The Nuggets are GENIUS…

The Nuggets are GENIUS…

The Denver Nuggets have tricked the NBA. Not only do they go out and get Bruce Brown, who is a huge piece to their championship team a couple of years ago, but they’re able to bring in Cam Johnson as well for just Michael Porter Jr., a guy who’s disappeared in the playoffs for the last two years. I understand he was injured and a first round pick. And Cam Johnson is a better defender, more consistent, a better playoff player just from his days in Phoenix. and he’s going to fit into this roster off of Joic a lot better because he doesn’t have to create off the bounce for himself. He’s just a catch and shoot guy. And I love what the Nuggets have done so far this off seasonason. They were 25th in opponent’s points per game last year and 22nd in defensive rating. They’ve brought in two upgrades on defense when you talk about Bruce Brown over Russell Westbrook and you talk about Cam Johnson over Michael Porto Jr. They were also 28th in three-pointers made and 30th in three-pointers attempted last year. While they had a great percentage, they were just not shooting a ton of threes. And while they made it successful, I don’t know if that’s sustainable over a long period of time. So now they bring in Cam Johnson, Bruce Brown, a couple of good three-point shooters. And they’re not done yet. But what they have done so far is fantastic. Of course, they bring in Cam Johnson, who’s a terrific catch and shoot guy. That’s really what he’s known for. He’s catching off the move, catching stationary. He can create for himself off the bounce a little bit, but this is his bread and butter, the three-point shot. We’ve seen him being effective 3 and D wing on a championship caliber team down in Phoenix before and that was way earlier in his career. So now in a later stage of his career, pretty much in his prime because he is 29 now. This is what you’re going to get out of Cam Johnson. You know what you’re getting? You’re getting about 19 points a game, 4.3 rebounds, 3.4 assist, and a steal on 48% shooting from the field, 39% from three on seven attempts a game. Pretty much a more consistent Michael Porter Jr. that is better defensively. The playmaking is also better than MPJ as well. Right here, they’re going to run him off of a little screen, little DHO. He’s going to attract the defense, make both of them commit to him, and then dump it off to Ben Simmons for the easy layup. And then right here, once again, rejects the screen and finds, I believe that’s Dorian Finny Smith cutting back door for the easy reverse layup. This time, they’ve got him running off of a stagger screen on the opposite side. They’re going to be attacking Zack Edy coming downhill. And as he curls the screen, he’s got Santi Alama on him. keeps him on his shoulder and gets to that left hand and finishes nicely. The finishing is actually pretty solid. Even though he’s not the best athlete in the world, he is really a below the rim finisher. And what I mean by that is he’s not going to go dunk on anybody, right? Even though he’s 6’8, he’s not going to go dunk on anybody. He’s going to stick to his finesse finishing around the rim. And then he’s also got some off the bounce abilities. This is tough right here getting to his spot off this screen. And that’s Aaron Gordon. That’s one of the best perimeter defenders in the league. and he’s gonna stick it right in his face. And then a little shot fake get by Jay Huff here down the baseline and a two-hand jam. And then defensively, he’s also pretty solid. And that’s why they’re loving to bring him in. He is 6’8 with a 610 wingspan. And he doesn’t even have to guard the point of attack defender anymore. He can guard the second guy because now you’ve got an elite group of perimeter defenders around Jokic and Murray with Cam Johnson, with Aaron Gordon, and with Christian Brown. Brown’s going to guard the best perimeter threat. And then you’ve got Cam Johnson to guard the second best. And then the interior guy is who Aaron Gordon’s going to guard. Now, Michael Porter Jr., no hard feelings, right? He’s going to be always known as a Nugget. Won a championship in 2023. And he was really good in the regular season. You see the stats there, almost 5040 90 efficiency once again in the regular season, not in the playoffs. When it came down to it, over his last three playoff series, Michael Porter Jr. was averaging less than 10 points and less than six rebounds in 32 minutes per game while shooting 38% from the field and 34% from three. And that’s not that small of a sample size, right? That is almost a 20ame sample size that he is doing that over. He’s also on a 2-year $81 million contract compared to Cam Johnson who’s on a 2-year, little over $40 million contract. So, you save 40 million bucks over the next two years by shipping off Michael Porter Jr. for a, like we said, more consistent, better defender, better playmaker, and can do everything that MPJ can do, except maybe not quite as good off the bounce. Now, looking at the cap space situation for the Nuggets now with the two new signings, they have $14 million under the first apron. So, they can still go out and make a splash or go out and make a trade if they wanted to. They have $14 million in these two guys combined. So, under the First Apron, they have no restrictions. They can do whatever they want. Trying to send those guys out, matching salaries, whatever they need. They also bring back Bruce Brown. And this was maybe one of my favorite moves of the offseason, bringing Bruce back where he belongs, back to Denver. Look at the finishing right there. That’s what he’s known for. Driving, getting into the lane, and also being a good defender. He’s on a one-year, $2.2 million ultra teamfriendly deal. That’s cheaper than what Westbrook was playing on last year, and he’s already familiar with the area. The fans love him. I mean, he won a ring here two years ago for crying out loud. And then things kind of went downhill for him. Uh, check out the amazing jersey swap I did. That’s how much I care about these videos, right? Putting all the effort into him going out and getting that’s a little something what I think Bruce Brown will look like in a Nuggets jersey. Last year as a Pelican, he averaged 8.3 points, four rebounds, two assists, and eight steals in 22 minutes. 42% shooting from the field, 33% from three-on- two attempts. He got his bag. Now he just wants to go back and win. The three ball was not good last year. here. It’s got to get back to what it was in Denver where he was shooting at an efficient cliff. The passing is all right as you can see here. Reading the play, finding the big cutting to the rim and then the glamps. This is what they really love about Bruce Brown. An outstanding one-on-one defender. Give me that Nick Smith Jr. Brown and Brown defense attorneys is back and I could not be more excited for the city of Denver. That’s a phenomenal pickup. He now adds more depth to this bench and literally as I’m making this video. Speaking of depth, Yonis Valenunis is now a Denver Nugget. They get Dron Holmes the second back after injury. He was a beast at Dayton. Averaged 20 and a half points per game, 8 and a half rebounds, 2.6 assists, 2.1 blocks, and six steals in route to being an all-American, shooting 54% from the field, and 39% from three on 2.6 attempts per game. He’s even got a little bit of Yicesque vision as he drives across the lane right here and finds his teammate cutting. Now, a lot of these highlights, he’s being more of a traditional back to the basket big where he can catch and dunk, catch and make a post move. And while they will see some of that, I expect to see him doing more stuff like this, operating out of the mid post and going and finding, you know, mid-range jumpers, knocking down the three ball because he did shoot 39% from three on almost three attempts a game, and trying to dunk on people because I think he plays alongside of Yonas Valenunis in the backup front court next season. Julian Strawther is a guy that’s got to take a big step forward for the Nuggets. We saw him impact the playoffs. He averaged nine points a game, 2.2 rebounds, 1.3 assists, and 6 steals in the regular season last year being a regular part of the rotation, shooting 43% from the field and 35% from three. But we saw him, like I said, come in in game six and completely flipped that game on its head in a matter of minutes. He will be 23 years old next year, so he’s still very young, still on his rookie contract. And if he’s wanting a big-time rookie extension, he’s got to have a big time season. And I think that’s some motivation going into this season. And then Valenunis, who like I said, if I wouldn’t check my phone, he wouldn’t have been in this video. He’s now a Denver nugget as well. And they flip Dario Sorish for Yonas Valentunis, a 6’11, 265B bully in the paint with a 76 wingspan. He averaged 10.4 four points a game, 7.7 rebounds, two assists, and six steals in 19 minutes per game last year. Fantastic for what the Nuggets are looking for. pairing their Serbian MVP with some Lutherani and Lightning and Yonas Valenunis. And man, talk about a steal because not only do they get a good backup center, a very quality backup center, but they also only lose $5 million in the process getting off the Dario contract, and they still have $10 million to look for a backup small forward if they don’t rock with Tamar Bates, who was their best UDFA. I had him as a top 45 prospect in this draft class, and he fell out of the draft altogether. He was kind of expecting to get drafted. The Nuggets swoop in and pick him up. So, as a backup guard, he can shoot it. He can play defense at a high level. Maybe he gets some time for the Nuggets next year. But right now, the Nuggets are cooking. Who let them get away with this? With that being said, that’s going to be it for today’s video. Thanks so much for watching. Make sure to like button, leave me a comment down below, and hit that subscribe button if you did enjoy any point. And with that being said, thanks so much for watching today’s video.

This video looks at the Denver Nuggets and how they were able to add Cam Johnson, Bruce Brown and Jonas Valenciunus to those current roster with Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray
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