The Nuggets have understandably been holding out hope that everyone will get healthy, everything will click into place, and the offseason vision will be actualized. There are plenty of reasons to believe, and there is still a strong argument that the Nuggets made the right moves in the offseason and followed the right path.
Still, with each passing day, it’s getting harder and harder to defend Cam Johnson and to justify the Michael Porter Jr. trade. Now, first of all, obviously, I understand that to fully judge the trade, you have to step back and realize that shedding MPJ’s salary allowed the team to fix other parts of the roster, but let’s just focus on Cam.
He got off to an extremely slow start, finally started to heat up, then got injured, and has been brutal since returning. His play is visibly suffering, and his confidence has waned badly. Nuggets fans may not want to admit it, but Bill Simmons had no problem putting it into words on his most recent podcast episode with Zach Lowe.
Simmons explained that after Denver’s loss to Minnesota, in which Johnson went 0-4, he’s officially reached DEFCON 1 with Cam. He told a story of being on text threads with friends during Friday night’s loss to OKC and predicting the game would inevitably come down to an open Johnson three, because his shakiness has made him a guy that other teams will help off of.
That’s exactly what happened, and Johnson, of course, missed the shot. He’s clearly in his own head at this point, and Lowe even mentioned how tentative Johnson looks and how he’s adding nothing to Denver’s ball movement.
Should Nuggets fans panic over Cam Johnson?
It’s a huge concern, and the fact that two of the biggest Nuggets believers in the national media are growing skeptical can’t be a great sign. To make matters worse, Cam has sounded completely defeated in his recent postgame appearances, clearly showing self-doubt and feeling like he has let his teammates down.
It has been tough to watch, and we’re running out of time to see it get better. With the playoffs approaching and the rest of the team set to be healthy soon, it’s fair to start wondering what the rotations are going to look like when everyone is healthy.Â
Regardless of what trades have been made and what players are being paid what, it’s all about winning, and the Nuggets need to play whoever gives them the best chance to do so. If Peyton Watson, Spencer Jones, Tim Hardaway Jr., or anyone else is playing better than Johnson, David Adelman is going to have to make some difficult decisions.
It’s not the time to quit on Cam or write him off. But Simmons and Lowe vocalized what a lot of Nuggets fans have been thinking lately, and if he can’t find his game soon, he may start to see his role shrink as the stakes rise; a difficult reality for the Nuggets to stomach.