Denver Nuggets

Earlier today Yahoo!Sports.com’s Adrien Wojnarowski reported the Nuggets ownership granted the Raptors permission to speak with Nuggets GM Masai Ujiri in Denver. In his article Woj states that, “Unless Denver responds soon with a market-value contract extension to keep its general manager, Ujiri is prepared to leave Denver,” and how, “Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment CEO Tim Leiweke is aggressively pursuing Ujiri to become the Raptors’ general manager.” After much speculation (and blatant hysteria) in and around Nuggets Nation this afternoon, Nuggets owner Josh Kroenke finally broke the silence and went on 104.3 The Fan, a local Denver radio station, to address the topic at hand. (You can listen to the interview here under “Drew and Scott hour 3 5/24/13.” Kroenke comes on at about the 45-minute mark.) Every person has their own set of ears and interprets the world around them differently. But for everyone who listens to the above interview there should at least be some form of a consensus about the tone and direction that we can agree on. Kroenke did not seem confident in his ability to retain Ujiri. Instead of expressing his desire to keep him, he explored every possibility of what life would be like without him. Instead of sounding optimistic in his ability to re-sign Ujiri, he sounded slightly perturbed and jumpy about the future of his franchise. But above all else, instead of comforting Nuggets fans and reassuring them that he’d do everything in his power to bring Ujiri back, Kroenke instead left the door wide open for Toronto to come in and steal him away saying it’s entirely up to Ujiri to decided what he wants to do. That is some certified, Grade-A crap. The Nuggets are the ones with the power right now. They’re on the exact same playing field as Toronto except they have the upper hand. They’re the ones who Ujiri is coming off a three-year deal with. They’re the ones who Ujiri has built a team from the ground up with. They’re the ones who Ujiri has established a culture with. They’re the ones who Ujiri just won Executive of the Year with. And most importantly, they SHOULD be the ones who want Ujiri more than Toronto!!! There is still so much we don’t understand as fans. Nobody knows what goes on behind closed doors. Perhaps Ujiri really isn’t the genius we all think he is? But that’s totally beside the point. What we do know is that whatever the Nuggets have had the last three years — it’s worked. Perhaps better than any other team in the league, things are working. For once in this franchise’s history excellence is within sight. The idea of a championship isn’t just an unreachable dream, but an actual reality — and one not too far out of the Nuggets’ grasp. So why on God’s green earth would Josh Kroenke risk this over the sake of a few dollars? At worst, the difference between what he perceives Ujiri is actually worth and what Toronto is offering him is only pocket change compared to the budget he receives each year to run the team. The Nuggets annually spend over $70 million on players alone. How in the hell can you justify low-balling the man who constructed the greatest regular season team in Nuggets history and current Executive of the Year?!? Unfortunately for Nuggets fans, this is a precedent that’s already been established in the past. As Woj mentions in his article, the Kroenke’s have a long history of low-balling their general managers no matter how good they’ve been. But this? This is nothing compared to previous instances. This goes far beyond replacing one good general manager with another. This would be inexcusable on every level. It would be idiotic and stupid and pointless and bad business and just plain wrong (unless, like I already mentioned, Kroenke knows something we don’t about Ujiri; in which case, only time will tell). If

"This game has got to be about more than winning." -Tony D'Amato (Al Pacino), Any Given Sunday Yes, Nuggets Nation wants to see the team win a title. Bringing back Masai Ujiri would be a huge step in the right direction that tells fans the team is very committed to the plan of making the Nuggets title contenders. Ujiri has shown a keen ability to make the right trades, retain the right free agents, has kept the right assets from walking away, and he has made excellent selections in the NBA draft. Add to that - Masai Ujiri is the kind of person a franchise should want to build around. When Andrew Feinstein and I got together to merge our blogs, one thing we agreed on is that we want the team we love to care more about the game than we do. Ujiri emits passion. He has stated over-and-over that he wants to win and you can see it in his eyes and hear it when he speaks. Whenever I see Ujiri at Pepsi Center he goes out of his way to come chat with me - he asks if I need anything and will spend generous amounts of time talking hoops with this blogger and many other members of the media. You can see that the players hold him in high-esteem, as well. Masai Ujiri is a Denver Nuggets superstar. The Nuggets offered former star Carmelo Anthony a three-year, $65 million contract extension. He didn't want to be in Denver, but it didn't stop the team from trying to retain him. From all indications, Masai wants to be in Denver and in Denver he should stay. The fans in this city have embraced him and he has endeared himself to the fan-base since coming to the team in August of 2010. When the Nuggets made their incredible run to the Western Conference Finals in the 2009 playoffs, it was Chris Andersen who won over the fans. In the stands you would see multiple people with their hair gelled in a Mohawk for the Birdman; I was one of them. Andersen was on a one-year contract and the fans were worried he might not be back with the club. We created a "Bring Back Birdman" petition that a number of Nuggets fans signed. Despite being 31 years-old, the Nuggets made the right move and retained a fan-favorite with a 5 year, $25 million deal. It was the right move at the time and made plenty of fans happy. Stan Kroenke and the rest of the Nuggets' front office did right by the fans. It's time to do right by the fans once again. Since Melo left Denver there has been a lot of talk from Ujiri, George Karl, and others about this franchise trying to go about winning in an unconventional way. Ujiri has completely turned over the roster - Andersen was the last player remaining from the WCFs team; he's long gone. Since Ujiri took the reigns, he has brought in 19 faces that have had an impact on the court with the team: 1.) Gary Forbes2.) Melvin Ely3.) Raymond Felton4.) Wilson Chandler5.) Danilo Gallinari6.) Timofey Mozgov7.) Kosta Koufos8.) Jordan Hamilton9.) Andre Miller10.) Kenneth Faried11.) Julyan Stone12.) DeMarre Carroll13.) Corey Brewer14.) Rudy Fernandez15.) JaVale McGee16.) Andre Iguodala17.) Evan Fournier18.) Quincy Miller19.) Anthony Randolph Ujiri also was able to retain Karl with a contract extension and his work in Denver is not done. His teams have finished 50-32, 38-28, and 57-25 ... the Nuggets are headed in the right direction. On the above list, Ujiri was able to retain key free agents: Gallo, Chandler, Miller, McGee, and Koufos - along with Nene, Arron Afflalo, and Ty Lawson. Any one of those guys could have easily left town, but Ujiri made sure they did not. Equally as important with Ujiri? He's a great person. From his profile on Nuggets.com: Along with former Nuggets great Dikembe Mutombo, Ujiri has been tireless in his efforts to promote and develop the game of basketball throughout Africa. He is the founder of the Giants of Africa Foundation, which launched the Top 50 and Bigman camps in his homeland. Ujiri also has served as the director of the NBA's Basketball Without Borders program since 2002. In 2011, ou

One of the best things about the summer is getting to sit back and say, "Wow, just think of what could happen!" I'm stealing from George Costanza and calling this THE SUMMER OF NATE! This is gonna be my time and here is what I'd do if I were the GM for each and every team in the league ... To give this a little order - we'll use the order of the first round of the NBA draft to break things down ... 1. Cleveland Cavaliers Restricted Free Agents: Omri Casspi, Wayne EllingtonUnrestricted Free Agents: Daniel Gibson, Shaun Livingston, Marreese Speights (P), Luke Walton Season review: Kyrie Irving broke out this season, but the team only got 24 wins. Anderson Varejao suffered a season ending blood-clot and a team that might have made a playoff run was doomed. Off-season plans: I'd consider drafting Otto Porter out of Georgetown to pair with Irving and Dion Waiters. Porter could be that nice two-way player the team needs to lock-down the small forward spot. The team also needs some help in the front-court - inquiring into some trade talk might help, but making a run at Nikola Pekovic would be a priority. 2. Orlando Magic RFA: DeQuan JonesUFA: Hedo Turkoglu (ETO), Beno Udrih Season review: A dreadful 20-win season, but Rob Hennigan, Orlando's GM, did a great job getting some young prospects with the Dwight Howard and J.J. Redick trades. Off-season plans: It'll still take another season to clear more cap room - there's no way Hedo turns down $12 million - and there isn't a clear choice for the No. 2 pick. I'd try to move the No. 2 pick to trade back for a pick or to gain another pick for 2014 (if it were possible). The Magic should roll the dice with what they have, let their young guys grow, maybe buy out Al Harrington and try to trade Glen Davis (two years and $13 million left), and hope the ping-pong balls fall right for Andrew Wiggins. 3. Washington Wizards RFA: Garrett TempleUFA: Trevor Ariza (P), Leandro Barbosa, Jason Collins, Cartier Martin, Emeka Okafor (ETO), A.J. Price, Martell Webster Season review: When John Wall came back and Nene got healthy, this team looked like it could have made a playoff run. Wall played in 49 games and looked like he was beginning to make a leap with his play on the court. This was a pesky team that needs some help. Off-season plans: The No. 3 pick was a nice surprise for the Wizards. I'd hope that Otto Porter falls to me here to pair with John Wall and Bradley Beal in the starting lineup, but Nerlens Noel would be nice too (even though I don't believe he'll be a star in the league). Okafor can't turn down the $14.4 million that awaits him next season and the same can be said for Ariza and his $7.7 million. Another wing player needs to be targeted and some depth off the bench - hopefully that'll be addressed in the draft with Porter. 4. Charlotte Bobcats RFA: Gerald Henderson, Byron MullensUFA: DeSagana Diop, Ben Gordon (P), Josh McRoberts, Jannero Pargo, Reggie Williams Season review: Bleh. Bringing in Mike Dunlap for one season and then firing him shows that there is still no plan in Charlotte. Off-season plans: Keep the people focused on the Hornets name coming back. 5. Phoenix Suns RFA: Diante GarrettUFA: Wesley Johnson, Jermaine O'Neal Season review: The Michael Beasley signing already looks like a mistake ($6 million next season and a buyout option for the 2014-15 campaign) and bringing in O'Neal and Luis Scola were both head-scratching moves; not good. The Suns should be happy that the Hornets Pelicans matched the max-offer for Eric Gordon last summer. Off-season plans: Try to move Scola and let the Morris Twins get some serious playing time in the front-court. Moving Marcin Gortat could also be a wise move and drafting a project big man like Alex Len, Cody Zeller, or maybe a riskier pick like Steven Adams (could trade back to get him) could be the move in the draft. The Suns are a mess. 6. New Orleans Pelicans RFA: None.UFA: Al-Farouq Aminu, Lou Amundson, Xavie

Mar 10, 2012; Las Vegas, NV, USA; New Mexico Lobos guard Tony Snell (21) attempts a three point shot against the San Diego State Aztecs in the first half of the finals of the 2012 Mountain West Tournament at the Thomas Sports Illustrated released its 2013 mock draft Wednesday morning, after Tuesday night’s draft lottery. With the No. 27 pick in the draft, Chris Mannix of SI, has the Denver Nuggets selecting Tony Snell, an athletic wing man out of New Mexico. Mannix calls Snell a “safety net” with the future of Andre Iguodala still up in the air. “Snell is a rangy 2-guard with decent offensive skills,” Mannix writes. “And the physical tools to be a solid defender.” The Nuggets will surely be looking to bolster it’s outside shooting this off-season in wake of its disappointing first round exit against the Golden State Warriors. In that series, Denver struggled to shoot the ball from range against the Warriors’ 2-3 zone. The Nuggets’ best perimeter shooter, Danilo Gallinari, tore his ACL a couple weeks before the playoffs and long-range shooting became a huge weakness in Denver’s offense. Snell, a 6-foot-7 junior out of New Mexico, shot 39 percent from 3-point range in his final season with the Lobos. He’s displayed a smooth shooting stroke at the draft combine and could be available when the Nuggets select at No. 27. Mannix also writes that Providence’s Ricky Ledo could also be an option at No. 27. Ledo, who never played a game for the Friars after he was deemed academically ineligible before the season, is a 6-foot-6 guard who’s comfortable scoring from anywhere on the court and would provide good ball handling to go along with it. *** Thanks for reading and follow me on Twitter @lashy.

Through the first five months of the season, Danilo Gallinari showcased the versatility that makes him so valuable to the Denver Nuggets. In a matter of seconds, it was all gone.

One of the biggest talking points around the Nuggets this season was how deep they were. That resulted in a lot of different players scoring points for Denver and naturally with that plenty of assists, as the Nuggets finished third in the league at 24.4 assists per game, just .1 worse than second place Atlanta and less than a full assist behind top ranked San Antonio. Most of those assists came from three players; Ty Lawson, Andre Miller and Andre Iguodala averaged 6.9, 5.9 and 5.4 assists per game respectively. I decided to delve a little deeper into those assist numbers using the awesome assist charts at the great new site hotshotcharts.com. Before I start throwing the charts at you, here is a quick primer on how to read them. The blue bar is how many total assists the player had. So the bigger the bar the more assists a player had. The yellow paths show how many assists a player had to and from a teammate. The thicker the bar leaving a teammate the more assists he had to whichever player it leads too, and the thinner the bar the lower the amount. So now to look at some charts. First up is Andre Miller. What surprised me most about Miller’s assist breakdown is that the majority of them came to Corey Brewer and not JaVale McGee. Two main reasons stick out for this. Brewer gets plenty of his buckets in fast break situations, something that tends to happen a lot less when Miller is running the show. Secondly, Miller loves to throw his oops to JaVale. Like to an unhealthy point. The other thing that should be taken from the chart his how little Miller helps non-McGee bigs. After JaVale the last remaining player that Miller assists to a significant degree more than other teammates is Andre Iguodala. It makes a bit of sense in that Miller tends to pound the ball into the ground in the post. From there if things break down the ball ends up getting kicked to either Brewer or Iggy on the perimeter or Iggy makes a cut and thanks to his fantastic finishing ability he bailed out Miller. Next up is Lawson, the team leader in assists. Lawson’s breakdown is interesting. His most commonly assisted teammate is Danilo Gallinari, second is Andre Iguodala, third Kenneth Faried, fourth Corey Brewer and fifth Wilson Chandler. So, in his top five only one of those players is a big compared to four primarily perimeter players. It makes sense when you look at Lawson’s game. Typically when he attacks the paint he looks to score. If he cannot, dropping a pass to his bigs is a bit tough for someone of such small stature. Instead turning and tossing a pass to an open, spotting up player in the corners or on the wings is much easier. What the chart of the two Nuggets point guards have in common is a bit startling. Neither player tends to assist most of the big men on the team that often. That becomes a bigger problem when none of those bigs can create their own shot. As we look at the third and final chart, Andre Iguodala’s, we see just how that can be a big problem next season if Iggy decides not to play in Denver. As you can see in the chart the top two players that Iguodala assisted this season were Kosta Koufos and Kenneth Faried. This was on result that didn’t surprise me at all. Iguodala was terrific at driving into the paint and throwing dump-off passes to his bigs, letting them finish relatively unbothered. In fact I would venture to gain if the two bigs finished a bit better that Iggy would have ended up being closer to Lawson’s assist numbers than Miller’s, as it seemed like no Nugget had assists lost for him more this year than Iguodala. Iguodala was clearly the best secondary creator on the Nuggets this year, able to take advantage of the lanes a Lawson drive opened up to get a good shot for someone else after a kick out and also being able to help run the break for Denver. The biggest thing to take away from theses charts is the importance of Iguodala to the offense of the Nuggets starting big

It’s been a long time coming for Roundball Mining Company. Over the years since its inception several new faces (err… names) have popped up in our writers catalog. And now, we’re looking to add a few more. If writing for RMC is something you’ve always wanted to do, please send a short e-mail to our home address (roundballminingco@gmail.com) with samples of your previous work as well as some information about yourself and a brief statement as to why you’d be a good candidate for us to hire. Thanks.

It's a foregone conclusion that the Nuggets must retain Masai Ujiri as GM. If they don't, all other questions about the Nuggets potential moves are moot. With the assumption that Ujiri gets a new contract from the Kroenkes, there are three big questions waiting for him... 1. Will Andre Iguodala opt out? Andre Iguodala is currently signed through the 2013-2014 season with a player option on a potential $16,154,750 salary. There's no question that Iguodala provided a massive upgrade to the perennially below-average Nuggets defense. He was a stalwart throughout the year, asked to defend the opposing team's best player on most nights and he came through more often than not. Despite his ugly free throw shooting and struggles on offense, Iguodala is a heady, tenacious player and his experience was invaluable to a still-maturing Nuggets team. He stabilized the Nuggets when they needed it most, and was a catalyst for the fast break in many situations with his active hands in the passing lanes. There have been rumblings that Iguodala may wish to test the free agency waters a year early, but with both Chris Paul and Dwight Howard potentially on the move, there are virtually no contending teams with the room for the salary cap hit that Iguodala would probably command on the open market. He certainly wouldn't find any takers willing to offer him a $16 million dollar salary. Unless, of course, Iguodala wants to leave Denver badly enough that he's willing to take a significant reduction in pay to play somewhere else, especially if a potential contract ended up being a long-term deal... I personally believe that barring any behind-the-scenes issues with the coaching staff, Iguodala will likely be retained. Ideally, Iguodala would opt out of his salary with the understanding that Masai would then offer a long term deal with a smaller per-year salary with the Nuggets as described above - but I still (irrationally, I suppose) fear Iguodala somehow being poached or swayed by another team in the process, should that happen. Even if Iguodala didn't opt out, I wouldn't be upset - I think he truly does justify his worth on the defensive end, despite what a certain Denver hack sports journalist might believe. Andre Iguodala has become the lynchpin of a Nuggets defense that struggles mightily without him, and losing him would set the Nuggets back on the defensive end immensely. 2. What will happen with Corey Brewer and Andre Miller? It's no secret that Corey Brewer and Andre Miller were badly exposed in the Nuggets first round loss against the Golden State Warriors. Combined, Brewer and Miller took 47 three pointers in the series and hit just 14 of them. I'm going to go ahead and believe that this was due to Brewer and Miller's irrational hero-ball confidence and not part of the game plan, because George Karl letting career 30% and 21% three point shooters shoot that much as part of the game plan is ... well, I guess it isn't that shocking. In any case, I certainly enjoyed Brewer's frenetic energy and ability to win games through pure hustle, but he is simply not a good enough shooter for the volume of shots he takes - especially in the playoffs. While I understand that Brewer was trying to help make up for the scoring chasm left in the absence of Danilo Gallinari, Brewer did not seem to understand that he would have helped his team far more by getting the ball into the hands of better shooters like Ty Lawson or Wilson Chandler. He gambled very often on the defensive end, resulting in open looks and mismatches as frequently as he forced turnovers. It's been a fun few seasons with Brewer and his goat, but he's likely to get a decent contract offer elsewhere and the Nuggets have an eager Evan Fournier and Quincy Miller waiting in the wings. I'm excited to see both young players get a chance in the Nuggets freewheeling offense. As much venom has been directed Andre Miller's way - and much of it deservedly so - I still think

The Colorado Sports Guys had the distinct pleasure of having Denver sports veteran Les Shapiro, of the Les and Tom Nalen Show on 102.3 ESPN Denver, join us in the Colorado Sports Guys studio (high above the streets of beautiful Denver, Colorado, don't ya know) for a whacky and zany podcast filled with much laughter and sarcasm. In the Podcast we discuss Nuggets Vic President of Basketball Operations Masai Ujiri's contract situation with the Denver Nuggets. We discuss how the people at Kroenke Sports Enterprises need to end their tradition of underpaying their executives and pony up for Masai Ujiri. Les has some great thoughts on the issue, and talks about former Nuggets executive Tim Leiweke (current president of Maple Leaf Sports Entertainment who run the Toronto Raptors) and his "go for it" attitude. We also do Ross Martin's (Hipster Glasses) favorite segment, Headlines! Then we discuss Les Shapiro's background and talk about Arizona State University the party school. We wrap up the podcast with a discussion of our top five favorite sports movies of all time. We would like to thank Les Shapiro for a very entertaining podcast. Listen to the show here. If you haven't already, add us on iTunes (easiest way to listen) or if you have an Android you can always use Pocket Casts app ... well worth the two bucks or so the app charges (the podcast is always free). And be sure to follow us on Twitter: @Nate_Timmons @hirossco = Ross Martin @jmorton78 = Jeff Morton.

As was first reported by Yahoo!Sports.com’s Adrian Wojnarowski, the Toronto Raptors are targeting Nuggets general manager Masai Ujiri for their vacant GM position after having dismissed Bryan Colangelo earlier this week. According to ESPN.com’s Marc Stein, the Raptors are more than willing to make Ujiri one of the top paid executives in the league at over $2 million per year. Stein also claims Denver’s front office is confident in its ability to re-sign Ujiri to a new deal. Ujiri was rumored to be the lowest paid GM in the NBA under his previous deal that expired this year. Prior to coming to Denver, Ujiri worked under Colangelo from 2008-10 as director of international scouting and later as assistant GM. According to SportsNet.ca’s Michael Grange, the Raptors have not fully eradicated Colangelo from the team, and should Ujiri be hired both the executives’ roles will have switched with Ujiri taking the responsibilities of head GM and Colangelo playing the part of the assistant. For Nuggets fans this dilemma has a plain-as-day resolution: sign Ujiri to the contract he deserves and do not hesitate in the process. Make him the top paid GM in basketball and get on with life. There should be no delay; there should be no thought put into even considering letting him go. Good NBA GMs don’t make a lot of money when contrasted with players and in actuality are fairly underpaid considering how responsible they are for the direction of the team. Paying a couple million bucks more to retain the reining Executive of the Year is THE no-brainer of all no-brainers this off-season for the Nuggets. This is not a matter of frugality; it’s a matter of common sense. Let’s just hope the Kroenke’s feel the same way. Stay tuned as more information comes to light. And as always… Follow me on Twitter