Nurkic and a 1st rounder in the deepest draft in NBA history to Portland for Mason Plumlee, a career backup. Yes, Nurkic was making life miserable for Malone, but the Nuggets missed the playoffs anyway so what was the harm in waiting to trade him in the offseason when you could've gotten far more? Connelly next traded for Roy Hibbert. 'Nough said. Then, in the 2017 draft, Connelly decided to trade down in a deep draft to acquire Tyler Lydon (he could've had Kyle Kuzma) and Trey Liles. He passed on a chance to draft Donovan Mitchell who many praised for his sweet shot and looks like a future All Star. Liles was a wash in Utah and was so bad of late in Denver he didn't even play in the critical matchup against Minnesota at the end of the season. Connelly then extended his reign of bad decisions to free agency by signing Paul Millsap to a 90 million dollar deal. Millsap is a fine player but didn't fit what the Nuggets needed--a stretch four who could block shots and more importantly stay out of Jokic's way in the paint. Even when Millsap is healthy, this deal doesn;t figure to pay big dividends for Denver. Then Connelly completed his stretch of incompetence by trading Mudiay for Devon Harris. At the time, I thought this was going to be a buy out, given Harris' old-looking and uninspired play in Dallas. But no, Harris muddled his way through the end of the season on Denver's bench, playing well in only a handful of games.
Connelly's biggest sin is putting together a collection of talent that fits together about as well as an erector set missing half the pieces. The team has a bunch of shooting guards and power forwards but no small forwards or point guards. The bench is devoid of scoring other than Will Barton (who will leave in free agency). Connelly has also talked a big game in the past (we have all these assets we can deal for a star player) and then done nothing to follow through. As a result, the team is quickly approaching salary cap armageddon with no clear path to fixing what ails it. Which is a shame. Connelly put three quality pieces together that deserve better. And a better coach.
Without the vision to make the necessary tough decisions, Nuggets' ownership won;t achieve what many believe is possible next year--a fourth seed in the playoffs. This is a team that is instead headed for a repeat of this year.
