Denver Nuggets acquire Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Ish Smith
Adding Caldwell-Pope is a great move by Calvin Booth and the Nuggets. He’s kind of a perfect role player for this team. Caldwell-Pope increases Denver’s defensive capabilities on the perimeter tremendously. A team that has both
Michael Porter Jr. and
Jamal Murray on the floor when they’re healthy needs a defensive player like KCP, who can be very aggressive but grounded at the same time. He’s not going to fly all over the court and gamble a bunch to try to create turnovers. He’s a sound, good defender.
I don’t know if he can totally fix the Nuggets’ perimeter defense, but considering they have
Aaron Gordon and the version of
Nikola Jokić who competed the best he ever has on defense last season, maybe they can pull it together on that end. It’s not like the Nuggets are bad defensively. They’ve been a team in the upper half of the league in defense the past three seasons. But MPJ and Murray coming back certainly hurts what they can put on that end of the floor, and Caldwell-Pope should help alleviate some of that strain.
As for his offensive capabilities, Caldwell-Pope doesn’t do much other than cut and shoot. That’s perfect for a team centered around Jokić, the back-to-back MVP. KCP has made 38 percent of his 3-pointers in his five seasons since leaving
Detroit. He made 39 percent of his 3-pointers last season for the Wizards. He’s also durable, having only missed 12 total games in the past three seasons.
As for the Smith pickup, he’s about as solid as they come as a backup point guard. He can push the pace extremely well, distribute and score a little. Losing Morris will be the toughest part of this trade for the Nuggets, but as long as Murray stays healthy and Bones Hyland continues to develop, this backcourt will be fine. Both Caldwell-Pope and Smith are only under contract for this coming season before becoming free agents in 2023, so these could be short-term solutions/options for Denver. The Nuggets also navigate luxury-tax land a little easier with this deal.
Grade: B+
Washington Wizards acquire Will Barton, Monté Morris
I really like this move for the Wizards, as long as Beal comes back and both he and
Kristaps Porziņģis stay healthy. The latter part of that is going to be the trickiest part of anything the Wizards do. Beal is expected to re-sign on a full max deal with the Wizards, so unless something dramatic changes in the next couple of days, Wizards fans should rest easy on that. As for the health of Beal and Porziņģis moving forward … you know what, let’s talk about Barton and Morris.
Morris is the prize of this acquisition. Ever since John Wall got injured and eventually moved, the Wizards have struggled to keep a point guard around Beal.
Russell Westbrook had a good one-year stint there.
Spencer Dinwiddie made it half a season before he was moved. The Wizards need a steady, dangerous point guard next to Beal, and Morris should be able to provide exactly that. Morris started nearly every game for the Nuggets last season with Murray missing the entire year. And he was really good.
Morris shoots the ball well, scoring 12.6 points per game on 58.3 percent true shooting. He’s a good playmaker, averaging 4.4 assists in just under 30 minutes per game while playing in an offense designed to get Jokić all of the playmaking opportunities. And he had over a 4:1 assist-to-turnover ratio last season. For his career, Morris clocks in at a nearly 5:1 assist-to-turnover ratio (4.77:1). He’s really good running an offense and being a threat out there when you double hard against the stars of the team. Complementing and playing off Beal will be easy for him, and we know he can run a two-man game with Porziņģis.
Barton is a solid wing to replace Caldwell-Pope. He’s not the defender we saw with KCP, but he can be active and disruptive in the right system. Offensively, he can score in bursts, and he’s a good enough 3-point shooter. He’s made 36.8 percent of his 3-pointers over the last six seasons. That won’t set any records, but it’s a steady shooting stroke above league average for more than half a decade.
Barton has one year left on his deal, and Morris is signed through the 2023-24 season. It’s a good roster adjustment by Tommy Sheppard.
Grade: A-
Denver looks set to add some defense to its core, while Washington will get a quality backup point guard.
theathletic.com
