The Nuggets aren’t expected to be one of the more active teams ahead of the NBA trade deadline on Thursday, but they do have some business to attend to. They are $402,000 over the luxury tax currently, but still need to convert Spencer Jones’ two-way deal as well. There are moves to be made, but likely nothing major.
If there is a move that actually impacts the rotation, and the Nuggets have any position that could need to be addressed before the playoff run, it’s a backup point guard. Denver has great depth at every spot on the court, but they don’t have a proven floor general coming off the bench behind Jamal Murray.
They get plenty of creation and ball-handling from other positions, they use Bruce Brown as a pseudo point guard, and then there’s Jalen Pickett. Pickett is the only true, natural point guard on the roster besides Murray, but in his first two seasons, he didn’t prove he was an NBA-caliber rotation player.
This season, thanks in part to the void at point guard and thanks in part to all the injuries, Pickett has played an important role in the team’s success, even starting 16 games. He has had some good moments and seems to have earned the trust of David Adelman and his coaching staff.
If Nuggets trust Pickett, they do not need to add backup pg
-----------------------------------------------------------
But filling in during the regular season and playing high-leverage playoff minutes are very different things. When push comes to shove, are the Nuggets confident going to war with Pickett as the only backup point guard on the roster?
We’re going to get our answer to that question in the next few days, because actions speak louder than words. If they believe in Pickett, they won’t need to make a move, but if they’re not fully confident, they will likely look to add a veteran in the backcourt at the deadline.
They can send out plenty of salary between Zeke Nnaji, Julian Strawther, and others to get a number of cheap, veteran, rotation-level point guards who are likely to shake free in the coming days. They can dangle future picks and swaps, and make this work if they feel it’s a big priority.
But perhaps, Pickett has won them over, and they don’t believe that this is much of a priority at all. If that’s the case, they’ll be content to handle their accounting business and move forward with the current roster. Maybe they add someone from the buyout market eventually, but that’s not a risk worth banking on.
So, for better or worse, we are going to see exactly what the Nuggets think of Pickett in the next few days, based on how they attack the backup point guard position, if at all, ahead of Thursday’s 1 PM MT deadline.