The Denver Nuggets‘ season got off to a rough start with a 102-87 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder on Thursday. Sweeping statements can’t be made after one game, but reigning MVP Nikola Jokic is already comfortable calling out what could be a season-long issue for the Nuggets.
After the blowout loss, in which the Nuggets shot 35.7% from the field and an abysmal 18.4% from 3-point range, Jokic was blunt in his team’s shooting ability.
“We don’t shoot the ball really good, we’re not a good shooting team, except [Michael Porter Jr.] and Jamal [Murray],” Jokic said. “All of us are kind of streaky, not streaky, but you know just average shooters.”
Porter Jr. and Murray were the only Nuggets players who made more than one 3-point attempt in the loss. Meanwhile, Jokic, Aaron Gordon, Christian Braun, Julian Strawther, Russell Westbrook and Peyton Watson went a combined 2 of 19 from deep. That’s just awful, and by Jokic’s assessment it doesn’t appear to be something that’s just a simple fix for Denver going forward.
Of the championship-contending teams, Denver probably had the worst offseason of the bunch after losing another key piece from their 2022 title team in Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, who also happened to be one of the best 3-point shooters on their team for several years. They then elected not to replace KCP with any proven player, instead relying on younger guys like Braun, Strawther, and Watson to fill those minutes. Braun may be a decent defensive replacement for Caldwell-Pope, but none of those players give Denver the necessary shooting to give this team depth.
Couple that with the fact that the Nuggets’ biggest signing this offseason was Russell Westbrook, who went 1 of 6 from deep and 2 of 10 on the night, and it only exacerbates the issue that the Nuggets don’t have enough shooting depth. This was to be expected after the Nuggets decided not to spend on proven shooters and instead hoped that one of their young players would pop enough on a cheap contract to keep the finances low while also still contending for a title. But after one game, that appears unlikely, and when your franchise star is already calling out the roster construction, that’s never a good sign.
It’s not a complete disaster. Lost in this conversation is the fact that the Nuggets were playing against a Thunder team that has the potential to be a historically great defensive unit. But it wouldn’t be surprising to see Denver’s front office considering some trades to upgrade the rotation, primarily the bench unit. But in the interim, they’ll have to figure out different ways to win games. This isn’t going to be a team that’s going to take a bunch of 3s, it never really has been even during that 2022 title run. But they still ranked in the top half of the league in 3-point efficiency in each of the last three years. After Thursday’s performance, that doesn’t seem to be the case this year, which should be concerning.
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