I honestly think the Nuggets have one of the most questionable front offices in the NBA, and they don't get talked about enough.
I'm not saying they haven't done anything right. They drafted Nikola Jokic, built a championship team around him, and obviously deserve credit for that. But when you look at some of their decisions since then, there are a lot of things worth questioning.
The roster construction around Jokic
You have Nikola Jokic, one of the best players in the league, yet Denver keeps having problems with depth, defense, athleticism and reliable players around him.
Jokic can cover for a lot of weaknesses, but the front office shouldn't keep making him do it.
Letting Bruce Brown and Tim Hardaway Jr. walk
Bruce Brown was a really useful player for that championship team. He could defend, handle the ball and play different roles depending on what the lineup needed.
Tim Hardaway Jr. also gave them shooting and scoring.
If you're trying to maximize Jokic's window, losing useful players without properly replacing them is a problem.
The Christian Braun extension
I like Braun, but I don't understand giving him that much money based on what he's actually produced so far.
The problem isn't Braun himself. It's the money.
Denver already has a lot of money tied up in its core, so every big contract has to give them real value.
The Zeke Nnaji extension
This one is even harder for me to understand.
Denver gave Nnaji a significant extension despite him never establishing himself as a consistent rotation player.
That is money and flexibility the Nuggets could have used elsewhere.
The MPJ contract
The MPJ contract was another major gamble.
To Denver's credit, they eventually traded him for Cam Johnson, which I thought was a good move to get out of that contract.
But I'm still not sure Cam Johnson is the ideal fit for what this team actually needs around Jokic.
So they solved one problem without completely fixing the bigger roster issue.
The dependency on Jokic
This is probably my biggest problem with the roster.
Denver relies on Jokic to do so much offensively and to cover for weaknesses elsewhere.
When your best player has to solve almost every problem, that's partly a front-office issue.
Letting Peyton Watson go
I don't understand this one either.
Watson had the size, length and defensive potential to become exactly the kind of player Denver could use next to Jokic.
They decided to move on from him.
Then they didn't replace what Watson gave them
This is where it gets even more confusing.
After letting Watson go, Denver didn't add a defensive anchor who could take some pressure off Jokic.
Then they let Julian Reese go too, despite him being one of the better young rebounders.
So you're losing defensive and rebounding help while still having the same problems around Jokic.
That's why I question this front office.
It's not one bad move. It's the number of questionable decisions they've made while having Nikola Jokic on the roster.
You have an all-time superstar. The roster around him should be the first priority.
Instead, Denver keeps putting itself in situations where Jokic has to make up for the weaknesses around him.
What do you guys think? Am I being too harsh on Denver's front office?