Memphis Grizzlies: 3 Playoff Teams To Learn From In Their Rebuild
By Chris Kern
Denver Nuggets
The Denver Nuggets have done a good job building this team in a variety of different ways through both the draft and free agency. They have done a good job getting impact players later in the draft, but have also gotten some stars with their high picks.
The Nuggets got both of their young stars through the draft. They selected Jamal Murray with the 7th pick in the 2016 Draft and selected a huge steal with the 41st pick in the 2014 Draft when they selected Nikola Jokic.
Those are the two main guys, but they’ve also done a good job surrounding those two with good role players with some of them coming through the draft. They selected Juan Hernongomez 15th, Malik Beasley 19th, and Monte Morris 51st in the draft.
When you’re able to get good players like that later on in the draft you have a chance to build something special. That is an area the Nuggets have excelled in while the Grizzlies have struggled to do that for a long time.
Their ability to draft well gave themselves the ability to sign Paul Millsap to a big money deal without hurting the future of their team. They signed him to a 3 year,$90 million deal in the summer of 2017. The third year on the deal is a player option so they could decline that if they felt that is what’s best for their team.
Mike Malone is in his fourth season with the Nuggets and they have continued to improve every season he has been there. He has a record of 173-155 with the team and led them to a playoff appearance as the two seed in the west after falling just short a year ago when they finished with a record of 46-36.
Some of these strategies should be something the Grizzlies look to utilize. If they do a good job drafting players and building a team that way that will give themselves the opportunity to overpay for a veteran player who can help get them to the next level.