Potential Nuggets trade targets, as well as an outstanding Nikola Jokic cover
The Denver Nuggets will be in Atlanta tomorrow night to take on the Hawks. For any Nuggets fans making the trip, they’ll be able to find themselves a new adult beverage inside the arena. The Hawks announced a new partnership with Charles Barkley’s Redmont Vodka this week. Barkley of course spends a large amount of time in the Atlanta area given that’s where the TNT studios are at so this is a natural partnership. The pairing will be complete with a new “Redmond Vodka Bar” at the arena. I imagine it’ll be a similar setup as the Nuggets have with their Truly Club up near section 202 (side note: Truly Club? We’ve fallen so far from Tuaca Chill Zone).
Trade season is almost here
The Nuggets are going to be fairly (see: extremely) limited in their ability to make trades this season given the amount of money they have dedicated to their starting five and the incredibly high unlikelihood that Denver would move one of their starters. Denver is caught in a no-man’s zone in terms of the trade market because they have no additional cap space to absorb a player into and thus must match salaries but with all their money tied up in players they are not going to trade the rest of the players they would trade are all on minimal contracts meaning the Nuggets can take only minimal contracts in return on a deal. Players on small contracts who can be impact role players on a championship contender like Denver generally don’t get traded so the market is fairly bare for Denver. Still, Ryan Blackburn over at Mile High Sports came up with some targets the Nuggets might be able to pursue in his weekly mailbag.
Right now, I think the Minnesota Timberwolves are the second best team in the West behind the Nuggets. The Timberwolves are a great, great defensive team, built around two pillars in Rudy Gobert and Jaden McDaniels. Gobert has lost a step defensively but is still incredibly impactful as a rim deterrent against almost every team, including the Nuggets. McDaniels has been hurt lately, but his defense against Murray early in the season stands out in a major way. At 6’11”, he’s the tallest defender Murray has ever faced as a permanent defensive matchup, and the technical passes and shots that Murray makes at the point guard spot are that much more difficult facing a taller player. The windows of opportunity are smaller, and while Murray is talented enough to break that defense, the fact that he has to is one thing that changes the matchup from last year.
Now, I think Denver still beats Minnesota in a playoff series, but they have my utmost respect. Anthony Edwards is for real, even if he’s not the most efficient superstar of all-time. Karl-Anthony Towns and Naz Reid (another absent factor from last season’s first round matchup) are each maintaining 50-40-90 seasons at the big man spots, which is insane. Mike Conley has been incredibly efficient, and the role playing versatility of Kyle Anderson, Nickeil Alexander-Walker, and Troy Brown Jr, is certainly intriguing.
Could other West contenders supplant the T’Wolves? Sure. The Phoenix Suns are dangerous offensively, but I’m not worried about their defensive matchups. The Los Angeles Lakers are a good team. They’re not a great team, at least not yet. The Oklahoma City Thunder are still probably a year away and another big man away from giving the Nuggets real problems. The Sacramento Kings and Dallas Mavericks aren’t good enough defensively.
I still maintain the two teams that give the Nuggets the most issues are the Boston Celtics and Milwaukee Bucks, though the Philadelphia 76ers are suddenly a bit more dangerous too.
So, December 15th is the unofficial starting day of trade season, and the Nuggets will of course keep their eyes open for different options. My natural inclination is to say it’s too early really talk trades, but this is sports, and the internet, so I’m going to do the SEO thing and discuss “Denver Nuggets Trade Rumors News NBA Trade Deadline Ideas.”
I put this chart out a few days ago, a look at Denver’s Two-Man Lineup Net Ratings through the first 20 games of the season.
Green is good, and Red is bad. Following the red, the Nuggets have struggled the most so far with their bench lineups, especially those that have included Zeke Nnaji and Julian Strawther. Now, Strawther is a rookie, the 29th pick of the 2023 NBA Draft, and I didn’t expect him to be in the green very much this season. Nnaji, however, just signed a four-year extension this offseason, and the Nuggets haven’t been able to find a single combination that works with him on the court through the first 20 games. To be clear, playing without Jokic is a difficult task, but the Nuggets recently went to DeAndre Jordan at backup center and benched Nnaji. That’s not a great sign for a player they just signed for another four years beyond this one.
So, should the Nuggets look at backup center again? Maybe. They tried with Thomas Bryant at the trade deadline last year, but he wasn’t the right fit, and he was also just removed from the Miami Heat bench rotation. If the Nuggets were to acquire a center, they need someone who can screen, roll to the rim, rebound, and play an athletic brand of defense on the second unit. The centers good enough to help the Nuggets on that end are generally too pricy, but some names I’d check on are Jalen Smith of the Indiana Pacers (who they’ve had interest in before) as well as Day’Ron Sharpe of the Brooklyn Nets, Jericho Sims of the New York Knicks, and Omer Yurtseven of the Utah Jazz. Rim rollers that could provide a nice target for Murray and Jackson in the pick and roll.
The other position I think Denver could use is a versatile forward to replace Vlatko Čančar. The Nuggets, when putting together their offseason plan, didn’t account for the absence of Čančar, who suffered a season ending injury after free agency was all but over. Vlatko would have played this year, and without him, the Nuggets are missing a connecting piece off their bench that can guard multiple positions and do different things offensively.
Looking ahead to the trade deadline, players that fit that criteria and might be gettable are Jae’Sean Tate of the Houston Rockets, David Roddy and John Konchar of the Memphis Grizzlies, and Trendon Watford of the Brooklyn Nets. These are players who might make the necessary connecting plays off the bench, even if they don’t play all the time, and the Nuggets could use another player that can’t really be pushed around in their backup frontcourt. It might be one of the players listed above, or another player might make a surprise appearance.
Whatever the case, it’s important to take this slow. The Nuggets are 14-7 and just played the toughest portion of their schedule, and they’re about to get Jamal Murray back. They’re going to be fine, with or without a trade addition. These guys could simply provide a layer of help at the appropriate moment in the playoffs.
Mile High Sports drops incredible Joker cover
One of the best things about MHS is their print game. Year after year the team over there puts out incredible cover after incredible cover and this week they released an all timer. Jokic makes the cover of the December issue this year after having his biggest year in Denver and one of the biggest year’s the city has ever seen from across all four major professional sports. As editor in chief Doug Ottewill puts it “when the story of sports in Colorado is told years from now, there’s only going to be one ‘first’ Denver Nuggets NBA championship run, and Nikola Jokic is undeniably the face of that story.” After ending a 47 year drought for an NBA championship, MHS does Joker justice with this incredible artwork to grace the cover.
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