A lot went wrong for the Nuggets and Aaron Gordon last season as he fought nagging leg injuries all season, ultimately playing in just 51 regular-season games and limping through the playoffs. But one thing that did go very right for Gordon was his three-point shot.
Gordon, a career 33% three-point shooter, upped that figure all the way to 43% last season, which was by far his career-best. The shot and the confidence with which Gordon was shooting it both looked noticeably better, and the stats backed up the eye test.
It was a whole new offensive version of Gordon that we’ve never seen before, and as the season went on, the small sample never faded as he kept lighting it up on almost 3.5 attempts per game. It’s crazy that Denver was the lowest volume shooting team in the league, yet AG was among the league’s best snipers.
If Gordon can replicate shooting, Nuggets will be unstoppable
Barring another disastrous, injury-plagued season, Gordon should be much more available, should appear in many more games, yet should have a smaller night-to-night burden. A healthy, better-rested Gordon, with better depth around him, should be able to maximize his strengths and have a great season.
The question is whether or not that newfound three-point shooting success is a strength or a fluke. If he can repeat that level of shooting, or frankly, something even remotely close, the Nuggets will have a lineup full of snipers with Cam Johnson, Jamal Murray, Tim Hardaway Jr., and Julian Strawther all flanking Nikola Jokic.
All of the Nuggets should have a better shot diet this season, and if everyone shoots up to their potential, the team should light the nets on fire and put up a historical offensive season.
If the shooting dips, Nuggets will have to problem solve
But if last season was an outlier, and Gordon’s shooting returns to below league average, then the Nuggets will have to plug some holes. Gordon, being a non-shooter (he shot 29% from deep in the 2023-24 season), would limit the Denver offense and create some spacing issues.
The last thing the Nuggets want is to have a guy on the floor who’s a liability on either end. Gordon will never be that, but if teams aren’t respecting his shot, he can easily get relegated to a role where he’s standing in the corner with teams daring him to shoot.
We saw that happen last season with Russell Westbrook, and it was ugly; nobody wants to see that version of Denver’s crunch time offense again. But if Gordon can keep up his hot shooting, the court will be wide open, and defenses will be forced to pick their poison and die a slow death every night.