AG and Spacing

[TheShow2021]

I think against most teams, Jokic and AG are a near perfect fit but against some teams, AG's lack of 3 point shooting and his insistence of being in the dunker's spot does a lot of damage to the offense and Jokic especially.

The free safety defense we've seen with Embiid, Gobert, etc. not guarding Jokic but being able to double Jokic in the low post and block the lob to AG simultaneously seems to be the Nuggets kryptonite. And I believe the Mavs with Lively and some of the other up and coming teams will be able to emulate the free safety defense more effectively in the future.

I wonder how much more effective the offense would be in these matchups if the Nuggets had the ability to go 4 corners offense a la the Rudy T Rockets with Hakeem. Teams wouldn't be able to double Jokic without giving up an open 3. And we know, nobody can stop Jokic one on one.

Would love to hear your thoughts on this. Should AG be traded? Do you agree with my assessment?

[skywalker33]

I doubt AG gets traded

[BelgradeNugget]

This "problem" has nothing to do with AG but everything to do with Malone and coaching. GSW had the same "problem" with their non shooting bigs - Bogut, Green, Looney. They place them in the center of the court just inside the 3 pt line. If defender saggs of off Green he sets DHO for Steph/Klay. One of them runs around Greens screen, takes the ball and bam, wide open 3. Denver could do this with Murray/MPJ/KCP. After 5-6 wide open 3s non team would try this again.

[TheShow2021]

This "problem" has nothing to do with AG but everything to do with Malone and coaching. GSW had the same "problem" with their non shooting bigs - Bogut, Green, Looney. They place them in the center of the court just inside the 3 pt line. If defender saggs of off Green he sets DHO for Steph/Klay. One of them runs around Greens screen, takes the ball and bam, wide open 3. Denver could do this with Murray/MPJ/KCP. After 5-6 wide open 3s non team would try this again.

So we agree Malone is a below average coach? I think it's obvious by his adjustments or lack there of and the content of his words that he's low IQ.

[BelgradeNugget]

This "problem" has nothing to do with AG but everything to do with Malone and coaching. GSW had the same "problem" with their non shooting bigs - Bogut, Green, Looney. They place them in the center of the court just inside the 3 pt line. If defender saggs of off Green he sets DHO for Steph/Klay. One of them runs around Greens screen, takes the ball and bam, wide open 3. Denver could do this with Murray/MPJ/KCP. After 5-6 wide open 3s non team would try this again.

So we agree Malone is a below average coach? I think it's obvious by his adjustments or lack there of and the content of his words that he's low IQ.

It's hard to say below average, because there are so many bad coaches in the NBA, but he is not the best one. Still can't figure out rotations. He created Jokic by letting him do whatever he wanted on offense. But he let Will Barton do whatever he wanted on offense too. I still remember when Plumlee was with us, he used to play with Jokic a lot. And it was mostly ok as far as Mase was in dunker spot. But from time to time he would go in the post and my eyes used to bleed. I mean coach is there to tell him "don't ever try to do it with Jokic on the court (or never full stop)"

Last season his bench group was Bones/Brown/Reed/Green/DJ. He gave the ball to sophmore to create something. Recipe for desister. It took him half a season to take Bones out of rotation and stager Murray with bench. It also took him that time to replace Davon Reed with Braun.

The worst part is I don't think he should have played Murray with bench players this year because Reggie is at his best with the ball in his hands. He won us 3 games without Jokic/Murray. Instead of Reggie/Murray/Braun/Watson/who ever/ he should have played Reggie/KCP/Braun(Watson)/MPJ/AG and Murray/Braun/Holiday/Watson/Jokic as alternative lineups. More balanced. But now it is too late...

[TunaFish]

This "problem" has nothing to do with AG but everything to do with Malone and coaching. GSW had the same "problem" with their non shooting bigs - Bogut, Green, Looney. They place them in the center of the court just inside the 3 pt line. If defender saggs of off Green he sets DHO for Steph/Klay. One of them runs around Greens screen, takes the ball and bam, wide open 3. Denver could do this with Murray/MPJ/KCP. After 5-6 wide open 3s non team would try this again.

So we agree Malone is a below average coach? I think it's obvious by his adjustments or lack there of and the content of his words that he's low IQ.

It's hard to say below average, because there are so many bad coaches in the NBA, but he is not the best one. Still can't figure out rotations. He created Jokic by letting him do whatever he wanted on offense. But he let Will Barton do whatever he wanted on offense too. I still remember when Plumlee was with us, he used to play with Jokic a lot. And it was mostly ok as far as Mase was in dunker spot. But from time to time he would go in the post and my eyes used to bleed. I mean coach is there to tell him "don't ever try to do it with Jokic on the court (or never full stop)"

Last season his bench group was Bones/Brown/Reed/Green/DJ. He gave the ball to sophmore to create something. Recipe for desister. It took him half a season to take Bones out of rotation and stager Murray with bench. It also took him that time to replace Davon Reed with Braun.

The worst part is I don't think he should have played Murray with bench players this year because Reggie is at his best with the ball in his hands. He won us 3 games without Jokic/Murray. Instead of Reggie/Murray/Braun/Watson/who ever/ he should have played Reggie/KCP/Braun(Watson)/MPJ/AG and Murray/Braun/Holiday/Watson/Jokic as alternative lineups. More balanced. But now it is too late...

Have to disagree with you about Malone's coaching of the team. History is history but Malone has an outstanding coaching record by any standard. Some Nuggets play with great abilities and some have obvious weaknesses but Malone was not entirely at fault for the end of the season collapse. You hope that a coach can use abilities and limit weaknesses but you can't overcome days when only certain players play well or sometimes some not so well.

Jokic as the center of the offense is as it should be, as long as he is physically able.

Malone fired this team up well enough to overcome a 2 game slide against Minnesota but some of his players outside of Jokic did not play well at certain critical times. Injuries and distractions effected at least two starters. The bench was weak. It cost them at the end of the season and no coach can overcome a bad day by good players no matter what offences or defenses you throw out.

Pro players should not have to be motivated but the shot did not fall for some at the end. This is a team of good players with the obvious greatness in Jokic who rarely plays poorly. They are well coached.

In the future, they need to decide on KCP and find some stronger bench players.