Denver Nuggets waive Nick Johnson, trim roster to 15 players

With the Oct. 26th deadline for teams to submit their opening night roster looming large, the Nuggets waived Nick Johnson, according to Christopher Dempsey. Devin Sweetney and Oleksiy Pecherov have also been waived, according to the team, and the Nuggets roster now sits at the 15 player limit.

Erick Green has made the #Nuggets team, a source has confirmed. The team has waived G Nick Johnson.

— Chris Dempsey (@dempseypost) October 24, 2015

The final roster spot, like many had speculated over the course of training camp and preseason, came down to Johnson and Erick Green. Johnson, who had two guaranteed years left on his contract, which pay him $845,059 this year and $980,431 in 2016-17, was acquired from Houston in the Ty Lawson trade – there are no longer any players from that deal on the roster. Green, who now is on the official 15-man roster, was only guaranteed $100k as of Aug. 3rd and is not fully-guaranteed the remainder of his $845,059 until Jan. 10th.

The decision to keep Green over Johnson most likely came down to their on-court performance. Anyone who watched bits and pieces of the Nuggets seven-game schedule should come away with the impression that Green is flat out a better player right now, even though a nasty fall in Denver’s first preseason game in Los Angeles hampered him throughout much of the preseason. Green was also the first name out of head coach Michael Malone’s mouth when I asked him during training camp who had impressed him during the team’s five-on-five sessions.

Player familiarity may also have had something to do with keeping Green. The 24-year-old was drafted by Utah in 2013, but traded to Denver (on general manager Tim Connelly’s watch) on draft night and played in 43 games for the Nuggets last season. He’s someone the organization is comfortable with and trusts going forward. Green averaged  6.8 points, 2.0 assists in 18.4 minutes per game this preseason.

Johnson, 22, averaged 2.2 points, 2.2 rebounds and 1.7 assists in seven preseason games, while only shooting 17.9 percent from the field. After waiving Johnson, Denver’s lone return in the Lawson trade is Houston’s 2016 first round pick, which is protected for selections 1-14.

Sweetney, 27, was a training camp and preseason invite, originally from the Washington D.C. area, and was on the roster largely due to his ties with the Connelly family. He averaged 1.3 points and 2.2 minutes in four games this preseason.

Pecherov, 30, only played in one preseason game with Denver where he scored 6 points in just over seven minutes of action. The 7-footer’s best moment with the Nuggets came during the Las Vegas Summer League when he only played in one game, but scored 21 points and grabbed 8 rebounds in 20 minutes.

The Nuggets regular season opener is Oct. 28th in Houston where they’ll face the Rockets, and their home opener is Oct. 30th versus the Minnesota Timberwolves.