Nothing! The strongest player in the league meets the most incompetent management!

Basketball Big History Ball

2024-07-02 11:37

We all know that the free market is on.

In just 24 hours, the league's cumulative total signings have exceeded $1.5 billion, and some teams have become big winners, such as the 76ers, who not only signed George, Gordon, Drummond, but also brought back Maxey and Oubre, and next season, the 76ers will re-attack the floor of the Eastern Conference finals.

However, there are also some teams that clearly have a chance to compete for the championship, and their strength is also the top in the league, but since the opening of the free market, not only have there been no reinforcements, but they have also watched the former champion leave, yes, we are talking about the Nuggets.

On the first day of free agency, Pope left the team and signed with the Magic on a three-year, 66 million contract.

To be honest, it's not cheap, especially considering Pope's abnormal performance in the playoffs this year, but the Magic, as a young team, urgently needs some experienced veterans to join, and Pope, who has two championships in hand and 3D, is a good choice, even if it is a little premium, it will have little impact on the Magic who are eating the rookie bonus period.

However, for the Nuggets, it was a bit uncomfortable to lose Pope, although Pope did not play well in the playoffs, but he was the absolute main force in the regular season, averaging 10.1 points, 2.4 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 1.3 steals per game, with a three-point shooting rate of 40.6% and a true shooting rate of 60.2%.

During this period, when Pope was on the floor, the Nuggets could outscore their opponents by 11.3 points per 100 rounds, and conversely lose their opponents by 4.0 points, and his cumulative plus/minus was +572, second on the team, second only to Jokic's +682;

And when he and Jokic are on the court at the same time, the Nuggets can outscore their opponents by +12.5 points per 100 rounds, and if Jokic + Murray + Pope + Gordon + Porter Jr. are on the floor at the same time, this number can continue to increase to +13.6 points.

In short, the Nuggets lost a main member of the championship who already had a good fit, and this time it was different from losing Bruce Brown last year, when due to salary and rule restrictions, the Nuggets could only offer Brown a one-year contract of about 7 million, which is definitely not as good as the Pacers' two-year 45 million.

But the Nuggets already have Pope's bird rights, and they can bid with the Magic, and the reason why they didn't offer a bigger contract, according to the analysis of the Nuggets, there are three reasons, one is that Pope is 32 years old, the second is that Pope was blown up face-to-face by Edwards in the playoffs, and the third is that the Nuggets want to have flexibility.

So, Pope is gone, but the Nuggets have lost more than Pope. Before Pope left, the Nuggets also sent Reggie Jackson to the Hornets, and they took three second-round rotations back to the air, a move that was purely to save money — they thought it was to sign Pope back, but now it doesn't.

Reggie is a player who is embarrassed to use in the playoffs, but he didn't play badly in the regular season last year, averaging 10.2 points and 3.8 assists in 22 minutes per game, and his three-point shooting rate is also 35.9%, and losing him will definitely have an impact on the Nuggets' regular season rotation.

Of course, the Nuggets are not without any signings, they signed back Jordan Jr. with a base salary of 3.6 million for one year.

Jordan Jr. has a huge impact on the Nuggets locker room, and the Nuggets GM sees him as a player similar to the Heat Haslem-type player, but to be honest, Jordan Jr.'s gas tank is basically out of gas, and he has only played a total of 75 games in the past two seasons.

Oh yes, there's also a piece of news that the Nuggets are interested in Wei Shao.

In the case of Wei Shao, we said that he just played a career low season last season, and the exercise of the player option in the Clippers was more of a helplessness, of course, the decline was partly due to the arrival of Harden, the degree of incompatibility between the two is visible to the naked eye, and Tyronn Lue will even completely disassemble the two in a game.

However, Wei Shao's shortcomings are also real, he is a 35-year-old, no shooting, can't play without the ball, easy to get up, and the defensive ball quotient needs to be improved.

With Harden already on the team, it is inevitable that Wei Shao will leave, and the Nuggets may actually make a move - according to a report from the Nuggets, Jokic wants the Nuggets to trade for Wei Shao, and Wei Shao is also interested in Denver.

The teaming up of the two triple-double kings will definitely be exciting, but, can these two be compatible?

Judging from the style of play, it is not good at all, and Wei Shao is likely to play as a substitute - Wei Shao's career is wonderful, but at this point in time, don't expect the arrival of a base salary player to change a team, he will definitely not be able to make up for the vacancy of Reggie + Pope's departure.

To sum up, the current operations of the Nuggets are: sending Reggie away, letting go of Pope, renewing Jordan (small), and intentionally threatening less...

Looking at today's Western pattern, the Timberwolves' core lineup is almost completely retained, the Thunder and Mavericks are also checking and filling in the gaps, and the Nuggets have Jokic, but apart from Jokic, what else do they have? Little Porter at a premium? Murray who just had a sluggish season? Gordon who wants to get a big contract next year? I'm afraid it's hard to recreate the glory of a year ago.

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