The Nuggets have been looking to build their team around high IQ players with great work ethics. Joffrey Lauvergne fits that bill, as Nuggets General Manager Tim Connelly had plenty of good things to say about Joffrey on our podcast back on Jan. 8th.
King Joffrey, as I like to call him, is a 6'11" and 240 pound power forward / center that is known for being a hard worker, rebounder, defender, and can play with his back to the basket, or facing up. After signing a two year deal, with an NBA out after one season, with Khimki (a team based in Moscow), it appears that he could be headed to the Nuggets this season, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports.
The Denver Nuggets are progressing on a deal to sign 2013 second-round draft pick Joffrey Lauvergne and bring him to the NBA soon, league sources told Yahoo Sports.
Lauvergne, a 6-foot-11 Frenchman, cut ties with Khimki of Moscow on Tuesday, freeing him to sign a deal with Denver and join them this season.
The Nuggets still have “logistical hurdles,” as one league source said, to clear before completing a contract agreement with Lauvergne, but there’s strong momentum toward him joining the Nuggets soon.
The Nuggets had been keeping a very close eye on Joffrey this season with Khimki, and Connelly had been overseas to see him recently. Joffrey wound up signing with the Russian club, instead of the Nuggets, where he would get minutes and a better paycheck than the Nuggets could have offered at the time. It will be very interesting to see how the Nuggets make room for Lauvergne, if they are able to come to terms on a deal.
Denver has a roster spot open, as they never filled the spot created when they traded Timofey Mozgov to the Cleveland Cavaliers; but the team would need to make some moves in order to find some minutes for the big man. Denver has a fairly crowded front court with Kenneth Faried, J.J. Hickson, Darrell Arthur, Jusuf Nurkic, JaVale McGee, and even Danilo Gallinari and Wilson Chandler being able to play big in small ball lineups. The Nuggets have been rumored to be shopping McGee and Hickson and with the trade deadline just 17 days away, more rumors should start to pick up with many players on this current roster.
It could be difficult to incorporate Joffrey into the team on the fly, but it appears the Nuggets are willing to take the gamble in this lost season.
Lauvergne, the 55th pick of the 2013 draft, was acquired by the Nuggets in a draft day deal with the Memphis Grizzlies. In that deal, Denver sent Kosta Koufos to Memphis in exchange for Arthur and the rights to Joffrey, a player they liked and scouted well.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>In <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/BCKhimki?src=hash">#BCKhimki</a> jersey <a href="https://twitter.com/1JOLOLO">@1JOLOLO</a> played 27 games averaging 9.4 pts, 4.4 rebounds and 1.1 assists! Best wishes, Jo! <a href="http://t.co/BwM9rlowS9">pic.twitter.com/BwM9rlowS9</a></p>— BC Khimki (@Khimkibasket) <a href="https://twitter.com/Khimkibasket/status/562887071116054529">February 4, 2015</a></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Officially: <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/BCKhimki?src=hash">#BCKhimki</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/1JOLOLO">@1JOLOLO</a> part ways. The agreement has been cancelled by mutual consent! Grand merci, Jo! <a href="http://t.co/478xgUzYP6">pic.twitter.com/478xgUzYP6</a></p>— BC Khimki (@Khimkibasket) <a href="https://twitter.com/Khimkibasket/status/562885254042886144">February 4, 2015</a></blockquote>
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