The Denver Nuggets have a plethora of talent on their roster. So much so that when they are at full strength, it may end up hurting them.
All season long head coach Michael Malone has preached about how great it is to have the depth that this Nuggets roster possesses, but after the handful of games that I have watched and covered this season, I’ve begun to wonder, “Is there such thing as too much depth?”
Think about it. When healthy, the Nuggets are virtually three deep at every position, and I’m not talking about a couple of scrubs here and there to fill up minutes; the Nuggets are deep with solid NBA talent, the type of talent that most teams don’t have wasting away on the bench.
Here is a look at how the Nuggets’ current depth chart breaks down when fully healthy.
Point Guard:
1. Emmanuel Mudiay
2. Jameer Nelson
3. Jamal Murray PG/ SG
Shooting Guard
1. Gary Harris
2. Will Barton
3. Jamal Murray PG/SG
4. Malik Beasley
Small Forward
1. Danilo Gallinari
2. Wilson Chandler SF/PF
3. Mike Miller
4. Alonzo Gee
Power Forward
1. Kenneth Faried PF/C
2. Wilson Chandler SF/PF
3. Juancho Hernengomez
4. Darrell Arthur
Center
1. Jusuf Nurkic
2. Nikola Jokic
3. Kenneth Faried PF/C
The Nuggets have been fairly consistent with playing time due to injuries all over the court, but when this roster get’s back to full strength, which should happen within the next few weeks, barring a new injury, this team is going to have problems.
In fact, we’ve already seen problems.
Jokic was forced to start the season at power forward, due to the amount of talent down low; Faried was forced to relinquish his starting job; and Mudiay’s game was choppy to start the season, opening the door for Murray to impress, which he has.
At the end of the day, the Nuggets have already rolled out seven different starting lineups in just 17 games. That’s not good. They have been forced to adjust almost all season, and have yet to experience a truly healthy roster this season.
This is both a good and bad thing according to coach Malone, as he used the situation surrounding Arthur as an example of the pros and cons of depth.
“DA was working back from injury, and you know he’s ready to play and I cant play him! Where am I going to play him?” Malone said on Tuesday. “When we get healthy, think about this problem: So, Jameer is playing well. Jamal Murray is playing well. Emmanuel is playing better. Now all of a sudden you get a healthy Will Barton and a healthy Gary Harris, a healthy Gallo, a healthy Juancho. Yes, the strength of our roster is the depth that we have, but it is not easy and I know that. We’ve talked about that, we have depth with a lot of guys that can play, and also want to play.
“How I handle that, and how our players handle that is going to be really interesting, and revealing. Part of our culture is being a selfless team which means get over yourself: It’s not about you; it’s about the team, and if I’m not calling your number, support your teammate, be a good teammate, but yeah, it’s going to be a challenge.
“I want to get healthy, but I know when we do get healthy we are going to have a lot of meetings to figure out who the hell to play.”
So, what to do with 15 guys that are more than capable of playing NBA basketball with only five spots on the floor at a time?
Make a trade? Cut someone?
Honestly, I can’t tell you the answer. And quiet frankly I don’t know if the team could, either.
Bottom line is there are 15 guys who want to play every night, but not enough time to make everybody happy, and soon enough the time is going to come for the team to make some decisions.
This roster is a melting pot, filled with players from all in different stages in their careers. All the moving parts on this roster put the organization in a tough position moving forward. They have been able to dodge the question so far this season, but eventually the depth this team possess will sink in and roles will need to be assigned, and reassigned.
They can’t keep skating by with the plug-in-and-play method; it’s time for this team to mold their foundation, not just for this year but for the future.
