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The Denver Nuggets finished the 2014-15 NBA season with a 30-52 record. Unfortunately for Nuggets fans, things will likely only get worse next season. If the team stands pat and doesn’t make any moves, they will once again fall short of the playoffs and won’t have a top-five pick at the same time. Stuck without a plan, the Nuggets need to decide to go all-in on a rebuild and trade Ty Lawson and Kenneth Faried.
Lawson and Faried are two quality players, but they simply don’t have enough help in Denver. Even if Danilo Gallinari returns fully healthy, the Nuggets have zero chance to make any noise in the Western Conference playoffs. A full-on rebuild is simply the only option team president Josh Kroenke can take to turn his team into a contender.
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To rebuild in the NBA, your team can’t just be bad, it needs to be REALLY bad. The difference between one of the top few picks and a pick around No. 10 is huge. It can’t be easy for a team executive to purposely weaken his roster, but it’s the right call to make in the long run.
Trading Lawson and Faried for draft picks and young prospects would instantly make the Nuggets one of the worst teams in the NBA. Over the course of the next few seasons, the hope would be to build the team around a young star acquired through the draft or in one of the trades for Lawson and Faried.
Rebuilding is a painful and drawn-out process in the NBA, but that’s something the Nuggets need to come to terms with sooner rather than later.
