Watching the Denver Nuggets play this season, it’s impossible not to think the roster could use a few more rotation players. They are scraping by with seven or eight functionally playable players. Everyone else is borderline at best.
Michael Malone is doing his best to press different buttons, try different combinations, and throw things at the wall to make it work. But it has become clear, almost half of the roster is made of up players who just aren’t ready for high-level, competitive NBA action.
Some of these roster issues are beyond the team’s control. Players like Bruce Brown and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope left in back-to-back offseasons, earning contracts that paid them more than $20 million a season.
Those would have been tough players for the Nuggets to keep, but there have been other moves on the margins that they could have handled better. Here are three players who have played for Denver in recent years, had varying levels of success, and still don’t have jobs in the league.
DeMarcus Cousins
Boogie has been out of the league for a few years and fans may scoff at reading this, but could he really be worse than Dario Saric, Zeke Nnaji, or DeAndre Jordan? Cousins played last season in Taiwan where he led his team to the championship and won Finals MVP along the way.
He’s currently unsigned, but the former All-Star could be worth a look. Even if he could just give the Nuggets 5-10 minutes a game on a veteran minimum deal, that could really help the team’s frontcourt quite a bit.
PJ Dozier
Dozier has never been more than a role player in the NBA who has bounced around the league, spent time in the G-Leauge, and played on 2-way deals. Dozier is a flawed player, but he’s a big, athletic wing, and would immediately be one of the team’s best perimeter defenders.
He could be worth a shot on a short deal to see if he could help the team on defense. They’ve proven over the years they can survive with less-than-perfect offensive players, but another strong defender could be useful.
Justin Holiday
Holiday was actually an integral part of the Nuggets’ rotation just last season, even in the playoffs. He was far from a perfect player, but he was a reliable veteran two-way player and a consummate professional.
Holiday can provide solid shooting and defense on the perimeter. It’s pretty wild to imagine he was playing in last year’s Western Conference semifinals over guys like Petyon Watson and Julian Strawther, and now he can’t even find a job in the league.