The Denver Nuggets have added quite the trio of two-way players to the roster. It's time to give one of them a bigger test drive than just garbage time. Ryan Nembhard needs to see some minutes in replacement of Tyus Jones, because when Jones is on the floor, the Nuggets just don't look great.
Jones has played just 50 minutes for Jamal Murray in what are becoming the non-Murray minutes. Murray's been on fire to start the year, but he's had to work his tail off to do so, largely because the offense stalls out with Jones, and it's why Murray is leading the league in minutes played. In Jones' 50 minutes, the Nuggets are a -22.5 net difference over 100 possessions per DataBallr. The offensive rating is just 91.4, and Jones has just 3 assists and 12 points in five games.
Ryan Nembhard deserves a shot
The Nuggets really can't do much worse, so there's no harm in giving Nembhard a shot. After all, the Dallas Mavericks turned to the two-way contract rookie Nembhard as their point guard solution over Jones after Jones was acquired as part of the Anthony Davis trade at the trade deadline. The Mavericks parted ways with Jones, and the Nuggets scooped him up on the buyout market.
The Nuggets need to get on the Nembhard train. They know what he can do offensively, as they got burnt for 28 points and 10 assists as Nembhard made just his third career start when the Mavericks made their trip to Ball Arena on Dec. 1st. Nembhard finished the season as the top rookie in assists at 5.3 per game, and he was a serviceable 35.6% from three on the year.
Nembhard's got good ball control, too, turning the ball over only 1.4 times over 19.5 minutes per game last year.
Nembhard could transform the non-Murray minutes
Head coach David Adelman revealed that the biggest reason Nembhard was acquired was for his play during practice, so the Nuggets could get more reps against a smaller, fast guard who can get penetration into the paint and then kick the ball out to an open player. However, that's exactly what the non-Murray minutes need.
Adelman has been running a stagger with Cameron Johnson and Aaron Gordon on the second unit, along with Marvin Bagley III and DeMar DeRozan. Nembhard could offer Cam or AG more three-point opportunities, or he could run the pick-and-roll with Bagley, who's been a good finisher in the paint.
Nembhard wouldn't be any worse on defense than Jones, but he's got more offensive upside for how the Nuggets' offense works. The Nuggets need to turn the keys over to him to let him start getting dialed in until the Nuggets figure out if he's the more season-long solution behind Murray or if they should focus elsewhere.
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