The Denver Nuggets have a frontcourt logjam and they know it.
Rookie Nikola Jokic’s breakout, along with Joffrey Lauvergne’s continued development and Danilo Gallinari’s need to see spot minutes at the 4, has put the team in a bit of a (pleasant) pickle. Throw in Jusuf Nurkic, Kenneth Faried and J.J. Hickson, and it becomes less pleasant, more puzzling. They need to open up minutes in the frontcourt so some of the kiddies can play, so head coach Mike Malone can pin down a rotation and in anticipation of Wilson Chandler’s need to play some power forward next season.
In turn, according to Frank Isola of the New York Daily News, the Nuggets have made at least Faried and Hickson available:
The Denver Nuggets want to move at least one big man. Kenneth Faried and J.J. Hickson are both available.
This makes sense. Faried doesn’t provide enough spacing for a power forward and will inevitably get lost in Denver’s frontcourt shuffle. Hickson barely sees the light of day anymore.
But both players have minimal value.
Faried is in the first year of a $50 million-plus extension and few teams will want to add that kind of coin to the bottom line with the salary cap set to erupt. Hickson, meanwhile, is only attractive to an organization looking to dump salary ahead of free agency.
If the Nuggets want to deal Faried, they must resign themselves to taking ample salary back in return or attaching Nurkic to sweeten the pot. He is teeming with potential, but the Nuggets can push forward with a three-man 4-5 rotation consisting of Gallinari, Jokic and Lauvergne. Chandler can enter the mix as a small-ball power forward next year as well.
The Nuggets are built to play fast and, with Emmanuel Mudiay’s drives serving as the fulcrum of their offense, stretch defenses. Neither Faried nor Jurkic helps advance that identity. It would behoove Denver to move at least one of them soon.
