Welcome to Wind Chimes, a notebook of reporting, observations and analysis from me about what I’ve seen, heard and talked to people around the team about over the last week.

NBA trade season officially opens on Wednesday, Dec. 15 when the majority of free agents who signed contracts this past offseason become eligible to be traded.

The Nuggets’ roster has some obvious holes. Their frontcourt is a huge question mark behind Nikola Jokic, Aaron Gordon and Jeff Green. There’s also not a ton of depth on the wing with Michael Porter Jr. likely gone for the season.

Denver’s in a tough spot because they don’t have a surplus of young assets to float in potential deals. I don’t see the Nuggets even thinking about parting with Bones Hyland. I doubt Denver looks to deal Zeke Nnaji for a win-now move since he’s under a team-friendly contract for potentially the next two seasons. PJ Dozier was a potential trade candidate since he’s an upcoming free agent, but he’ll be rehabbing from ACL surgery for the next 10 months. The Nuggets’ most realistic trade assets are their 2021 first and future second-round picks.

My favorite trade target for Denver to pursue: Kenrich Williams.

You might remember Williams from the Summer League he played with the Nuggets in 2018. Denver liked him that offseason but didn’t have a full-time roster spot available at the time and Williams decided to bet on himself. He signed with New Orleans and later won a roster spot with the Pelicans.

Williams is now in Oklahoma City on a team that has no desire to compete this season and is mainly interested in collecting future draft assets. I wonder if the Nuggets could poach Williams for a draft pick, take care of one of their biggest needs for right now and bolster their bench while also securing a really good rotation player for next year. Williams is under contract for a team-friendly $2 million this season and next season. He also shares an agent with Nnaji.

Here are Williams’ stats so far this year: 6.6 points, 3.5 rebounds, and 2 assists in 20.6 minutes per game off the bench for OKC. They’re pedestrian, but watch Williams and you can get a feel for the type of impact he makes.

On the season, the Thunder are 8-18. But somehow, they’re +3 in the 473 minutes Williams has spent on the floor and -253 in the 775 minutes he’s been on the bench. That’s wild. Williams is a strong defender with really good instincts and an unselfish offensive role player. He’d be a huge add for Denver’s second unit.

The Nuggets should be interested.

Here are some of my other early potential trade targets:

Cam Reddish
Mason Plumlee
Troy Brown Jr
TJ Warren
Justin Holiday
Torrey Craig
Robin Lopez
Danuel House Jr
Josh Okogie
Naz Reid
Garrett Temple
Derrick Favors
Kyle Anderson

More Chimes

Markus Howard breaks out

Howard’s 16-point second quarter in San Antonio Saturday night where the second-year guard shot 5-8 from 3, helped Denver capture momentum for the first time in the Nuggets’ second matchup vs. the Spurs in three days. Nikola Jokic then closed out San Antonio with an 18-point third-quarter that had the Spurs broadcast crew comparing him to Tim Duncan (San Antonio only scored 18 total points in the quarter), but it was Howard’s run of 3s that initially turned the game in the Nuggets’ favor.

I don’t see Howard necessarily sticking in the rotation if Will Barton’s healthy. He’s not good enough defensively and is too streaky of a shooter to be relied upon right now for consistent offense. But as he proved in the playoffs last year, Howard can catch fire from 3. It’s exactly who he was in college. Howard hit six 3s against the Spurs on Saturday. During his senior season at Marquette, he did that seven times in 29 games.

Howard led the NCAA in scoring in 2020 and was a consensus All-American before turning pro. He could have been selected in the second round of the NBA draft that year but signaled to teams that he wanted to go undrafted because he wanted to sign with the Nuggets as a free agent. Howard hoped to land in Denver because of the Nuggets’ culture and believed in their player development program that had catapulted several two-way players into rotation spots over the last several years. He also believed in Tim Connelly.

“Denver had a vision for me,” Howard told DNVR last summer. “They had a belief in me as a player and what I could bring to the organization. The excitement that Tim and the organization had about me, that spoke to me more so than just hearing my name called on draft night. I just felt Denver was the place for me and I’m fortunate to work for a guy like Tim. You know he’s all about his players.”

The Nuggets will need more Markus Howard-type moments over the next several months. Those don’t have to equate to a bench player coming out of nowhere to hit six triples, but Denver will need unlikely heroes to step up at opportune times. The Nuggets will need a Jeff Green game or a Davon Reed or Bones Hyland quarter. That’s just where Denver is right now.

Jeff Green’s athleticism

There’s at least one play every game where Jeff Green does something athletically that blows my mind. This is a 35-year-old and a 13-year vet who’s still jumping like someone half his age.

Remember this right-handed hammer he threw down against the Thunder in the preseason?

Or this left-handed Statue of Liberty slam vs. Portland.

Or this transition dunk at MSG.

Or this offensive rebound from San Antonio.

Austin Rivers update

Rivers jumped on Instagram Live last Thursday and offered some insight into how his recovery from COVID is going. Rivers said he tested negative for the first time Thursday since entering the league’s health and safety protocols on Wednesday, Dec. 1, and that if he continues to test negative he could rejoin the team in a few days. If that timeline continues to track, Rivers should be back with the Nuggets soon.

Rivers has been quarantining in Orlando where he’s from and has a home. He also said that the break gave him a chance to get healthy both mentally and physically. Rivers revealed that he had been playing hurt all season too.

The Nikola Jokic stat of the week:

Nikola Jokic is the most efficient isolation scorer in the NBA. He’s averaging 1.44 points per possession in isolation situations this season, which leads the NBA out of players who have registered at least 20 ISO possessions.

Overall, Jokic is shooting 14-20 (70%) from the floor in isolations. That’s a stupid level of efficiency.

Here’s the rest of the top-10:

2. Ja Morant (1.35 PPP)
3. Steph Curry (1.34 PPP)
4. DeMar DeRozan (1.29 PPP)
5. Gary Trent Jr. (1.27 PPP)

***Question of the Week***

This is a new section of Wind Chimes that gives YOU a chance to be a part of this column. Each week, I’ll pose a question to DNVR Members, which I’ll then give my take on the following week. So in the comment section below, please answer the following question.

What player or which team made you first fall in love with the Nuggets or become a fan?

I’ll give my answer in next week’s column. I look forward to reading yours.