Nuggets: James Ennis can be a replacement for Torrey Craig

Signing James Ennis and moving on from Torrey Craig would be a smart decision for the Denver Nuggets this offseason.

The Denver Nuggets are in the midst of a playoff battle with the Los Angeles Clippers but as their postseason run continues, it only serves to highlight the needs of the team as they attempt to upset yet another team. Lately, their games have shown that they may need to find a replacement for Torrey Craig this offseason.

The player who can do that? James Ennis.

As you can see from this graph, Craig has been the most ineffective player against the Clippers and has been one of the most ineffective players throughout the postseason. Heralded as one of Denver’s best defensive players, he’s been anything but that throughout the playoffs (as evidenced by his defensive rating) and if he isn’t hitting threes, he’s almost invisible on the offensive end.

Against the Utah Jazz, Craig managed to knock down 38.1% of his threes but has only hit 16.7% of his threes against the Clippers. Craig, while a tough player who plays with a high level of effort, is not a strong finisher, facilitator or — so far in these playoffs — defender. That limits his importance moving forward and with the Nuggets having important decisions to make this offseason regarding Jerami Grant, Paul Millsap, and even Mason Plumlee, Craig may just find that he’s expendable.

That said, there’s a player that will be a free agent in this summer who’s regarded as a strong defender and rebounder. A guy who is better offensively than Craig.

Ennis the Menace.

A six-year veteran who was named to the All-NBL first-team (Australian basketball league) and was third in NBL voting in 2014, Ennis is a pretty athletic player who possesses track star speed and a couple of significant strengths.

Not only is it easy to imagine him being on the receiving end of an outlet pass from Nikola Jokic but he’s a player whose ability to create offense for himself, off of broken plays, off of second-chance points and to score from all three levels may make him an even better player than Gary Harris when you consider the pressure Ennis puts on players defensively.

He’s started in just 103 of 347 regular season games but has far better career numbers as a starter, averaging 9.0 points and 4.2 rebounds in 27.2 minutes per game, shooting 48.3% from the field and 37.0% from three.

Compare that with Craig, who has career averages of 7.1 points and 4.6 assists in 25.8 minutes per game, shooting 45.2% from the field and 31.8% from three as starter. Or even Harris, who has career averages of 10.5 points and 2.9 assists in 31.8 minutes per game, shooting 42.3% from the field and 33.5% from three.

That’s not to say that Ennis is without flaws. He’s not an elite 3-point shooter by any stretch of the imagination and has a tendency to miss shots around the rim when he tries to be too acrobatic. Still, replacing Craig with Ennis in the offseason would undoubtedly be an upgrade.

His abilities as a potential starter are important primarily because of Harris’ injury history but also because he may, in fact, be a better player than G.

In terms of the financial implications of adding Ennis, his price tag shouldn’t be too expensive, as he only earned a two-year, $4 million contract in 2019. However, he has a player option for the 2020-21 season that he may pick up if he wants to return to the Orlando Magic.

That said, Ennis seems to prefer the idea of playing for a team that can make longer playoff runs than the Magic, who are in the Eastern Conference with Giannis Antetokounmpo’s Milwaukee Bucks, the ‘KD and Kyrie’ Brooklyn Nets, a revitalized Boston Celtics roster and the hard-nosed Miami Heat.

Although the Western Conference has a couple of juggernauts to face in the playoffs, at least the Nuggets are considered one of the better playoff teams and not one that’s on the bottom tier of the conference’s playoff competitors.

Whether or not the Nuggets and Ennis will get together in the offseason is uncertain but there’s no doubt that he could help the team as a replacement for — an upgrade over — Craig.