Nets’ RFA Rondae Hollis-Jefferson worth a look for the Denver Nuggets
The Nuggets will have to look for great value to add more pieces to what is already an extremely talented core, and Nets’ RFA Rondae Hollis-Jefferson could be a worthwhile addition.
Rondae Hollis-Jefferson is a young player at a crossroads. After three seasons of steady improvement, his fourth year in the NBA was a disappointment as he received the fewest minutes per game (20.9) since his rookie season. Hollis-Jefferson posted a career-low 12.5 PER as he adjusted to going back to playing the majority of his minutes at PF and occasionally playing as a small-ball center.
Despite a down year for the 24-year old forward, I strongly believe Hollis-Jefferson is one of many players in the league who are simply on stuck on a roster that does not fit or enhance their skill set in any significant way. These undervalued players are extremely vital to the success of a franchise in Denver’s current position, looking to add talent around the margins without disrupting a stable core.
The initial reason I thought of Hollis-Jefferson as a fit for Denver was that for starters, the Nets are going after much bigger fish this offseason. This is incredibly important when it comes to Hollis-Jefferson, as it makes Brooklyn and GM Sean Marks more likely to renounce Rondae’s contract—taking his $7.4 million cap hold off of their books—in order to free up cap space. A team like the Nuggets can come in using cap space or the Mid-Level exception to entice Hollis-Jefferson to join their squad. Along with a solid contract offer, Denver can offer Hollis-Jefferson a solid role on a team that just finished fourth in the league with 54 wins and one game short of the Western Conference Finals.
Per Cleaning the Glass (DISCLAIMER: Subscription based site) Rondae Hollis-Jefferson shot 59 percent at the rim in the 2017-18 regular season, , not a great mark for a forward, but still the highest mark of his career. It is no coincidence that in his best season in terms of finishing at the rim, the Nets ranked 9th in the league in assists per game.
Hollis-Jefferson is actually a good passer who has maintained high assist rates for a forward over his four seasons in the league.
He would certainly fit in with the playing style of the pass-happy Nuggets. The combination of Hollis-Jefferson’s playmakinng and alert cutting from the dunker’s spot (and elsewhere) would help mitigate the issues that his complete lack of 3-point shooting bring.
In lineups when he is playing next to Nikola Jokic, Hollis-Jefferson would be a devastating roll-man. Jokic is routinely guarded by the opponent’s center. This means that more often than not, a 4-5 pick-and-roll with he and Jokic would result in Hollis-Jefferson blowing past a lumbering center. He is an explosive leaper—especially off of two feet—and with Denver, would take his ability to finish at the rim or draw a foul (94th percentile among forwards in 2018-19 in shooting fouled percentage) to the next level.
While the possibility of Jokic, Malone and the Nuggets helping boost Rondae Hollis-Jefferson’s offensive efficiency is there, the main reason Denver would add him this offseason is for his defensive skills. Hollis-Jefferson finished with best defensive rating (104.8) among the top 10 Nets in terms of minutes per game. His 2018-19 defensive rebounding rate of 15.8 percent would’ve ranked 1st among Nuggets’ forwards and 5th overall on the team.
Basically, I am saying that I believe Hollis-Jefferson would help increase the Nuggets defensive rebound rate and keep in mind that they are coming off of a season in which they ranked 5th in this statistic. The top two defenses in the league were also the top two teams in the league in terms of defensive rebound rate, so it definitely would behoove the Nuggs to add to this strength. Denver loss the rebounding battle in the tough Game 7 loss to the Trail Blazers, and a player like Hollis-Jefferson could’ve had a decent impact with his physicality and motor.
Rondae-Hollis Jefferson is still a young player, one who has possessed high steal and block rates for his entire career. He is extremely quick for a player his size and would have no trouble hedging pick-and-rolls in Mike Malone‘s defense.
If the Nuggets take a flyer on him with a short-term deal using the MLE or cap space, he could end being the type of player who is a slight upgrade to what was already a surprisingly excellent defense. He is coming off of a season in which he was better than Torrey Craig in both defensive rating and defensive RPM (Hollis-Jefferson ranked 25th among SFs in defensive RPM [0.54] as compared to Torrey Craig [75th, -1.01]). Connelly should go after Rondae Hollis-Jefferson aggressively, as his rim-running, defensive playmaking and rebounding would bring an interesting combination of skills to a Denver squad looking to add more at the SF position.