ninkcantdraw | Nuggets

171 | 5 hours ago

can he do it? YES HE CAM!! he had a bad stretch of games previously but the moment he regained his confidence hes been going crazy.

tristvn

45 | 4 hours ago

he had like 3 bad games that happened to all be on national tv

yourhomeland

12 | 3 hours ago

Turns out a player adjusting to a completely different team takes some time to be effective….

2131andBeyond | Cavaliers

11 | 2 hours ago

He shot 42.9% from 3 from the start of the season to February.

He shot 49.⁶⁄₄₃.9 in 13 games in November.

All this talk about him shooting poorly this season have been so confusing. And I say that as somebody living in Denver now that goes to a lot of games here.

ruggnuget | Nuggets

1 | 32 minutes ago

In fairness a lot of the criticisms I had of his play were not about shooting percentages. They were about the 2-3 baffling turnovers from trying to pass instead of taking the layup, the drives to the lane he hesitated on and turned into contested jumpers or the open 3 pters he record scratched on. He is now being more aggressive within the offensie and his shots have gone up and is scoring more points as much because of that than anything. He is playing with more confidence and it shows a lot more on the eye test than it even does in the numbers.

FunIsWinning | Thunder

2 | an hour ago

Even without the shooting, his team defense has been awesome. Braun and Gordon are already great primary defenders but combined that with Cam stunting, and helping makes for a solid defense, his communication for defensive rotations has been noticeable too. Their defense might not be as solid as OKC and Spurs but Braun/Gordon/Cam/Payton should be more than enough defense for the #1 offense and will importantly reduce their volatility. I hate y’all but the team construction is awesome.

SydneyFall | Nuggets

77 | 5 hours ago

He had to change his role massively, but has been a major asset since he has settled in.

But I also can’t deny until we see it show up in playoffs, he will make me nervous.

ZeiZaoLS | Suns

10 | 2 hours ago

He played well in the playoffs in Phoenix when healthy, way better on defense than advertised.

SydneyFall | Nuggets

3 | an hour ago

Him being the 5th or 6th option on offense seems while playing good defense seems pretty great, but he also took longer to fall into that role than expected.

You just never know until the games matter more than the regular season.

nbaistheworst

59 | 5 hours ago

Your title is deceptive, because you posted his percentages since the last day of February, which means since the beginning of March.

Good to see him playing well, especially with Watson out yet again. Braun has also looked better starting in February after missing 12 games, although not as good from three.

As long as no one else gets injured, the Nuggets are a contender.

YourAsianBuddy | Knicks

51 | 5 hours ago

He hit some big fucking shots late in that Nuggets Spurs game.

ricdvs

12 | 4 hours ago

That 4 point play was absolutely clutch

TxBobcat67 | Thunder

19 | 5 hours ago

Nuggets getting hot going into the playoffs. They’re the last team I want to see in the playoffs lol 😅

Jra805 | NBA

1 | 2 hours ago

After that defensive clip against Fox…

Jokic regular season🔓
Jokic playoff time🔒

ilikekittens2018 | Nuggets

10 | 5 hours ago

He’s only had one or two bad games and otherwise been so reliable and honestly very clutch. Big plays down the stretch against the Spurs to help us win that game. Considering MPJ was hurt and averaging 9 points a game last year, even if he drops off a little in the playoffs (which I don’t think he will) he’ll be a big upgrade.

1443441

8 | 5 hours ago

I think confidence is the biggest factor. His volume is expectedly lower than on the Nets, but I think he could still pull up a little more often. 10 FGA seems entirely obtainable, without losing efficiency. Loved his performance in the clutch vs Spurs.

hamholemanhole

3 | 5 hours ago

But but the nets won the trade

BillKennedyEnjoyer | Nets

20 | 5 hours ago

It was always a win-win trade (Nuggets get a proven 3-and-D wing, while getting more cap flexibility, Nets get an unprotected first post-Jokic and take a chance on a young scorer), but MPJ has been better (and healthier) for the Nets than expected and Cam has been worse for the Nuggets than expected. CJ should/will be great on the Nuggets, but the standard is always higher for the championship-or-bust team.

StrikeElectrical9400 | Nuggets

8 | 4 hours ago

Dont got to be like that. MPJ will always be our boy.. Always. This trade was just sadly what had to be done. It was always a win win trade. We got more cap space and a better defender while the nets got a stud and a pick. Dont have to disrespect my boy MPJ like that

LarryTheYoutuber

-4 | 5 hours ago

lol

PeanutFarmer69 | Nets

-7 | 5 hours ago

Nuggets/ Knicks fans bending over backwards to defend getting dominated my Papa Marks

SolarBum | Nuggets

1 | 4 hours ago

Hey man, we still love MPJ here, but let’s not pretend that MPJ putting up a couple good stat lines against the hospital Nuggets missing literally every single starter except Murray means anything, or that both teams didn’t come out better from this trade.

We had to drop MPJ’s contract, and that money let us build a bench that has been huge (especially THJ). And while Cam started off slow, per the subject of the post, Cam has been balling since coming back from his injury in February, and even with the bad shooting to start the season now has a 3p% this season higher than any MPJ has ever put up in his career, other than one outlier year in 2020.

And in return, you guys get to make our former 4th best player be the unquestioned face of your franchise and watch him put up higher numbers on crappier efficiency while leading your team to an awful record. Everybody wins!

PeanutFarmer69 | Nets

-3 | 4 hours ago

“Let’s not pretend that MPJ putting up a couple good what lines against the hospital nuggets”, what are you even talking about?!

You did not have to drop MPJ’s contract, this is a line fed to nba media by the nuggets gm to justify dumping a better player for a worse player (plus a FRP) to save money/ remain under the first apron.

SolarBum | Nuggets

1 | 3 hours ago

For the same amount of money our choice was between:

A) MPJ or

B) Cam Johnson, Tim Hardaway Jr., Bruce Brown and Jonas Valencunias.

On what planet would it makes sense to keep MPJ?

Since Cam came back from injury the drop-off has not been noticeable from his position alone (especially with Cam being a much better defender than MPJ), and when you include the bench play (especially THJ) we were able to acquire after the trade, the difference has been huge.

Consider this:

MPJ was never very good on defense, frequently targeted, didn’t ever do much to create space. He was largely just the 3p specialist, there to hit 3p’s from the corner. That was what his role was on the team. And to his credit, he actually set the Nuggets franchise record for made 3’s in a season a couple years ago, with 220.

Now here’s the funny thing: Tim Hardaway Jr. - one of the backups we got from the money saved on MPJ’s contract - is currently at 217 and about to break MPJ’s Nugget’s record - coming off the bench no less.

(note: Jamal Murray also smashed that record this season, further evidence that we’re not missing MPJ’s productivity).

So you can do your own twisting to imagine somehow the Nuggets lost this trade, and every Nuggets fan in existence will point out that that not only did we vastly improve from this trade and would do it ¹⁰⁰⁄₁₀₀ times, but we did it while also staying under the apron.

It’s OK to admit both teams benefited lol.

PeanutFarmer69 | Nets

0 | 3 hours ago

But you’re just repeating the same thing here, the choice was never MPJ OR improving other parts of the roster, they could’ve kept MPJ and improved the roster but as I said, didn’t want to go above the first apron.

For example, Tim Hardaway is on a veteran’s minimum, OFC he could’ve been signed regardless.

Likewise, it’s okay to admit the nuggets penny pinched and as a result are worse off than they could’ve been.

SolarBum | Nuggets

1 | 3 hours ago

And you seem to be missing the point. There are significant team-building down sides (beyond just costing the owner money) when you go over the 1st apron (and especially the 2nd).

You seem to think we should have kept MPJ and gone over the apron to try to sign some of these depth guys.

But there was no need: we improved our team (and more than made up for MPJ’s productivity) while staying under the apron.

That means the Nuggets still have the ability to go into the 1st apron to sign critical players like Peyton Watson if they want, who becomes a free agent this year. If they had kept MPJ and signed these other guys putting them deep into the 1st apron, there would be zero way to keep Peyton Watson.

The Nuggets absolutely made the right move trading MPJ, it had benefited the team tremendously, and I’ve not heard anyone honestly argue otherwise until you, a Nets fan, right this moment.

PeanutFarmer69 | Nets

-1 | 3 hours ago

“That means the nuggets still have the ability to go into the 1st apron to sign critical players”

Spoiler alert, they will not.

“I’ve not heard anyone argue otherwise”

The trade has been heavily criticized all season given CJ’s… uneven performance so far, you might not have heard anyone argue otherwise but that’s probably because your head is in the sand.

Also, I’m not missing any point, you keep changing the argument, first you gave me a binary choice of A. MPJ or B. CJ, Hardaway, etc., and now you’re saying something completely different.

Another thing, nuggets fans pretending cam Johnson is good at defense needs to stop, he gets the slight edge in some stuff but in the aggregate, given MPJ’s size and rebounding ability, there is really no huge difference on that end between the two.

SolarBum | Nuggets

1 | 2 hours ago

needs to stop

What needs to stop is you pretending this is some “binary” comparison between MPJ and Cam Johnson, as if those were the only players involved, or as if money is no factor.

The original question was whether or not the Nuggets are better off after the trade. And there’s zero question that they’re better off. And if there’s a Nuggets fan that would “undo” that trade, I’ve yet to meet them.

We had MPJ (on a huge contract) and no bench.

We desperately needed a bench (given the lack of bench is what got us tossed out of the playoffs last year) but had no cap space to make that happen.

So we traded MPJ for Cam, knowing it was a modest downgrade in offensive production (but which we have more than enough firepower to absorb, plus it would come with a slight increase in defense), but most importantly would free up tons of money to make a massive difference on our bench, which was the main priority.

So we made the trade, and while Cam hasn’t been as productive as MPJ, as expected, (though he’s now starting to come on this past month), the other additions have made a huge difference. I mean, TJH will literally end up being more productive off the bench than MPJ was at his only real job on our team, which was hitting 3’s lol.

I’m not sure why Nets fans seem so fixated on imagining they “won” some kind of trade. Both teams benefited, and it’s OK to admit that.

I get MPJ has been a big deal to you guys because he’s the best player on your (no offense) shit team, but he was (at most) our 4th-most impactful starter out of 5, and his loss was easily absorbed.

I mean, while the Nets are doing even worse this year than last year, the Nuggets are still easily the best offense in the NBA and on pace to have a better record than last year, despite being decimated by injuries (and man, I’d hate to think what would have happened to this season with all our starters down if we hadn’t upgraded our bench, thanks MPJ!).

orangesodazz | Nuggets

0 | 4 hours ago

He needs as many FRPs as possible, how have those 5 rookies worked out for the Nets this season?

PeanutFarmer69 | Nets

2 | 4 hours ago

Good thing the nuggets FRP is unprotected in 2032 and not one of those 5, huh?

Also, pretty well, tanking spectacularly.

orangesodazz | Nuggets

1 | 4 hours ago

I guess the goal is to keep losing & stay irrelevant?

PeanutFarmer69 | Nets

0 | 4 hours ago

Nope, it’s to get high lottery picks for a few years and then build around those players like the two best teams in the nba did not too long ago, but you knew that and are just being a salty homer because I mentioned the nuggets.

Sanmonov | Nuggets

6 | 5 hours ago

He took longer than anticipated to settle into his new role, in some part due to his own lack of aggression.

He has however, on balance provided what was advertised. Consistent defence, gravity and the ability to knock down catch and shot 3s, and some off the ball bounce.

-xXxMangoxXx- | Raptors

3 | 4 hours ago

While his numbers will prob go down, people were also going crazy about how “bad” he’s been when his shooting slump came off him coming back from an injury, and the beginning of the season when getting used to the nuggets system. He’s been great for their system. MPJ is the better player, but paying him 40mil when you can get a worse player that fits in his slot for half the price is just a no brainer deal, when they already have an elite 3 man offense with jokic-murray-AG.

SwampDragonsFan | Nets

2 | 4 hours ago

I always felt like he would come to form late season after watching him up close with the Nets. I feel like he’ll continue to be solid in the playoffs. Happy for Cam to be on a contender again

BasketballScout101

1 | 5 hours ago

I thought it was pretty absurd people turned their back on cam over 1 bad season in Denver in his first year there. Dudes been a 40% 3 pt shooter his whole career from college to the nba on well above avg volume.

It never made sense why you would predict his shooting wouldn’t recover eventually in Denver.

I still maintain if Denver gets healthy by the playoffs, they are extremely dangerous, moreso than last year.

Strength in numbers always. Denver was right to do what they did last offseason. They chose depth over MPJ basically.

Substantial-Sea-5729 | Thunder

1 | 4 hours ago

I still am not convinced he makes the team better than MPJ lol

treacletart284 | Nuggets

11 | 4 hours ago

He himself might not, although his defence recently has been top notch. What we really got out of that trade though was cap space, so its actually would MPJ make the team as good as we are with Cam, Bruce Brown, Valanciunas and Tim Hardaway Jr, and we’re almost certainly better off now. Was a win-win trade imo

runevault | Nuggets

8 | 4 hours ago

To add before someone says it, yes we could have signed Bruce and THJ anyway because they are minimums, but going over the second apron is generally bad and getting off MPJ let us get them AND keep the trade flexibility of being a team below the second apron.

Substantial-Sea-5729 | Thunder

10 | 4 hours ago

That makes sense, appreciate the details thats cool

nullstellensatz1

-4 | 4 hours ago

Trade flexibility for what trades?

danjustin | Nuggets

2 | 3 hours ago

Well this year, to trade for Jonas, which probably is the difference between the 3 seed and the 6th seed.

And then for next year, the ability to navigate the Peyton Watson extension, which includes being able to trade anyone on the roster if needed (such as aggregating Nnaji and Strawther, which is impossible to do under the 2nd apron)

nullstellensatz1

0 | 2 hours ago

The Jonas trade happened before the MPJ trade, it just took longer to manifest because he tried to go to Europe.

I’ll believe that the Nuggets will aggregate Nnaji with someone else’s contract when I see it. I’ve been told that’s the plan for a couple seasons now and no bites on that particular line. I understand a small market team needs to be careful about spending, but if ever there were a time to spend money, it would be while you’ve got a core built around a 31 year old 7 footer who is currently the best player in the world.

Szobortz | Mavericks

1 | 3 hours ago

if he slims down and gets in game shape, something he hasn’t done for like 4 years with nets, he should make the team better.

mpj got you lucky wins with his shooting but cam can stabilize the team and they’re built up and down for fundamental basketball. it’ll also allow murray to get more of those hero shots

RepresentativeAd1965 | Nuggets

1 | 3 hours ago

Killa Cam

TheLionYeti | Nuggets

1 | an hour ago

I am mostly retracting my Scam Johnson slander that was really in full force around christmas

Drak_is_Right | Pacers

1 | an hour ago

At least he is playing. Same can’t be said for Porter.

Cam Johnson is shooting 51% from the field and 45.5% from three since February