Nuggets: Paul Millsap’s efficiency should improve in Denver

Paul Millsap wasn’t too efficient in 2016-17, but his shooting percentages should improve when he teams up with the Denver Nuggets and Nikola Jokic.

For all the things Paul Millsap does well, his three-point percentage and overall efficiency wasn’t great last season. Even though it didn’t prevent him from averaging a career-high 18.1 points per game and he can still hit threes to keep defenses stretched out, he only shot a career-low 44.2 percent overall and 31.1 percent from beyond the arc, his lowest mark in the last four years (since he started attempting more than one three-pointer per game). The Denver Nuggets will want that to change.

It’s nice for a top-tier defensive power forward to have three-point range, especially as Millsap can contribute in a variety of other ways offensively. After all, the mere threat of a three-point shooter is as important as their efficiency. In terms of keeping the floor spaced effectively, posing enough of a concern to pull defenders towards you is what helps create space for teammates. Nonetheless, Millsap’s cool stroke from distance is something he should want to improve.

To help matters, it wouldn’t be surprising to see his three-point percentage increase purely be coincidence. Sometimes bad shooting seasons (and good ones) are just blips for players. His career three-point average of 32.8 is still hardly much higher, although in the three seasons before 2016-17, Millsap shot an average of 34.4 percent from three. That’s not good, but it’s enough to get by.

Leaving behind Atlanta’s offense will help matters right away, too. Even though head coach Mike Budenholzer has always implemented teams with good ball movement (remember how fun those 60-win, four All-Star, 2014-15 Hawks were?), things weren’t so good last season. They were terrible.

Dennis Schroder was thrown the reins of the team at point guard and still has a lot of work to do to improve, while Dwight Howard arrived and helped clog up the paint and leave less space for guys like Millsap to work with. Also, unlike centers such as Nikola Jokic and former Hawk Al Horford, Howard isn’t an elite passer or anything close to it. He couldn’t stretch the floor or generate looks for Millsap, either with sound passing from the post or by feeding in well-timed passes on cuts.

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The Nuggets’ elite offense and the passing of Jokic, a center with far more offensive skill than Howard, will be so beneficial for Millsap. Millsap knows how to position himself off the ball and should receive more open looks in an offense that not only has the passing of Jokic and his gravity inside, but a host of three-point shooting with guys like Jamal Murray, Will Barton and Gary Harris to pull defenses away and create space for others as passes fly around the court.

After becoming a Nugget, Millsap didn’t hesitate to express his excitement of playing with Jokic. The star center can make his life easier, which he did for so many others last season as four Nuggets ranked in the 96th percentile or higher on cuts to the basket, per NBA.com (Wilson Chandler, Danilo Gallinari, Jameer Nelson and Darrell Arthur). Millsap ranked in the 76th percentile himself due to his own off-ball movement, awareness and strong finishing, and should quickly see his 44.2 field goal percentage from last season increase with less pressure on him in Denver and more easy, assisted opportunities at the rim as he works off Jokic and others.

Next: Nuggets should maintain their hot shooting next season

Millsap has the three-point range and interior finishing ability to thrive as a part of the Nuggets’ fluid offense. And like so many others who play off The Joker’s passing, Millsap should only see his efficiency rise after a cooler year in 2016-17.