What would a Gallinari extension mean for the Nuggets?

They have 44 mil locked up for 2 players! I trust in Ujiri to make it work.

I rec’d it, it’s food for thought.

My personal feeling is that the Nuggets probably don’t quite have what it takes to do major damage in the playoffs this year. So then the question definitely becomes, what is the plan going forward?

And I thank you for it. At the same time, you’re making it tough to be a happy-go-lucky fan with vague hope for the future. I say that tongue in cheek, but it’s seriously true that the more I learn about the business of pro sports, the harder it is to enjoy it.

Moving on, I wonder so very much about all the factors that come into play when a front office negotiates a new contract (or extension) with an established, popular team member who is somewhere along the continuum of important to crucial to the franchise’s success. One of the things I wonder is just how broadly defined “success” may be.

The Nenê contract you didn’t like is a perfect case in point. Needless to say, an NBA team could do much worse than have a player of Nenê’s caliber in the starting line-up. Yet his limitations are pretty clear. He’s rarely that player who imposes his will on the game’s outcome. Based on that assessment then, Nenê is important to the Nuggets’ success, yet he’s far from crucial if success is defined as putting a team on the floor that has the very best opportunity to win a championship.

This leads to my question about “success” possibly being defined much more broadly by Nuggets management. Nenê is extremely popular with the fans who pay the bills, and he’s been loyal to the organization. Bringing him back was good business for the Nuggets in ways that are not directly related to the quality of play, especially since we’re in no way suggesting that Nenê’s performance prevents putting a great team on the floor.

Yet since his large contract may hamper the team’s ability to bring in that one player who is crucial, well, you see where I’m going with this, right? Are the Nuggets’ chances of winning it all being compromised by management’s other considerations? I seriously doubt they would ever trade Nenê to make something big happen. The FO took a pretty big PR risk by including Billups in the Anthony trade, so it’s a good bet they believe they’ve exhausted fan goodwill in that regard.

Any thoughts on this murky question that may have no real answer?

Pay him, pay lawson, trade andre miller to a contender who needs a PG. The Nuggets are incredibly deep and their bench could start for most teams. It’s hard to even imagine how they could get any better. Right now they’re weak at SG and C but you’d think Afflalo and Nene would return to their form from last season unless they have contractitis.

what if there comes a time when we have to decide between Gallo and Lawson? I don’t think that anyone wants to live with that prospect, but I feel that there never has to be a decision, simply because Nene can be moved if we don’t have the cap space. Nene is a tradeable asset and he really doesn’t belong on this young core, even though he is nice, he isn’t someone you build a time around, he is someone you add to win a championship if you are already competing. Heck, you could trade him for a top 10 draft pick next year and pick up a center on a good rookie contract or something of the such.

I hope it doe not come down to that, but beggars can’t be choosers.

They have made every move correctly, and they will handle free agency well over the next few years. You just can’t max every player – -maybe 2-3. I like the idea of building around Ty and Gallo. Nene and AAA are great, but very tradeable for less expensive but comparable pieces. I still think in a year or two, Moz, KK and Manimal will form a nice trio of young, talented post players. Wouldn’t mind seeing Nuggs get a true shot blocker like McGee or Jordan. We have lots of young assets and are in better shape than most teams cap wise.

Miller comes off the books and we can amnesty Bird, I think we will be okay. No matter what the cap situation, arent we always eligible for MLE players? What is it like 5.76 million that we can pay any player given our cap situation?
You can look at the Heat who had their salary eaten up with the Big 3, but were still able to bring in players like Battier and Mike Miller to fill out the roster.
The only salary Im not too excited about is AAA. I love the guy, but he is probably not worth what he will be making for the next four years. If someone is looking for a salary dump down the road, he is your guy.
It seems like SGs at his level arent too hard to come by, especially with us having a NYK 1st round pick coming up.