Mason Plumlee has had a great start to the season for the Denver Nuggets.
Mason Plumlee of the Denver Nuggets has always been a bit of an anomaly. He is not a center who can stretch the floor and is a more traditional big man who likes to with his back to the basket.
This season though, Plumlee is solidifying his case as the backup center in the entire NBA. If we were to hand out a quarter season Most Improved Player of the Year Award, it would go to Plumlee. Let’s take a look at how well our favorite backward dunking backup big man is doing this year.
So far this season, he is averaging 6.9 points per game on 60.6% shooting from the field to go along with an effective field goal percentage of 61.2%.
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Plumlee is also averaging a career high steals average of 1.2 per game coupled with a block percentage of 4.5%. Where Mason is really showing strides though is his rim protecting ability. Plumlee is currently averaging a defensive rating of 99 and is averaging 0.9 blocks per game, but has been blocking shots at crucial times.
In the win over the Thunder, he had a key block on Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot which kept the momentum on the Nuggets’ side.
Also, we cannot forget his passing ability. He may have picked up a thing or two from the premier passing big man in Nikola Jokic. Plumlee is averaging two assists per game which is almost on par with his total last season of 1.9 per game.
Plumlee has really stepped up his play as of late and the Nuggets are lucky to have him backing up Nikola Jokic. Many teams would love to have Plumlee not just as a backup center on their roster, but possibly even as a starting center.
Mason Plumlee has improved drastically this season.