I am life long fan of Syracuse basketball and have been a fan of the Nuggets for the past 20 years. I watched Tyler Lydon play for Syracuse for 2 years and always was a big fan, but never imagined that he would ever play in the NBA. He really wasn't very good. So, I knew immediately the Nuggets decision to trade Donovan Mitchell who they had drafted for Tyler Lydon was an awful one. We were told that they didn't need Donovan Mitchell since we already had Gary Harris.

Now, the Nuggets front office decided to trade Malik Beasley and Juancho Hernangomez because they both had expiring contracts and didn't want to lose and get nothing in return. The deal was hailed as a great one since they did get a 1st round draft pick in addition to 3 other players. From what I read, the Nuggets tried to sign Malik to an extension, but only offered him backup money since they already has a starting 2 guard with Gary Harris. Where the spin, I have heard is that they had to trade him since he was going to leave after the season. I'm guessing if they were able to get rid of Gary Harris' contract and offer Malik something similar, he would have been more than happy to stay.

In the preseason this year, the Nuggets posted a video of a three point shooting contest with the winner getting a MMA type belt. It came down to Malik vs Juancho with Malik winning. Coach Malone then chose not to play Malik many games at the start of the season and then when he did play him, he played him very sparingly. Never, did Coach Malone give Malik the chance to start and see what he could do with the starters. Since the trade, Malik has averaged over 23 points per game. Gary has had 1 game this year where he scored over 23 points.

The Nuggets are a great team and a blast to watch, but I only wonder how good they would have been had they made some different choice specifically in regards to who is their starting 2 guard.