Brad Broadstreet
Published Dec 15, 2023
The Curious Case of the 2028-29 Dinosaurs
This offseason the Denver Dinosaurs made the head scratching decision to trade Derek Bennem off for parts. They lost budding star Derek Wall in Free Agency and they proceeded to add veteran role players to a team with no actual scoring focus other than Josh Briggery… This confusing approach has landed them in the middle of the pack for yet another season.
When Josh Briggery was lost for two months to a broken nose, this team showed some signs of gelling. There was a period of time in late December and early January where they won 7 straight games to pull them back to just above .500. With Briggery back he’s been the team’s highest scorer for 17 straight games, a stretch where the team has gone just 9-8. How is a team with an MVP level superstar so mediocre?
The team added PGs Michael Smith and Marcus Bohm and locked them both up to long term deals. The pair have been an excellent tandem and have been great at distributing and racking up assists, but neither is a real scoring option. Youngster Brooks Horton shows a lot of promise as a potential scorer, but it may be a year or two before he’s ready to take on that role, if ever! Lots was made of combo guard Roderick Barber and his extension this offseason, and he’s failed to make an impact. Veterans Nick Slaughter, Jared Hobbs, Chris Odle, and Marius Oliver were all brought aboard as well but none are impact players, all are simply very good bench guys.
GM Joe Sturgeon and head coach Shannon Cundiff came in to Denver with high expectations and so far they’ve fallen well short of the mark. There’s cause for some optimism however, Denver possesses a good amount of draft capital and should have a sizeable amount of cap room to spend this offseason. One thing is clear, if they want to capitalize on the remaining peak years of star Josh Briggery, they can’t afford another lost season.