Nuggets' Bruce Brown should call Nazem Kadri and ask about leaving Denver
A year ago Thursday, Nazem Kadri put Tampa on ice. Last week, a columnist in Calgary called Kadri a snowflake.
Before you do anything, Bruce Brown, before you go anywhere, before you sign anything, we beseech you:
Call Naz.
Josh Kroenke’s got the number, somewhere. Probably.
Ask Kadri if, knowing what he knows now, he’d have still taken the money last summer over another ride — or two, or three — with a dynasty in Colorado.
Ask him if he misses Denver.
Ask him if he misses Ball Arena. If he misses that locker room. All that speed. All those legends.
Ask him if he misses the view from a Mile High.
Parades rock. But once that hangover clears, it’s business time. And Brown, the NBA champion Nuggets’ 6-foot-4, no-B.S. do-everything swingman, the glue that bonded a long-suffering franchise’s first-ever title team, made the business decision Wednesday we’d all expected, declining his player option and officially entering free agency.
Look, if someone pulls up to the crib with a Brink’s truck and dumps $50-$60 million guaranteed on your lawn, no questions asked, just sign here, hey … we get it. We understand. Generational wealth should linger for decades, but as an athlete/entertainer, the windows in which to snatch it are short and precious.
Go get that bag, BB.
Just, ya know, call Naz first. Please.
Ask him about life on the other side. Ask him expectations when you show up in a new town with a ring on your finger and gazillions stuffed into your back pocket.
From their early regular-season clinching to their postseason dominance (The Avalanche went 16-4 in the postseason in ’22, same as the Nuggets a year later) to their charm, to their maddening inability to be seen on TV by the very locals who love them, the back-to-back championship runs by the Avs and Nugs shared all kinds of parallels.
Brown became the Nuggets’ Kadri, just as Kadri was the Avs’ Brown. Tough. Smart. Clutch. Fearless. Fun. Playoff gold. Cult legends. Fan favorites.
Both were vets who slotted in perfectly behind a wave of stars, only to become stars themselves. And both put together career years for title winners just as they had a chance to hit the open market.
Kadri set himself up for life, landing a seven-year, $49-million deal from Calgary with an $11 million signing bonus at the age of 31. The man deserved every penny, and the Avs were tapped out. He knew it. The Kroenkes knew it. Everybody knew it.
But after an All-Star appearance with the Flames, the last two months in Alberta started to veer off the rails. Kadri reportedly clashed with veteran coach Darryl Sutter, forcing fans, media, and Calgary brass to take sides.
Although for said brass, when one guy has a guaranteed contract worth $49 million, there’s only one side — the coach has gotta go. Sutter was canned on May 1, replaced by the chummier Ryan Huska.
The Calgary Sun’s Rick Bell responded by branding the anti-Sutter camp as “snowflakes,” and referred to Kadri in a piece published June 13, as a “guy scoring much more at the bank than in the net.” Fun.
And have you seen your most likely suitors, Bruce? As of two weeks ago, the six NBA teams projected to have more than $30 million of cap room to play with this summer were the Rockets, Magic, Spurs, Jazz, Pistons and Thunder. Blecccch.
Seriously, man. Call Naz.
The Nuggets will be fine. More than fine. We’re only one chapter into The Christian Braun Story, and it’s a page-turner. Peyton Watson is 6-foot-7 with a 7-foot wingspan. Calvin Booth is already breathing down Joe Sakic’s neck for the title of best roster-builder in town.
The next decision that blows up in Calvin’s face will be the first. Nikola Jokic might be the express ticket to a hangover in Vegas, but when it comes to the craps table, I’m riding the Booth train to moneytown.
Brown’s riding the money train, regardless — it’s just a matter of whether he wants that payday now or later.
Because when you do call Naz, BB, be sure to explain to him how the NBA allows for some salary-cap loopholes that the NHL doesn’t. Tell him about Bobby Portis in Milwaukee.
How Portis also found his niche as the spark off a champions’ bench two years ago, and the fit was so right, he eschewed the bigger payday immediately somewhere else to ride alongside a superstar (Giannis Antetokounmpo) with Hall-of-Fame bona fides. It took some planning and more opt-outs, but Portis eventually landed a four-year deal with the Bucks for $48.6 million over four years.
How ‘bout that, cowboy? A bag and Jokic. A bag and more rings. A bag and more parades. On a team with no drama. In a place where the only snowflakes in June are the ones that fall at 14,000 feet, from the summit of champions.
Source: The Denver Post
