Why This Trade Makes Sense For The Denver Nuggets
With how this roster is constructed right now, Nikola Jokic is the Nuggets’ best player, but this team will only go as far as Jamal Murray is able to carry them. He is their best overall talent and playmaker on the offensive end of the court and given the performances he had down in the NBA Bubble last season, come playoff time, teams will become a lot smarter when it comes to guarding him.
He will not get as many one-on-one opportunities as a result of the lack of talent surrounding him and opponents’ abilities to double-team him on the drive. Denver needs another reliable offensive weapon, which is why trading away Gary Harris for both Julius Randle and Reggie Bullock make a lot of sense.
Bullock is not as good of a defender as Harris, but can hold his own in that aspect of the game, as well as duplicate the shooting numbers Harris put up on the wing and Randle is an all-around offensive weapon. Much like Nikola Jokic, he is a great passer for a big and very aggressive on the glass.
As mentioned earlier, Denver’s biggest flaw as a team this season is that they do not have reliable rebounders in the frontcourt, which is why Julius Randle is a no-brainer target for the Nuggets. Not to mention, he is only 26-years old and can fill the void that Jerami Grant left perfectly for many years to come.
With Grant gone and Millsap in the final years of his career, the Nuggets need to find another player to pair with Jokic for the foreseeable future quickly, which is why the Nuggets trading for Randle makes a lot of sense moving forward. He can contribute now at a high-level and can help lead them to success moving forward, so why not trade Harris and a first-round pick for a solidified high-level role player?
Denver’s only chance of making it back to the Western Conference Finals is to bring in another offensive weapon to pair with Murray, Jokic and Porter Jr. and if they do not, then this team will likely see an early exit in the playoffs. The Western Conference just has too much talent and given the lack of talent in Denver, unless they make a move, they will not have the success they had last year.
