Denver Nuggets:
Offense: (109.8) 12th
Defense: (104.5) 5th
Net: (plus +5.3) 6th
Games Week 10 (3-1): Wins vs Suns: 113-111, Grizzlies: 119-110, Kings: 120-115, Lost to Pelicans:112-100
Games Week 11 (3 games): Tues at Rockets | Thurs at Pacers | Sat at Wizards
An intriguing team that has pundits all over the map in terms of their potential. Various narratives were tossed out suggesting why they didn’t look quite as strong to start the season. Two of the more common ideas were:
Jokic isn’t as committed:
Nikola Jokic took care of this suggestion pretty quickly as the numbers show:
- Through the opening 19 games, he averaged 14.9 points, 10.1 rebounds, 6.2 assists while shooting 22.2 percent from deep.
- Through the last 15 games, he’s averaging 22.4 points, 9.5 rebounds, 6.9 assists and shooting 39.3 percent from deep.
The Nuggets depth is an issue:
This is still a work in progress and the fact remains Denver truly does have so much depth it’s hard to keep everyone actively involved. The danger is players tend to need consistent minutes and in their absence, it makes it far more difficult to expect those reserve players to stay ready and able to produce.
- In November the Nuggets ranked 22nd in reserve scoring (33.1)
- December the team moved up to 16th (36.1)
- Small sample size granted but in the last five games they rank 12th scoring 39 points
Moving forward since the Nuggets schedule begins to get more difficult now would be a great time for coach Mike Malone to start platooning the troops. When you have this much depth road trips, increased games over fewer days and harder opponents is the perfect opportunity to utilize that advantage.