We are officially one week out from the start of the NBA regular season, and while team and season previews continue to fly in, there is an abundance of real news (and rumors) happening now. Let’s take a look around the league at the most pressing stories.
We’re heading out to Denver for the story of the day, as Grantland’s Zach Lowe reports in his season preview that he has been informed that the Nuggets have been shopping their electric forward, Kenneth Faried:
Multiple sources around the league have reported in the last month that Denver has put out targeted feelers on Faried, gauging his value and demanding very good return.
While this might turn some heads, the writing has been on the wall all summer for a semi-major move by the Nuggets, especially after hiring head coach Brian Shaw, who would like to implement a slower and more traditional offense.
Which is exactly why shopping Faried now makes sense for the Nuggets. Entering his third year, Faried made major strides last season. He entered the league as a raw talent that relied on his freakish athletic ability to out perform more skilled and bigger players. He averaged 11.5 points and 9.2 rebounds in 28 minutes per game last season. The nuggets won an outstanding 57 games last season.
Despite his continued progress, it’s hard to define what type of player Faried actually is. And Shaw seems intent on running a traditional offense with traditional players:
“I know that’s the main thing our bigs can bring,” Shaw said, “our energy. We’re not as polished as a lot of bigs in the post in terms of throwing the ball to them with their back to the basket and them going to get a bucket for us. But that’s the way we have to play, and they just have to get used to doing it that way, because that’s how we’re going to do it.”
Seeing that Faried was just 14-39 on traditional post-ups, he doesn’t seem to fit the mold that Denver wants to move forward with. So why not sell high on Faried in order to bring back a piece they consider more valuable. As the league gets smaller and faster every year, contending teams will covet a player like Faried still playing on his rookie contract.
For now these are just rumors, but keep an eye out for Faried trade rumors to heat up if things aren’t working out in Denver.
Onto more from around the NBA