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They're still a contender and despite losing KCP for nothing and kind of having the substitution of Kent talent, they want to tell you that Calvin Booth's approach is working and things are going to be fine. That's harder to do when you see the first game of Summer League, which, um, drawn homes, just tragic, awful injury to drawn homes. I think that, um, I think people tend to talk about nonsense. Honestly, it's just a horrendous bad luck. And most injuries are that. Um, most tendon injuries and anything like that are generally just bad luck. Um, Jamal Murray's injury in 2021, bad luck. Um, this just happened to hit on the right spot where his, uh, kill, he's stabbed and that happens. You get into a point where it just hits a, it hits a thing. It doesn't have to be a reason. It just happens and it sucks. For all of them, from all accounts, Doron Holmes is a very, very good guy and I, everyone was rooting for him and he was showing better in the second half of that first Summer League game. Uh, the second one is tonight, by the way, as of this recording. So, I mean, obviously the nuggets were just, uh, devastated because they invested draft picks to move up to select Doron Holmes. And, uh, they had wanted him at least, at the very least to see some minutes this year. There was no guarantee that he was going to receive any substantial minutes. Um, we all know who Michael Malone is and there wasn't any guarantee that that was going to happen. And, but at the very least, they wanted to put him into Calvin Booth's pipeline and have him get some development and then be ready in the second year. This is the full Booth philosophy, low round picks, get development, plug in role players. That is the way he thinks. The funny thing about this is about, about, about the philosophy was it comes up against reality. And the reality is you can't account for injuries. And the reality is you can't always, uh, account for development trajectory. Um, I've said this before. You aren't, when you go this direction, you are not on, especially with the nuggets now having six guaranteed contracts on the roster of players who are, uh, on rookie deals. You are at the mercy of the development trajectory of the people you are drafting. This isn't like veterans where you know where they, there's a baseline, okay? So when you go this heavy with drafted players, you are at the mercy of how fast they develop. If they develop at all, and, um, the, the kind of the factors around them allowing to be developed, it is, it is not up to just getting drafted. There are, that's why you tend to invest development years in rookie and large portions of your roster into, uh, rookie deals. Because everyone is developing, everyone is getting a chance. Every, if you have these, all these, like the Oklahoma City Thunder. The reason the Thunder are, are like that is because, you know, other, aside from Shea, and then now they brought in Caruso and Hartenstein. Um, the bleed up to it was they were just allowing players to develop. And that is the trajectory of that sort of thing. It is hard to devote a tremendous amount of your roster to the development of youth when you are, uh, trying to ostensibly win. Because your timeline gets depressed. And you are, you become more and more dependent on the timeline of people who need time. Time equals cost equals development. That's all that thing. So anyway, that philosophy aside. Um, what you saw in the first Summer League game was not being able to account for a bad luck injury, a cataclysmic injury. And you can't just, there's nothing that you can build in a variable for, you know, in the people's thought process. And I know for a fact that Calvin Booth doesn't think about that sort of thing. So that put a gigantic crimp into the Nuggets plan. Additionally, now obviously there's the rest of Summer League to go. And quite frankly, everyone who's listening to this podcast knows my, uh, my, um, philosophy at Summer League. You really can't tell anything from Summer League. Summer League is, um, since you're not playing quote NBA players in a sense that you're not playing ready, made NBA players. Um, and you're not playing guys, veterans or anything like that. You just, you can't go from one to the other. You cannot go from the, uh, the, what you're doing in Summer League and apply it to the NBA because that's not the same thing. The caliber of talent is not the same thing. The amount of players who are NBA players is not the same thing. There's a lot of guys who are just trying to get a foot in the league in there. You got a lot of second round picks and of course drafted picks and you know, it is very youth oriented. Really what you're looking for in Summer League is competence. I've said this over and over. What you're looking for when you go into Summer League is just, is this person competent? Is this person knowing what direction they are going on offense? Is this person got command of what their own skill set is? And, uh, and sometimes you can just really tell in a Summer League game that the guy, someone's not ready. You know, you can tell that immediately because they don't know which direction they're going. Hunter Tyson actually had some issues with that. He just looked unsure of himself, particularly on defense. Um, but the big issue right now that the Nuggets are having is that they were really depending. They're very largely, particularly Calvin Booth is depending on the development of one Jalen Pickett, a second round draft pick who he devoted a guaranteed contract to. So the, the issue that has coming into this, uh, this Summer League was because we didn't see a ton of Jalen Pickett last year. The supposition is that he would have to develop an on his own going to Glee games last year and whatnot, with not getting that much time on the, on the, uh, on the club. And then he was supposed to, like, with that sort of maturity be able to show out again this Summer League. Um, I'll be honest with you, he, he not only did not show out, he really did not look good at all. Um, and I think that sort of thing is not very good for his prospects. Now he could, he could show a lot more in this game too and not really have to, to, um, and kind of get people to think that the first game was in aberration, rust, blah, blah, blah. I mean, everyone's rusty. Uh, and to be honest with you, it, it, it, it, well, things happen like that. You have a long time off and sometimes you don't look good. They have had practices before now, but in reality, sometimes you just need to play a little to work out the kinks. So not drawing huge conclusions in game one, but it wasn't good for Jalen Pickett. And that applies also to Hunter Tyson, who also was hit some shots, but he was also, just didn't seem to know where he was going on defense and was cooked pretty, pretty thoroughly. And, um, Julian Stradler was the only one of the second year players who looked like they had taken an advancement that he had gone from point A to point B. And in some of these second year players, that's what you want to see. You specifically, since, um, since the, the summer league is generally for first and second year players, you want to see what you saw the last summer league, particularly if you did not see them in the big league, the big league club, like this is baseball, when you're in the NBA, if they didn't get a ton of minutes in the NBA, you want to see an advancement from where you saw them the first summer league to the second one. And the only one of the nuggets that really did that was Julian Stradler, even though his 25 wasn't exactly what you would call an efficient 25, he did show a level of advancement that you just do not, hadn't see from Hunter Tyson and Jalen Pickett. So, in that spirit, one of the big problems that we have with the booth approach is, once again, since you're on the, the, you're on the timeline of people who develop, as the nuggets lose, and it's a war of attrition because the, the cronkeys have a, have a hard cap. It's a war of attrition, you're going to keep losing players, and what you need to do is replace players with the equal caliber of the payer player that you lost. And if you're going all in on the draft, the fundamental thing you need to do is have that player that's behind you, the guy you just lost, be as good. There's no guarantee, now Michael Malone said this, and Christian Brown reiterated, there's no guarantee that Christian Brown will take over in the, the second, the, the two guard spot. And I think that's kind of pre-order game that he will, but, you know, you never know what's going to happen. There's the implication that Julian Stradler could do it, you know, whatever. But there is just, you want to know that Christian Brown is going to be not only replace what, uh, continues Caldwell Pope got brought to you, but be able to maintain a level of excellence that he was able to do, particularly in a championship season, because the Nuggets are on, have trying to do, they very rough, not quite a severe version of the two timelines thing that the Golden State Warriors did. And one of those things is you are not necessarily on, on Calvin Booth's timeline, you're on Nicole Ochich's timeline, and that should be the superseding timeline, but since they have so many rookie contracts on this roster now, you are kind of left at a junction point where you are kind of split and they need to conform to Nicole Ochich's timeline, not these rookies. And that's hard to do the more yo youth you sign. They signed another guaranteed youth who's now injured on this timeline. They are heavily dependent on Calvin Booth's graphics. In the second half, I'm going to give you a positive spin. I'm going to give you something that I indicated probably about a month ago, but I kind of want to talk about and kind of give us an idea of how the Nuggets can, how the Nuggets can reset the vibes and put them in a direction that is not quite as doom and gloom as it has been this soft season. And I'll be getting that in the second half of the podcast, but first, I'd like to talk to you about a Blanchard Family Wine. It's located between 18th and 19th, and Blake and Wazzy in beautiful Lower Downtown, Denver, Colorado, just a couple of walks away from Coorsfield, right in the middle of a dairy block. They're online at bfwcolorato.com. They're on Facebook and Instagram at our Blanchard Family Wines. Great wines there, Reds, Whites, Rieslings. The Riesling is a partnership with the Western Slope, and it is a dry Riesling, which is great for someone who, like me, who doesn't like Sweetwine. But they also got a great Pino. They got a great cabinet, and they really got the best of what Colorado has to offer, and Sonoma County, California, where their original location is. But they also have a location in Fort Collins, and they have one in Golden in case that you can't make it down to the dairy block. But if you go down to the dairy block, go down and make sure you experience the vibes, or deep into Colorado summer right now, in evenings and call in Denver are really great. Head on out, spend some time there, and really enjoy what Denver has to offer, particularly Lower Downtown. Once again, they're located between 18th and 19th, and Blake and Wazzy in beautiful Lower Downtown, Denver, Colorado, just a couple of walks away from Coorsfield, right in the middle of the dairy block. They're always online at bfwcolorado.com. They're on Facebook and Instagram, or Blanch Your Family Wines. When you go in, or you talk to them, tell them Jeff Morton from CSG podcast, send you. What's next? At Moss Adams, that question inspires us to help people and their businesses strategically define and claim their future. As one of America's leading accounting, consulting, and wealth management firms, our collaborative approach creates solutions for your unique business needs. We leverage industry-focused insights with the collective technical resources of our firm to elevate your performance. Uncover opportunity and move upward at MossAtoms.com. As this year has unfolded, and this offseason has unfolded, it's been really hard to find a lot of silver linings in this cloud, because the nuggets own issues. With all the investment they've put into Doron Holmes, who's now has an Achilles injury, and getting off of Reggie Jackson's contract, they put themselves, they boxed themselves in. Now today, Calvin Booth said that he anticipates there being no negotiation, no real negotiation needed to sign Jamal to whatever contract that they are presented to him. I don't necessarily believe the number that was put out there. I'll explain that in a future podcast, but he said that today. Let's see if it's true. All that aside, and the Jamal discussion is completely different. It's time for the Denver Nuggets to pick a direction. And by direction, I mean committing fully to Nicole Yogich. And I think now, with Calvin Booth being this last year, this is his last year on the contract, the nuggets should probably take this opportunity, seeing the Doron Holmes injuries, seeing the fact that they don't have, well, they only have basically one draft pick and swaps. But they have one first round draft pick, 2031, first round pick to trade. The nuggets need to take this opportunity to bite the bullet, trade technology, maybe a couple of Calvin's draft picks, and invest in Nicole Yogich. And this is really where the nuggets need to start thinking. Because the Booth doctrine has a giant hole blown in it by the virtue of Jalen Pickett not getting much attention last year, or excuse me, development. Hunter Tyson looking there, and Doron Holmes being out for the year with an Achilles injury, and who knows how he looked when he gets back. The nuggets really have a gigantic hole blown in their philosophy. It's untenable at this point. And also even though Christian Brown and Peyton Watson are still in the roster, it is the rest of it that hasn't necessarily turned out. Now it's time for the nuggets to just accept that they need to attach an asset to trade technology for someone. The Russell Westbrook thing, I have explained this before, I am more pessimistic on the prospects of the nuggets getting him right now than I am most other people. The Clippers have no incentive to actually do the nuggets a solid. So I think that that part is hanging out there, but the nuggets need a backup point guard, someone out there. I mean, I'm not going to give you a name, but the nuggets need to find a competent service and serviceable backup point guard who is not Jalen Pickett. And why I'm saying this is positive. I think in the grand scheme of things, sometimes you need to have out of your control things happen for you to realize that the way you've committed to something isn't necessarily the best way. I've always explained to this with a booth approach, if they were moving up way up in a draft for a high upside, potentially a low side, but high upside player, kind of like what the Wolves did this year, you know, when they went all the way up to number eight and got their guy. You need a risk like that. You need an ability to move up in a draft if you're going to go all in on a draft, particularly if your team is already good. Kind of like what the Spurs did in 2011 when they moved up to get Kawhi Leonard, they traded George Hill to the Indiana Pacers. So they needed to go up and get a high upside player, because high upside players are more likely to be able to get the development within the structure. It's the lower upside players that need time on the floor to find out where they fit in because they are not going to show out in the way that high upside players are going to be doing what they're going to be doing is being a fit. So I think the Nuggets need to realign themselves, and if Calvin Booth does not want to alter completely his strategy, he needs to start trading players for particularly Zignaji, and maybe a couple of these draft picks that aren't out there. They need to do a bundle, throw in that first round pick in 2031, get either a player who's been underused on a team, or get a play, get maybe a potential to move up in a draft 2025, 2026, one of those. Because in the war of attrition, the Nuggets are losing out. They are not being able right now to replace the players that have gone out with equal talent, particularly KCP. I know everyone likes Christian Brown, but there's serious flaws in Christian Brown's game. Now the positive about this is now is the time that Calvin Booth is able to switch course, not dramatically necessarily, but understand that he needs to be bold. Because being bold right now, not desperate, but bold. If you act desperate, you're going to mess up, but if you act bold, you will be either rewarded richly or not, but you've got to be willing to risk that. And the Nuggets sort of are in this weird holding pattern with guys who aren't necessarily star players on the roster. The youth that he's brought in, a Jalen Pickett who did not look good, a Hunter Tyson who looked there. And you have Zignaji who clearly they didn't want to keep on the roster, who's still here because of it. So they are at this weird point where they need to pick a direction. And when I say pick a direction, clean house of the sunk cost. And the sunk cost is Pickett Tyson and Zignaji. Attaching a pick to move off of that might be worth it. If you get a player on your roster and once again, Westbrook thing is different. And I'll just address that later. But right now, your front court is what your front court is. You got in Dario Sarge to be ostensibly the backup for five. You have Lacco Chancher who is your backup for five. The Nuggets don't feel they need to be doing much more on that front. Even with Darren Holmes, excuse me, I'm so sorry. Even with him out, the Nuggets were okay there. That's why he wasn't guaranteed to get a ton of minutes. It is backup guard where the Nuggets really, really were struggling. They need to move on from Zeke, Tyson, Pickett, Pick. Get yourself a competent backup point guard. Be bold and keep going forward. That doesn't invalidate the approach. But it's a concession to the fact that a bunch of shit happened that you couldn't account for and some of it you could. Giving Tyson and Pickett guaranteed contracts when you didn't have to severely hurt your ability to be flexible. Now is a time the Nuggets can pivot away from being inert and into moving forward. And that's how the Nuggets can do that this season. Right now is a great opportunity with Darren Holmes being out and seeing what you've seen from Pickett and Tyson. You need to be able to unload these guys. And look, it could be. And like I said, an undervalued player. Maybe not a player on a roster that is highly thought of. The Nuggets can go and say, "Look, our culture is great. We put him here and he will thrive." It was kind of similar to what happened with Reggie Jackson. Reggie Jackson's was the Clippers cut him and he was bought out. I think he was traded cut and then he was bought out. The Clippers didn't want him anymore and the Nuggets got him and he was good for a little bit and was able to give the Nuggets something. But right now the Nuggets are kind of stuck in cement and that is the real disappointing part of this whole scenario. They have because of factors that have happened and they can't count on Darren Holmes for a long, long time now. So they're going to have to be able to be nimble. And this is the team that refuses to go into the second apron. Well, this is why you refuse to go into the second apron. You are going to have to be clever. And this is going to force Calvin Booth to be clever. He has to be clever now. He can't sit on his hands. He cannot go into this season with the team as it is because quite frankly, they just do not have a backup point guard. So being able to do that and move, this disappointment right now may be an opportunity for the Nuggets to shake out the cobwebs and do something. And if Calvin Booth is able to do this, I will be the first person out there, both on Twitter and in this podcast praising him. Okay, you have my word. If Calvin Booth does that, I will be singing his praises on this podcast and I will be a lot more positive about this Nuggets off season. But right now, the team just needs to attach a first round pick in order to get off of three, quite frankly, disappointing contracts in my view. If they were able to do that and generate some flexibility, and I know they're in this first apron, I think there's some restrictions about what they can do, but they need to be able to move on. And if it takes Zeke into just moving on from Zeke Naji, just move on from him. If it's moving on from Tyson and pick it, maybe not attaching a first with him, but doing something like that, they need to do it. The Nuggets are in a state of arrested development and they need to move the needle back up again. They are on this slow slope down and they need to be pointed back up again. And I'm not talking about a trade, redeeming lowered, but I'm talking about just getting rid of the dead weight, and they've got a lot of dead weight at the back of that roster in the form of those three players. To help him Booth needs to be creative. He needs to be able to move that. And if he does, this team will be regardless of what the return is, the Nuggets will be able to point that needle back up in the right direction. Alright, thank you all for joining me on the latest morecast. I'm going to be back in a couple days with another episode. Go ahead. [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] Hey, it's Michelle Beatle. That's right. The Michelle Beatle. You're welcome. You love talking about sports. I love talking about sports. You know the only thing cooler than talking about sports? Sports. And right now, all your favorite sports on SiriusXM. 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The Nuggets are in a state of arrested development after the tragic Achilles tendon injury to DeRon Holmes and the extremely disappointing Summer League debut's of Pickett and Tyson. Jeff proposes that in order to turn the frowns upside down the Nuggets need to be bold in a way they haven't in the Booth era.
