Well, don’t worry, I’m here to explain it to you.
So, like most fans, when Danilo Gallinari went down for an extended period of time I thought that the Nuggets would struggle to win any more games this season. Gallinari is the only Nugget who can get his own shot and take over games by himself. Denver can score when they run and also when they get the ball to Nikola Jokic at the high post and have players cutting all around him, but when Gallinari is out, the offense stagnates. But ever since Gallinari went down, the rest of the Nuggets have picked up their game’s substantially.
Let’s start with the point guard position, both D.J. Augustin and Emmanuel Mudiay have been playing outstanding in these last six games. Mudiay is really beginning to understand the pace of the NBA game and is coming along quite nicely. It is very reminiscent of how John Wall played in his first season. There were always flashes for Wall, but he always seemed to be going way too fast. The same could be said about Mudiay. Mudiay is obviously seeing the court better, which can be seen in his low turnover numbers during this time.
Rookies are expected to have a poor assist to turnover ratio, but the efficiency he has shown on the scoring side has been remarkable. I wouldn’t go as far to say that he has made a major leap, but we are beginning to see the potential show of a very good player. Also, let’s not forget Augustin, how the Nuggets got him and two second round picks for Randy Foye is absolutely beyond me. Augustin is straight up better than Foye! We’ve seen Augustin’s clutch play lately for Denver, especially in the Mavericks game where he single-handedly took over. Augustin is not a defensive stopper by any means, but his offensive prowess and veteran leadership has begun to show on Denver. In his first game with Denver he had five assists off the bench right away, with three of them coming on oops to Joffrey Lauvergne.
Speaking of that Mavs game, the Nuggets played some rather interesting lineups that actually played extremely well together. To finish the game, coach Mike Malone trotted out a Augustin-Mudiay-Harris-Barton-Faried lineup which is undersized to say the least. The Mavs couldn’t keep up with their pace and athleticism which lead to the Nuggets beating one of the better Western Conference foes. That being said, Dirk Nowitzki did eat Faried alive, but that has happened quite often. Nowitzki is an absolutely horrible matchup for Faried and the Nuggets. It will be interesting to see other lineups that Malone ends up using this season, but so far it seems like his tinkering is working out well.
It would be foolish to talk about great rookie play and not mention how well Jokic has played in Gallinari’s absence. Jokic has all the makings of a great NBA big man. He can pass, screen, shoot and bully players in the paint. His rebounding numbers have begun to rise of late and seems to have taken the reigns of starting center from Jusuf Nurkic. It will be very interesting to see who and how the Nuggets use at the center position for the upcoming years, but man it would be hard to pass up Jokic. I’m going to go a little Fran Fraschilla here and make some Dante Exum-is-like-young-Kobe-and-Michael comparison but I really do see a lot of Marc Gasol in Jokic’s game, especially as of late. If this year’s rookie class wasn’t absolutely amazing, Jokic and Mudiay would look like sure-fire All Stars for the next decade. Give me the Mudiay and Jokic pick and rolls for the next couple of years and I’ll be a happy fan.
Finally, Gary Harris has had to step up his offensive role since Gallinari has gone down. Harris’ only major critique was his passiveness on the offensive end of the court, but he has had to step up lately. He still doesn’t project to be a number one option on the offensive end of the ball, but he may be the gold standard for “D and 3” guys. I’d hesitate to ever say that an injury is good for a team(unless you are Golden State and David Lee goes down), but this Gallinari injury has made the young Denver players step up. The Nuggets have won four of the six games Gallinari has missed and have looked like a team on the rise. This may actually be similar to the popular “Ewing theory” that Bill Simmons popularized years ago, but one thing is for certain; the Nuggets’ young players stepping up substantially has propelled them to places they would not have gotten without the spotlight thrust upon them.