While the Denver Nuggets bench has improved their non-Nikola Jokic minutes with the addition of center Marvin Bagley III, the bench itself is struggling. They're just 24th in the league in bench points scored, at 30.3 per game. And even worse, there's no three-point oomph. The Nuggets' bench is dead last, by a lot. They're really missing Julian Strawther. And without him, there might not be much they can do.
The Nuggets bench is attempting just 7.0 threes per game, averaging 2.0 makes. The 29th-place team is attempting 11, with 3.1 made threes. It's rough. And it's not like DeMar DeRozan is going to, all of a sudden, become a three-point threat.
The poor bench three-point shooting is one of the reasons Nikola Jokic is having a tougher time with spacing than he's used to, leading him to some of the lowest efficiency rates of his career. There may not be an easy solution for head coach David Adelman to fill the gap, except patience.
The Nuggets are really missing Julian Strawther
Sure, you could say the Nuggets are missing Tim Hardaway Jr. He was the three-point marksman off the bench last year. But that was supposed to be Strawther this year. Strawther's currently rehabbing a knee injury that isn't scheduled to be re-evaluated until around the first week of December. He was off a great start in the preseason, too. He was attempting 5.8 threes and connecting at 43.5%. This was after he made 38.7% from deep last year. He was going to be the volume perimeter shooter this year.
But right now, the Nuggets only have Spencer Jones and Trevon Brazile as three-point threats off the bench. Jones is the better of the two, having shot 39.6% from downtown last year. He's at 50% after his three appearances, while Brazile is at 33.3%.
The starters are going to have to carry the three-point load
The Nuggets' starters, led by Jamal Murray, are 5th in three-pointers made at 9.5 per game. Murray is attempting 7.8 per game and making 51.3%. Cameron Johnson is next with 5.3 attempts at 43.2%. They'll both have to do their best to increase that number to get the Nuggets out of 28th place in three-point attempts, and 27th place in three pointers made.
It's been noticeable that the Nuggets' opponents have been shooting more threes, and they've been outshot from beyond the arc by an average of 7.4 attempts per game, while their opponents have made more threes than the Nuggets have in 7 out of 10 games.
There isn't a great solution for the bench three-point problem without the front office figuring out a trade or just trying to eke it out until Strawther's healthy again. But with how tight the Western Conference standings are this year, the Nuggets may not be able to afford to wait.
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