Nuggets president: ‘Everything is on the table’ — except for Nikola Jokić trade

The Denver Nuggets established themselves as contenders in the offseason, adding shooting and depth last summer. They certainly did not expect that, in the second round of the playoffs, their braintrust would be answering questions about the future of the team.

“I thought, if this team is healthy, this could be a 60-, 65-win team,” team president Josh Kroenke told reporters at a press conference Friday.

The Nuggets haven’t been healthy for much of the season. Aaron Gordon played 36 regular season games, Christian Braun 44 and Peyton Watson and Cameron Johnson 54 each. Denver still finished 54-28, good for the No. 1 seed.

And even though the Nuggets completely missed Gordon and Watson in the playoffs, they can’t shake the loss due to the bad luck of injuries. The Timberwolves were shorthanded — they won the series without Anthony Edwards, Donte DiVincenzo. again Ayo Dosunmu.

Because of this, four people who spoke on Friday – Kroenke, coach David Adelman and officials Ben Tenzer and Jonathan Wallace – agreed that Denver needs to improve in the offseason. It’s unclear if the Nuggets will shake up the team’s core again (after trading Michael Porter Jr. last summer), but at least they’re open to it.

“I think everything is on the table, except for selling Nikola,” said Kroenke.

In theory, then, Jamal Murray, coming off his first All-Star (and possibly All-NBA) season, can be traded. So did Gordon. But Kroenke has repeatedly said that “turning it back” is a possibility, stressing that the team has not been able to show what it can do with long-term health.

“I think this season, in many ways, was a season that never happened, because this team didn’t get a full chance to show any kind of rhythm,” said Kroenke.

He added that their lack of rhythm “really showed when the games mattered in April.”

What about Peyton Watson?

The best story of Denver’s season was the emergence of Watson as a creator. Given that Watson did not sign an extension before it began, however, the Nuggets are in a tough spot.

Watson is a restricted free agent, so Denver doesn’t have to worry about losing him for nothing. If he keeps him, however, the payoff can exceed the second apron. Essentially, the Nuggets have to cut salary elsewhere if they want to bring Watson back, unless they decide they’re comfortable with a large luxury tax bill (and the roster restrictions that come with being over the second baseman).

Kroenke didn’t commit to a luxury tax team or second apron next season, but he didn’t release payroll, either.

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“Peyton had a great year,” Tenzer said. “Obviously, he’s grown a lot. I said it at the beginning of the season: We hope Peyton is a Nugget for a very long time. He’s been great for us.”

Wallace said Watson deserves credit for “staying the course” and improving his performance this season.

“What he’s showing us is what he knew he could do,” Wallace said. “So he’s done his part. So, like Ben said, we hope he’s a Nugget for a long time. We’ve got to keep hitting these homegrown talents, and he’s been focused on that.”

Where can the Nuggets program improve?

Adelman identified two areas for improvement: ball handling and one-on-one defense. Let’s start with ball handling.

In both their loss to Minnesota this season and their loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder last season, the Nuggets “had a hard time dealing with pressure,” Adelman said. He noted that, late in the Wolves series, putting backup guard Tyus Jones in the game to drive the ball up helped Denver get organized.

Maybe the front office needs to find more ball handlers. Even if the roster stays exactly the same, however, Adelman said the Nuggets will challenge their players to improve in this area. “That’s the new NBA,” he said. “You watch all these series, there are many people who bring the ball down.”

He added that it is “important” that they improve their handling of the pressure of the ball.

“Everybody has a responsibility to get better at those things and fill that hole,” Adelman said. “Because the expectation is not that Aaron is going to play 82, it’s not going to be that Nikola is going to play 82 or Jamal.”

Denver has to “get used to the league because the league has gotten used to it,” Wallace said. “And that’s a testament to how great Nikola has been, how great Jamal has been, the coaching staff, over the years. They’re going to push us, and that’s something that’s going on right now.”

Defensively, Adelman said the Nuggets did a good job eliminating Minnesota’s pet actions during the playoffs. Didn’t do a great job though of containing the ball, especially late in the shot clock.

“Simplicity is sometimes the answer, and I think you have to sit down and monitor the person better,” Adelman said. “If we can do that, it makes me not able to run zones or cross-matches because those things have holes too. But I believe that in order to improve, for a person, the last seven seconds of the clock have to be better.”

Generally, the message was straightforward: Denver was very disappointed with the way the season ended, and everyone involved wants to compete for a championship. The plan is to come back better, either through internal improvements or program moves. However, it is not clear whether those moves will be small tweaks or big swings.

“Coming into this series, we hadn’t been undefeated in less than a month,” said Adelman. “And so you have to look at that, too. So you want to make sure you look at the positives and don’t lose sight of it so you don’t lose the things you had. But you can definitely add every offseason to try to compete with the best teams in the league.”