What in the world are the Denver Nuggets doing?

Mediocrity has long been seen as one of the worst places to be in the NBA. Fighting for a No. 8 seed seems pointless, especially for small market teams. It’s easier to get a superstar by having high draft picks, and a team needs superstar players to win a championship. If you fall somewhere between contention and abysmal, odds are you’ll be stuck for a while unless there is a move made to fall out of the middle.

This is the state the Denver Nuggets have been in ever since their once superstar, Carmelo Anthony, was traded to the New York Knicks. Yes, there was the one season where Denver blitzed everyone at home and ended up as a top three seed in the West. Other than that team, however, the Nuggets have been a franchise stuck in the never ending whirlpool of the NBA’s middle class.

Denver has always looked like a team with individual parts being greater than the sum. They’ve had decent players, but haven’t been able to put together a roster worthy of contending. Part of their issues stem from coaching and trying to make the pieces of the puzzle fit together. But when you have a team full of players who should be the fourth or fifth best option, you are destined for the middle of the draft and a possible sweep in the first round of the playoffs. With Denver playing in the Western Conference, it is even tougher given how many quality teams they’re competing against on a nightly basis.

If Denver wants to take the next step into contention in a deep Western Conference, they’ll have to use their plethora of trade assets and the hoards of cap space in their possession to get lucky on a few free agents. The problem, however, is that there are other teams with the more bullets in their guns. The Celtics, Sixers, and Suns (to name a few) all have several future first round picks in addition to potential ludicrous levels of cap space next summer. Making matters more difficult for the Nuggets is Denver doesn’t have a history of being a hot destination for free agents.

This puts Denver in a position to get the highest draft pick available, get as young as possible, fill the team with players that have potential and keep their draft picks. They had a top ten pick this past season in Emmanuel Mudiay, whose impressive Summer League and experience from already playing pro overseas has many believing he can be the building block of the franchise. There’s plenty other intriguing young players – such as Gary Harris, Nikola Jokic, Jusuf Nurkic, Joffrey Lauvergne, and Will Barton – that the Nuggets should be able to piece together an exciting rotation of players.

Is that what Denver wants to do, though? Because it sure doesn’t seem that way. Despite having their fair share of young blood on the roster, GM Tim Connelly and the Nuggets front office went ahead and extended veterans like Wilson Chandler and Danilo Gallinari this offseason before the salary cap explodes. Last fall, they extended Kenneth Faried, a player coming off his rookie scale contract but who is considered an old relative to his draft class after spending four years at Morehead State. In addition, they re-signed veteran Jameer Nelson to a three year deal and are turning their efforts towards bringing back Darrell Arthur.

Supporters would probably justify their moves as simply doing what everyone is doing nowadays: collect assets and spin them into better players when the time comes. The huge problem is that there are few special instances where this happens. It isn’t everyday that James Harden or Kevin Love become available. If a player of their calibre were theoretically on the trading block, Denver wouldn’t have the best pot of assets available nor the most attractive place to play, anyway. They’d be better off trading the few of their solid veterans like a Kenneth Faried, Wilson Chandler, or Danilo Gallinari. That way, they could get closer to having a higher draft pick while also receiving more trade chips to have in their arsenal, serving them much better than constantly fighting this uphill climb to be the eighth best team in arguably the greatest conference in NBA history.

Denver is significantly closer to the low end of the spectrum — towards the bottom of the conference. If the season started today, I don’t know if Denver would finish higher than any other team in the West. Being dead last can have its draft perks, but it doesn’t seem as if this front office is wanting to go that way, even though they probably should.