RealGM

Yup, I was bored tonight, so I looked at some stats.

Nuggets are 12th in FGA & 12th in FG% - interesting
Nuggets are 9th in 3PA & 12th in 3P% - probably means we shouldn't be shooting so many 3s

Nuggets are 16th in FTA & 23rd in FT% - would love to see more FTA, but we need to shoot them a little better (but if you look at the individual FT%, our biggest scorers do fairly well)

Nuggets are 9th in "Drives" but 5th in Points in the Paint - that's pretty nice and wouldn't it be nice to see even more drives?

Nuggets lead the league in fewest opponent's 2nd chance points but we're 4th worst in taking advantage of our 2nd chance opportunities

Nuggets are 12th in scoring points off turnovers but we are 29th in limiting opponents points off turnovers --- maybe we need to hustle a little more (and stop complaining to officials)

NuggetsWY wrote:Nuggets are 9th in 3PA & 12th in 3P% - probably means we shouldn't be shooting so many 3s

36.4% for 3pt is equal to 54.6% for 2pt, which is OK to me. Before December Lyles is non-factor and Murray is in 3p% crisis, and since December Jokic and Barton are in 3p% crisis, so I think real 3p% of this team is more close to 37%, which is clearly NBA TOP10.

NuggetsWY wrote:Nuggets are 16th in FTA & 23rd in FT%

I blame Malone alone for this. If you take look at Denver minutes distribution, out of our 5 players with 30+ mpg 4 are true elite FT shooters (84%+), and 5th Barton is not that good but still beyond league average. So how on Earth team with such amazing FT% percentages of main players are so bad in this stat category? It is because all our worst FT% shooters (around 65% or even worse, Plumlee, Lyles, Craig, Beasley, Faried) playing mostly altogether when opponents are out of bonus (at the last 3 minutes of 1st and 3rd quarter especially). Also, that ridiculous maneuver to sit out Jokic in last minute in defense gives Lyles and Plumlee some unexpected extra FT in 4th quarter also. The Denver player wich playing most minutes at end of all quarters (when bonuses are out) is our worst FT% shooter, Plumlee!? With just better minutes distribution schedule strategy, Denver would up net-rating for about +2 thanks to FT% only, and we are a team destined to be NBA TOP10 in FT% (Murray is TOP3 FT% in NBA, Jokic among centers starters also). Malone should receive some special award on way how he uses Plumlee (which is a good player in general, and seems like good guy with good working habits) against own team, to sabotage team best player Jokic and to turn Denver FT% from weapon to weakness (opponent coaches use "bum the plum" strategy against us when once bonus out and Plumlee is on court). Look what happens since January 30 and Plumlee injury when we don't have such bad Free Throws shooter at end of all quarters, and Lyles schedule is changed also because that (he playing more minutes, but less at the end of quarters).

We are 2nd best FT% team in the league! OK, 4 matches is a small sample, I don't say we should be TOP3, but TOP10 for sure with a different playing-time schedule per quarters.

NuggetsWY wrote:Nuggets lead the league in fewest opponent's 2nd chance points but we're 4th worst in taking advantage of our 2nd chance opportunities

This must be a mistake. We are #2 in the league in offensive rebounds, so we are probably the 4th BEST team in this category, not WORST.

NuggetsWY wrote:
Nuggets are 9th in "Drives" but 5th in Points in the Paint - that's pretty nice and wouldn't it be nice to see even more drives?

I like when our paint points are coming from cuts and rolls to the rim, not a player driving with the ball in his hands.

I was curious about total minutes played - not just MPG. It seems to me that Murray isn't getting enough minutes.

1749 Harris
1695 Barton
1602 Murray
1490 Jokic
1455 Chandler
1047 Plumlee
1021 Lyles

Surprises:
1) Barton is second on the team? Then again, Malone even plays him in "defensive situations" at the end of games when he yanks Jokic.
2) Murray's minutes are perhaps a little low for my preference, but I'd like to see him playing 38+ mpg.
3) Jokic's minutes seem too low and that surprised me, but it probably shouldn't have.
4) Chandler Too many minutes.

Nobody else was over 800 minutes.

NuggetsWY wrote:I was curious about total minutes played - not just MPG. It seems to me that Murray isn't getting enough minutes.

1749 Harris
1695 Barton
1602 Murray
1490 Jokic
1455 Chandler
1047 Plumlee
1021 Lyles

Surprises:
1) Barton is second on the team? Then again, Malone even plays him in "defensive situations" at the end of games when he yanks Jokic.
2) Murray's minutes are perhaps a little low for my preference, but I'd like to see him playing 38+ mpg.
3) Jokic's minutes seem too low and that surprised me, but it probably shouldn't have.
4) Chandler Too many minutes.

Nobody else was over 800 minutes.

1) Barton is the first reserve both for PG and SG so his minutes are quite understandable.
3) Jokic missed 6 games and had three 12 or so minutes games due TF or injury. Without these 3 games he average 33 MPG so, IMHO, this season Malone giving him the right amount of minutes.
4) Agree, especially since he isn't interested in the games... (but he is the only SF so )

Riko wrote:

Spoiler:

NuggetsWY wrote:I was curious about total minutes played - not just MPG. It seems to me that Murray isn't getting enough minutes.

1749 Harris
1695 Barton
1602 Murray
1490 Jokic
1455 Chandler
1047 Plumlee
1021 Lyles

Surprises:
1) Barton is second on the team? Then again, Malone even plays him in "defensive situations" at the end of games when he yanks Jokic.
2) Murray's minutes are perhaps a little low for my preference, but I'd like to see him playing 38+ mpg.
3) Jokic's minutes seem too low and that surprised me, but it probably shouldn't have.
4) Chandler Too many minutes.

Nobody else was over 800 minutes.

1) Barton is the first reserve both for PG and SG so his minutes are quite understandable.
3) Jokic missed 6 games and had three 12 or so minutes games due TF or injury. Without these 3 games he average 33 MPG so, IMHO, this season Malone giving him the right amount of minutes.
4) Agree, especially since he isn't interested in the games... (but he is the only SF so )

Oops, forgot about Jokic's missing games. Still, who wouldn't love to have him play 50 mpg

Riko wrote:3) Jokic missed 6 games and had three 12 or so minutes games due TF or injury. Without these 3 games he average 33 MPG so, IMHO, this season Malone giving him the right amount of minutes.

Jokic minutes schedule before December 20th was scandalous for a team-best player without hard injury issues, he played only 9 matches over 31+ minutes (in December alone, Gary Harris played 6 matches over 40+ minutes)!? But after Dec-20 Jokic played 15 matches over 34+ minutes and just 4 matches under 32, so he is now #66 in the league by mpg, improving over 30 places on that list since Dec-20 when he is around #100.

THE J0KER wrote:

Riko wrote:3) Jokic missed 6 games and had three 12 or so minutes games due TF or injury. Without these 3 games he average 33 MPG so, IMHO, this season Malone giving him the right amount of minutes.

Jokic minutes schedule before December 20th was scandalous for a team-best player without hard injury issues, he played only 9 matches over 31+ minutes (in December alone, Gary Harris played 6 matches over 40+ minutes)!? But after Dec-20 Jokic played 15 matches over 34+ minutes and just 4 matches under 32, so he is now #66 in the league by mpg, improving over 30 places on that list since Dec-20 when he is around #100.

It sometimes seems as though Malone plays mind games with Jokic. Last year he'd yank him for "too many fouls" and then not play him much for the rest of the game, leaving him with only 3 or 4 fouls for the game. Jokic seems to play well with foul trouble (even with his "Euro-fouls" ). Then again, I can never figure out Malone is doing anyway.

To be fair I don't like Jokic playing too many minutes during RS - I'd like a minutes restriction at 32/34+eventually OT - but with Millsap out is the only thing to do.
And btw, Jokic minutes pre 20-dec were fine. He had a couple of little injuries and denver had a lot of blow-out W&L (I don't remember exactly how many) and his minutes count was low for that reason.

Malone is doing badly in a lot of thing -lineup, players, 4th quarter- but Jokic minutes count? Imho, no.

Jokic minutes are a more important thing than it seems.

In 32 minutes when he is on the court, Denver NET rating is +3.8, and in 16 minutes when he is on the bench, the NET rating is -2.7, so overall Nuggets NET rating is +1.1. That means the difference in projected NET rating when Jokic playing 30 minutes (18 bench) and when he playing 34 minutes (14 bench) is +1.68 vs +0.53, which is a significant difference (+1.68 would be #8 NET in the league, +0.53 #15, and with current +1.1 we are #11). Jokic played 31.7 in average, but in reality, he played 29.2 before December 20th, and 34.4 after, which is over 5 mpg difference. Last season we have the same this issue: before December 20 of 2016 Nikola Jokic played just 24.1 mpg, 29.9 after December 20.

BTW in Serbia December 19th is very special "Saint Nikola Day", so are we will going every single season wait for "Saint Nikola Day" miracle that Malone will realize some basic things how to use Nikola?

And except the problem of Jokic minutes distribution which we have until December 20th, there is that minutes schedule problem connected with FT% which I already mentioned. In Jokic case it is unprecedented Malone habits to shot down his best player in last minute of the first half, and more shocking, to sit down him in the last minute of the open match! In my entire life, I never see such strategy even on lowest basketball amateur level that some coach replacing his best all-around player which can do everything (score, passing, rebounding) and which is 85%+ elite free throws shooter, with his backup player which is team's by far worst FT% shooter!? Out of all centers with at least 20 free throw attempts this season, Jokic FT% is 2nd best in NBA (after Kanter), and Mason Plumlee is the worst with just 42%, but he insists on that!?

THE J0KER wrote:Jokic minutes are a more important thing than it seems.

In 32 minutes when he is on the court, Denver NET rating is +3.8, and in 16 minutes when he is on the bench, the NET rating is -2.7, so overall Nuggets NET rating is +1.1. That means the difference in projected NET rating when Jokic playing 30 minutes (18 bench) and when he playing 34 minutes (14 bench) is +1.68 vs +0.53, which is a significant difference (+1.68 would be #8 NET in the league, +0.53 #15, and with current +1.1 we are #11). Jokic played 31.7 in average, but in reality, he played 29.2 before December 20th, and 34.4 after, which is over 5 mpg difference. Last season we have the same this issue: before December 20 of 2016 Nikola Jokic played just 24.1 mpg, 29.9 after December 20.

BTW in Serbia December 19th is very special "Saint Nikola Day", so are we will going every single season wait for "Saint Nikola Day" miracle that Malone will realize some basic things how to use Nikola?

And except the problem of Jokic minutes distribution which we have until December 20th, there is that minutes schedule problem connected with FT% which I already mentioned. In Jokic case it is unprecedented Malone habits to shot down his best player in last minute of the first half, and more shocking, to sit down him in the last minute of the open match! In my entire life, I never see such strategy even on lowest basketball amateur level that some coach replacing his best all-around player which can do everything (score, passing, rebounding) and which is 85%+ elite free throws shooter, with his backup player which is team's by far worst FT% shooter!? Out of all centers with at least 20 free throw attempts this season, Jokic FT% is 2nd best in NBA (after Kanter), and Mason Plumlee is the worst with just 42%, but he insists on that!?

I repeat, denver had a lot of blow up games (11 games in the first 21 finished with a points differencial of more than 15 points, only 6 after 20-dec) G.harris until the game against CHI, when Jokic injuried, average 33mpg now average 35mpg.
Then you keep using 20-dec like point break but jokic until that day had injury, one ejection, and 2 games when he was just coming back from an injury.

And i'm not saying that Malone using Jokic well during the games, I'm saying that his minutes count is right. I wuold do something more or less like first 8 minutes of 1st and 2nd quarter, last 8 minutes of 3rd and 4th quarter.