The Nuggets got another win on Tuesday night in Sacramento, their fifth in a row, to improve the team to 8-2 on the season. It was a good night overall, but Denver’s biggest offseason acquisition, Cam Johnson, continued his struggles, scoring just 5 points in 22 minutes, shooting 2-6 from the field and 0-3 from three-point range.
Through his first ten games in Denver, Johnson is now averaging career lows across the board with just 7.7 points and 2.6 rebounds per game on 37% shooting and a paltry 21% from three-point range.
The counting stats are somehow even worse than Johnson’s rookie year in Phoenix, and his scoring average is down more than 10 points a night from last season with the Nets. Obviously, it’s a smaller role for Cam, and nobody expected him to replicate numbers from when he was a first option on a bad team.
But that doesn’t excuse the pitiful shooting thus far. If anything, Johsnon’s looks should be cleaner and more open. He has the best passer in the league, Nikola Jokic setting him up, and in theory, Cam should basically just have to space the floor and cut, and the Joker will feed him easy baskets.
Nuggets have to get Johnson going before it’s too late
Luckily, Johnson’s dreadful shooting has been masked by the Nuggets’ hot start and generally dominant play. Cam has been very solid on defense, helping the team play better than expected on that end of the floor, but if he doesn’t find his shot, he’s going to start losing minutes.
Another element of adding depth is more competition for minutes. In past seasons, the Nuggets’ starters were basically locked into 30+ minutes a night. But now, there are many more options, and with guys like Tim Hardaway Jr., Bruce Brown, and Peyton Watson playing well off the bench, it’s only a matter of time before they start stealing minutes.
The Nuggets invested an awful lot in Johnson, trading Michael Porter Jr. and an unprotected future first-round pick to get him, plus taking on his two years and $44 million guaranteed deal. They need to find a way to get Johnson into a rhythm within this offense. They can survive against most teams in the regular season, but they need him to fully reach their ceiling.
Hopefully, these are just some growing pains and Johnson is taking some time adjusting to his new role. But at some point, the sample size is growing, and if Johnson doesn’t get hot soon, some tough decisions are going to have to be made.