Winner: Denver Nuggets
One of the biggest issues for Denver this season has been a lackluster performance defensively in the low-post. For as good as Nikola Jokic is offensively, he’s an equally horrendous defender. Add in lackluster defensive performances from Kenneth Faried and Jusuf Nurkic, and this is one of the primary reasons Denver has failed to take that next step.
In the weeks leading up to Thursday’s trade deadline, Denver sought to fix this issue. And it succeeded big time. The team moved Nurkic to the Portland Trail Blazers in exchange for fellow big man Mason Plumlee. Sure, sending a first-round pick to Portland in the deal might hurt long-term. But Plumlee is a marked upgrade here.
A former first-round pick from Duke, Plumlee is averaging 11.1 points, 8.0 rebounds and 3.9 assists per game. More than this, he’s a tremendous defensive presence in the block. Simply put, the Nuggets traded away a horrendous defender in Nurkic for a top-end defender.
That’s what we would call targeting a weakness and making sure to address it. That might not lead to the Nuggets earning a playoff spot, but it was a good move for both the long term and moving forward this season.