Nuggets Free Agency: The many benefits of the Paul Millsap deal

2. Keeping Gary Harris and a better fit

It’s easy to forget about this benefit of the Paul Millsap acquisition, but it comes as a result of the Nuggets not completing that three-team trade with the Cleveland Cavaliers and Indiana Pacers.

The two All-Stars in play were Paul George and Kevin Love, with the latter coming to Denver as their new power forward upgrade. Of course, his 3-point shooting would be fantastic next to Nikola Jokic, the Nuggets’ frontcourt passing ability would be through the roof, and Love would provide elite rebounding, too.

The problem is that Love would hardly help the Nuggets’ biggest need: defense. Love can’t provide nearly as much at that end of the floor as Millsap. Finding a better fit in Millsap rather than adding more offense that isn’t ultimately needed in Love is another bonus of this trade never coming to fruition.

And, on top of that, the Nuggets kept Gary Harris this way, who would have gone to the Pacers, as ESPN’s Mike Wise added.

Harris had a terrific season in 2016-17. He hit new career-highs across the board with averages of 14.9 points, 3.1 rebounds, 2.9 assists and 1.2 steals per game, not to mention a stellar 42 percent 3-point shot (1.9 makes per game). He can spot-up, drive a little, cut and generally work really well in an offense that revolves around Jokic’s passing, all while providing solid defense. Harris has improved every season so far and he’s still just 22 years old.

The Nuggets kept an integral piece in Harris and retained more assets by signing Paul Millsap in free agency, who’s clearly a better fit than Love. That’s a big win in the grand scheme of this offseason.

Next, let’s move onto how well Millsap’s scoring style fits.