The Denver Nuggets weren’t big players in free agency and those around the league are beginning to wonder and speculate if their big move this offseason will come via the trade market.
Since ESPN’s Zach Lowe reported earlier this month that the Nuggets almost acquired the Hawks’ Paul Millsap for a package built around Kenneth Faried and multiple draft picks, Denver has been quiet, but could they look to revisit a similar deal before training camp?
Lowe and Marc Stein dished on the latest chatter around Kenneth Faried, what a package built around the 26-year-old would look like and his potential role on the Nuggets or another team going forward on the latest Lowe Post.
“The team I heard the most about in terms that they still might have moves up their sleeve other than Boston in Vegas is Denver,” Lowe said. “Not just Denver’s trying to get off Faried, which I think they are, but if they have to move a decent wing to get off Faried and get something good in return, well they’ve got a lot of wings now. Young ones, mid-career ones, take your pick. They just had a lot of ideas in the fire.”
The news that Denver is looking to move Faried isn’t new, but it makes sense that they’d look to include a sweetener with one of their guards to make that deal more enticing for the recipient. Could that be Will Barton, who’s on arguably the league’s best contract, only 25-years-old, and could seemingly be slipped into any deal?
“I thought they were going to be more active at the draft as well because they’re another team that does have moveable pieces and a lot of potential trade assets,” Stein chipped in. “Look they’ve shown a pretty aggressive streak here. I don’t think any of us really thought they ha a chance at Wade but the fact is they did make a credible two-year offer in excess of $50 million with Mike Miller leading the charge they actually got a meeting with Wade. You can say ‘oh Wade was just using them for leverage,’ but still getting in the door and they got farther than other teams that had Wade interest. They are trying to aggressive they are trying to do stuff.”
“I haven’t heard much trade buzz surrounding [Faried] at all,” Lowe added. “I have no doubt that Denver wants to make a move and would love to build it around him but I don’t get a great sense that there’s a lot of interest right now.”
Lowe and Stein then got into an interesting topic, one that surely has been debated in Denver for some time regarding how Faried is best used going forward.
Lowe:
“Atlanta had a deal, had the summer gone the way they expected it to. One of the Millsap deals they had lined up was to Denver for a package that included Faried and I think Atlanta was thinking they were going to try and move Faried along for a pick. So there is some interest in Faried. Whether he stays in Denver or not, I think in a lot of situations including Denver, he’s going to have to reckon with the fact that teams are going to try and make him a backup now. His salary is that of the best bench player on your team. He makes less than the average starters is gonna make in a couple of years at least once all the contracts sort of normalize and there are teams that just like his – it’s sorta like he’s the power forward version of the energizer bunny scoring guard off the bench. They like his energy off the bench, his rebounding, his lack of defense is a little but less of a problem against second units. I think even Denver wants to bring him off the bench.”
Faried’s skills (and salary) make him an attractive option off the bench and he fits better with the Nuggets and prospective teams as a part of a second unit. Lowe raises some good points saying that Faried’s skill-set and lack of defense is a better fit against bench units, but the issue remains if Faried will accept a role on a team where he’s not starting.
“If you know him, it’s going to go badly,” Stein said in reference to Faried coming off the bench. “He’s not excited about an off the bench role,” remarked Lowe.
Even on the Nuggets, Faried would potentially be a menace off the bench. If you moved Darrell Arthur into the starting lineup and let Faried mesh with a bench unit that includes Wilson Chandler, Jusuf Nurkic, Jameer Nelson, Will Barton and maybe Jamal Murray, Denver’s spacing would suffer but they’d have a more than capable second unit.
“[Faried] played for Team USA,” Lowe said. “I’m sure he will say ‘I played for Team USA, you’re going to bring me off the bench for the Denver Nuggets?'”
