Rationale behind the Denver Nuggets waiving Erick Green, signing Kostas Papanikolaou

The Denver Nuggets waived Erick Green this morning and signed free agent Kostas Papanikolaou, who the team acquired over the summer from the Houston Rockets in a five-player deal centered around Ty Lawson. Papa, now 25-years-old, was a rookie last season and he appeared in 43 games for the Rockets, averaging 4.2 points and 2.0 assists in just over 18 minutes per game. He’s a natural small forward at 6-foot-8 and 235 pounds, but played some power forward for the Rockets due to injuries on their roster last season.

The Nuggets waived Papa on Sept. 25th to avoid paying him the $4.8 million he was due this season that would have become fully guaranteed on Oct. 4th, so he missed training camp with the team. He’s back now and already in Denver, will be in uniform this evening and participated in Nuggets shoot around this morning at Pepsi Center in preparation for the game tonight against the Utah Jazz at 7:00 p.m. MST.

“It was a shoot around, he was just trying to pick things up as we go along,” said head coach Michael Malone. “We’ll have our coaches get with him this afternoon and go through our playbook, go through our terminology and try to get him caught up to speed. But the great thing about a guy like Kostas is he has a high basketball IQ, he can pick things up very quickly. Our front office has done a lot of background work, knows him and we feel with Wilson’s injury just having another guy that can play the three or the four gives us toughness, versatility, will be an asset.”

From the sounds of it, the Nuggets are not sure when Wilson Chandler will return from the right hip strain he suffered late in the preseason. Back on April 30th, 2012 Chandler had surgery on his left hip that sidelined him for all but eight games of the 2011-12 season after Chandler re-signed with the team following a stint in China during the NBA lockout.

From 2012 on Nuggets.com:

Chandler, 25, went in for surgery to repair a torn labrum in his left hip on April 30. Doctors also shaved down the bone to relieve an impingement that was causing groin pain. While the procedure itself was relatively minor, the recovery process takes several months.

“The hips are the center point where you absorb your shock forces,” Nuggets assistant athletic trainer Dan Shimensky said. “Your hips and your lower back, you can’t avoid using them.”

Pay attention to what Shimensky, the Nuggets head trainer now in 2015, said above. “The hips are the center point” is a key line as Chandler’s return this season is still a little ways out as he’s dealing with an injury to his right hip, not the surgically repaired left hip.

“To be honest, I think Wilson’s injury is to be determined,” said Malone. “We’re being very very cautious with it and we’ll wait to see in maybe another week or so where he’s at.”

So, the Nuggets felt that creating depth among their wings was more important that having a third point guard in Green that was also capable of playing some shooting guard. With Danilo Gallinari having no true backup, the Nuggets have been in a tight spot with the undersized Will Barton, who’s more of a shooting guard, being thrown into the backup small forward role. It’s a difficult move as Green still is a young NBA player, but he was unable to beat out Jameer Nelson for the backup point guard spot and lacked the size to play shooting guard full time – he’s listed at 6-feet-4-inches, but is much closer to 6-feet.

With no true third point guard on the roster, the Nuggets will be pushed to play 32-year-old shooting guard Randy Foye at point guard if Emmanuel Mudiay or Nelson miss any time. That’s a risky proposition as Foye, a converted shooting guard, has not shown a strong grasp for playing point in the NBA. Foye is also playing out the final year of his contract at $3.1 million and it’s difficult to see him returning to the team next season. The Nuggets will be in the market, at some point, for another point guard as Nelson at 33-years-old appeared in just 63 games last season for three teams, 68 games in 2013-14 and 56 games in 2012-13. And if Denver doesn’t make a move for a point this season, expect that to be a target in the offseason.

Green is just 24-years-old and won’t turn 25 until May 9th. In his two seasons with the Nuggets, after being acquired in a draft night trade with the Utah Jazz in 2013, Green has appeared in 46 games and averaged 3.2 points and 0.9 assists in just 9.1 minutes per game. This season, Green appeared in three games for Denver, but played a total of just seven minutes and went 0-1 from the field.

“Always tough to see a guy like Erick Green be let go,” said Malone. “Erick was phenomenal. Can’t say enough good things about Erick Green. I know I speak for everybody in the organization, we wish Erick Green nothing but the best. He did everything that was asked of him and he did it with enthusiasm. We’ll hate to see Erick go, but we’re happy to have Kostas as part of the family.”

What to expect from Papanikolaou: 

With injuries to Joffrey Lauvergne, Nikola Jokic (who Malone said should be available tonight), Jusuf Nurkic and Chandler, Papa could see some spot minutes at the end of games. Don’t expect him to start logging time in meaningful moments, at least not until he’s a little more caught up with the team’s concepts. But even then, we shouldn’t plan on seeing a lot of Papa with the Nuggets, unless injuries continue to limit guys like Chandler.

He has some range to his game and can stretch out defenders to the three point line. Papa has also shown an ability to get to the rim, rebound and is a pretty creative passer. Out of the listed skills, his best ones are shooting and passing. Hard to determine what his role will be this season, but end of the bench insurance is the most likely scenario for the young Greek.