Why Campazzo was not traded by the Denver Nuggets and what will be in store for him until the end of the NBA season

To NBA do not try to understand it and less with the Argentine or Latin approach. The best league in the world is like this: it has no feelings. And it is capable of giving you and taking everything from you, without hesitation. And precisely for this reason… Because it offers you ALL the best: top facilities to develop as a player, dozens of employees to make your career -and life- easier, the best transfers in private planes, the best hotels, the best locker rooms , the best meals, the best clothes, the greatest comforts, the latest technologies and more… Whatever you can think of, you have it. And if it’s not there, you ask for it and they give it to you. You’re like a millionaire’s son. Or, many times, directly, a millionaire who can afford all the luxuries you dreamed of.

But, of course, as happens in this capitalist world, nobody gives you anything for free. The NBA gives you and demands you. And if you don’t give up, he takes you away. Or uses you as a commodity, without remorse. This has been the case for decades… At least since it became a multimillion-dollar and global business, starting in the mid-1980s. This is what is happening to Facundo Campazzo. As has happened to so many others. There is no better example than that of Juancho Hernangómez, the Spaniard who was traded twice in one month (in January, from Boston to San Antonio and this Wednesday from the Spurs to Utah). Or, to cite another case, that of Ricky Rubio, the Spanish figure who was the subject of six transfers in 13 years, even before being chosen in the same NBA draft. A real madness.

So, it is clear, no other treatment can be expected for our best player. Nothing matters. That he is a world figure, that he was one of the best point guards in Europe until two years ago, that he made a strong commitment – financially and sportingly – to leave Real Madrid and reach the Nuggets, that he has moved with his pregnant wife… The NBA, with very rare exceptions -perhaps the Spurs with Popovich, a little more “human”-, doesn’t care at all. He wants you to perform and help the team win. And point. If you don’t make it, goodbye. It can even happen to you that they also give you a release if you do that… If a better player appears… Or a superior business, in terms that are often difficult for people to understand, such as salary.

In the NBA there are complex rules, with a maximum amount of money to spend to build a team (109 million, with taxes to pay for penalties from 133m), but being flexible requires permanent strategies to build the best possible squads . So, of course, the issue is much more complex than you think. There is an engineering behind these team builds, depending on whether you want to “compete” today or in a few years. There are teams that bet on winning everything now and others that plan the so-called “reconstructions”, which can take between three and six years (or more), broadly speaking, depending on the success of the processes.

Denver is now in an intermediate stage, a kind of nebula. Because he has to go for everything but things happen to him that do not allow him to fight for the title. It all started two years ago (2020), when his team patiently built over five seasons (since 2015, when he arrived Nikola Jokic, his current superstar) had a peak of performance and reached, almost unexpectedly, the final of the Western conference – he lost 4-1 with LeBron’s Lakers who would end up being the champions. It was the moment in which the leadership decided to strengthen a team that had a great offense starting with Jokic, as a ductile big man, and the Canadian Jamal Murray, scoring base. Among others, he looked for Campazzo, a complete point guard who had just won everything and excelled in Spain and the Euroleague, the highest level outside the NBA. There were illusions that, after a logical adaptation, especially to questions of shooting (the three-point line is further away), speed (FC7 had advantages in Europe, but not in the NBA anymore) and heights (his 1m77 generated some doubts ), the Cordovan would be a valuable part of the Nuggets rotation.

And, in fact, in the first NBA season, it was. Although it is true that he was a highlight player (every night a great action of his went viral, be it for luxuries, delivery or strange passes), he had some very interesting moments, when injuries appeared en masse on the roster and he had to weather the storm as the starting point guard (19 of 65), especially since Murray’s ligament injury in April. He stood out for the intensity and defense of him. He played physical, to the limit, and thus challenged –and annoyed some rivals, from Curry to Wall, through the respect he earned from Lillard- and that is why they gave him nicknames like The Spider, The Plague and The Fly… In attack he had ups and downs, he passed the ball better (3.6 assists) than he threw (35% in triples), but to be the first season, within an irregular team (record of 47-25 and fired in the second round of the playoffs), it was good. Or very well, depending on the demand and look of each person.

It has been different in this second season. A jump in quality was expected or at least to maintain the level of 20/21, but for various reasons this did not happen. Denver was never the fearsome team of 2020 again. The injuries are still there – Murray’s was joined by Michael Porter Jr, another figure, on the back -, the defensive weakness also and to that other problems were added -such as the poor performance of the substitutes- that conspired with the expected upgrade. Today the team is sixth with a 30-24 record, but several are on their heels and nothing is guaranteed. and the technician Mike Malone does not give anything. Or, at least, she doesn’t want to. That’s why he makes decisions that, in those last weeks, hurt Campazzo, even taking him out of the usual rotation.

Facu started playing, almost like last season: 18 minutes on average in November, after playing 21 minutes during 20/21. In December he went up to 26, standing out in the set up but suffering in scoring, with an efficiency that dropped (35% from the field and 32% in triples). This began to generate questions, in part from the press, the fans and even the coaching staff. In today’s NBA there is almost no room for point guards – or players – who don’t score consistently. If you don’t, the rivals free up that player more to focus on others and Denver can’t afford that luxury because, precisely, they need scorers and shooters who leave space for Jokic.

On top of that, in Denver, Murray’s 21 points are missing. Malone sought to replace them with the three point guards: Facu (barely 5.8), Monte Morris (12.6) and Bones Hyland (8.6), a kid (1m85 and 21 years old) who arrived this season after being selected in the last draft and performed very well, to the point of taking several minutes from Facu and even taking the place from the Argentine in recent weeks. He averages 18 minutes, scoring more and throwing better than Facu. His 39.4% on triples it is an important difference compared to the 31.3% of FC7. They are not the only numbers that they take into account. There are others that are more advanced, that reflect productivity, that leave the Argentine complicated, in an era in which many decisions are made by looking at statistics…

So it is that today, in the franchise, they trust Hyland more than Campazzo and, in principle, they will bet on him. He is younger and has already yielded the same or more than Facu, being a rookie. Which leaves the ceiling much higher. It’s not that Malone doesn’t value Facu. He loves him and respects his commitment to the team, his defense and some virtues, above all the intangible ones –competitiveness, intensity and virtuosity-, but today he feels that the team needs something else and, little by little, he believed that FC7 did not can give Or, at least, that the Morris and Hyland duo can do better. So, with the pressure that he’s under, the coach chooses and he’s not doing so badly – ​​the team won seven of the last 10. That’s why Campazzo was left out of the rotation. In the last five games he played little or nothing, even generating the anger of the Argentine fans, who observe as a lack of respect that he plays a few minutes with defined games.

The chance that Campazzo would leave the team before the transfer deadline expired – it happened this Thursday 2/10 at 5:00 p.m. ARG time – was real. The player’s agents were in communication with the team’s management and expressed the will that, if they were not going to use him, they would go to great lengths to trade him to another team. Denver reluctantly nodded. “If the right operation comes along, we will do it,” they replied. “Several teams expressed interest,” they told Infobae from the inner circle of the Argentine, without specifying names. Yesterday, in the final hours, different media outlets and journalists from the United States mentioned the Lakers, the Clippers, the Pacers and even the Bulls, as possible destinations, but the hours passed and nothing materialized. “It was close, but it didn’t happen,” they added, although making it clear -and dismissing- that the Nuggets would give a differential treatment to the player’s situation. It was said that, for all the effort the player made to get to Denver and for his professionalism and human quality, they would transfer him to do him a favor. “It’s not like that, they treated him like any other,” they acknowledged, making it clear that Campazzo, like so many others, including stars, is just another piece of merchandise. He is not bad. It is so. Don’t try to understand the NBA…

What is coming for FC7 is one more test for his mettle, mentality and patience. He must absorb the blow of not being traded and return to training with a good face. As he has always done, they assure from the franchise. In that sense there is not even the slightest reproach. Everyone appreciates that he has been an absolute professional who has only sought the best for the team, resigning himself, within a complicated context. A legacy that he absorbed from the Golden Generation and that is also part of his essence. Facu will have to, with mental hardness, give everything in each training session – one of the few there are at this point in the season – and, above all, expect some setback if he wants to play. Because, in addition to Morris and Hyland, they are Austin Rivers y Bryn Forbes, the shooting guard who arrived three weeks ago from San Antonio and has been playing a lot (21m) and well (10 points with 39% in triples). It is clear that, in this situation, of the point guards-perimeters playing well and the team winning, the most logical thing is that Campazzo plays little and nothing between now and the end of the season (28 games to go). Even in their environment they expect that. But the NBA is a Pandora’s Box and everything can change, from one day to the next, due to poor performance or injuries.

The question many are asking is why Denver didn’t trade Campazzo. First, because no offer came that convinced him and charity, as we said, nobody does in the NBA. And second, because Murray (March?) and Porter have yet to return, if they do. Some believe that they will not return this season, especially the point guard, who suffered torn ligaments 10 months ago, because they do not want to rush him. So they need another point guard, just in case. Some ask, then, for a termination of the contract and although it is not impossible, because Denver needs to release money on the salary cap, today it seems difficult, because for the 3,800,000 dollars that FC7 earns, perhaps they should have it as reinsurance in case Murray doesn’t come back or something else happens. Campazzo, for now, will have to arm himself with more patience and wait for his chance. Or directly wait for him to finish the season, the last one he has left with a contract. There he will be free and will be free to choose.

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