So, it’s July 4 today, Independence Day in the United States, and the Denver Nuggets still haven’t added to their roster since the 2024 NBA Draft.

In the early stages of free agency opening on June 30, it was becoming clear the Nuggets would be losing Kentavious Caldwell-Pope. There were signs pointing in that direction since the draft a week ago. The Nuggets had just traded up to select DaRon Holmes II. I asked general manager Calvin Booth about KCP, and panic began to ensue.

“I think we have to look at everything, and the nature of free agency: he’s unrestricted, so we can try to bring him back, but if he doesn’t want to come back or chooses to go somewhere else, that’s his prerogative.”

That was from Booth on draft night. Three days later, Caldwell-Pope signed with the Orlando Magic on a three-year, $66 million offer that, according to sources, the Nuggets didn’t come significantly close to matching. Caldwell-Pope departed, and the Nuggets were left with a hole to fill at starting shooting guard.

Internally, the Nuggets are confident in Christian Braun at all levels of the organization. They believe in his work ethic, basketball IQ, and competitiveness. The Nuggets, namely Booth and head coach Michael Malone, are confident in Braun and believe he can be a good starter in place of Caldwell-Pope. No matter what, it’s going to be a process to get him up to speed. It’s unlikely that the starters’ fit with Braun in the regular season, and more importantly the playoffs, will be as seamless as the one with Caldwell-Pope.

By extension, unless DaRon Holmes can magically improve the bench as a rookie, it’s unlikely the Nuggets have improved this offseason so far. That’s not to say I don’t think Holmes will be impactful. I think he can play this season, and assistant general manager Tommy Balcetis shared last Friday that he thinks so too.

“He’s a helluva player,” Balcetis shared about Holmes. “He’s somebody that kind of embodies our M.O., our DNA, all other acronyms. He’s a winner, his team won a lot. You were what, fourth in the nation in free throw attempts?”

“His ability to stretch the floor, to get to the rim, to play both ends of the floor. And at the end of the day, just as importantly, he’s a great human being.”

There’s something to be said about having another dynamic big man you believe in, but if that’s all the Nuggets have done while losing their starting shooting guard, it rings a bit hollow.

So, what gives then? Why haven’t the Nuggets gotten better yet?

Well, they are trying. Contrary to the belief of Nuggets fans, they have a plan, and they’re executing it. The goal for the team, especially with this new CBA, has always been about surrounding an expensive starting unit with cheap rookie contracts. Braun and Peyton Watson have already proved capable of stepping into roles while Holmes, Julian Strawther, and Jalen Pickett are expected to get opportunities to play semi-regularly. Gone are Caldwell-Pope, Reggie Jackson, and likely Justin Holiday, and replacing them are young players under team control for multiple years.

It’s expected that Denver will bring back Vlatko Čančar, who spent all of last season recovering from a torn ACL. Čančar is playing minutes for the Slovenian Olympic team in an attempt to qualify and has been up-and-down so far, but the Nuggets kept him on their roster throughout his rehab and are expected to retain the forward. That puts Denver at 13 roster spots unofficially.

Now, that doesn’t mean Denver will never add to their roster. They’re still negotiating with players and teams trying to identify the best player they can possibly get with the Taxpayer Mid-Level Exception, a $5.18 million contract that became available to them after Caldwell-Pope departed. They think they have their player, but there’s been a bit of a wrinkle: Russell Westbrook. He wasn’t a part of Denver’s initial plans, but Nikola Jokic wants a veteran ball handler in the backcourt, and he thinks Westbrook can help. They have a relationship across several years competing against each other.

Of course, Westbrook is on the Clippers, but they’re trying to find a new home for him after Westbrook opted into his $4 million player option. There are several ways the Nuggets could attempt to add him to their roster, and the front office is weighing those options against what the Clippers are willing to do to send Westbrook away. It’s expected that Westbrook will eventually become a member of the team, but it sounds like he wasn’t part of the initial plan and the Nuggets are hoping to accommodate Jokic.

If the Nuggets are forced to use their Taxpayer Mid-Level Exception to absorb Westbrook’s contract, that limits their ability to sign other free agents. Denver should do what it can to avoid that and give themselves as much flexibility as possible. A player like Dario Saric seems the most likely, but if the Nuggets hold out for free agents looking to get on the market a year later after the TV money hits in 2025, the Nuggets could certainly accommodate that. Players like Gary Trent Jr., Markelle Fultz, and Caleb Martin all expected to get paid this offseason, and perhaps they still will. The Nuggets could provide an alternative though all while having a serious chance to compete for a championship.

It appears that the new CBA has significantly slowed down the market. It’s been four days, and there are still several free agents expected to earn eight figures annually available. Perhaps teams are waiting for trades to occur, for a significant domino to fall. In past years, 95% of free agency was accomplished within the first two or three days. Now, the entire NBA still feels like it has some work to do.

As Balcetis shared at last week’s press conference, it’s a new era in the league.

“I think this particular free agency and draft period is a little different for everybody, because all of a sudden, now there are rules and regulations in place that are going to make teams find an edge that maybe they wouldn’t find before.”

Balcetis continued: “The new CBA, it’s going to be a fun challenge for a lot of teams. We’re trying to be ahead of it in some ways. I think there’s going to be missteps for every team as we try to start to calibrate where the CBA is going to lead us.”

The biggest question in all of this is whether the Nuggets front office is the team finding an edge or already finding missteps. Ask Nuggets fans, and the majority think it’s the latter. Losing KCP for a significant but affordable contract is one thing. Paying multiple second round picks to salary dump sixth man Reggie Jackson is another. Not adding anyone of significance (yet) to replace their backcourt production and focus on internal development is another thing entirely. Many Nuggets fans don’t believe in that strategy, because even if Christian Braun and Jalen Pickett step into rotation roles for the departing veterans, it doesn’t feel like a rotation upgrade. The Nuggets are simply playing different players they already had.

Here’s the thing: if the Nuggets believe in Braun becoming a starting caliber shooting guard next year, then they’re going to be just fine. He shot a high percentage from three-point range, but teams are going to apply even more pressure to his shooting as a starter. If he survives that and adds some things he can do to relieve pressure on Jokic, Jamal Murray, and Michael Porter Jr. offensively, that will be good enough. In addition, Peyton Watson’s growth has been rapid since being drafted two years ago. If he’s ready for a larger role within Denver’s rotation, that partially fills in the gap left behind by Braun.

At that point, the Nuggets just need players who can fill in around the rotation. It’s not difficult to see them winning another 50+ regular season games with that formula, even if it puts more strain on Denver’s top scorers to consistently perform.

Ultimately, these questions will be answered in the playoffs, because the Nuggets are defined by their playoff success now, not their ability to win 50 games. Jokic already has three MVPs. He doesn’t want or need another. However the Nuggets can best be prepared for playoff success is what the fan base cares about. Young players very rarely contribute a significant amount to a playoff run.

And yet, the Nuggets need them to grow fast, because that’s all they have.