Denver Nuggets Waive Courtney Sims And Shane Edwards

The Denver Nuggets announced Monday that they have waived former NBA Development League players Courtney Sims and Shane Edwards, thereby reducing their training camp roster to the regular season maximum of 15 players.  Of course, this doesn't mean they're done making cuts, but it does mean that if Eric Boateng, Gary Forbes and Melvin Ely are all really impressive that the Nuggets could keep them for the regular season without having to release anyone with a guaranteed contract.

I really had high hopes for Shane Edwards to make the roster, but in the end he duplicates everything Renaldo Balkman does (as Mark Deeks has mentioned previously) and being a poor man's version of somebody who already is on the roster with a guaranteed contract isn't the best way to make an NBA roster.  That said, Edwards has come a long way since barely making the Albuquerque Thunderbirds via an open tryout.  Hopefully, he'll return to the Thunderbirds this season, round out his game a bit under Darvin Ham and give it another shot next season.

As far as Courtney Sims, I've been down on his career for a little while, but he's still just 26 and could definitely turn his career back around with a quick stint dominating the D-League and getting a quick January call-up instead of going the whatever-he-did-last-season route.  Plus, apparently he was injured with the Nuggets because he didn't play any of their preseason games and said on Twitter after it was announced "Damn... One thing about sports... Injuries can mess up everything."  Hopefully whatever ails him (and I hope it's not still the shin splints) heals quickly.

In the end, I'm going to say that Melvin Ely will make the roster and Gary Forbes has an outside chance as well, with Eric Boatengonly making the cut if Ely gets injured or the rookie out of Arizona State is somehow able to convince the Nuggets brass that he's more ready to step in when needed than the veteran Ely.