See that banner up there? Ties go to the guy with the bling who brought a franchise its first ring.
Christian Braun didn’t hurt anyone or anything, let alone Russell Westbrook’s ego, by keeping his No. 0 jersey with the Nuggets. Hey, the kids up in the Grading The Week offices respect Beastbrook’s NBA resume as much as anybody. But they also believe in squatter’s rights.
Especially when said squatter played a key role in a city’s only (to date) NBA title. And is slated to slide, in theory, into an even bigger role starting this fall.
As to who’s wearing No. 0 (Braun) or No. 4 (Westbrook), who really cares? Yes, one of the NBA’s unwritten rules is that younger players or “role” players will defer on things such as uniform numbers to incoming veteran stars. (Sometimes thanks to a healthy check finding its way from the veteran star to his younger teammate.)
But you know what GTW loves about a non-story? How Westbrook went out of his way to make sure it never really became one in the first place.
Westbrook making his “0” issue a zero story — A
After Xwitter started throwing shade at Braun for his alleged disrespect, Westbrook did the bigger thing by calling his own number and throwing a blanket over the whole darned thing.
The veteran guard, who inked a two-year, $6.8-million contract with the Nuggets this offseason, went to his Instagram feed to rebuke any potential issue, writing:
“Let’s please leave our young star alone … (Braun) and I never discussed him passing along the number 0. I didn’t want, inquire, or request the number 0 because I chose to mark this new change with a ‘new’ number …
“The excitement of the new season has already begun, and unfortunately I know that means the offload of many false stories. Not today! CB and I are locked in and ready to get thongs rockin’ in the Mile High City!”
That’s a veteran move right there. A classy one, too.
Ex-Broncos landing on their feet — C
Samaje Perine and Tim Patrick, if healthy, are almost certainly headed to the playoffs this winter. Too bad it won’t be with the Broncos.
Team GTW enjoyed having both guys around the Mile High City, truth be told, and the kids in the cubicles were rooting hard to see the Nix-to-Patrick connection that took flight during the preseason flourish against some real-life, real-speed defenses come September.
Alas, it’s not to be. The Broncos announced earlier this past week that they were looking to move both Patrick, who was playing in August games for the first time in three years after two major surgeries, and Perine, a veteran third-down, block-and-catch specialist out of the backfield. Finding no takers on the trade market, the pair were released.
And very quickly snapped up. Patrick is reportedly hooked on with the Lions, the NFC North’s new money. Perine? That one kind of hurts. While the success of Jaleel McLaughlin and drafting of Audric Estime made the 28-year-old veteran slightly redundant in a deep Broncos running back room, Perine could well have the last laugh here. The 28-year-old former Oklahoma star hooked on with the Chiefs, giving Patrick Mahomes and the reigning Super Bowl champs another viable weapon to work with.
The GTW crew understands that Broncos coach Sean Payton is under a cap crunch because of the Russell Wilson divorce. And that Payton likes a young roster that he can mold in his image, free from the culture of losing that’s permeated Dove Valley for the last five or six years. It’s usually a compliment when other teams think enough of your castoffs to snap them up quickly. But at the same time, why does it feel as if these two cuts in particular could come back and bite somebody on the backside?
