Barring any further trades which would open up additional roster spots, the Denver Nuggets may well be finished with free agency this offseason.
Today it was reported by Mark Deeks of ShameSports.com that Denver has signed first round draft pick Jusuf Nurkic following the successful completion of a buyout with his Croatian team earlier this month. Additionally, Chris Dempsey of the Denver Post also reported that the Nuggets will soon sign last year’s second round pick Erick Green, who played in Italy last season and showed significant improvement in his Summer League play.
When completed, the signings will top off the Nuggets roster at the maximum 15 players. Of those, only Quincy Miller has a non-guaranteed contract, but it seems highly unlikely that Denver will waive him, given the organization’s professed confidence in his development and Brian Shaw’s consistently high praise for the young swingman.
If the Nuggets do indeed keep Miller on board, then the roster is set and they are effectively done with free agency this summer unless a two-for-one or three-for-two trade opens up a roster spot.
But Nuggets fans hungry for more offseason movement need not give up hope just yet; further trades remain quite plausible. As Kalen cited in his latest RMC post, Yahoo.com’s Adrian Wojnarowski has reported that the Nuggets remain in hot pursuit of a Kevin Love trade, “offering a package that sources said has been the most appealing to Minnesota outside of the Cavaliers and a possible Golden State deal including Klay Thompson.”
Denver is clearly on the prowl for a superstar player who can immediately take the team to the next level. And it’s a safe bet that Tim Connelly is busy working the phones with a multitude of teams in attempts to pry away top talent to add to the Nuggets roster. So the front office may not end up standing pat, and we may still see some more offseason excitement.
For the time being, however, the roster as currently constructed is who the Nuggets are. And time alone will tell, but who knows? Perhaps it’s not such a bad place for them to be. As things stand now, Denver has a fairly healthy balance of experienced veterans who can keep the team competitive if they can remain healthy, and a replenished stock of young players to develop for the future.
Many Nuggets fans (myself included) have long been hoping for Denver to more actively build through the draft. And while playing time will be an issue, it’s great to see three rookies on deck who could potentially develop into integral components of the team’s future.
As always, keep it dialed in here at Roundball Mining Company for all your latest Denver Nuggets news and analysis.
You can follow me on Twitter here: @denbutsu