Being I’m related to Jesse James and Italian….MJ loves his Italian food. Garlic Mike’s right on the Taylor River is where we make sure and eat every trip to Crested Butte.
I believe it was a New York family who migrated to the Gunnison area and created this incredible Italian restaurant, bar, and music venue.
I love it. It’s where MJ feels the most Italian.
Now…if some of you Trump knuckleheads here in Oklahoma want to keep on sending me these snarky messages…I’m just giving you a heads up. It needs to stop. Don’t push your luck.
I need to come back on here this morning and finish what I started writing yesterday about the Denver Nuggets retool for the next NBA season. Executive Vice-Presidents of the Denver Nuggets, Ben Tenser and Jon Wallace (recently added from the TWolves operation), were basically just getting started on the 1-6 part of the Denver roster.
Shame on MJ, he was so excited about hitting the mountains with the ‘fam’…he wrote too quickly. This is a different kind of templet the Nuggets have put together since they fired both Mike Malone and GM Calvin Booth. Both Tenzer and Wallace will work jointly under Josh Gronke to retool the Nuggets to championship status.
Houston and Atlanta have both done some interesting things so far, but by far what the Nuggets have done tops the charts.
So ignore some of what I wrote yesterday in regards to the 8-11 portion of the Nugget roster next season.The two undrafted rookie free agents will most likely become two-way contract players, and if DeAndre Jurdan remains on the roster it will be as an emergency third center and a leadership type in the locker room.
What the Nuggets did was trade Dario Saric to Sacramento for 33 year-old center Jonas Valeniunas. What this means is Jokic will now have a legitmate backup center behind him. One who can come out on the floor and handle 12-14 minutes a game and give the team a quality backup center.
The Tenzer-Wallace combo then added another quality wing to their rotation by adding free agent Tim Hardaway Jr. into the mix. To me…Hardaway will now become the Nuggets’ version of Aaron Wiggins coming off their bench to provide instant offensive spark.
As a 38% 3-point point shooter this past season with the Pistons who averaged 11 points a game…. I would not hesitate writing I’d take Hardaway over Isaiah Joe, and on the nights when Aaron Wiggins doesn’t show up…. over Aaron as well. Aaron needs to address this part of his game…that being, becoming a dependable pro who does his job every night.
The Nuggets in my mind still have two dead weight pieces left on their roster who I would try and deal into another viable bench piece. The two dead weights I’m referring to are Vlatko Cancar and Zeke NNaji. Again, you can never have too much shooting, basketball smarts, and mental toughness on your roster.
I would look for maybe that one last bench piece. And I would also add, I love Jamal Murray, but Jamal… what we have here is a very clear message…get Nikola back to the NBA Finals. Know what I mean?
This is cool for MJ given the ‘fam’ will be in Crested Butte in a few days for the 4th of July. I saw Shai uses ‘fam’ quite a bit in his vocabulary and what’s good for Shai is good for MJ.
Finally…the Michael Porter Jr. experience is over in Denver. A parade might be in order just on that alone. I’m tired of ranting to myself about Michael Porter Jr.
So…the Nuggets in exchange for MPR get slick scoring forward Cam Johnson in return. I would assume Cam will start in MPR’s place and let’s be candid here…the defending champ OKC Thunder just droped a notch to now having the second best starting lineup in the NBA.
When one considers how much both Aaron Gordon and Christian Braun took their games this past season…I think the Nuggets now hold that edge.
So this Denver bench…the Nuggets also re-acquired 2023 clutch Sixth Man of the Year Bruce Brown on a one year deal as well. This now gives the Nuggets that consistent sixth man they’ve missed these past two seasons since the championship season. Good luck, Russell…it just didn’t work out.
This puts Peyton Watson as the 7th player as a rebounder/defense forward type. It’s time for Peyton to be the player we know he can be every game. Circle Peyton as a big key this coming season..as will be scoring guard Julian Strawther. I would hope Julian builds off that Game 6 vs. OKC when his 15 second half points were key to the Nuggets pushing that series to a Game 7.
The Nuggets also signed two interesting two-way guard types who weren’t drafted…those being Tomar Bates from Missouri and Curtis Jones from Iowa State. Both of these guys are good three point shooting types …and in this league you can never have enough shooting.
Then… I would think second year combo guard Jalen Pickett and veteran journeyman DeAndre Jordon will fill out the 1-11 portion of the Denver roster.
This will need to be a much better bench if Nicola and Co. are to beat the Thunder and win the West.
MJ and fam are off to the Rockies. Have a wonderful 4th.