With the season and the Denver Nugget's 2015 CSL Championship celebration over, the team's front office is already looking at their long-term strategy from here on out.
"It's no secret that we have no real youth or upside on the team," Nuggets GM Parka said. "We don't have the luxury of great picks or assets, so we'll have to be creative."
Indeed, the team's original plan until 2017 is slowly coming to an end. Originally constructed to have a 3-year window, that window is slowly closing as every player on the Nuggets roster other than superstar Blake Griffin (and the 24th pick if it is kept) will expire at the end of the 2015-2016 season.
"It was our original plan, no doubt," Parka said. "We're feel like we're in a good position with the flexibility that we have with regards to our strategy."
The front office is reportedly looking through several options and has been in thorough negotiations with multiple teams, though nothing has really come to fruition.
The team has many different options it could pursue at this point. It could extend key players such as JaVale McGee, Nicolas Batum, Joe Johnson, and J.J. Hickson to continue on their competitive run, or even allow some or all of them to expire at the end of the season. Trade market opportunities could also bring about different changes to their strategy.
Could a player of Kevin Durant's caliber consider coming to Denver in 2017?
"GMing success is all about timing," Parka said. "We're open to all the opportunities that will present themselves from here on out."
Nevertheless, the team will continue to be active both on the trade market and in free agency, where they'll have their MLE and LLE to bring in two additional players, should they use it. Parka emphasized that remaining competitive will be at the top of their priority list.
"We'll keep the 2017 free agency market in consideration for sure," Parka said. "But like I said, it will all depend on what opportunities we'll have from now until then."
With a top 5 player in Griffin in his prime and a proven front office who continues to churn out championship-caliber teams, it isn't totally unrealistic to think that a disgruntled star could decide to come to the Nuggets.
"We'll see," Parka said.
At the very least, it is shaping up to be an important and interesting offseason for the Denver Nuggets.
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