Of the many struggles of the Denver Nuggets, one of the main focal points of these issues is the inconsistent play of Wilson Chandler.
Coming into the season, many Nuggets fans had high hopes for Wilson Chandler. After being unhappy with his role of playing second fiddle to Danilo Gallinari last year at the wing, he finally was given an opportunity to start this season.
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However, things have not exactly gone as planned for the veteran small forward. Chandler is putting up nowhere near the scoring output as he did last year and is struggling mightily to get some type of rhythm going.
Per basketball-reference.com, Chandler is averaging only six points per game on 44% shooting so far and has a defensive rating of 108. While the season is still certainly young, it is imperative he gets these numbers improved soon and starts playing better, otherwise, Denver may be in for another hard year.
The Nuggets on paper may be improved this season, but they still need their other players to step up and Wilson Chandler is the focal point of this bunch. The team can get away with him playing like this against teams like Sacramento and Atlanta, but against the top tier teams of the league, they will get defeated every team unless Chandler steps up.
He needs to start being more aggressive in looking for his shot and start playing hard nosed defense like he is capable of doing. His versatility is what separates him from normal NBA role players and he needs to use this skill set.
Millsap, Jokic and Harris will get their shots one way or the other, for now, Chandler needs to realize he must have a bigger impact on games if the team is going to get back to the playoffs.
There is still plenty of season left to play, but let’s hope Wilson Chandler can start showing flashes of the production he put on last year.