Joining LeBron James and Kemba Walker, Kawhi Leonard may want out of his team. The Nuggets should try to lure him to the Mile High.
Kawhi would benefit the Nuggets greatly. With their weak point being at the wing this year, he would solve these problems instantly.
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Second, it would benefit to look at some historical information regarding the Spurs; Popovich has been a genius at grooming and utilizing front court players. From The Admiral to Timmy D to the resurgence of LaMarcus Aldridge, the Spurs have never lacked for a devastating presence at the 4 or 5. Their style allows talented bigs to run a low-risk, inside/outside post game that utilizes bigs with touch masterfully. Nikola Jokic is tailor-made for the Spurs system and I believe Pop could push his game into the stratosphere.
See, what I’m getting at, is that for the Nuggets to take that next step, a step that under current conditions was going to take a couple more years, they must be bold. I’m proposing something like:
http://www.espn.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=ycbsor98
The Nuggets get: Kawhi Leonard, SF
Joffrey Lauvergne, C
The Spurs get: Nikola Jokic, C
Will Barton, G/F
Emmanuel Mudiay, PG
Wilson Chandler, SF
It would hurt, to be certain to see Nikola leave the Mile High City, he is, perhaps the only Unicorn the Nuggets can claim in their long draft history but the return is an almost instantaneous elevation to the top of the Western Conference. The trade grades out, although a realistic scenario would almost certainly involve at least 3 teams or several draft picks to sweeten the deal for the Spurs.
The Nuggets would have to recall Monte Morris for the backup PG duties, Plumlee would become the permanent starter at 5. So, a starting lineup of Plumlee, Millsap, Leonard, Harris and Murray would be the ideal outcome of this deal. A second squad consisting of Lauvergne, Lyles, Juancho, Beasley and Morris would be the biggest challenge facing the Nuggets. While the potential for a solid bench is there, it would rely on very young, very inexperienced players to keep the momentum of the starters. Not ideal but still a measurable step up.
If we were to just pencil in some of the matchups with the top teams in the West, the Nuggets are in pretty favorable position. Warriors would be Pachulia v Plumlee (wash), Draymond v Millsap (wash), KD v Leonard (holy cow! wash), Klay v Harris (wash) and Steph v Jamal (I’m a homer but advantage Steph. Jamal has the ability but it’s Steph Curry). Still advantage Warriors but not by much and if Jamal can hang 38, keep up with Steph, anything can happen. The Rockets and Thunder may have greater talent at the very top but 1-5 and certainly 1-14 is advantage to the Nuggets.
So, come on, Karnisovas, come on, Connelly, the city of Denver has grown at an astounding rate over the last few years, I believe it’s time for our NBA franchise to similarly graduate into the world of superstar talent. Opportunities that the Nuggets can benefit from don’t come along that often, were they able to seize upon this, as they nearly did with Dwyane and Kyrie, it would signal that they are not content with being a team that’s just fun to watch but a team that sees deep playoff runs as a possibility.
A team that’s scary.