I would say the answer to my question is it’s too early to coronate the Thunder as champs in the West, but the Denver Nuggets have some very serious roster issues as far as depth and shooters.
This was a massive mismatch minus the opening 5-6 minutes of the game. The Nuggets were not competitive minus perhaps Jokic and Christian Braun. Christian Braun will be fine and only get better each game filling the KCP role while Jamal and Aaron Gordon will kick their games into gear, but as far as the other seven guys…I would say Michael Malone and Nugget GM Calvin Booth need to have a serious sitdown and think of how to make this team better in a hurry as far as the roster.
The first thing I would consider is trading cupcake Michael Porter Jr. and his salary for an honest basketball player like say a D Divensio type who’ll score the ball, get dirty, and play both ends of the court instead of disappearing every time the team needs someone other than Jokic and Jamal scoring the ball.
Suffice it to say Mike J is not a Michael Porter Jr. fan. I like guys with grit who hate losing…MPJ is not that guy.
And then there’s the Denver bench..OMG. The Nugget bench scored 16 points last night. From the instant the Nuggets went to the bench the game changed and was basically over. It was like watching the OU offense.
Julian Strawther…step the fuck up, buddy. Score the damn ball when you enter the game. You are going to need to be the Sixth Man. Your job is to score the damn ball and give your team an energy boost, not shy away from the moment.
Peyton Watson….are you serious? When the Nuggets drafted you from UCLA you were supposed to be a solid piece moving forward since the team is tapped out salary cap wise. I’m tired of hearing about your potential. Step the fuck up and show you belong in the NBA, buddy.
If you’re a fake Trump Christian on the blog this morning, I’m sorry for all the F-bombs given your serious ‘spiritual beliefs’, but you know…there are sometimes in a lockeroom when grown men aren’t staring at Arnold Palmer’s dick that highly competitve people communicate this way. Excuse the fucks in my rant this morning. Now go out there today and see if you can break at least two or three Commandments by noon.
Okay…Russell Westbrook. He wasn’t good, but I’ve seen much worse from Russell at times. Saric was pitiful and I don’t know or think he’s any kind of answer in the long run this season. So keep Russell and hope for Biblical intervention.
As far as the Denver Nuggets…I would say GM Calvin Booth needs to help out Michael Malone and give the coach at least one more legit basketball player.
The Thunder are good no doubt. Maybe special good since I guess we’re not going to see Hartenstein for a month or two. This may in fact be a roster much better than the 2012 group which made it to the NBA Finals.
This is a deep, deep roster with about thirteen dudes who can hoop in a serious way.
But I don’t want get ahead of myself until I see the Thunder play against some better teams with multiple good bigs like the Mavs and Lakers possess.
So here’s my top Six teams in the West after the first three days of this season… 1 OKC Thunder, 2 Dallas Mavs, 3 Golden State Warriors, 4 Minnesota Timberwolves, 5 LA Lakers, and 6 Don’t Know.
Have a great autumn weekend. The leaves are changing as much as they can in a drought. Rain may be on the way next week. So there’s that, too.
And Draymond, good move getting rid of Pat Bev on the podcast. Good move, buddy. You must be reading my emails.
Mike J