The Treasure of the Rocky Mountains

<<Denver is a city that will be far more defined by its future than its past>> Under everyone's nose, the Denver Nuggets slowly build a team that is ready to challenge for a playoff spot in the West. Can a defensive mastermind like Micheal Malone find the treasure in the Rocky Mountains? The Sixth Men give light in one of the most underrated basketball projects in the NBA.


Denver Nuggets went from a team that could come out of a tough West (2012-13) to a team that went deep down the standings, in a rebuilding mode. Midway the 2014-15 season, club GM, Tim Connelly decided to pull the trigger and trade the veteran talent of JaVale McGee, Nate Robinson, Aaron Afflalo and Timofey Mozgov for draft picks.

In the 2015 off-season, Ty Lawson's off-court issues (He was driving under the influence of alcohol for the second time in six months) had the better of him as the once time franchise point guard was traded to Houston for a pick in 2016 NBA Draft and a mix of some undeveloped talent and veterans (Kostas Papanikolaou, Joey Dorsey, Nick Johnson and Pablo Prigioni) that the front office decided to offload sooner or later. Midway. the 2015 season, Randy Foye was traded to Oklahoma City for a future pick.

The team was officially in rebuilding mode. Rebuilding in West is tough as teams pile up when you are down and you have to be precise with your moves as the margin for error is very small. There are franchises like the Golden State Warriors and the Portland Trailblazers who had successfully completed the turnaround while there are teams like Phoenix Suns, Minnesota Timberwolves and Sacramento Kings that still struggle and looking for their identity.

Denver Nuggets used their pick (#7) in the 2015 NBA Draft to select their future point guard, Emmanuel Mudiay. The Congolese point guard has amazing tools to dominate the game from a physical standpoint. You can not find every day a 6'5" (1.91 m) guard with 6'8.5" (2.04 m) wingspan and a powerful frame for his young age. In a controversial choice, the Congolese decided not to attend a college but to play professionally in China before he committed to the NBA. As for his weaknesses, Mudiay lacks a consistent jumper (made the abysmal 36.4% of his attempts, dead last among starting point guards) and still needs work with his passing accuracy (His 1.71 assist to turnover ratio ranked him 42nd among the 46 qualified point guards)

*LA: League Average (what percentage the league shot from that area)

**DST: Shot Distribution (what percentage of total shots he took from that area)

Filling up the PG slot is NBA Veteran, Jameer Nelson. He may not be the player he once was as he had his worst shooting season in his 11 years in the league but he can contribute with his solid court vision (His 2.88 Assist to Turnover ratio was the best of his career) and by mentoring Mudiay in that regard.

In SG slot there is a bit of logjam with the two draftees (Jamal Murray, Malik Beasley) and two players who evolved last season, Will Barton and Garry Harris. Jamal Murray (#7 pick) is "an aggressive scorer that can complement Emmanuel Mudiay but he needs to improve his decisions as a leading guard if he wants to play as a combo guard at the NBA level" while Malik Beasley (#19 pick) is "the prototype "3&D" guy that scouts love around the league but he needs to improve his ball-handling".  Both draftees solve the major concerns of the Nuggets last season (24th out of 30 both in perimeter shooting and defensive rating) but they collide with the aforementioned. 

Will Barton thrived last season posting career highs across the boards (14.4 points, 5.8 rebounds, 2.5 assists). He went from being a nobody in Portland to a dynamic Sixth Man who brings energy and offers some of the most explosive finishes around the rim. Garry Harris stepped up when Randy Foye was traded. He shot at a nice clip (35.4% from the arc) and he is a very good mid-range jumper but he really struggles to get into the free throw line (1.75 free throw attempts per game). The Nuggets currently do not have a D-League team and I wonder how this will be played out.

In SF spot, there are the injury-prone Danilo Gallinari and Wilson Chandler. In the last three seasons, Gallo has played less than the half of the Denver Nuggets games and his injury history is very alarming. When he is healthy, the Italian forward is one of the most efficient players in the league and the real star of this franchise. He really looked like his old self, midway last season (in January he averaged 23.5 points, 5 boards, 2 helpers while shooting 44.7% from the field) but an ankle injury sidelined him for the rest of the season. On the other hand, Wilson Chandler is a jack of all trades but he missed all of the last season (had a hip surgery) and he deals with injuries throughout his career.

Also, there is the 16-year veteran, Mike Miller (won 2 NBA Championships with the Miami Heat), that I have the feeling that will secure the 15th spot on the roster. From what I have read and heard, Miller is working exclusively with Mudiay in order to help the sophomore guard with his shooting touch. His work might pay dividends as the Congolese closed the second half with a far better shooting percentage. He was shooting 36.4% from downtown post all-star game when before the all-star break he only made 27.2% of his attempts.

In the roster, last season there were Jakarr Sampson (2.03 - SF/PF) and Axel Toupane (2.01 - SG/SF from France) who filled the void with the absence of both Gallinari and Wilson Chandler but their contracts are not guaranteed and it's up to coach Malone on who will make the official cut.

In PF position, Kenneth Faried is set for his 5th season as a pro and he should make the next step. In the last 3 seasons, his numbers look the same and he has not added anything new to his skillset. He plays with a lot of energy and pulls down a lot of rebounds but he has no jumper, his post up game is very basic and he can not be considered as a rim protector at all. He may have reached his peak and from what I have been told, Tim Connely sees Faried as a trade chip but only at the right price.

In case, Faried is shopped, Nuggets have decided to bring Juan Hernangomez, the ACB Best Young Player of the Year. The Spanishish forward "is an interesting overseas prospect that shows flashes of a great "Pick N' Pop" big man but he needs to polish his offensive skillset and his focus on defence". I think he is a couple of years before he can be considered as an NBA ready product but in an aggresive move, the Spaniard will join his NBA team this year.

On the bench, there is the always serviceable, Darell Arthur. The Kansas product has slowly established himself as one of the most efficient bench players in the league. He comes off the most productive season of his professional career and signed a 3 year, 23 M $ contract earlier this season.

In the middle,  they have got the two ABA products, Jusuf Nurkic from Bosnia and Nikola Jokic from Serbia. Jusuf Nurkic put a really productive sophomore campaign averaging 8.2 points and 5.5 rebounds, despite playing just 32 games due to a knee injury that has suffered last season. The ex Cedevita player was pheonomenal in the later stages of the season averaging, 11.9 points, 6.6 boards, 2 blocks per game and 1.2 steals, in the last 12 games of the season.

Nikola Jokic is coming off an underrated rookie campaign and a solid outing in the Rio Olympics. The Mega Leks product started in 55 games out of the 81 he played in and he averaged, 10 points, 7 boards and showcased his high basketball IQ averaging 2 dimes per contest. He showed some promise by knocking some mid to long range jumpers, too. In the Olympics, he flew under the radar averaging almost identical numbers (9.1 points - 6 rebounds - 2.4 assists) having his best game of the tournament vs USA in the group stage match.

The person that Tim Connely chose to guide the Nuggets to play off contention is Mike Malone. Mike Malone attended Loyola University and studied history. He played 107 games for the basketball program of his school (being named starter in 39 of them) averaging 3.4 points, 2.6 assists and 0.7 steals. His father, Brendan Malone, is a long time assistant in the NBA, winning two rings with the Detroit Pistons (1989, 1990) and is one of the assistants of Stan Van Gundy.

Micheal Malone worked his way up to the head coaching position before he was praised as one of the league's most decoreated assistants. He recently got in the head coaching job leading the 2013-14 Kings in a 28-54 record. The next season started with an impressive 9-6 record but a poor run of games and disagreements with franchise's executives lead to his resignation after just 24 games and a 11-13 record.

Malone is a defensive mastermind that looks to slow down the tempo and own the paint. He is also good in late game situations and his teams are usually executing solid inbound plays in crunch time.

Mike Malone has embraced the newest norm of the NBA, the read n' react offense. It is based on the pattern of the San Antonio Spurs "Beautiful Game". It is a type of offense that does not have a fixed on and off ball movement but requires players to read the defense and react to what it gives to them.

To be more specific, "Read and React" offense is like a movie with an alternative ending. Malone puts his players in a frame without building his offense in steps i.e. going from step A to step B like in a preassigned action. He creates action from a targeted formation and let them chose the ending since they have worked on each step numerous scenarios. You can understand that the Nuggets might run the same play but each player according to his reading of the defense and his understanding of the game, he can create an infinite number of combinations and various endings.

Coach Malone also uses a lot of Horns action using either Gallinari as a point forward or Mudiay. Recently, there has been a very large increase in the number of teams using the Horns offense. In this offensive scheme, the primary ball handler is in the center of the half court, the two bigs are in the highpost while the other two players are in the corners, forming a letter A. It is not a pick and roll based type of offense but one that includes all kinds of execution (pick&roll, ball screen for shooters, post-up, isolation) while spacing is the key for its success. 

On defense, the Nuggets can not still find success but you can not put the blame on Mike Malone for that. Nuggets struggled to defend as they were allowing 105 points per game and posted an abysmall 108.9 defensive rating. A big part of that struggle can be found in terms of the personell the Nuggets had last season as there was not a lockdown defender in the perimeter in the roster while their best rim protector (Jusuf Nurkic) played only 32 games. Malik Beasley was a good collegiate defender due to his high energy and motor but there are still questionmarks regarding how he will be able to defend NBA guards. 

Heading in to the 2016-17 NBA season, Nuggets have a lot of questions to reply. Can they improve on defense? Can Wilson Chandler and Danilo Gallinari put an injury free season? Is Kenneth Faried a trade chip ? They currently are in better situation than Kings, Suns, Pelicans and Lakers, they have a better future than Rockets, Clippers and Mavericks but they are in worse situation than the Jazz and the Blazers. They might be 1 or 2 years before a play off contention. The 2017-18 season may find Nuggets with a roster full of young, undervalued assets ready to make the push for the next level. It's all up to how the management of the team will play it out and what moves they will make the next few seasons. 

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P.S : Big tournament in Athens in honour of Euroleague legend, Dimitris Diamantidis. Every game of this tournament should not be missed.

P.S 2: I had a pretty interesting conversation with some people about the future of the sport. It will be published within the next few days. Basketball is evolving every day, every year and very few people have the right eyes to see it.