BREAKING NEWS: NUGGETS TRADE MPJ FOR CAM JOHNSON

BREAKING NEWS: NUGGETS TRADE MPJ FOR CAM JOHNSON

breaking news the Denver Nuggets are back they’ve traded Michael Porter Jr breaking up the core four for Cam Johnson just like we’ve talked about for weeks big moves were ahead just like we’ve said consistently on the show even as big a news Bruce Brown is back he returns to Denver we’ll break it all down with Swipa and Ryan Blackburn on Lock on Nights you are Locked on Nuggets your daily Denver Nuggets podcast part of the Locked On podcast network your team every day welcome to Locked On Nuggets thanks for joining us and making us part of your day appreciate you guys being with us making this your podcast cover the Denver Nuggets your your team every day i’m flumxed and excited and thrilled it’s going to be a great show today glad to have you alongside us here on Locked on Nuggets today’s show is brought to you by FanDuel right now new customers get $150 in bonus bets when your first $5 bet wins my name is Matt Moore i’m the senior NBA writer for the Action Network i write a site called The Denver Dig where I said that the Nuggets were going to do very very very very very very very very very little in free agency and all of that was stupid and wrong i’m joined by Ryan Blackburn captain Eeyore captain pessimistic the doom in doom and gloom who is much happier because the Nuggets have done something something and it could have been anything and he would have been happy but this is a very good day for him joining us from Chicago Illinois the one the only Swipa he’s swipe on Twitter in the act and not in the actual on Twitter and on YouTube SwipeCam thanks for joining us uh Cam from Chicago appreciate you taking a few minutes here buddy to react to it all right the Nuggets trade michael Porter Jr breaking up the core four 2032 firstrounder for Cam Johnson from the Brooklyn Nets uh I have a lot of thoughts on this bruce Brown is coming back on a minimum contract we’ll talk about that here here coming up uh Ryan what’s your immediate reaction to the trade of Michael Bor Jr for Cam Johnson
uh immediate reaction is holy cow they actually did it like I couldn’t believe that they actually because every every bit of messaging that we have received from the Nuggets was “Yeah we’re going to we’re going to really focus on free agency not really going to focus on trades.” And now to be fair you don’t uh break the news to everybody on draft night yeah we’re going to really try to trade everybody uh so I understand why they said what they said but holy cow they had some things working in the background and to get a good player like Cam Johnson a great fit a perfect fit who is on a a much more financially like reasonable contract for Denver’s core uh they have to give up the 2032 unprotected first round pick as compensation for that that’s obviously very dangerous but like again it’s seven years down the road and the Nuggets have Nicole Yokic right now and so this is just a move that you make this is the move that you have to do if you are the Denver Nuggets so uh overwhelmingly very excited about this direction and I do think that the Nuggets made a massive massive move here cam your reaction yeah I mean you know this is something that we’ve been speculating now for I would say uh really about a year um talking about trading a part of the core you know I have uh just lamented the fact that the Denver Nuggets have not made a significant trade since March 25th of 2021 acquiring Aaron Gordon for Gary Harris RJ Hampton and a firstround pick and then now you see the Nuggets kind of doing a repeat of 2022 where I I think they find some an under the market player that hadn’t been moved or traded because of situations around him i think the Nets were hoping they were going to get real assets back for Cam Johnson for the last couple of years weren’t able to get the deal they were looking for but the Denver Nuggets I think being as desperate as they are I think to not just acquire talent but also I think to get underneath that second apron and first apron and I think the move from the NBA to say that instead of a 10% increase it’s going to be a 7% increase ryan Blackburn had talked about that also played a part in this so getting $17 million less on your expedentures through this trade getting a 28-year-old Cam Johnson who last year I would say as the number two option for the Brooklyn Nets 19 points per game 48% from the field 39% from three on seven attempts a game also being a positive wing defender and being a little bit of an onball creation wing as well there are so many different things that Cam Johnson does that I think the Nuggets said we looked at the OKC series we looked at the playoffs if we just had another guy that could dribble that could shoot and could defend and someone we could trust when it comes down to it we would be in a different situation so I’m telling you I think the Nuggets they looked at the surviving landscape and said “Not only Ryan Blackburn and Matt Moore can this be the addition of Cam Johnson we’re also going to be able to make moves on the margin through the roster and through the budgetary means that we have now so I I’m really excited about this move i think the Nuggets swung and they absolutely nailed this trade.”
Ryan via Yosi Goslin who runs cap sheets.com used to work at hopes hype and he does a great Substack you should subscribe to yeah they get like they’re getting the the 14.1 million mid-level they open up the 14.1 million mid-level and they have a 16.8 million trade exception wow
they’ve saved $40 million with this move
okay
stan Kunky’s having a good day too
yeah I would say Stan Kron is just partying let’s go
well they’re under the luxury tax they’ll be probably back in that by the time they they get done with all this um that’s why somebody in the comments was talking about like “Did we really have to give up the first round pick?” Yes yes yes yes you did one you probably weren’t getting Cam Johnson without a first round pick two it’s not just about the value of Cam for for MPJ which I’ll get to in a second it’s the financial savings and I will tell you this like the Grizzlies offered a first round pick and players last season for Cam Johnson and thought they had to deal with the Brooklyn Nets so like there was already a market assessment here go ahead you know you know but M Matt how much of this do you think is the Nets also saw this and they saw something favorable but just as simple as you talked about the relationships in the NBA the secondary relationship in the NBA Matt you just said this mean everything how much is it that Jordan Fernandez is in the room now having conversations with the Nets front office about Michael Porter Jr trusting who he is and the work that he puts in that they felt comfortable enough making this trade and also really doing it for a very limited amount of assets the only upside is the Nets might argue they get a better player maybe in their brain but they get it one unprotected first that’s years later matt I think Jordy Fernandez being there I think that also that part is part of the reason why the deal got pushed through in the first place
i can I say something real quick i I want to use at least a minute here to just talk about Michael Porter Jr and how much he gave to the Denver Nuggets and has consistently invested in in just being the best version of himself that he can possibly be he has worked so hard to stay on the floor he’s worked so hard to like win a championship with the Nuggets he adapted his game he did everything that he was supposed to do he was rewarded for that with a contract immediately got hurt and had to have a third back surgery not his fault that’s not his that that wasn’t ever his prerogative he became overpaid but not by his own choice not by his own valition i think that the Nuggets were right in paying him the contract that they did and I do think that there was there was very high levels of potential here for him to continue to grow and then the Nuggets needed him because he got hurt to just buy into a role after that and he did and he was willing and able to be good enough on the defensive end good enough as a floor spacer get to the corner that was the big thing coming out of 2022 training camp was just do your job get to the corner buy into a role and he did and so I I want to give him at least one one shout out here because he does deserve that credit and is somebody who I think like in all of this it’s going to be belittled like his role cam Johnson very excited everybody’s very happy for him michael Porter gave a lot of time to Denver and a lot of years
really kind words from uh Ryan Blackburn who’s been packing that man’s bags for six weeks so I think um we’ll have time later uh this week i want to do actually a show then we’ll just kind of talk about Michael Porter Jr and kind of his legacy in Denver uh very welld deserved again as the man tried to bury him 700 times um so up next I’m just kidding right i’m just kidding up next on the other side uh I want to talk about why I think Cam is a significantly better player than MPJ we’ll do that next coming up on Lon Nuggets summer sports are in full swing and whether you’re all about baseball under the lights golf on the green or high stakes soccer action FanDuel is the best way to make every game even more exciting you’re already following the action why not make it a little more thrilling with FanDuel you can get in on the game while your friends are getting sunbathed at the beach sunburned at the beach whether you’re placed the same game parlay or watching a bet ride into the ninth inning FanDuel makes it feel like you’re part of the action new to FanDuel new customers can bet $5 and get $150 in bonus bets if your first bet wins open the FanDuel app today or visit fanol.com to get started we’ll be right back on Locked on Nuggets back here on Locked on Nuggets thanks for joining us and making us part of your day i I will say Ryan was also the guy that argued that MPJ was higher on the top 100 list we had a whole whole segment about that so Ryan’s on
he does have value like that’s the thing is like I’m the only reason I’m trying to trade him is because it’s for the betterment of the team not because of like some vendetta against Michael Porter like he is a good basketball player and deserves the credit for it
uh Tus Jones signs with the Orlando Magic on a one-year deal it’s going to get for them yeah um so I’ll just tell you right now Cam Johnson’s better player than MPJ um I have a lot of positive things to say about MPJ and when we get to that episode I’ll talk about it i think Mike’s honest i think Mike busted his ass to come back from three surgeries i think Mike has worked exceptionally hard to be ready to play i think Mike had a harder time than most in terms of his learning curve of playing championship basketball and he had huge plays against the Lakers and you do need him in that series and he has been phenomenal for them and when they had other guys that were out MPJ stepped up early this season to get them in a position to compete that’s it uh I have some numbers for you cam Johnson these are his ranks via synergy amongst all NBA players on spot up plays which includes drives and spot-up catch and shoot shots 85th percentile in transition 85th percentile handoffs 61st percentile pick and roll ball handler 65th percentile he can dribble offscreen 81st percentile iso 89th percentile cut 80th percentile he’s extremely efficient and this has been his kind of like this has been who he has been and this is on a Nets team with no creation with going up against set defense every single time all of these types of things he has been absolutely like he is a better player than MPJ uh he’s going to be a better defender he’s going to be a better more stable weapon i trust Cam to create off the bounce like he’s just like a well-rounded kind of not
Yeah he’s a he’ll be a better non-kish player in particular
yeah like just like you don’t ha he doesn’t have to be in a little tiny box because he there’s concerns with everything else cam’s just like an NBA player that can do a little bit of everything um and he’s going to be absolutely phenomenal in this system he’s going to be terrific in the corner he’s going to be terrific on pin downs he’s going to be terrific on DHO’s um and that’s before we get to all the defensive stuff guess what Ryan guarding spotups defensively 58th percentile on a bad Nets team 72nd percentile as the primary defend defender and pick and roll ball handler i’m just like getting you excited uh handoff 67th percentile like his EPM all the advanced numbers this is like this is a home run five-star move for the Denver Nuggets they didn’t get an all-star they didn’t get a superstar they didn’t get some like the second best player but this is exactly the type of move that they needed cam
yeah and I will say this too um I think he’s a more modern fit for where the new Nuggets are in this NBA i think and I and I told you I think Matt just really last week I think the NBA has changed in the last two years i think the Nuggets have fallen behind but now in this lineup Ryan Blackburn I I dare I say this as somebody who’s watched enough Cam Johnson I said enough not a you know crazy amount because you know I was on the Jordy Fernandez coach of the year train last year and everybody knew I wanted Keon Johnson he’s back i want Zyra Williams he’s back some reason they didn’t let go of either one of those players in this situation ryan I think that this gives the Nuggets five ball handlers all at once now this assume Christian Brown comes back better next year he comes back as a better ball handler next year i think they at least Matt have four ball handlers on the floor you can trust cam knows how to get in and out of an action as the primary ball handler so even with Jamal Murray being off the ball Christian Brown on the back door cuts Cam can make those passes Ryan so I think that his ability to work with the rest of the starting five and in particular what Matt’s talking about Bruce Brown Cam Johnson Don Holmes Payton Watson minutes you know what that’s going to be for him oh I’m just back on the Nets that that’s all this is like I don’t he doesn’t have an interdependence that’s been built up for years playing with Nicola Joic and Jamal and I think that those non Jokic minutes I think relative to like an all-star have gotten substantially better rya Blackburn this like this puts championship back on the table like straight up this I did not think that the Nuggets really had serious juice as a championship contender they they were tangentially involved uh but because of the lack of versatility because of how topheavy they were because they weren’t able to kind of diversify who they were I do think that the one thing that Cam provides like in addition to just amazing shooting and spacing is just a level of versatility like what you’re talking about here you have a guy who can fill a bunch of different roles he really is the prototypical small forward in the modern NBA and having somebody in between Murray and Joic who can also create uh obviously Aaron Gordon is going to be involved here but he kind of goes back to a fourth option role uh in terms of like how much responsibility he’s going to bear out on a consistent basis i just think this really aligns Denver with what they need so there there’s so much to be excited about here nuggets fans you should be absolutely through the moon for for what this is going on like and they’re probably not done that’s the amazing thing about this that’s the amazing thing about the savings and well I assume we’ll talk about that next but there’s still more that they can do so look I here’s the thing i had no inkling that anything like this was even possible i thought that Cam Johnson’s price was going to be higher than it was and the fact that it is not Denver just kind of lux into what I think is a really really impressive almost get out of jail free card matt do you think this is a better deal than what uh Portland gave up gave up to get like the Anthony Simons trade with the Celtics for the Celtics get less money back but then get a younger asset do you think this is a better deal that Denver made getting Cam Johnson in this kind of situation that’s tough i think so just because like look Cam’s proven he can be part of a winning team that he went to the finals right like an Anthony has the potential to do that
he’s played almost 40 playoff games by the way i don’t know if people know that like he’s played a good amount of playoff games
yeah and like Anony’s got a lot more upside right so for the Celtics it’s like look we got we got to shave money this is a lost year let’s take some shots right and I one of the things too for them I think is like Portland like they didn’t send Drew to a contender like
they send they send him to Portland who will be better with him but aren’t a contender um but the NES is kind of the opposite where it’s like we’re not contending we can get Cam here i am very curious to learn in the coming days if when they gave us that press conference and we’re like “Yep we’re just counting on internal development yep it’s gonna be free agency and not trades.” If I think they were probably honest at that time Ryan I think that this is probably I’ll be very interested to hear who called who first um just from the persp They nobody ever wants to say that but like just from the perspective of Go ahead what if it was like you know let’s say Inception Josh Kroni thinks that they’re going to just make marginal moves he makes a public baffle comment about trading Jokic jokic calls him and said “Bet.” Crocki then has to you know sell MPJ right away then you get Cam Johnson so really if Ryan doesn’t become a writer and then ask the question that day do we have Cam Johnson in Denver man i mean inception on inception
i think it’s very important for me to take as much credit for this move as I possibly can so I think I will I think I will be claiming this thank you very much
i I I think Nicole Yokic still hasn’t heard what that is is going to find out on media day
what
wait they thought about trading me
what oh okay i don’t think he’s heard at all um I think that this is and like yeah I I am just of the opinion that this is the move that you needed to make um the 2032 is tough this is one of the things I think is really interesting right it’s like 2031 was a like they wait until after the the draft and then the 2032 becomes eligible and it’s another year and for the Nets it’s a it’s a that’s a gonna be a valuable asset like that’s going to wind up being a really good asset but we like Cam’s talked about it consistent so I just talked about here consistently they have to go in now they have one of the best players of all time you have to put championship level players around him and I think Cam Johnson’s a championship level player and he’s got a much shorter window but that’s who you should trade for even with as young as the Thunder and Pacers were this team like Cam fits on their timeline he’s going to fit in there he’s a complete pro that’s going to work um coming up we’ll talk about what they can do we’ll talk about they will do but most importantly Bruce Brown is back coming up on Locked on Nuggets back here on Locked on Nuggets thanks for joining us and making us part of your day appreciate you guys being with us the chat has spoken and Ryan Blackburn is the one that got the deal done not
everybody knows everybody gets it i get it i understand i’ll take it
uh Bruce Brown returns the Nuggets on a one-year minimum he is thrilled you can tell from his Instagram feed um him taking the minimum contract I think is fascinating given it’s like you know and and look there will when the euphoria fades and we start doing season analysis we’ll have to kind of grapple with where Bruce has been with the Pacers with the Raptors and with the Pelicans the
I mean
I no the no the perfect the perfect analog for this is the Gary Payeyton I cycle with the Golden State Warriors that’s really good
where he signed a deal with Portland things didn’t work out there was a medical thing like some sort of injury that wasn’t really big and then immediately comes back to the Warriors and lo and behold pretty helpful player for them pretty good player for them once he gets back into the system so uh while I do acknowledge that these other spots he wasn’t as good there then there’s always a possibility that he’s just never what he was for Denver back in 2023 to get him on a minimum contract not even the taxpayer mid-level to get him on a minimum contract is bonkers good crazy good uh fullback dive is back which is why I refer to those plays where Bruce just grabs the ball goes the length of the court and scores they really need those just like and Russ was really good
like what Christian Brown does
uh about some of them no it’s a little bit different because like Bruce rebounds and then is able to handle it and can handle any sort of pressure that’s the difference okay
um the Bruce Christian lineups will be good um when Jamal is out Bruce can fill in when Christian if he needs to miss a game Bruce can fill in you can play multi-guard lineups with defense um I’m excited to see how him and Julian fit together i think this is just I I love it i’m just really I’m just so excited to cover Bruce again in Denver um having a guy that wants to be a Nugget I think is really val valuable too uh Swipe are you as excited as we are for Bruce to be back yeah I mean you know Bruce has been an interesting story uh even just for me I think it’s impossible to turn down $45 million you know Matt I I just if you could had a chance to make $45 million even though it wasn’t the best relationship you can be in I think you need to do that and he did it and I think one of the reason Bruce can come back on a bet men because I just made once again $45 million and Matt Moore how did I do that i’m glad you asked Matt i did that by playing a full 82 with Denver going into the playoffs and basically being their sixth starter and then all of a sudden the NBA was like “Hey we could use that guy.” So what’s gonna happen again he comes back to Denver plays a full 82 becomes a six starter in the NBA playoff they win another title and then guess what oh another $45 million is on the table so really in his brain I think he’s like I get the win being a place that’s comfortable i trust the people that I’m with i trust the front office i trust ownership i trust Joic Murray Gordon Brown i know exactly who they are i think for me that speaks a lot Matt to the players and the environment they cultivated with Bruce Brown that Bruce is still so close to everybody that he felt like this was home for him and even in some of the reporting that I saw he was still watching his Nuggets highlights like before his games over the last two years he wanted to be here the money just didn’t make sense so more than anything Matt sometimes it’s not about just necessarily how good a player is how much do you believe in the system and do you believe in your ability to make a situation better i think and I remember I think I said this at the time he kind of reminds me of the Denver Nuggets and the Golden State Warriors with Andre Iguodala andre left and came back because that was the best place for him and for his skill set i think Bruce could be that kind of player here in Denver i do no matter what happens we’ll talk about that obviously season goes on i think this is such a big gig for them one other thing I can like share tangentially Bruce has been and like this is sort of stuff that was like through the grapevine he’s been looking at ranches in Denver like for a while like like this has been something he’s been wanting to do this even during the regular season last year was something that he was he was considering he wants to be in Denver he wants to be in like this city he wants to be around and that’s just so cool like like Matt said I think that that’s a really cool thing for Denver to have somebody who wants to be a part of this culture wants to be a part of this town and and that’s something that he has been uh excited to be a part of so Joic will be thrilled murray will be thrilled everybody in the organization that that won that championship will be thrilled uh he’s he’s going to be great here again uh lots of folks asking about the Russell Westbrook situation my understanding is the New York Knicks are going to be having serious conversations with him it’s the Knicks and the Kings right now that doesn’t mean that Russ won’t return but it’s definitely less likely than it was an hour ago just because of like the shifting of where the Nuggets roster is kind of being built um so I do think that you know while it’s possible that Russ returns I think it’s I would say it’s less likely than likely that he returns at this point um and we’ll react to that however it comes out lots of folks wanting a center not a lot available on the market Ryan but great exception could find something
but there is so they’ve they’ve got a few so the few guys that are kind of at the top of the list right now for me miles Turner is going to make more than what Denver can offer deandre Aton may not
but that’s the thing but there’s a very Ryan Black there’s a very real possibility that that thing is possible right there which is crazy i No I don’t think so but like it would be cool if Now to be fair I said there’s no way Denver can do anything and then they traded for Cam Johnson so like there’s there’s obviously now a possibility of anything but I got to imagine that DeAndre Aton’s going to want to go play minutes and when you’re backing up Nicole Yokic you just don’t play a lot your role is not that big and he’s like they’re not exactly going to play together a lot so I I got to imagine that Denver will be going for one of these lower lower ceiling guys you start to get into Mo Vagner Al Horford
vagner’s coming back on Vagner like you thought when we were texting about it vagner’s going back to the Magic
okay that makes perfect sense would you would you would you do an MLE for Al Horford
of course of course no question
so yeah
so well that’s what I’m saying like that i think that’s what’s in play here because uh the question I have for you Ryan if the kill’s gone what are what are actual ML candidates available at this point but who and maybe a better available than Al Horford do you think
um there’s there’s Gershon Yabule is a a decent candidate chris Buché is still out there tarian Prince might be available although now that you’ve got Cam Johnson Tarian Prince guys like that may not necessarily be as useful you definitely don’t need to use the full but you realize that the the Knicks are not retaining Precious so Precious is available too
precious is available but you’d like to get a guy like that on a minimum and and maybe save the the TPMLE for or or even like larger than that because I I I have to get it through my head I guess that Denver may have more money available than I thought that they would
um so I’m this this is a
Well they have the trade exception correct
they have they have a 16.8 eight trade exception that’s v via yos look I’m not gonna I’m not claiming these is mine maybe Ryan maybe Ryan’s right they have they have less um
so they have to they have the trade exception up until they get to the first apron um so they they cannot like if they use that trade exception they cannot use the uh at least to my knowledge they cannot go over the first apron for any reason at all uh so that’s that’s something to think about in all of this i this CBA is so confusing that maybe hey maybe the Nuggets have the right guy running the show
yeah bobby Mark Bobby Marks trade opens up Denver having the ability to use most of their 14.1 million non-T tax ML oh my god okay um
well then what I’m saying like from at this point though if we’re talking versatility because people keep asking me who’s the name well I think the name would be out
because that’s a player that’s a that’s a that’s a starter in case of break glass starter and a rotation player off bench that’s a both a Jokic player and non Jokic player i mean that alone would be like
they can also give him more now than the taxpayer mid-level they could give him more than some of these other teams they actually have some competitive like juice here
it is crazy i kind of think that Al Horford has more in the tank than Larry Nance yeah I do too
yeah I agree yeah for sure for sure
which is crazy because Horford is a dinosaur but it’s it’s all style of play and like Larry Nance was one of the dunk contest guys al Horford’s always had an old man game so I I do think that there’s like that that would be ideal i think from this point forward if Denver were to get Al Horford and then kind of reshape maybe the back end of their roster maybe agree to a buyout with Hunter uh like Dario Sich or something like that maybe they’re maybe there’s a Cam Whitmore trade in their future guys like who knows at this point well and and I’ll say this too Matt you know you tell me how you feel about this where the Nuggets are now you know you know Ryan’s always panicking us you know it’s Ryan’s job why we love him so much you know the the the rockets were like the clear second
i’m I I panic
sure
i panic ryan jumps straight to despair there you go there you go i apologize i got the I got the
He mourns he mourns while the person in the casket is like “I’m still here
guys i’m grinning ear to ear this entire episode do not ruin this for me.”
Okay
that’s what we have to do that’s why we’re here
no ruin it for you i will say that I already at this point Matt because of I think getting Cam Johnson back and having Bruce back with this roster this for me there there is it’s the Thunder them and and the Rockets and I’m like I think the Nuggets at this point are better than them in a in a series like in a series but I would say that if they get out Horford I mean I mean at that point you could again I’m Alford this I’m I love what he brings to the table if they get out Horford like they won’t have right so many of their issues with just even big to big defense the rim protection the switching the three-point versatility even just the big to big lineups they could play they could play Gordon Horford Jokic lineups like they they would have so much flexibility at that point I would put them in like whatever the the pinnacle of the sport would be it would be them right right there but Maybe I don’t know if y’all agree with that but I I think that’s
a lot of noise about the Warriors being the Al Horford team which would be a great fit for Horford too him and Steph would be crazy
of course like a Jimmy Horford combination is also fantastic um but like look and here’s the thing denver’s done the hard work at this point now now I think and I kind of said this on pickaxe earlier now is the time where you sit back and allow teams to come to you because you are in a position and like allow agents to come to you because you’re in a position of strength you’re in a position of hey we have this money and you need this money so come negotiate with us kind of thing so I hope the Nuggets can take that tone obviously they’ll have their targets they can do a variety of things but like Denver is just like in a really great spot so what did you guys think by the way of the the Cam Whitmore trade rumor that came out earlier no I mean I like that that’s you know those are the kind of moves that we’ve been kind of talking about for a while like high upside younger player not a lot of value around the league right now i think that’s a player that can grow into their role in a really transformative way i think he’s such a talented player but again even at this point if the Nuggets took a flower on him right now and said “Hey Pton Watson and whatever for Cam Whitmore,” I mean I think the team automatically would just get that much better but I I think that that is the type of player you would want to target ma’am I like the fit and the bench unit next to Jamal i don’t necessarily like he’s young enough that it makes a lot of sense too um I think he’s probably a little bit better in concept than reality right he feels like a guy that everyone would be like “Hey.” And then we get into the season and every like like it would start with like the November you know he wasn’t great tonight and then um but by come like February I’m having to like talk Ryan off the roof like that that to me is like how that is how that goes um I don’t possibly I I think it’s I I think it’s worth taking a shot on because he’s got so much upside
right so I like that idea i am kind of with the chat though like a lot of folks in the chat are like 100% need to get a backup center and I don’t know what that’s gonna take but I think that it’s like that to me has to be kind of the priority here it’s like they got to solve this they got to solve the nonic minutes i don’t care how they get it done
oh you know what they could do like let me let me just
Nick Richards nick Richards is a trade candidate from the Suns they can now take him in with their traded player exception from Phoenix so that could be one option that’s on the table that I want to throw out there but again
how many spots do they have available right now Ron two
uh Denver are you talking Denver or Phoenix denver
uh Denver at this point has I mean they still have two roster spots available uh because Bruce is new and Cam is replacing Mike i don’t think Nick solves the problem not even in the regular season
no I don’t I don’t know that I would rather have him than DJ well remember they they Matt they had a they had a trade exception was what was it two years ago that they had that they didn’t use or three years ago
yeah i mean it’s pretty common now
I mean they have a a Reggie one this year that they haven’t been able to use but it was because they’re over the first apron there there’s pretty there there’s like it’s pretty common now for those those exceptions to expire like I will beg us on the show all of us to not get caught up on the use of that exception if you find an opportunity it’s great but most of the time those things don’t don’t wind up being anything
by the way man I want to ask you a prag uh as as one of the as the pragmatist of the show um how much of this do you feel is John Wallace’s influence on the team and maybe the outside voice part of here’s the team this is the situation we’re in these are the adjustments that we need to make as a roster do you feel like this kind of has it its handprint on it a little bit
i don’t know i don’t know i’m not gonna I’m not going to speak to it because I haven’t talked to John so I’ve got no idea about who was behind this it may have been Josh it may have been Ben the deal just may like they might have been planning on signing Bruce the whole time and this deal might have come to them today the Nets might have called this morning and been like “Hey it’s moving day for Cam Johnson
MPJ and a pick and we’ll do it.”
And if that came to them then it’s not really anybody’s like go-to but if you know you go to ownership and I think Josh was genuine about his desire to keep MPJ i think Josh wanted to keep the core four but when somebody’s like “Hey so we’ll give you a slightly older better player with no injury history and uh you’ll save your dad will save $40 million then
and you get underneath the first apron.”
Yep
plus yeah
yeah like honestly this it’s not necessarily like one person’s influence over the other if anything I think it’s probably a Ben Tenzer thing where he’s really maximizing the cap uh but honestly like it this is just a deal that you do 10 times out of 10 yeah
just knowing the situation that Denver’s in i I think that any GM would do it though I will give Denver the credit for getting it done of course
um they’ve got options here we’ll see what else happens this will do it for now if something else happens tonight we’ll jump back on we’ll do another emergency up uh for now that’s going to do it for Lockdown Nuggets follow Swipe on Twitter and on YouTube at Swipe Cam follow Ryan Blackburn at NBA Blackburn yes
yes uh I’m an HP basketball appreciate you guys being with us check out my Ryan’s got writeups on this over at Mile High Sports so go check out his work i’ll have stuff up on the dig later hope you guys have a great night we’ll see you guys again next time on Locked on Nuggets oh my god I can’t believe they did this man

And Bruce is BACK!