Starting on January 5th, the Nuggets can take advantage of a 10-day contract and find some semblance of an NBA center to come in and eat minutes for the team while Nikola Jokic and Jonas Valanciunas are out with injuries. The only fear is that the team is $402,000 over the luxury tax line, and ownership may be loath to spend another penny before solving that issue.
That would be a sad and pathetic excuse for a team that is a true championship contender this season. They have the roster in place on paper, but they’re battling absurdly bad injury luck. With both centers down for at least four weeks, they’ve got just power forwards left with unproven DaRon Holmes and proven-to-be-not-very-good Zeke Nnaji.
Holmes is capable of playing some minutes, and early returns have been promising, but the team needs a legitimate center. It’s not like they’re going to go out and add an All-Star, but there are plenty of guys with NBA experience who could make an immediate impact for a team as shorthanded as the Nuggets are.
Names like Moses Brown, Alex Len, Charles Bassey, Cody Zeller, Bruno Fernando, Daniel Theis, and others aren’t ones that should inspire hope, but they would make an impact. Even players who aren't in the NBA, like Javale McGee, Boogie Cousins, and Dwight Howard, would be an upgrade over the current predicament. Right now, this team just needs any hint of a pro-caliber big man to eat up some innings.
Only reason not to add center would be cheap owners
Denver kept the last roster spot open for an emergency situation, and I’d say this qualifies. With no center on the roster, the goal is just to survive the month of January without falling too far in the West standings. If that means adding a couple of 10-day guys to set screens, crash the boards, d-up, and commit six fouls, then so be it.
We saw on Friday night against Cleveland that this team doesn’t quite have the beef down low. Holmes played well, and Nnaji looked okay at times. The wings are able to play up, and small-ball units have looked okay. But that’s sustainable for a game or two, not an entire month.
They can’t afford the wear and tear or extra miles on these guys. They could easily burn through a couple of 10-day deals, then use the final roster spot to convert Spencer Jones’ contract. They are going to have to spend money to do that anyway, so why not get out ahead of it and actually pay to help the team significantly?
If the reason is truly to avoid the tax, that means the Nuggets either aren’t planning to keep Jones or they are going to make another cost-cutting move. Either of those options would be extremely hard to stomach as the team is fighting for a championship and needs every single hand possible on deck.
We are about to find out, in very short order and with no uncertain terms, whether the Kroenkes care more about winning or money.