Cavs Searching For A Golden (Denver) Nugget

Last week we talked about how the Milwaukee Bucks are a team that may eventually be looking to trade away the kinds of players who have skills the Cleveland Cavaliers need to make a run at the NBA title.While that is still definitely possible, the Bucks have gotten off to a solid start this season and may eventually decide to give this group time to grow together to see what kind of potential they have.However there is a another team that may not only have a greater variety of players available via trade, but those players may be better fits for the Cavs. Today we look at one of the biggest disappointments in the Western Conference, the Denver Nuggets.

The last two years have been nothing if not tumultuous for the Nuggets. Finishing the 2012-2013 season as the third seed in the Western Conference, the Nuggets were considered a dangerous playoff opponent and an example of how to rebuild after trading away a superstar due to their success after sending Carmelo Anthony to the New York Knicks in 2011.

Unfortunately things have only gone downhill from there. Forward Danilo Gallinari missed the playoffs and all of the next season after requiring two surgeries to repair a torn ACL. Center Javale missed all but the first five games of the 2013-2014 season due to a stress fracture in his left tibia. Andre Iguodala and Corey Brewer left as free agents. Reigning Coach of the Year George Karl was fired after yet another first round exit and conflicts with ownership. Finally, General Manager Masai Ujiri left to take the same position with the Toronto Raptors. All of this led to the Nuggets falling from 57 wins and the third seed in the West to just 36 wins and a lottery appearance in 2013-2014.

This season the Nuggets had hoped to turn things around and make a push for the playoffs.  They traded for former Nugget Arron Afflalo, had a nice draft in selecting guard Gary Harris of Michigan State and European center Jusuf Nurkic, and McGee, Gallinari, Ty Lawson, and Wilson Chandler were all returning to health. Unfortunately, the Nuggets have looked even worse than last year with a 2-6 record and a -6.1 point differential. In fact, as ESPN’s Bradford Doolittle pointed out the Nuggets have spent more time trailing in games than any other NBA team this year.  Head coach Brian Shaw and his players seem to rarely be on the same page, and if things don’t improve Shaw could be out of a job.

So if the Nuggets decide to sell off some assets, who would interest the Cavaliers? The first name that comes to mind is one that has already been linked to the Cavaliers, center Timofey Mozgov. Now in his second season starting for the Nuggets the twenty-eight year old big man has several qualities the Cavaliers find appealing. A solid, but not elite shot blocker, Mozgov provides decent rim protection, a quality the Cavaliers are in need of given their poor defense to start the year. According to 82games.com, the Nuggets gave up 3.2 few points per 100 possessions with Mozgov at center, but part of that was due to the the other center option being the defensive abomination that is J.J Hickson. Still, at 7’1” Mozgov offers an imposing inside presence unlike any of the Cavaliers’ current big men.

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Mozgov also has some offensive skills. He is fairly mobile for his size and is a good pick-and-roll finisher. He is also strong free throw shooter for a big man, with a career mark just above 73%. Perhaps most importantly, Mozgov played for Cavaliers coach David Blatt on the Russian National Team that won the Bronze Medal at the 2012 Olympics and is familiar with Blatt’s pass-oriented offense.

Two other Nuggets who could be of interest to the Cavaliers are swingmen Wilson Chandler and Arron Afflalo. Given the need for the trio of LeBron James, Kyrie Irving, and Kevin Love to have the ball, the ideal shooting guard for the Cavaliers would be a “3-and-D” type of player who could space the floor and take some of the defensive responsibility off of LeBron James without needing the ball in his hands. Filling this spot from within the current roster has proven to be difficult. Shawn Marion is only attempting one three pointer a game, Mike Miller cannot move on defense anymore, Dion Waiters has not shown a willingness to adjust his game to this role, Matthew Dellavedova is a both hurt and somewhat undersized for a shooting guard, and rookie Joe Harris is just that, a rookie on a team hoping to contend for a championship (although Harris has played well and looks like the best fit so far). Both Chandler and Afflalo have had this reputation at various points in their careers. Afflalo is a career 39% shooter from deep and was an excellent role player in his previous stint with the Nuggets before becoming a featured scorer with the Orlando Magic. He also has a reputation as a lockdown defender, but there is little evidence to back that claim. While Afflalo has typically held opposing shooting guards to respectable numbers over the years, his teams’ defenses have nearly always been better with him on the bench.

Chandler would be an interesting fit. While not a lockdown defender, Chandler is a versatile one capable of guarding shooting guards and both forward positions. Lineups featuring Chandler, James, and Marion would be able to switch at will, giving opposing offenses little room to breathe. On offense Chandler is somewhat similar to Marion (at this stage of Marion’s career) in that he excels in transition, but is not a great threat in a halfcourt offense. Unlike Marion, Chandler is more reliant on three point shooting in the half court. Unfortunately Chandler is a slightly below average three point shooter for his career with an average just under 34%. This is good enough to help space the floor, but not enough to prevent teams from helping off of Chandler to guard a bigger threat.

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As with the Bucks, the final possible deal would involve center Brendan Haywood’s contract. This deal would take place after the season and have the Cavaliers move Haywood’s unguaranteed contract valued at $10 million to the Nuggets for center Javale McGee. On the surface, McGee would seem like an ideal fit for the Cavaliers. He’s 26 years old, has averaged 3.3 blocks and 10.0 rebounds per 36 minutes for his career. McGee also sports an impressive career PER of 18.3. What’s not to like? Well, pretty much everything else. Despite his shot blocking, McGee is a poor defender and his teams have always played much better at that end with him on the bench. In fact, the case could be made that he is too concerned with blocking shots to play solid fundamental defense. He is also a poor free throw shooter (58.7% career) who doesn’t pass and struggles to fit in with a structured offense. Finally, McGee has had some off court issues throughout his career that would make any team reluctant to deal for him.

Despite all that, a Haywood-McGee deal this summer seems possible. With the Cavaliers McGee would have a specific role in limited minutes that would maximize his skills. Another bonus is that, given the issues with his game as well as his large contract, the Cavaliers probably wouldn’t have to include much besides Haywood in the deal.

It’s still early in the NBA season, and the Denver Nuggets are far from waving the white flag with a fire sale. But if or when that day comes, the Cleveland Cavaliers may very well be one of the teams that come looking for a piece of gold in Denver.