Keeler: Before Aaron Gordon stole Front Range hearts and slammed them with two hands in the face of hapless NBA defenders, the title of “Mr. Nugget” belonged to Monte Morris. So imagine my delight when I saw The Ringer’s Kevin O’Connor on Monday postulate that Calvin Booth and the Nuggs brass were “considering” making a run at the veteran Pistons point guard. Big Game Tae is stuck in a backcourt logjam in the Motor City and was beloved here by teammates, coaches, scribes — pretty much everyone. Meanwhile, the Nuggets need some more vroom out of their bench as they fortify for a playoff run, and another beloved dude, local hero Reggie Jackson, seems to have hit a wall. Morris is slated to become an unrestricted free agent after this season. If Booth could make the math work for rebuilding Detroit (maybe forward Zeke Nnaji?), a swap that brings Morris “home” could be a win-win for everybody — well, except maybe Reggie. But I say it’s a heck of a problem to have when your team’s smack dab in the middle of a title window. What say you?
Durando: No denying Morris’ clout in Denver. Problem is, you might have to make that decision — Jackson vs. Morris — before agreeing to any such deal. The Nuggets are so cap-cramped that the only way to complete the trade would be to use Jackson’s and/or Nnaji’s contracts for salary-matching purposes. Denver can’t do Jackson for Morris or Nnaji for Morris straight up. Without involving draft picks, those two would have to be packaged to get within 110% of Morris’ $9.8 million cap figure. At that point, is it worth giving up on multiple players with term for a rental who may not even be an upgrade? I think not. Maybe if the Pistons bought out Morris’s contract, the Nuggets could get a hometown bargain and waive someone, but it seems like there is a market for Morris.
Keeler: One of the secret ingredients of the Nuggets’ latent dynasty is chemistry, both on and off the court. The good news? We already know Morris ticks both boxes. More critically, he knows how to play with Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray, the two most important votes in the room, even if his history here was largely as an understudy to the latter. A big part of what this team misses in Bruce Brown is a bench-unit guy who can also close out big postseason games for coach Michael Malone. During their last two campaigns here as a (reasonably) healthy trio (’19-20 and ’20-21) the trio of Morris-Jokic-Murray logged 549 minutes on the floor together during the regular season. According to NBA.com tracking data, the threesome posted a Net Efficiency Rating advantage of plus-8.9 in ’19-20 and plus-15.7 in ’20-21. I dig Reggie, but Jackson has played only 82 minutes with the Nuggets’ big two in the regular season since he was acquired, putting up a minus-11.8 Net Efficiency over 37 minutes last season and a plus-38.5 over 45 minutes in ’23-24. That’s a pretty small sample size. Pretty volatile, too.
Durando:Â Murray and Jackson sharing the floor for 228 minutes has been an interesting if unconvincing experiment. They’re pretty much breaking even in net rating. I think it’s fair to consider any options that can improve Denver’s bench scoring because Jackson’s offense has struggled lately. Since Dec. 19, he’s shooting 39.2% from the field and 31.7% from 3, and he has only been in double figures eight of the last 23 games. But here’s the thing: 50% of what you have to consider when evaluating a depth player is how he fits in case of injury. Jackson played his best basketball when Murray was hurt in November (15.7 PPG on 53.2/44.9% shooting). Jackson and Morris might both have defensive shortcomings that keep them off the floor in clutch time, but clearly Jackson still has a scoring punch, enough that I don’t see Morris as a sure-fire upgrade.
Keeler: In a perfect world, Booth would have the cap wiggle and roster flexibility to add about two more KCPs — 3-and-D wizards with length. That’s not Jackson, although his postseason shooting splits in the fourth quarter from 2019-23 (21 for 46 on 3s, 11 for 12 at the charity stripe), are borderline superb, and admittedly better than the numbers put up by Morris (4 for 17 on 3s, 17 for 22 at the line) over that same span. We don’t live in that world, sadly. The “correct” answer when it comes to Morris vs. Jackson is probably neither of the above. But if I’ve gotta pick one, I’ll ride with the Devil I know better.
Durando: I’m fairly confident a Morris trade to Denver is not happening, but I do enjoy a good “who would you rather have?” hypothetical. In a vacuum, I can understand the allure of a Morris reunion. But my sense is the team has faith in Jackson, a Colorado kid who’s hungry to contribute to a championship run more than he did from the end of the bench last season. And ultimately, the Nuggets have to find the right trade partner if they’re going to move Nnaji right after signing him to a four-year extension. His poison pill restriction already complicates matters. There are bench players out there whose salaries actually resemble Nnaji’s enough that a one-for-one trade is feasible. Morris isn’t one of them.
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