Analytic time: Nuggets defensive numbers Paul Millsap will improve

To say the Nuggets struggled on defense would be the understatement of the year, but Paul Millsap will help rectify many of these areas.

It is no secret Paul Millsap will assist the Denver Nuggets and their terrible defense. He has always been a solid two way player.

Denver was an offensive juggernaut this past season averaging the third highest team scoring out put behind Golden State and Houston, but it was their defensive inefficiencies that were their ultimate downfall. If you did not watch any games last year, or simply do not believe me, then take a look at some of these numbers courtesy of basketball-reference.com.

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Denver gave up the fourth most points per game allowing opponents to score 111.5 points per game on them along with allowing opponents to shoot 37.5% from three point land. It was not just the perimeter defense that was putrid, the interior defense was also very porous. The Nuggets as a team only averaged 3.9 blocks per game and allowed an opponent field goal percentage of 51.9%. This is the area Paul Millsap will help correct for the Denver Nuggets.

Last year, Millsap averaged nearly a block a game to go along with 1.3 steals per game. His defensive rating took a bit of a hit, but this could be attributed to getting used to playing with Dwight Howard.

The year before, Millsap had a defensive rating of 96 while averaging 2.6 blocks per game. This goes to show just how dominant Millsap can be defensively when playing in the correct rotation.

With Jokic still learning the ropes on defense, expect him to have a bounce back year on the defensive end of the court. Especially with him having to mask Jokic’s defensive problems. Not to mention, he could be a good mentor for the Joker.

If Millsap shows flashes of his 2015-16 defensive form, then expect some of these terrible team defensive statistics to sky rocket come next year. Will they become the best defensive unit in the league suddenly? No, but there really is no way to go but up on this end of the court for the Nuggets.

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Denver should improve immensely on the defensive side of things come next season.