On the surface, Cam Johnson and Michael Porter Jr. may appear to be pretty similar players, but Johnson’s play style is going to be a game-changer. While MPJ was an outstanding movement shooter and solid rebounder, that’s about where it ended. He never developed any real playmaking or creation skills and was a pretty poor passer.
In the Nuggets’ beautiful offense revolving around Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray, with active cutters and screeners like Christian Braun and Aaron Gordon, Mike could be the breakdown point. If there was anything resembling a ball-stopper on the team, he was it, and he just didn’t have the skills to keep the ball humming.
Johnson, on the other hand, is a very solid passer and playmaker who has gotten a chance to grow as a lead creator on some bad Nets teams. While he won’t be asked to do that in Denver, he should be able to keep the ball moving, make the right read, and set up his teammates with solid passing.
The entire offense should be more cohesive and innovative, and if Johnson ends up being the open guy, he can stroke it just about as well as Porter Jr. anyway.
Nugget’s ball movement should be elite
This current Nuggets’ roster doesn’t even have a player who you’d consider describing as “selfish” offensively. Everyone in the starting unit is a willing and capable passer and the second unit may be just as strong in that regard.
Bruce Brown is like a pseudo point guard with his ball-handling and passing abilities. He can run an offense and almost never looks for his own shot. Jonas Valanciunas may not be known as an elite passer, but he has always had great court vision, and David Adelman has already praised his ability to play similarly to Jokic.
If there’s any player who may not be perfectly suited for a pass-heavy, “beautiful game” type of offense, it would be Tim Hardaway Jr. THJ lives to get shots up. But it’s good to have one guy at the end of the bench who provides irrational confidence.
Hardaway will come in and get set up by the open looks created by everyone else. There will be some nights when he frustrates fans, but there will be other nights when he shoots the lights out and nails seven threes.
Overall, these are champagne problems. The Nuggets have built a deep, talented rotation in which almost every player plays the right way, shares the ball, and looks to maximize every single possession. This is going to be some very fun basketball to watch.