Getty Nikola Jokic #15 of the Denver Nuggets goes to the basket against Rudy Gobert #27 of the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Denver Nuggets general manager Calvin Booth addressed the team’s biggest weakness last season by signing versatile Croatian big man Dario Saric.
According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, Saric agreed to join the Nuggets on a two-year, $10.6 million deal with the second year a team option. The Nuggets will absorb the 30-year-old veteran into their taxpayer midlevel exception.
Wojnarowski added Booth pursued Saric to bolster the Nuggets’ bench unit with his versatility, experience and superior basketball IQ.
Saric is expected to boost the Nuggets bench, who were outscored by 20.1 points per 100 possessions in the playoffs when three-time MVP Nikola Jokic was off the court, per Basketball Reference.
The Nuggets will now have a versatile, playmaking big man who can anchor the second unit similar to Jokic’s effect with the starters.
The 6-foot-10 Saric averaged 8.0 points, 4.4 rebounds and 2.2 assists for the Golden State Warriors last season. He has career averages of 10.6 points, 5.9 rebounds and 1.9 assists.
However, Saric’s on-off numbers with the Warriors last season may present a potential issue for the Nuggets.
The Warriors were plus-4.2 better when Saric was off the court. They were minus-1.1 worse when he was on the floor, which factored into Warriors coach Steve Kerr replacing him with then-rookie Trayce Jackson-Davis in the second unit as the season went along.
Nuggets Lose 5th Starter
Saric’s addition and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope‘s departure would put more pressure on the Nuggets’ defense.
Caldwell-Pope, the Nuggets’ fifth starter, opted to leave and join the Orlando Magic for a three-year, $66 million deal, as reported by Wojnarowski.
Caldwell-Pope was the Nuggets’ best perimeter defender.
Denver opponents shot 40.6% when Caldwell-Pope was the closest defender, per Second Spectrum (h/t ESPN’s front office insider Bobby Marks), the best mark in the regular season among all players to defend more than 500 shots.
On offense, he shot 40.6% from the 3-point range, making him one of the top 3-and-D wings in the league. The 30-year-old Caldwell-Pope averaged 10.1 points 2.4 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 1.3 steals across 76 regular-season games.
Caldwell-Pope is also one of the most durable players, missing only 16 regular-season games over the last three seasons. However, his performance dipped in the last playoffs. He struggled to shoot the ball, hitting only 39.5% from the field and 32.7% from the 3-point area.
Replacing Kentavious Caldwell-Pope
Booth, however, exuded confidence they could replace Caldwell-Pope internally.
“I think we’re prepared to like plug and play so to speak,” Booth told reporters after the NBA Draft on Wednesday, June 26. “When you look at some of the teams that have been good in the past, they had to find a way to replace fourth, fifth starters, sixth men off the bench and still keep rolling.
It would be nice if he’s back, we’d have a lot of continuity together, but all the stuff I’ve looked at with lineup stuff and everything, Christian Braun is one of the best net rating guys in the league, as is KCP. So, I think if he’s to step into the starting lineup, I would project that we’ll be OK if KCP doesn’t return.”
Caldwell-Pope has an 11.3 net rating this past season, 34th in the NBA. While the 23-year-old Braun had a positive net rating, he was way far off from Caldwell-Pope. Braun registered a 0.7 net rating, ranked 232nd in the NBA this past season.
Booth’s thinking is Braun would benefit from playing alongside three-time NBA MVP Nikola Jokic, who has the team’s best net rating at 11.8.