The Sixers’ logjam at center has been the most publicized frontcourt depth chart issue in the NBA in recent days, and it’s not hard to see why. In Joel Embiid, Jahlil Okafor, and Nerlens Noel, the team has three top-six draft picks vying for playing time, one of those three players (Noel) is publicly griping about his role, and it’s all happening in a major market.
Still, Philadelphia isn’t the only city in which a crowded frontcourt is creating problems for an NBA team. As Jonathan Tjarks of The Ringer details, there are handful of other teams around the league experiencing similar issues.
Perhaps the most interesting case is in Denver, with Tjarks referring to the Nuggets’ big man logjam as “a less high-profile version of what’s happening with the 76ers.” After starting 25 games for the team to open the 2016/17 season, former first-rounder Jusuf Nurkic has fallen out of Denver’s rotation within the last week.
After playing just five minutes last Thursday and eight minutes on Saturday, Nurkic picked up a DNP-CD on Monday night. Like the Sixers, the Nuggets have shortened their big man rotation, with Nikola Jokic and Kenneth Faried seeing the majority of the minutes up front – and thriving – while Nurkic is the odd man out.
It’s a difficult situation for Nurkic, who had been playing pretty well early on this season, averaging career highs in PPG (9.3), RPG (6.9), FG% (.524), and a few other categories. Although the 22-year-old would have plenty of value on the trade market, the Nuggets probably won’t want to sell low on him.
Faried has long been viewed as the most likely trade candidate in the Denver frontcourt, but the Jokic/Nurkic pairing struggled in the early going this year, as the two bigs got on each other’s way and had problems with spacing, Tjarks notes. The current rotation, with Jokic starting alongside Danilo Gallinari and Wilson Chandler, and Faried serving as the primary frontcourt backup, has been very effective lately, so the Nuggets may have to reconsider which of their players they can afford to give up.
What do you think? Is there a trade out there that makes sense for the Nuggets? Which of their bigs should be considered a long-term piece, and which ones might be more expendable? Jump into the comments section below to weigh in with your thoughts!
Monroe Henson and the oldest Plumlee is another trio worth noting.
Which when added to the Sixers and Nuggets logjams make for a market with an over supply of 5’s who aren’t floor stretchers. The Kings have WCS and Koufos gettable. And at a time when more teams are trying to play faster, smaller, spacier and with lots of switching on D the demand just isn’t there.
Its a total buyers market. So teams with a glut of bigs face a difficult task of receiving comparable value. The Bucks have been shopping the still underrated and efficient Monroe for 9 months…nothing.
Can anyone name a team willing/seeking to trade a starting PG or Wing for a back-to-the-basket or rim protecting big?
I agree completely. The Nuggets won’t get much for Nurk alone. But if you toss him in a deal with, say, Will Barton and Gallo, you might be able to get someone to bite (Celtics, for instance). I will say that he’s got defensive value still (more than any of the guys you mentioned) since he can be a one-man interior paint defense. I’d also love to see him with the Spurs or Hawks, where his offensive instincts would fit those teams to a T.
Cavs need a big badly but are stuck with two contracts in Chris Anderson and Mo Williams. Still they do have some wings they could deal in Dunleavy (vet that needs minutes), Liggins (I don’t think the cavs want to let this very defensive minded kid go) and possible Iman Shumpert. Is there any of these teams listed above that would be willing to part one C to get one of two of these wings? There’s also Jordan McCrae a pretty good scoring 2 and Felder who is a oh that’s simply not getting the minutes playing on a championship team.
Did Nurkic just draw the short straw or is there something wrong with his play this year? I haven’t watched any Nuggets games, but a quick look at his stats basically show that he is playing relatively the same as last year.