Klee: Pressure on Nuggets after ‘West grew fangs’ with NBA Draft
Jun 23, 2017, 12:00 PM | Updated: 10:13 pm
It wasn’t so much about what the Denver Nuggets did, or didn’t, do during the NBA Draft on Thursday night.
Rather how next season plays out in the Western Conference likely has more to do with what the teams on relatively the same level as the Nuggets did, highlighted by a power move by the Minnesota Timberwolves to acquire Jimmy Butler from the Chicago Bulls.
“I think the Nuggets, they didn’t have as good of a night as some of those other teams,” said Zach Bye, co-host of “Stokley & Zach,” during the 104.3 The Fan draft special Thursday night.
“You have to find the mascara in free agency because if you don’t, it’s not going to look good. You’re going to get passed by teams like the Kings, the Timberwolves, the Pelicans, and the Blazers.”
Paul Klee, a columnist with The Gazette, told Sandy Clough on Friday that it wasn’t even the “fury road” of teams at the top of the conference — Houston, Golden State, San Antonio — that made a splash but rather those on a “parallel playing field” as the Nuggets.
“The West grew fangs last night. That’s what happened,” Klee, who also joined Clough on Thursday night’s panel. “And it wasn’t the half we always talk about. It was the bottom half. There’s a lot of pressure on the Nuggets to make a move now.”
Clough called the Nuggets first-round pick, forward Tyler Lydon from Syracuse, a “nice pick” but one who won’t factor into the rotation right away, leaving free agency as the place for Denver to make its offseason mark.
“I think you have to look to free agency now to make a bang,” Clough said.
Among those rumored to have Denver’s interest, the aforementioned Butler (now in Minnesota) and Phoenix Suns point guard Eric Bledsoe.
“July is a bigger month than the Nuggets,” Clough said.
The Nuggets, who flipped its actual first-round pick, No. 13 overall guard Donovan Mitchell, to Utah in exchange for Lydon at No. 24 and forward Trey Lyles.
Denver also drafted guards Vlatko Cancar, out of Slovenia, and Monte Morris, from Iowa State.
Follow digital content producer Johnny Hart on Twitter: @johnnyhart7.
