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| A standard George Karl practice session. |
The Denver Nuggets have always understood this, or at least have always appeared that they have. David Thompson poured in points as well as anyone ever has during Denver's last ABA years and into the NBA, while Alex English stuck around with such exalted scorers as Dan Issel, Calvin Natt, Kiki Vandeweghe, and even an aging Walter Davis. Never has there been an NBA team who has so consistently ran up and down the floor and stayed in the NBA's top few teams in scoring.
These Nuggets are no different in their scoring: they led the NBA in scoring last season, though their 104 PPG pales in comparison to the English/Issel/Thompson triumvirate. Though the Nuggets also gave up 101 PPG, third worst in the NBA, they are in no way the defensive sieve that fans are so used to seeing in other run and gun teams, such as the Warriors and Suns of the last few years. The Nuggets defense wasn't elite by any means, coming in as the 16th most efficient in the NBA, but their points against were often a byproduct of playing so quickly.
Of course, even with all this analysis of last year, these Nuggets have changed pretty significantly. JaVale McGee, he of four capital letters where two would do, is back for his first full season in Denver. The venerable George Karl was a wonderful influence on the enigmatic Pierre, who managed to convince him to actually play defense rather than just block shots. McGee's blocks dropped off ever so slightly after being traded to the Nuggets, from 3.2 per game to 2.7, but his defensive efficiency lept forward, with McGee earning almost a full defensive win shares in his 20 games for Denver, as compared to 1.6 in his 40 with Washington. Yes, he still is abysmal at the line (37% FT in Denver), but McGee remains a solid enough offensive center to pair with his blossoming defensive gifts.
The biggest story of Denver's offseason was most certainly their inclusion in the Dwight Howard trade: Somehow, the Nuggets managed to bring in Andre Iguodala's amazing defense (4.2 defensive win shares, or .5 win shares more than Carmelo Anthony's offense), at the cost of Aaron Afflalo and Al Harrington. Getting an above-average starter for an easily replaceable shooting guard and a power forward who shoots threes and not much else is an OK trade on its own, but Iguodala is among the premier perimeter defenders in all of basketball (Lebron was the only other non-big man with over 4 defensive win shares). Iguodala contributes across the board in the counting stats (12.4 PPG, 6 RPG, and 5.5 APG), despite not really being anything but average on offense.
Even without Iguodala, the Nuggets have some tantalizing pieces, and none more so than the blur that is Ty Lawson. Lawson truly blossomed last year, averaging 16 and 6 with some great shooting numbers for a point (49% from the field). Even with the presence of Andre Miller and his ridiculously awkward skill set, Lawson did just about anything the Nuggets asked of him and should continue to grow into a top five point guard.
Speaking of Andre Miller, he returns once again to be the first guard off the bench and somehow provide between five and seven assists per game despite just standing at the top of the key all the time. Along with Miller, the Nuggets trot out the deepest bench of guards and swingmen in the game, with Wilson Chandler popping in 10 a game and contributing on defense alongside Corey Brewer, Danilo Galinari, Jordan Hamilton, and first-rounder Evan Fournier. Brewer and Hamilton surprised last year, with the former Florida product finally adding some scoring (9 PPG) to go with his always solid defense and Hamilton scoring at an alarming rate (4.5 PPG in only 10 MPG).
If you hadn't caught on, the Nuggets are constructed exactly the way I like to see teams made. There are no stars, but every player down to the last man on the roster contributes and knows their role, allowing the Nuggets to win games that you wouldn't expect them to. The front office, with the extremely non-traditional Masai Ujiri realizing that the roster had no room for draft picks and stockpiling tantalizing foreign talent that can be stored overseas if need be (Evan Fournier, the impossibly-hard-to-type Izzet Turkyilmaz). Even seemingly questionable pickups like Kenneth Faried have turned out perfectly, with the undersized power forward giving the Nuggets 12 rebounds per 36 minutes for a standard stat line of 10 PPG and 8 RPG. Frankly, there's nothing not to like on the Nuggets, a team that can easily challenge for a conference title but sadly probably won't ever make it much farther.
Do they still have JR Smith and his full body tattoos? If yes then that is just another reason to root for them.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, the Nuggets have lost both J.R. Smith and Chris Andersen, drastically lowering their tattooed count. They have instead reverted to the Huskies strategy of nothing but 6'4" to 6'8" swingmen who look the same.
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