When the NBA's new collective bargaining agreement was ratified, the Denver Nuggets were almost certainly going to be a team that was hurt by it. Due to salary cap restraints, it was always a strong possibility that the Nuggets weren't going to be able to retain all of their championship core. Sure enough, the Nuggets were unable to keep two key rotation players when free agency opened in Bruce Brown and Jeff Green, who signed with the Indiana Pacers and the Houston Rockets, respectively.
With little money to spend in NBA free agency, the Nuggets were tasked with trying to add pieces to keep their championship window open in a cost-efficient manner. The Nuggets did manage to make a strong NBA free agency signing in veteran wing Justin Holiday, and his addition has been their best move of the offseason so far.
Nuggets best free agency move: Signing Justin Holiday
Nuggets head coach Michael Malone runs a tight rotation, so the main point of having depth for the Nuggets is for emergency purposes in case of injury. The re-signed DeAndre Jordan and Reggie Jackson, both of whom did not feature prominently in the rotation during the second half of the regular season and their championship run. But of the Nuggets top three bench players last season, only Christian Braun, who is a second-year player, remains after the departures of Brown and Green.
The Nuggets should look to internal development to shore up their rotation, as they have a talented young guard on the roster in Peyton Watson, who was their 2022 first-round draft pick. But even so, they needed a veteran, consistent wing presence off the bench, and that's why the Nuggets grabbing Holiday in free agency was such a great move.
A ten-year NBA veteran, Holiday has been a solid role player for pretty much every team he's been on. He isn't going to replace the production lost in the departure of Brown, but he's almost like a Bruce Brown-lite version. Malone hasn't always played his young players, so it's highly likely that Holiday begins the season ahead of Watson on the depth chart.
Holiday spent last season with the Dallas Mavericks after the Atlanta Hawks traded him to the Rockets, who ended up buying out his contract. He didn't feature prominently in the Mavs rotation, playing in only 18 games during his time with them. He averaged 4.4 points and 1.8 rebounds per game with shooting splits of 36.7 percent from the field, 28.6 percent from the three-point line, and 62.5 percent from the free-throw line.
While those numbers don't look very promising, it was more of a case of Holiday not having a defined role. He's not too far removed from being a solid role player for the Pacers. From 2019-2022, Holiday was a key rotation piece for the Pacers, with averages of 9.8 points, 3.2 rebounds, 1.6 assists and a steal per game to go along with 38.8 percent shooting from the three-point line. With a more defined role and regular minutes, Holiday should be able to get back to a similar level of production.
It's not just the offensive side of the ball where Holiday can help the Nuggets. He's always been a strong defensive player and has been tasked with taking on tough defensive assignments throughout his career. The Nuggets will have the option of starting out Kentavious Caldwell-Pope on opposing teams best wing scorer and then countering with Holiday off the bench.
The Nuggets were always going to be at a disadvantage going into NBA free agency, but the addition of Holiday has the potential to be a very solid move for the defending champs.
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