Stay Put:
Of course, the final option is to do nothing; defer to the second half, as the Broncos might say.
If Denver finds that they’re really not sure which direction they want to go, maybe it’s better to just not do anything. At least that way they can’t mess anything up.
In this scenario, they’d play out the season, we’d enter the offseason with a better understanding of who’s a building block and who’s expendable, and you make the big-time decisions during the draft. If picks are what the Nuggets want, then creating a package to move up on draft night may be more effective than trying to find them right now.
And really, do we know who’s a building block yet? I’ll admit: A month ago I would have been A-OK with trading Gallo; now, after the month he’s put up, I think he may just be our franchise player, a true No. 1 option. But these last few weeks could just be a fluke, too. I don’t know.
Likewise, the Nuggets currently have five big men who are playing some of the best ball of their career, but that can’t last; Michael Malone doesn’t need three centers. But which one do you trade? Joffrey Lauvergne’s the easy answer — he’s hardly playing with the return of Jusuf Nurkic — but maybe you get more bang for your buck with Nurkic or Nikola Jokic?
And what do the Nuggets really need, anyways? If they were going to go out and get that one missing piece, what is it? A stretch-four sounds nice, but if they can’t defend, does that do them any good? Again, the best option may be to use this season as an opportunity to take stock of what you have. The Nuggets can always change course down the line.
