No Moves in Denver. Will the Team Regress?

The Western Conference has seen many moves, especially when it comes to teams like Los Angeles, San Antonio, and Dallas. Every team has put its best foot forward in trying to emerge as a leader in the West. Last year’s Western Conference finalist, however, the Denver Nuggets, haven’t done much, if anything at all.

The Nuggets team began a new life with the acquisition of Chauncey Billups. Previously a fringe playoff team who was never expected to go past the first round, the Nuggets closed out the season stronger than ever before with 54 wins and playoff series wins against New Orleans and Dallas.

The Nuggets rode their confidence into a conference finals series against Los Angeles, and played an extremely impressive series. While the team eventually lost in 6 games, nearly every game was competitive and many believe the series could have gone either way.

Going back to the present, how can the Nuggets organization truly believe that they have what it takes to not only make it back to the Western Conference Finals, but knock out the only team that sent them home packing when they have yet to make a single move during the offseason? (expect re-signing Birdman).

Taking a look at the top contending teams in the West; the Lakers signed Ron Artest, the Spurs acquired Richard Jefferson via trade, signed Antonio McDyess, and Theo Ratliff, the Mavericks traded for Shawn Marion and signed Drew Gooden, and the Blazers signed veteran point-guard Andre Miller.

The problem the Nuggets face in Denver is the fact that they’re already above the luxury tax limits. This basically means that any player signed will cost them twice as much as they normally would, a huge cost that the team very well can’t afford.

In addition, the Nuggets still have big time trade exception money from when Marcus Camby was dealt away. While even though a small amount was used in order for the Iverson deal to be made, A.I’s departure gave Denver even more trade exception money (in which another small amount was used to acquire Arron Afflalo). With Denver sitting tight and obviously not looking to use their trade exception money on a big time player (which would send them even further into the luxury tax), their overall ranking and value continues to diminish by the minute.

The only thing Nugget fans can do is sit back, (just like the entire organization), relax, and hope for the best entering the upcoming season.

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