Denver Nuggets: How each unit of the bench mob is keeping NBA Finals hopes alive

Apart from a 10-game absence from Michael Porter Jr. in January due to a positive COVID-19 test, the Denver Nuggets had been healthy as an ox all season—until April hit.

First, it was Jamal Murray, Denver’s second-best player and one of the most exciting young guards in the league, who went down with a season-ending ACL tear that could keep him sidelined for a portion of next season as well.

After the Blue Arrow went out of commission, who were the first two guards you thought of to pick up his slack? Will Barton and Monte Morris, right? Well, that was the plan until not one, but both of the so-called ‘next men up’ came down with significant injuries of their own.

Neither suffered anything like a torn ACL or anything of the sort, but they are still expected to miss serious time. When asked last Monday by the Denver Post’s Mike Singer about Morris’ timetable, head coach Mike Malone said that while it’s just a hamstring strain, not a tear, “I don’t know for sure … me, personally, I don’t think he’s going to be back for a little while.”

Barton, for his part, also remains without a timetable to return as he deals with a hamstring strain as well. According to Singer, league sources told the Denver Post on Saturday that Will the Thrill is expected to miss the next several games at the very least. Barton also told Malone that he heard a “pop” in his hamstring, per Singer.

With Denver’s top three guards out for the foreseeable future, the Nuggets will need to lean on the big three of Nikola Jokic, Aaron Gordon, and Michael Porter Jr. In the meantime, PJ Dozier and Facundo Campazzo have slotted into the starting lineup, and the results have not been too shabby.

In eight games without Murray, Denver is 7-1, they’re 5-1 since Morris went down, and they’re 3-0 since Barton got hurt. So, the question is: How has Denver’s Bench Mob picked up the slack and how can they keep the team and fanbase’s title hopes alive?

Denver Nuggets Bench Mob: Facundo Campazzo, The Energizer Bunny

It’s easy to see why Facundo Campazzo has become a fan-favorite among the Nuggets faithful so quickly. He’s undersized, he’s undrafted, and he’s undeterred from any defensive assignment he’s given.

And what a name too, you can count me as a fan of any name with a double-z. Denver’s little bulldog is also pretty darn strong, just ask Ben Simmons.

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Once a dynamic part of the Bench Mob, Facu has just recently been thrust into the starting five. Campazzo has struggled shooting the ball since entering the starting lineup five games ago, shooting just 36 percent from the field and 31 percent from deep over that span. He’s only taking seven shots per game while playing 32.3 minutes a night (third on the Nuggets during this stretch) though, so scoring is clearly not his MO when the diminutive South American is on the floor.

Campazzo is second in the NBA with a 39.8 assist ratio among players playing 25+ minutes per game since April 19th, which means that Facu is dishing the rock at a very high rate without taking too many shots away from guys like MPJ and Joker. His 3.9 assist-turnover ratio is the best on the team during this stretch and his 6.5 dimes per game as the starter recently are actually more than the 5.4 helpers they were getting from Murray in the month prior. Not to mention his 19-point, 10-assist showing on Wednesday night, the first double-double of his short career.

And how about his aggressiveness and the perpetual harassment of his opponents on the defensive end. Facu will often guard his man full-court and is not afraid to blow up screens as he did against Simmons above. He’s like a little gnat that you can never quite escape from, and that ceaseless pressure takes a toll on his opponents, not to mention his quick hands, which have resulted in 3.3 deflections per game over the past five, tops among Nuggets.

Here are some stats for premier opponents while being guarded by Facu this season, courtesy of Second Spectrum: Kemba Walker shot 33 percent from the field and 20 from downtown while turning the ball over thrice, Ja Morant was forced into four turnovers, Steph Curry turned the ball over seven times with Facu on him, and Damian Lillard did the same three times while shooting 27 percent from the field.

Denver Nuggets Bench Mob: PJ Dozier, Denver’s Hidden Gem

PJ Dozier, like Campazzo, has been thrust into the starting lineup because of injury woes, specifically the loss of Will Barton. Dozier made the first two starts of his young career in the two contests since Barton went down, and the results have been very encouraging.

Our very own Dennis Smith wrote a piece about a month ago predicting Dozier as Denver’s underrated X-factor down the stretch, but surely even he couldn’t have predicted just how important the 24-year-old would turn out to be for the Denver Nuggets’ success as soon as 2021.

His ability to play at the 1, 2, or the 3 gives the Nuggets more versatility in their starting lineup, which Barton was not offering. While Dozier stands 6’6″ and 205 pounds, he actually has the skills of a point guard, as evidenced by his 3.3 dimes over the past five games while playing more minutes.

Playmaking is just one of many things that this jack of all trades brings to the table. He’s also an excellent cutter and mover without the basketball, which is an important skill to have when playing with a guy Nikola Jokic. Good cutting is also usually indicative of a high basketball IQ, which was on full display on the play below:

Dozier is still a bit streaky shooting the ball as evidenced by the fact that he put 23 points on 77 percent shooting from the field against the Rockets and followed that up with just nine points on 33 percent from the floor in his next game. Nonetheless, Dozier has shown offensive flashes, and his speed and athleticism will always allow for him to have success getting to the rim if the jimmy isn’t working for him.

Last but not least, Dozier is on his way to becoming a top-of-the-line defender. Not only can he be an elite wing defender, but he can put a ton of pressure on smaller guards at the 1 and 2 with his overbearing size and matching speed. Since joining the starters three games ago, Dozier has put up a 97.9 defensive rating, which ranks among the top 12 among guys playing 25+ minutes per game in the NBA over that span.

Denver Nuggets Bench Mob: JaMychal Green & Paul Millsap, Savvy Vets

While the most important members of the Bench Mob have graduated to the starting lineup in light of the recent injury developments for our Denver Nuggets, veteran forwards JaMychal Green and Paul Millsap remain with the second unit and will undoubtedly serve important roles down the stretch and into the playoffs. Guys with experience always do.

Some veteran players might bristle at playing second fiddle to the young guns, but Green and Millsap know what their roles are and have embraced them this season. Green explained his thought process concerning the Bench Mob after a big win over the Rockets on April 16th:

The 30-year-old Green (34 playoff games) doesn’t bring quite the level of playoff experience as the 36-year-old Millsap (120), but the offseason addition will be important to keep the bench focused and on course. Green has shown that he can contribute by scoring the ball when the team needs him to, stringing together five straight double-digit efforts when MPJ was out back in January.

Green has also hit the 10-point mark in four of his past six contests and is shooting 46 percent from the field and 43 percent from downtown with barely any turnovers to speak of over his past five outings. That’s the kind of efficiency and ball security that Denver needs from these guys.

Despite his age, Millsap could be in line for a bigger allotment of minutes once the playoffs come around considering he’s played in over 50 more playoff games than all of Denver’s five starters combined. Just like Green, Millsap has been taking advantage of every opportunity recently, shoving 8.6 points, 4.8 rebounds, and 2.0 assists into just 14.2 minutes per contest over his past five.

He wasn’t asked to do much in the bubble last year, what with the Blue Arrow going bonkers from deep nearly every night, but in 2019, Millsap upped his scoring from 12.6 in the regular season to 14.6 in the playoffs. The bump was even more noticeable in his last run with the Hawks in 2017, when Millsap went from 18.1 points in the regular season to 24.3 in the postseason. The grizzled vet knows what it’s like to step up in the playoffs and will need to do it again at the spry age of 36.

Denver Nuggets Bench Mob: Austin Rivers, The Hired Gun

When Jamal Murray went down, Austin Rivers’ name was floated as a possible addition, but it wasn’t until Monte Morris joined the Blue Arrow on the disabled list that the Denver Nuggets got serious about the sharpshooter. They signed him to a 10-day and are likely to sign him to another one as they attempt to replace some of that offensive killer mentality that the Nuggets lost with Murray’s ACL tear.

When you talk about streaky shooters, you’re talking Mr. Rivers. The guy can go completely unconscious at times (mostly against the Jazz) but can go cold as the peak of Mount Evans at just as easily. Since arriving in Denver, it has mostly been cold-Rivers, with the veteran putting up 5.2 points per game on 35 percent from the field and 17 from beyond the arc.

That’s not exactly an encouraging sample size, but if you go back and look at his two explosions for the Knicks this season, you can’t help but get excited for when he does that kind of thing in Nuggets threads. On January 6th, Rivers came in for the Knicks late in the fourth quarter of a tight game with the Jazz, and the reserve proceeded to put in 14 straight points to help defeat the best team in basketball.

Watching that performance, you would’ve thought that Rivers had been in some sort of Freaky Friday-type incident where he switched bodies with Steph Curry, but Rivers promptly went silent for the next eight games… until New York took on the Jazz again. This time, Rivers started the game by going 10/10 from the field in the first half, including five threes.

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It seems like the Nuggets are going to need at least a couple of outbursts like that from Rivers in the playoffs for the team to make a serious playoff run. It doesn’t hurt that, much like Murray, the guy he was brought in to replace, Rivers seems to have a thing for going nuclear against the Jazz, who could very well be a postseason matchup for the Nuggets.

Denver Nuggets Bench Mob: Who Else Can Contribute?

After those guys, who else can help the undermanned Denver Nuggets keep their title hopes alive? JaVale McGee offers playoff experience, championship pedigree, and a whole lot of size and length, but head coach Mike Malone has only played the veteran in one of the past five games. McGee’s usage would seem to rely on matchups, so he could see added run against teams that rely on dominant big men, like the Jazz and Lakers.

Bol Bol is another big man that has not seen a ton of run recently, and considering the lack of mobility and versatility that Bol and McGee are offering at this point in their careers, it’s hard to play them alongside the plodding Jokic for any significant amount of game time.

Shaquille Harrison is really the only other guy on that bench that you could see having an impact for this team down the home stretch. Harrison barely played all year but has been seeing 16.6 minutes per game over the past five contests due to Denver’s sudden lack of depth. I don’t see any more help coming any time soon, so Harrison will have to pick up some slack.

The Nuggets shouldn’t be expecting much in terms of offensive production from Harrison, who is still improving his offensive arsenal, but he is all set and ready to be unleashed on defense. He’s a pest that hustles on the defensive end much like Campazzo, except this pest is 6’4″, not 5’10”.

It’s a small sample size, but Harrison played such tough and hounding defense during the 2019-2020 season that he was third (2.99) behind only Patrick Beverley and Kris Dunn on ESPN’s defensive real plus-minus rankings. If Rivers can find his shooting stroke, he and Harrison could form a solid offense/defense pairing off the bench moving forward.