Nuggets Notes: Caldwell-Pope, Braun, CBA, Westbrook

For the second straight summer, the Nuggets lost key pieces to free agency. In 2023, it was Bruce Brown and Jeff Green who departed for paydays after winning a championship with Denver. This offseason, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope left the Nuggets for Orlando.

Losing Brown and Green eventually caught up to the 2023/24 Nuggets, who didn’t see their young bench pieces take the steps forward they’d hoped for. Losing Caldwell-Pope is a massive blow, as he’s proven to be one of the best perimeter defenders in the league, Tony Jones of The Athletic writes.

While replacing Caldwell-Pope isn’t an easy task, it seems like the franchise is eyeing 2022 first round pick Christian Braun for that role. Braun is a solid defender, Jones notes, but he isn’t yet close to what Caldwell-Pope was as a shooter. Elevating 2023 first round pick Julian Strawther to the starting lineup instead while playing Braun starter minutes off the bench could be an option, but he’s not a good enough defender to stay on the floor for long as of yet.

In short, the Nuggets are in a similar place as last season, but have lost Caldwell-Pope and backup point guard Reggie Jackson, Jones observes. They’ll likely target help via the trade market or with small veteran contracts, but the Nuggets still need young players like Braun, Strawther, Peyton Watson, Hunter Tyson, Jalen Pickett and 2024 first rounder DaRon Holmes to show development sooner rather than later.

We have more on the Nuggets:

• Braun might be ready to step into the starting lineup, Bennett Durando of The Denver Post writes. While he’s a different player than Caldwell-Pope, Braun is bigger, can hold his own in the post and could reasonably be on his way to being recognized in the same category of defender as KCP. Durando observes that Braun — a career 37.3% shooter from deep — is actually a solid above-the-break shooter, but in order to replace KCP offensively, he’ll have to specifically improve his corner outside shot.
• Every team is navigating the new CBA landscape and Denver is no different. Speaking to reporters during free agency’s moratorium period, assistant general manager Tommy Balcetis cited the complications the new CBA provides. “I think it’s going to be a fun challenge for a lot of teams,” Balcetis said, via Durando. “We’re trying to be ahead of it in so many ways. I think that there’s going to be missteps along the way for every team really, to kind of start to calibrate where the CBA is going to lead us. … That’s why I think this particular free agency and draft period is a little different for everybody. Because all of a sudden, now there are going to be rules and regulations in place that are going to make teams find an edge that maybe they weren’t able to find before.“
• One option rumored in recent days for the Nuggets to shore up their point guard play would be a trade for Russell Westbrook, which Nikola Jokic has reportedly advocated for. Durando makes the case for Westbrook in a separate Denver Post story, writing that he fills a positional need and is affordable, though he doesn’t space the floor.