The Denver Nuggets won their first NBA championship in large part due to the performance of their stars, with Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray dominating in their playoff run. However, beyond their top stars, the Nuggets also showed the value in consolidating your talent into a tight rotation, as they ran an 8-man playoff unit that trimmed any fat in the rotation and proved to be an absolute buzzsaw.
The general theory in Denver has been to get versatile players that have complementary skills, while getting rid of redundancies. Nuggets GM Calvin Booth detailed that team-building strategy and how they’re moving forward with young players after seeing Bruce Brown and Jeff Green leave this summer in a fascinating profile by Kevin O’Connor of The Ringer. In that, he gave one of the most brutally honest quotes about a trade that you’ll see from a general manager when asked about trading Bones Hyland last year to clear up the rotation and open the way for rookie Christian Braun to take that final spot in the main rotation.
One of Booth’s first moves was to trade Bones Hyland, a young bucket-getting guard who came off the bench but didn’t offer a lot other than scoring. Despite being so young and showing promise, Hyland was dealt for just two second-round picks. The Nuggets didn’t want too much of the same thing on their team.
“I knew you couldn’t have two guys that couldn’t guard, and we couldn’t have two guys that were young and kind of more ‘me guys,’” Booth said. “Mike makes $30 million. He’s one of the best shooters in the NBA. So, Bones, there’s no place for you.”
It’s not a quote that’s shocking beyond you don’t often see this kind of blunt truth on the record from NBA front office personnel. Hyland’s value is, unquestionably, as a bucket-getter and the Nuggets simply didn’t need that and didn’t need a player potentially frustrated by a lack of touches or opportunity in the locker room. What’s more fascinating about the quote to me is calling Michael Porter Jr. a “me guy,” which, again, is the assessment plenty of folks would make, but just isn’t a quote you’d expect from the Nuggets front office. The honesty is appreciated and while Hyland surely won’t be a big fan of the quote, it’s incumbent on him to prove he’s more than that with the Clippers. As for Porter Jr., Booth does go on to note that MPJ became a better defender and rebounder last year, and that those skill additions to become passable made all the difference in him being a bigger part of the rotation on a title team.
As for who will step forward this year, Peyton Watson gets pumped up big time by Booth in this piece, calling him a better defender than Bruce Brown, as well as rookie Julian Strawther who has looked tremendous shooting the ball in the preseason. Whether they can replicate last year’s success remains to be seen, but Denver has a clear plan and Booth is not afraid to be incredibly honest when it comes to his evaluation of who fits and who doesn’t on this roster.