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While the Denver Nuggets traded away Michael Porter Jr. to the Brooklyn Nets, the team also made a few key additions that could be going under the radar. The Nuggets would add Tim Hardaway Jr. and Cam Johnson to the team as lateral moves, with the two discussing why they were targeted in the first place.
Both Johnson and Hardaway Jr. were on the podcast titled “The Young Man and The Three,” where each would be asked what their excited about the most heading to Denver. Besides Johnson mentioning that the team has the makings of a championship squad, like in 2023, he would also speak about the opportunity of showing off their best traits, such as three-point shooting.
“You mentioned before that they were 30th in three-point attempts last season,” Johnson said. “We can fact-check that, but if that’s true, it’s not for a lack of opportunity. It’s not for a lack of spacing on the court because, Tim, we both played against Denver plenty of times. They have Jamal, AG, Jokic, they’re able to pull guys around the court and create double teams, create kick outs, create one mores, and for us there’s going to be a lot of opportunity to thrive.”
As Johnson would mention, Denver attempted the least amount of three-pointers in the NBA last year at 31.9 per game, only making 12 a contest, which had them tied for third worst in the association. Johnson is coming off a season where he averaged 18.8 points per game on shooting 47.5 percent from the field and 39 percent from three-point range for the Nets, averaging 7.2 deep attempts.
Tim Hardaway on how “golden” Nuggets situation is
As some might consider the Nuggets to be the biggest winners of free agency with the right moves to add to what could be a team competing for the title, it's important to look at the reasons for the move. Hardaway would echo the same sentiments as Johnson, saying how their situation is “golden” for them since they could help Denver with their three-point shooting.
“Basically last in three-point attempts,” Hardaway said. “That’s golden for us coming in. That’s what we like to do, that’s what we want to do. Get up and down, run the floor, create offense for others. For ourselves as well, but just with the cutting and continuous ball movement and player movement out there on the floor, I think it sets everybody up for success.”
Last season, Hardaway was with the Detroit Pistons as he averaged 11 points on shooting 40.6 percent from the field and 36.8 percent from beyond the arc. Plus, he averaged 5.9 three-point attempts, though for his career, he’s at 6.3 attempts.
