At the end of March, the Denver Nuggets acquired Aaron Gordon from the Orlando Magic. They gave up some guard depth and a 2025 first-round pick in exchange for their new starting power forward and Gary Clark.
The move made a lot of sense as the Nuggets looked to improve upon last year’s Western Conference Finals appearance by adding an athletic defender and key piece of Orlando’s offense to the roster.
But when Jamal Murray went down for the season less than a month later, that guard depth was no longer present. Aaron Gordon was forced to make a bigger offensive impact as they went into another deep playoff run.
Not exactly an ideal scenario for Gordon to step into. The Nuggets could not create the same amount of offense essentially replacing Murray’s production with Gordon’s and it showed when the Nuggets got swept by the Suns in the second round.
With the length of Jamal Murray’s absence being unknown, let’s take a look at three things Aaron Gordon can improve on next season to put the Nuggets in the best position possible upon Jamal’s return.
Denver Nuggets: Ways Aaron Gordon can improve: 3-point shooting
Throughout his career, Aaron Gordon has never been a highly efficient 3-point shooter, averaging 32.1 percent from deep over seven seasons. However, over the first half of the season with Orlando, Gordon shot 37.5 percent from three on 4.6 attempts per game. Considering, the league average was 36.7 percent this season, that mark is pretty good.
Once he came to the Nuggets, he started shooting nearly half as many three balls. He only dropped 3.5 minutes per game on the Nuggets, so time on the floor does not account for the drop in attempts. What is bad about this transition is that his percentage from deep went down dramatically, shooting only 26.6 percent from behind the arc, which doesn’t even put him in the top 150 players in the league in that category.
There could be a number of reasons for the dip in shooting, whether it’s acclimating to a new city and environment, or not being the same offensive focal point that he was in Orlando. But there seems to be a correlation between the number of shot attempts he puts up and his effectiveness shooting the ball.
Players generally need to get into a rhythm when they are on the court; if they do not start off hot it is important to keep shooting until they get going. So keep shooting Aaron. Getting up more 3-point shots in a game should improve the shooting numbers as long as those shots are good shots for him.
Denver Nuggets: Ways Aaron Gordon can improve: Free throw shooting
Free throw shooting is a key element to any player’s game. They are free points that a player receives for causing the defender to make a mistake and foul them. It is always important and sometimes game-changing for players to capitalize on these opportunities.
In Orlando, Gordon shot 62.9 percent from the line on 4.2 attempts per game. The shooting percentage is atrocious, but the attempts put him just outside the top 30 in the league. In Denver, he converted 70.5 percent of his free throws, but only took 1.8 attempts, which ties him for 114th in the NBA.
This seems to be another factor of not being one of the main options for this Nuggets squad. It also could be a result of Aaron being less aggressive in Denver than he was in Orlando. Putting his head down and attacking the basket should be second-nature to a power forward as athletic and strong as Aaron Gordon, and it doesn’t mean anything unless he starts converting at a higher clip than he is now.
Denver Nuggets: Ways Aaron Gordon can improve: Scoring
This last improvement is somewhat of a summation of the previous two suggestions. Since coming to Denver, Aarong Gordon is averaging 10.2 points per game. He has not scored that infrequently since his second season in the league.
He has shown the capability to be a rim-runner, lob-catcher, low-post bucket-getter, shoulder-lowering driver, and spot-up shooter.
Now is the time to be a star in his role.
With the MVP, Nikola Jokic on his team, he will rarely be the best player on the court, if ever. But Jokic can and will get him the ball where he needs to be and it is up to Aaron to be aggressive and believe in his own abilities.
If he can do that, and Jamal can come back like Jamal, expect the Nuggets to make a run similar to that of their time in the bubble.