Nuggets Trade Alert! 2/12/17

Big news coming out today, According to reports the nuggets have reportedly traded for 26-year-old Center Mason Plumlee, a 2018 2^nd round pick, and some cash from the Portland Trailblazers, for 3^rd year Center Jusuf Nurkic and a first round pick.  This is huge for the nuggets! Plumlee is 6-1, 255-pound big man with passing ability, but is better known for his powerful dunks, as he participated in the Dunk Contest as a Net, his first few years. He’s a consistent, reliable player with plenty of experience, playing with Hall Famers Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce. I mean sure Plumlee isn’t the Superstar going to take us deep into the Playoffs, I don’t think. What gets me excited about this move though is Nuggets really improved the center position behind Jokic, and he fit in really well with his passing skills and his athletic ability which the Nuggets are really missing at the Center position. It just didn’t seem as though Malone was set with him, even playing Darrell Arthur at Center before even considering Nurkic. Over the last month his presence on the court has been more of a rare siting, which hasn’t necessary been a bad thing. Though Nurkic coming into the league was as a very promising prospect, with his Monstrous body and relatively quick reflexes for his size, he also showed a pretty nice complimentary mid-range shot. He just didn’t have the skills to match Jokic, but very few centers in the league do. It put Nurkic in a position where he either had to choose to adapt behind Jokic, or ask for a trade.

            I’m not saying that Nurkic asked for this trade, but it did take him just too long to adapt to the current conditions. Leading to why Plumlee will be a great fit for the nuggets. He’s an athletic Big-man with the capability to come out and back-up Jokic and have similar production. He averages 4 Assists a game, allowing the nuggets to keep the passing and motion consistent throughout the game, not just when Jokic is on the court. Plumlee also averages 11.1 ppr., 8 rpg., and 52.3% Shooting percentage, all really great numbers that will come in really handy as the season wears on. He has physicality and athletic ability which most big men lack and either lean on either direction being mainly physical or vice versa. Plumlee is a legit center, and has the ability to back up Jokic, or allow Jokic to move to Power forward giving him a smaller defender which in turn will allow him more rebound opportunities. We all know moving Jokic to Power Forward under Nurkic at Center didn’t work, but with Plumlees’ passing and rebound ability Jokic could sit out at the three and wait for dishes by Plumlee for easy 3’s, or even play a big man pick and roll letting jokic either dish it to a screening plumlee, or kick out for a shot or pass to an open shooter. I know a big man pick and roll sounds silly, one of the points of having it run through the point and center positions is for defender switches which usually leave one defender mismatched with an either much larger or much smaller man to guard. But with Jokics’ passing ability he could run the play just like any point guard, maybe even better as he can see passing lanes most point guards can’t. This might not ever happen and the once touted twin towers is just a thought from the beginning of the season, but it would be cool to see. 

            Plumlee is a Free agent next season, and will have the option to leave, and the nuggets will have a chance to either give him another offer or let him walk at the end. Most people wouldn’t approve of trading for a player who can just up and leave the next season, but in the end It works well for the Nuggets. Plumlee is a legitimate Starter and seeing him walk to another team offering a starting position and higher salary would not be a surprise, but he may just like it here in Denver and his role. He will have a chance to play decent minutes with no other legitimate center on the roster. Nuggets will be able to deepen their center position as they approach the playoffs, and they’ll get a more then good look at Plumlee to decide on whether they want to extend him.