Troy Renck: There is no Calvin Booth to kick around. Maybe the former general manager can mock us with mock drafts instead of his real ones. The first round of the NBA Draft arrives on Tuesday night and rumors continue to swirl that the Nuggets are interested in moving up from the 26th pick overall. The capitulation elimination by the Timberwolves exposed serious holes in the Nuggets’ roster. They need better ball-handling and defenders capable of switching and slowing the E-470 toll road to the rim. When looking at the options, who should the Nuggets consider dealing up to land?
Sean Keeler: Baby, you should drive that Carr. In a perfect world, you’re not just re-signing Peyton Watson this summer. You’re sticking his profile into the 3-D printer and adding clones of him. And of those clones, Cameron Carr of Baylor is the one worth dealing for, on paper. He’s a 6-foot-5 wing with a 7-foot-long wingspan. He’s got a 42-inch vertical leap. He features a high release point and a quick trigger. He’s got the quicks to close and the length to guard spots 1-4 on the floor. Even better, he’s 21, with seven or eight peak seasons still ahead of him. If you want someone who won’t back down whenever Jaden McDaniels, Ayo Dosunmu, Terrence Shannon Jr. and Anthony Edwards are hunting the HOV lane to the rim, Carr’s your guy.
Renck: Talking with our Nuggets expert Bennett Durando, the realistic targets for a deal start at 14 or 18 with the Charlotte Hornets and likely end with the Raptors (19) and Pistons (21). These are teams who want to become serious contenders after dipping their toes in the playoff waters last season. Would the Nuggets hit the reset button and ship Aaron Gordon to the Hornets for Carr or Texas’ Dailyn Swain? Or could they land Swain or Arizona rugged forward Koa Peat by inching up the ladder a few picks? Swain is a versatile defender who can get to the rim. He must improve as a shooter. Same goes for Peat. But Peat projects as an alley-oop replacement for Gordon, fitting perfectly with a space-creating center like Nikola Jokic. He would also add a layer of toughness needed on the boards and at the rim.
Keeler: Got to admit — I do like the idea of re-Peating with a younger Aaron Gordon playalike. I remember coming away impressed by what Peat did in Boulder a few months back (12-for-15 shooting from the floor) against CU. Downside? He doesn’t — at least, not right now, at any rate — have AG’s shooting touch, and it sounds as if teams will be perfectly content to leave him open anywhere past about 9 feet away from the rim. He also doesn’t have AG’s hops, mind you. Although it’s fair to wonder if AG at present has AG’s old hops, too
Renck: It is my belief that the Nuggets must go backward to compete with the league’s upper crust again. Trading Cam Johnson or Aaron Gordon — or both — makes sense to keep Peyton Watson. If a team wants to take Christian Braun’s contract, fine. But no salary dumps. The Nuggets need draft capital to maximize their reinvention over the next few years. They must hit on the first round. DaRon Holmes II has been a ghost since being drafted due to injury and ineffectiveness. As long as Jokic is on the Nuggets, they are a postseason team. But how they play in the postseason will depend largely on the drafts the next two seasons. It is worth moving someone to move up.
Keeler: Said it before, gonna say it again: You need more P-Swats on this roster, not fewer. While his contract is a beast to move, Jamal Murray’s trade value might never get any higher than it is right now, given a spate of (relatively) good health. Nuggets Nation has wanted the Zeke Nnaji contract moved for what feels like a decade now — but I’d imagine that trading up to the 12-16 sweet spot of the first round will require a much bigger piece on the table than our man Zeke, sadly. And a much bigger swing on the part of the three-headed monster that is Josh Kroenke, Jon Wallace and Ben Tenzer. But that said, Carr’s upside is more than worth it. The Nuggets could do a lot worse than the second coming of Devin Vassell or Trey Murphy III. If you’ve only got one more chance to remake your core around the Joker, why not go wild?
