SHOCKING: Cam Johnson traded to Denver Nuggets for Michael Porter Jr.

SHOCKING: Cam Johnson traded to Denver Nuggets for Michael Porter Jr.

[Music] probably gonna have to change that intro pretty soon Um pretty sad to see Michael Porter Jr on that uh for those that are watching on the YouTube side of things But welcome into Pickax and Roll brought to you by my good friends here at Mile High Sports I’m your host Ryan Blackburn at NBA Blackburn on Twitter part of the Mile High Sports Podcast Network And I am here I am ready I am excited to talk about a new iteration for the Denver Nuggets who are Oh boy this is this is going to be a big one We’re going to have a lot to talk about on this episode I’m very excited to talk about it Uh there will also be some more time throughout this summer to lament uh the trade of Michael Porter Jr because I do think that there is and I said this on lockdown earlier uh I do think that there is a massive amount of credit and appreciation that should go Michael Porter Jr.’s way for giving seven years of his career to the Nuggets for being just an absolute warrior He like the the lasting impression that I’ll have of him with the Nuggets is playing through a separated shoulder basically or playing through what what amounts to a torn labum like it just just a horrible situation Um he did it because he’s a competitor He did it because he’s a warrior And it sucks that it kind of had to get to this place but this trade does make the Nuggets better And we’re going to talk about that We’re going to be positive on this one I’m very excited about the prospects of the Denver Nuggets I think that they have just unlocked a lot of possibilities and I think that they have made it way more likely that they win a championship genuinely like this was the right move this is what they were supposed to do and I think it’s very important to talk about it through that lens So let’s talk about it Uh the Denver Nuggets they trade Michael Porter Jr and a 2032 first round pick unprotected to the Brooklyn Nets for Cam Johnson U just a wild deal in and of itself It has been discussed That was a deal That was a concept that was discussed Uh Jake Coin friend of the show friend of the program floated that in his uh manifesto I believe as an option for Denver to explore I believe he paid for more in his mock off season uh for the Denver Nuggets In that scheme of things the Nuggets only having to give up a first round pick It is unprotected but one first round pick in order to go from Michael Porter Jr to Cam Johnson To me that is wild That is crazy given what we know about Michael Porter Jr’s injury history Given what we know about uh just how he has performed at times in the playoffs and his I think limitations it’s important for everybody to understand just how crazy this move is Cam Johnson’s a fantastic basketball player and I described him over at Lockdown as I think the prototypical small forward in the NBA right now He’s one of those guys that like everybody wishes that they had a Cam Johnson on their roster a Trey Murphy on their roster a uh DeAndre Hunter without the injury issues on their roster somebody of that size profile who’s about 6’8 who can play up and down a position He’s a small forward He’s a power forward He’s a shooting guard in your lineups Whatever You can switch two through four Probably not going to guard a lot of fives Probably not going to guard a lot of ones but he is going to play And he’s a danger all over the floor For his career he shoots 45% from the field 39% from three and 85% from the line Last year he shot 47.5% from the field 39% from three 89% from the line averaged 18.8 points per game 4.3 rebounds less than Michael Porter and 3.4 assists more than Michael Porter That’s also I think a larger part of his game now He’s started to figure out how to set the table for other people a little bit more consistently He’s capable off the dribble He’s somebody that you can trust with the ball in his hands probably not like a an isolation scorer Um yeah probably not a big isolation score at that point but it is just very interesting to see uh him It says it here Uh Ryan remember when during the deadline a lot of teams wanted Cam Johnson yeah it’s one of the reasons I didn’t think that Denver would be able to get him on this on this kind of deal because they were asking for two first round picks That was the going price for Cam Johnson And Denver not only gave them one but they gave them worse money Now Brooklyn’s in this position where it didn’t necessarily matter to them about the money because they have five first round picks They uh that they are signing to their roster this year They have uh several guys like Dron Sharp Zire Williams who they are bringing back on deals for cheap Uh they are not in a financial issue at this point Uh they they can take on Michael Porter’s contract and be fine It was one of the benefits of talking to the Brooklyn Nets They were the only team with cap space heading into the off season So the fact that Denver of all of the teams that could trade for Cam Johnson the fact that it was Denver that lucked into this deal and was able to use that at to their advantage is absolutely tremendous work by the Nuggets front office Tremendous I don’t know where this came from I don’t know who prompted it I don’t know if the Nuggets were the ones to reach out to Brooklyn I don’t know if Brooklyn was the one that had previously had conversations with the Nuggets and then decided to reach back out and say “Hey we would like to trade Cam Johnson Are you interested in giving us a pick?” If that was the case and Brooklyn actually reached out on this deal like this is an A+ for Denver If you want to give a grade this is an A+ And I’ll tell you why First and foremost Cam Johnson is a better player He is a better all-around player He’s a better defender He’s more consistent He’s one of those guys that I think you can trust night toight on a more consistent basis As his role got bigger in Phoenix he became a starter that they trusted And then his role really took off in Brooklyn when they traded him for Kevin Durant Not really a surprise But now in the prime of his career he’s only been in the NBA for six years He was in the 201920 draft He will be like currently he is age 29 He still has plenty of years especially as a shooter uh that are going to be very high quality and the Nuggets are going to get him for his best years I really do believe that like he’s going to be very good for the next few and to get him in line with Nicole Joic Jamal Murray Aaron Gordon Christian Brown and then to continue to be able to add on to that going forward That is a tremendous amount of business for the Nuggets They deserve so much credit Uh really really interested to see where they go from here But I do think that uh yeah Denver Denver’s in a very interesting position at this point Um and they are in an interesting position because I think they took advantage of a team that wasn’t making great decisions Like I’ve talked about this before Utah not making great decisions I don’t think the Pelicans not making great decisions Uh other teams Chicago not making great decisions You go to the teams that are not making great decisions and you try to trade with them And Cam Johnson on this deal I think represents that extremely well Now he’s a great player He is somebody that I think the Nuggets will really like He’s somebody that Nuggets fans are going to really appreciate because he’s going to do a little bit of everything but more than that he is going to space the floor even more than Michael Porter Jr did Uh Brooklyn and for Brooklyn last year he attempted 7.2 threes per game I think in Denver there like he’s going to create even more than that potentially He has a quick trigger He is very consistent when it comes to getting that shot off and I just trust him to be able to make those decisions He’s a very high level processor and somebody that reads the floor extremely well which is honestly something that Michael Porter really struggled with while he was in Denver So very curious to see what Denver ultimately like how they continue to build out with this But the starting lineup does not take a hit Somebody asked me earlier am I concerned about his rebounding no not really And the big reason is Christian Brown’s a pretty good rebounder for the two guard spot Jamal Murray when he really buys in pretty good rebounder for the point guard spot Aaron Gordon’s probably an average rebounder for power forward He was asked to do more I think uh from a perimeter defense perspective last year But now Denver can have Cam Johnson guard some perimeter defenders They don’t have and like one of the things that Denver really had to struggle with with Porter was that they were hiding him consistently There was never ever a situation where they would have Aaron Gordon taking a playoff if Michael Porter was out there So Cam Johnson can guard at least a little bit Like he’s not great but he’s not going to be terrible So I do think that that’s at least a big deal Um will Denver be worse rebounding maybe a little bit But honestly guys OKC just won the championship They are not a good rebounding team I do not think their rebounding is that important I think that if Denver works on their detail stuff on both ends of the floor that’s way more important than actually cleaning the glass It’s important And Denver will need to have some guys that do that But it’s not the thing I’m most concerned about because Porter for the rebounds that he did grab there was an argument as to whether they were super valuable or not uh at least the the optionality Um Bean Machine asks “What about his availability seems he’s only played 62 games or more one time.” Uh yeah he’s had questions with his availability What I will say with the Brooklyn years is that there were not a lot of reasons for him to be out there on the floor all the time Uh he’s had some fluke injuries He’s had some things that aren’t necessarily like they don’t make him injury-prone For example with Porter he had chronic back issues Uh things that were not reported Uh there were a lot of things that he had to play through and continue to play through and just make himself available as much as possible I think that Cam Johnson will make himself available for Denver But more than anything like if if as long as he’s ready for the playoffs that is the most important thing Denver is now in a position where they have enough depth or will possibly have enough depth where they can rest guys at least a little bit more So that’s at least the goal We will see whether that actually manifest or not but I do think that it’s something worth talking about Overall massive deal for Denver Massive massive deal The fact that they were able to get this is crazy The fact that this is actually manifesting is crazy Um we will ultimately see where Denver goes from here But I’ve got some things that I want to chat about Uh but before we get into those things and like the the further comments we got to talk about Bruce Brown Like Bruce Brown back in Denver And I thought that he would be a taxpayer mid-level guy I thought that that was what his value was about Uh basically like I think Denver has a higher impression of him than a lot of places do but I gotta be honest like they got him for the vendor minimum That’s a great deal Uh in addition to Cam Johnson being a cheaper option than Michael Porter Jr Bruce Brown now comes in for the minimum for Denver which is about $2.3 million It gives Denver some flexibility to continue to add to their roster to continue to add to different spots where you can absolutely see Denver uh continuing to add to their bench And whether that’s through uh trade whether that’s through free agency I’ll go over those examples in a minute but just how about Bruce Brown coming back and making himself a cult hero once again for the Nuggets they helped earn him a two-year $45 million deal He came back and ultimately is going to be there for it Uh very very excited uh to see what that looks like with him Um sorry Damn U I I can’t I cannot share what I just received Uh but uh no Bruce is going to be great Like it’s and I said this on lockdown earlier too He is going to like he’s a cult hero in Denver already But it’s just cool to have somebody that wants to be here that wants to be in Denver As somebody who grew up in Colorado I love it here I went to school in South Carolina for four years and then came back because I didn’t like it out there I did not enjoy it out there Not my cup of tea Not my not my type of place Super hot super muggy Um but I love Denver I love Colorado I love being here I love being around my family and I can understand why it’s not the most appealing to huge athletes people that like live a different world than I do But Bruce Brown’s kind of just one of the boys man He he grew up in Boston or around Boston He absolutely uh just goes on golf trips with the folks with the boys and he loves like he’s going to buy a ranch out here I think there’s just so much to like about Bruce as like a Denver person He has adopted Denver in so many ways that I didn’t really expect And you thought that he would just be on a one-year mercenary deal and then go on his merry way and live his life but he laid down roots here in a lot of ways So just uh just really excited uh to see what it turns into I don’t know what his role is going to be right now He’s probably like if everybody’s at their peak he’s probably still the sixth best player on the Nuggets So like he will be able to uh be the backup shooting guard for Christian Brown He can be the backup point guard for Jamal Murray and they could go point guardless lineups which is a little bit easier if you’ve got Cam Johnson uh than Michael Porter Jr mind you Uh he could play some backup small forward in place of Cam Johnson or Cam Johnson moves to the four in place of Aaron Gordon and they play Murray Brown That’ll take some getting used to Murray Brown Johnson and just like you have the space you have the pace you can play really fast with that group but there’s just so much more flexibility with the way that Bruce plays So that would be awesome That would be really cool And I I do think that like look he will also probably add to a group off the bench that has Jaylen Picket Julian Strather Payton Watson Don Holmes and who else the Nuggets ultimately end up adding Like I’m not sure what Zeke is going to be doing I’m not sure what Hunter Tyson’s going to be doing Not sure what Dario Sarich is going to be doing I do not think that those guys are uh massive priorities but I do think that they are at least interesting Um we’ll get into this in a little bit Uh Tony Jones saying to watch for Yabusle to the Nuggets a couple minutes ago I will have to uh go check on that real quick Uh but just really like good vibes to have Bruce Brown back Good vibes good energy Always excited to be able to uh reconnect with somebody like that So he clearly enjoyed his time here The Nuggets are going to love having him back And I compared it previously to the Gary Payeyton II situation with Golden State He got an opportunity there won a championship with them back in 2022 signed a contract as a result of it in the next off season It didn’t work out with the Portland Trailblazers But what did happen was he was able to go back to Golden State and he’s been there ever since and they’ve been pretty successful So will be very fascinating to see what ultimately happens with it But uh it’s going to be going to be very interesting Um man going to be very very interesting I said this on lockdown as well I think the Nuggets opened up the door again for a championship They are not there yet There are still things that they have to do in order to close the gap with Oklahoma City but OKC is like they have their own things They’re basically retaining their roster Can Denver build a roster that’s better equipped to take down the Oklahoma City Thunder They’re on their way Bruce Brown would help He would absolutely be a good per a good person to mix it up with Lou Dort to mix it up with Alex Caruso Absolutely Um Cam Johnson a little bit more versatile of a shooter a little bit more versatile of a player than Michael Porter and Michael Porter really struggled in that series So can the Nuggets continue to add to their mix can Payton Watson Julian Strawler get better like there are things that I think we can still talk about but I am very very curious as to what Denver does from here because there’s some flexibility that I’m about to show you that is shocking When we come back we’re going to talk about what the Nuggets could possibly be doing next We’ll be right back here on Pickax and Roll back at it Locked on Oh god Back at it pickaxe and roll Thank you so much for tuning into the show I did that on locked on earlier I said back at it with pickaxe and roll Um just just brutal I really am doing my best but when you do several podcasts in a day everything starts to blend together So doing my best figuring it out Um but uh it’s been been quite a day If you listen to earlier show to the earlier show this morning at about 10:00 a.m Uh was clearly not expecting this I was talking about Yeah you know it’d be great if Denver got Gary Trent Jr Be great if Denver got uh uh I don’t know Sandro Mameshilly who who they could still add They could still add and I would be pretty happy if they did it Uh but there are so many things that just opened up the door and I’m going to show you why Here let me flip this around to the right layout Here is the Nuggets multi salary cap sheet that I have projected for them right now Uh this includes Cam Johnson in place of Michael Porter Jr This includes Bruce Brown earning a vet minimum contract which I believe is 2.296 million uh give or take a dollar or two Um that is a projection We’re still trying to figure it out Um but I do think that because of Cam Johnson making so much less money Remember Michael Border Jr was making 38 million in 202526 Because of this deal the Nuggets are out of the luxury tax entirely Um there are some things that need to be discussed though The first is that Cam Johnson has a unique contract which is a little bit confusing And the reason why I say that is he has an incentive laden contract Those incentives do not count for the salary especially because they are unlikely incentives uh for the salary cap But they do count for the tax aprons for the first tax apron the second tax apron So you see under salary cap room if you’re watching along on on YouTube under salary cap room Denver’s 25.8 million over Right now there’s total incentives factored in is 5.3 million That used to be 1.2 million which was Aaron Gordon’s un Actually I think those were unlikely incentives as well for Aaron Gordon but you still have to factor that in Um now you have more incentives that you have to factor in So those numbers it’s not just the 20.5 million it is the 24.6 million or so that he has that is that is connected to both his salary and to unlikely incentives Those have to be controlled with the aprons So the Nuggets have even though they did save significant money they have $10.1 million in space below the first apron What that means right now the Nuggets if they have Bruce Brown if they have Cam Johnson if they have everybody else on the roster they have 13 roster spots accounted for So they have two spots that are open I have projected here in this next chart the possibility of Denver signing another player for a veteran minimum as well as dishing out the vast majority of their the rest of their salary cap space their their space underneath the first tax apron to a non- taxpayer MLE target This allows them to pay any person on the free agency market any person um up to 7.8 million or so if they don’t make any moves Uh they cannot go over the first apron with the non-tax pyramid level So that’s why it’s limited to that Usually the non-t taxpayer mid level goes up to about 14 million And so if Denver was able to get another team to take on Dario Sarich’s money uh without any provocation without getting any money back then Denver could open up another 5.4 million to add somebody to uh for a larger contract As it stands right now the Nuggets have the ability to sign a player to a 4-year roughly $33 million contract which is a big deal because what they had previously was the taxpayer mid-level which only goes up to two years and is only a 5% increase off of 5.7 million That was about a 2-year 1213 million contract 13 million and guaranteed This is 33 like you’re you’re able to give somebody if you want you’re able to give somebody a significant contract in the tax apron NBA which is where we are right now So this scenario I think is reasonably viable It is probably like like they could create more money and I do think that they should try to create more money That would be my goal if I were them Uh but if they could create more money that would be unbelievably impressive Um what they would have to do in that case is to get somebody to take on Zeke Naji’s contract get somebody to take on Daario’s contract for a specific amount Um and that would be lower and you just try to open up a little bit more money and you could sign a larger contract for somebody else Now why that matters is let me go over to the free agency list Uh just so you know free agency list has cut down pretty massively over the course of actually not pretty m like significantly over the course of the last four to five hours Um a lot of people have signed contracts A lot of people have uh gotten off the market in in different ways Gary Trent Jr if you notice he’s on this He is not available He’s going back to Milwaukee I missed that in my first run through Gershon Yabusle in the power forward section Maybe he’s a guy that Denver could could target Al Horford Uh could they give him a actually they can’t give him a four-year deal but could they give him a three-year deal with a team option like wouldn’t that be interesting uh a three-year deal worth about $20 million like wouldn’t Al Horford be at least intrigued with something like that i think he might be Um could Denver give something to Malcolm Brogden who’s still available like hypothetically they don’t plan on playing Jaylen Picket They don’t plan on playing Julian Strawther an extensive amount and they decide you know want Malcolm Brogden and Bruce Brown in the back court I’m not sure that that’s the direction I would go I do think that Denver should really focus on the front court if they can They should be trying to add somebody in the front court with something Now the problem that you run into is the names that you’re looking at Jonathan Kaminga not really available for Denver Gershon Yabusle could be available could be a name to watch Chris Buchet could be a name to watch Trey Lyles maybe a reunion with Trey Lyles back in Denver maybe that’s something to monitor Al Horford’s something that I would consider Beyond that I wouldn’t necessarily want to give anybody a significant contract I don’t think that there’s a lot of viability with that Which gets into the trade market Trade market’s a little bit more interesting Um Denver like I shared in this initial kind of rundown for the salary cap they have flexibility and they actually have a large trade exception that they got from this Cam Johnson deal U I believe I believe that’s where they got a $16 million trade exception They have the flexibility to be able to add somebody on that at least up to a certain degree But what they could do is trade Zeke Naji and or Daario Sarich for a couple of different people if they wanted to or a large contract that’s in the 10 12 14 even $15 million range That’s something that they would have available to them that they didn’t before Um I think that there are just a variety of ways that they could now go So much so that I wish I could tell you guys what they’re going to do but I don’t know many more because they have a couple of different ways that they could go with this thing They also only have two roster spots that are currently available So maybe there is a there’s some flexibility there Uh him has asked Grayson Allen Grayson Allen would be a very interesting one Um another one that I think would be interesting Could you agree to a sign-in trade with uh with Duncan Robinson over with uh with Miami i’m not sure what their actual flexibility is there Can he be taken into a traded player exception if he’s signed and traded i think I I would have to ask Jake Coin about that Um but that’s that’s one that I would consider Uh Denver could also send back somebody like uh Dario Sarge in that particular deal to give him a slightly larger contract if Miami was willing to facilitate something like that Denver probably has to give up like a 2032 second round pick or something of that nature But the good news is that they have it They get they got access to the 2032 first earlier today Immediately flipped it and it was the right call So maybe the right call is to just do the same thing with uh somebody like Grayson Allen or Duncan Robinson or uh Kevin Herder as a a pretty good name to throw out there Not sure whether that would be super viable but um I need to get the numbers on what the actual traded player exception limit is Um because if it’s the difference between uh Michael Porter’s contract and Cam Johnson’s contract maybe it is 16 and a half because there’s like a there’s a what his actual cap number is which I think is like 21.4 and then Michael Porters is 38 So it probably is around 16.5 So anything under that Denver could trade for somebody of that nature Uh here’s another couple of interesting ones Wanowano says Kobe White and Cole Anthony Uh Cole Anthony might be interesting Uh not sure if he’s necessarily the right guy for Denver But if they are like they have the flexibility to be able to do it is he the right call maybe not Uh but you could probably send back Daario in that deal and stay under the uh stay under the first apron that way I’m sure that Memphis would be willing to do that They get a bunch of savings and they get to then buy out Daario that way Uh they were planning on buying out uh Cole Anthony before But Cole Anthony uh Kobe White excuse me probably worth a little bit more on the market than uh what Denver would be able to give up what they’d be interested in giving up But I’m just I’m It’s just a very very interesting situation that Denver’s now put themselves in So fascinating how these things work out This morning I was talking about yeah I don’t know if Denver’s going to be able to do much I think they’re probably just going to work on the fringes We’ll see what kinds of players that they can add Lo and behold they up upend all of that at this point So very curious to see what they do Jim Bob says “Resign Russ.” I’ve seen a variety of people asking about Russell Westbrook Uh the point that I think like he could come back I think Russell Westbrook could come back He has interest in New York He has interest in Sacramento Those I think are two more likely pieces than Denver right now Those are two more likely destinations for Russell Westbrook particularly because they I think are more willing to give taxpayer mid-level to Russ based off of what he just did whereas Denver I think is trying to retain some flexibility Um I personally don’t think the fit is great anymore I think that with Murray with uh Christian Brown you want to continue to commit to those guys and you want to surround them with spacers with attackers They’ve already added Bruce Brown He’s somebody that they’re going to commit to that they’re going to play I think that if you’re going to add another point guard you want that person to be able to space You want them to get off the ball And there is this too Uh Russ demands too many minutes Like he just is like he has a big role and he should like he earned it last year for Denver I’m not sure how he would handle going back down to like 20 minutes a game 18 minutes a game I kind of think that Denver would be okay if they moved on Uh there is still a possibility that they decide to go get a point guard I think it’s more likely that they try to add somebody to the front guard Ooh Oh hey Cody says PJ Washington Oh there’s a good one right there That’s that’s a good one Um I don’t know how viable it is but he does fit into the traded player exception So Dallas would not have to take anything back if they didn’t want Um Denver doesn’t have the assets in order to just match up with that Uh but they can send a player like hypothetically let’s say it’s Peyton Watson Let’s say they prefer to send Pton Watson and Zeke or not Zeke uh Daario It could actually be Pton Watson and Dario Sar for PJ Washington now And it doesn’t matter that PJ is over the amount that those guys would make because they still have uh the TP the traded player exception So they could just accept him into that traded player exception and have the flexibility to do that That’s an interesting idea Uh I would I would love that I think that that would be great Um here’s the thing Overall like it’s not super viable It’s not super likely for Denver to make another one of those kinds of big moves I wanted to talk about it and give Nuggets fans the picture of it uh just like I was talking about Michael Porter trades just like I was talking about Jamal Murray trades and and going through the scenarios throughout the offseason It’s for situations like this so people are informed and they understand what’s going on Um even I was a little bit caught off guard with something like this and them having this sudden flexibility I did not think that they could create this uh but they have And so now you’re in this unique situation where you cannot miss out Denver has the makings of a really great rotation Now you’ve got Murray Christian Brown Cam Johnson That’s that’s going to be a great fit Aaron Gordon Nicole Joic elite starting five Fits really well together You want to build around those guys and they’ve got Bruce Brown and then you’ve got Julian Strawther and then you’ve got Payton Watson Those are the three I think locks that I would consider right now Uh Bruce Brown might even be your backup point guard depending on the lineup depending on the situation Uh the other thing that they had previously reached out about was uh Cam Whitmore They did some due diligence on that Not sure how old that information actually is but would that be an interesting one like maybe condensing Daario Sarich and Julian Strawther into Cam Whitmore And then you open up another free agent kind of opportunity there Uh and you also give yourself somebody in Cam Whitmore who would be more of a scorer off the bench whereas Bruce Brown’s more of like your your versatile doit all Um Island Luca says “Bro you need Russ to run points off the bench.” I don’t think that you do I I think that there are other options out there that they could be getting into Uh the other thing is they always like to stagger Jamal They always like to stagger some of those guys And like honestly I think they’re okay if Jaylen Picket takes on a slightly larger role Now he’s not going to be your playoff option I don’t think But if your best five that you come up with is uh Bruce Brown Julian Strawther Payton Watson Don Holmes Al Horford Like is it that bad like I don’t think that’s bad at all I think that’s pretty good So if Denver could recruit somebody like Al Horford you play a little bit bigger Yeah you’re going to struggle a little bit at times creating some offense off the dribble but there is at least some mechanisms for like building a better playoff rotation than you had before So I kind of like it I kind of think that it’s it’s viable And Bruce when he was in Denver for the playoff run ran a lot of backup point guard They tried Reggie Jackson They tried Bones Highland Those guys didn’t end up working out for what Denver needed at the time So they went with when they rested Murray they would play Bruce Brown at the one and then Murray would come back in and run with the second unit and Bruce Brown would slide over to the two So I don’t think they need need in capital letters I don’t think they need a point guard Would it be nice sure that would be fine Uh Monte Morris as Dominic Miller says here pretty reasonable option Not sure he really plays all that much but would be a reasonable option Um there are some other guys that they could go get Um let me pull this up again and go back to this particular list That’s not the one that I wanted Remove you Um right now Russell Westbrook is a quality option Cole Anthony is an option especially if he gets bought out Trey man is somebody that I think Denver could really have some interest in Malcolm Brogden same thing Delano Banton big point guard somebody who uh can go off the dribble but also just like not a defensive liability in any way shape or form So that would be interesting Um the other thing remember when I said go take advantage of uh of bad like not great front offices go trade for AOMU Go get AO Duma from Chicago Go get Jose Alvarado from New Orleans Go get uh like hell I saw the name Keonte George being brought up Maybe go get Kee George Probably not my first call for what Denver needs right now but there are other things that they could try Uh so it will be interesting to see what they ultimately do but I’m just I think Nuggets fans should be over the moon Uh my god you and Swipe are so unrealistic at times Aodumu is not unrealistic Think about what the uh think about what the the Chicago Bulls have done lately They are not fantastic Um okay we got the official news Gary Trent two-year $7.5 million deal to return to Milwaukee Uh so he is like I said off the board but yeah will be interesting to see where Denver goes from here They have flexibility they can continue to do more things Um I do think it’s very important for Nuggets fans to just sit back right now process what just happened and realize holy cow what a win What a win for the Nuggets That was a very very impressive first couple of moves that they just made We will see whether they continue to make moves They’ve allowed themselves and afforded themselves the flexibility to continue to change things We’ll see if they could follow through on it if there’s a trade that they can make Uh you want to make sure that you’re adding to your team Maybe there is a extension for Christian Brown in the future It’s a little bit more palatable now that uh you’re not paying Michael Porter 38 and you’re paying Christian uh you’re paying Cam Johnson 20 It’s a little bit more flexibility there Uh so if you if you have to pay Christian Brown 22 people are not gonna panic So good stuff I think this is great This is a this is a really great sign Uh Denver has jumped back up into the same tier as OKC in the playoffs The same tier Um they haven’t passed them I don’t think there’s anything that they can do to pass them but they’ve certainly tried They’ve certainly caught my eye and I’ve been very impressed with what they’ve done That is going to do it for this episode of Pickax and Roll brought to our good friends here at Mile High Sports Thank you so much for tuning into the show Hope you enjoyed What a day for the Nuggets Hit that like button Hit that subscribe button on the way out I will talk to you guys very soon

On the latest Pickaxe and Roll, Ryan Blackburn reacts to an unreal trade made by the Denver Nuggets, sending out Michael Porter Jr. and a 2032 first round pick for Brooklyn Nets forward Cam Johnson. He discusses the deal and the flexibility it gives Denver, as well as the surprise signing of Bruce Brown to a one-year minimum contract. The Nuggets don’t have to be done either. They can keep making moves. The question is, will they?

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