Now that Paul Millsap has been signed, the Denver Nuggets still have some housekeeping to do whether or not they sign another free agent – perhaps a point guard like George Hill. They have a glut of power forwards that will have to be cleared out for simple roster clarity and rotation streamlining. Per Kevin O’Connor however, Denver may still be trying to rearrange the roster and still add that extra free agent after all.
Pursuing Hill still makes plenty of sense for Denver, which can’t feel comfortable letting Jameer Nelson handle the point guard duties as he turns 36. Neither Jamal Murray nor Emmanuel Mudiay is ready for a playoff run as the dominant ball-handler at this point – Mudiay just hit legal drinking age four months ago and Murray won’t make it there until next year. Nikola Jokic makes a lot of things work for Denver, but he has trouble making it 30 minutes into a game; he’s certainly not playing 40+.
By adding Millsap the Nuggets have signalled their willingness to enter into the bloodbath that will be the 2018 Western Conference playoff chase. It’s unwise to do that with an unseasoned point guard no matter what kind of magician is playing center or how talented some of your young guards may be. Whether it’s Hill or another point guard (Eric Bledsoe, perhaps) the Nuggets have to both rearrange the roster and add that veteran at the point for when Jokic is on the bench.
Doing a sign-and-trade for their over-abundance of power forwards is hard with Hill though, since the Utah Jazz have very little use for most of them. They just traded Trey Lyles to Denver, in fact, in an attempt to clarify their own roster structure. The Nuggets may be working on a three-team sign-and-trade to get Hill into a Nuggets uniform or just attempting to move enough salary for future considerations (Faried and Arthur potentially as the tweet suggests) in order to sign Hill outright.
However it goes, it’s not really possible for Denver to stand pat with the roster as currently assembled. More changes are coming, Nuggets fans.
