Denver Nuggets: 3 concerning stats early in the season
By Sean Carroll
Denver Nuggets concerning stats: 24th in offense
The Denver Nuggets feature Nikola Jokic at center, the greatest scoring center in the entire NBA and an offensive hub all unto himself. Since taking over the starting role from Jusuf Nurkic all those years ago, the Nuggets have been known as an exciting, electric offensive team that can shoot teams out of the building.
Jokic is in the form of his life this season, building on his Most Valuable Player campaign and looking like he hasn’t missed a beat.
On the season, he’s averaging 25.1 points per game, 13.4 rebounds, and 5.6 assists while shooting 60 percent from the floor and 41 percent from the 3-point line. It’s incredible.
So, it’s even more concerning when the team is struggling to score while the best offensive player in the league continues to excel.
Before Saturday’s match against the Rockets, Nikola Jokic had a +13.9 offensive rating when he’s on the court and the team dipped -20.8 when he sat. That difference of +34.7 is totally absurd and it’s also playing into why he leads the league in Player Impact Estimate (PIE) with 26, better than last season’s leader Joel Embiid with 20.3.
Part of the reason why the team is struggling to score without the big Serbian is because the non-Jokic lineups struggle to put the ball in the basket.
In the past, Malone has been able to stagger Jokic and Murray’s minutes, leaving at least one creator on the court at all times to keep the offense afloat. He tried to do this with MPJ this season but with him having his own struggles, the team has had to ask others to keep the offense ticking over – it’s not working.
Even without Jamal and Nikola, the Nuggets have been able to rely on Monte Morris, an extremely sturdy option at backup guard for Malone. With Monte starting and having his minutes mostly tied to the starting unit, the bench is taking even more of a hit.
The good news: Jokic is still able to come in, carry the gargantuan offensive load, and pull Denver to a 5-4 record. The bad news, it’s not very sustainable.
As Malone said to James Herbert, CBS Sports, it’s a lot to ask of the MVP:
"“I went to him in the fourth quarter and I called his name and he looked at me kind of like, ‘Already?’. And I feel for him. “Nikola’s going to be worn down by Christmas at this rate. And that’s unfortunate. So, I have to do my job to try to figure it out. Try to help that unit. mix and match, try different guys, whatever it is, but we just have to be better when Nikola Jokic is not on the floor.”"
Michael Malone has to hope some other players start making their shots or someone invents an overnight cure for a torn ACL, because if not – the best offensive player of our generation is going to have to keep holding up this Denver Nuggets roster.