The Denver Nuggets needed to make many changes during the offseason, but one of them never got addressed. The one that was their undoing in the first round of the playoffs against the Minnesota Timberwolves. That problem was rim protection and the ability to stop an attacking player from getting into the paint, where an easy bucket awaited. No player was brought in to address the issue directly, so it's up to gumption and scheming to fix it. Are the Nuggets up to the task?
They'd be better. The Nuggets' defense was porous at best against the Timberwolves, who scored an alarming 68 points in the paint in Game 3 and 64 in the series-deciding Game 6. But what was more alarming than anything else was that it was mostly the blueprint that was laid down by other opposing teams like the Utah Jazz in the final games of the regular season that led to the collapse in round one. The Jazz, who were tanking for a better draft pick, shocked the Nuggets with 84 points in the paint just weeks before the playoffs began.
The Nuggets have to step up and fix the paint defense
It won't be easy for the Nuggets to make the change, but they did hire a new, defense-oriented assistant coach, Dave Joerger, who should be leaned on by Nuggets head coach David Adelman for defensive scheming advice. Because, at the very least, the Nuggets need a new scheme.
Part of that scheme should be to use their new addition, Alpha Diallo, to put more pressure on the defense on the perimeter. The Nuggets also need to get Aaron Gordon and Nikola Jokic into a better position to protect the paint. Jokic may not be a rim protector, but he needs to be better at making the opposing player take a tougher shot. Something he wasn't doing at times last year.
But that's the other part of the issue. The Nuggets need to just dig deep and find another gear on defense. It's there. Somewhere. The past two years, the Nuggets finished 21st and 22nd in defensive rating. However, just three years ago, the Nuggets were 8th in defensive rating. A lot of the reason they fell was the departure of Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, who's a great perimeter defender.
That's why it's imperative for the Nuggets to find out early what they've got in Diallo. Diallo, the EuroLeague's Best Defender last year, could wind up being the best defender on the team. But until the Nuggets make some marked changes in their scheme, they'll continue to be a poor paint-defense team in 2026-27.
Add us as a preferred source on Google