After four games:
Christian Braun leads the team in personal fouls.
Christian Braun leads the team in blocked shots.
Michael Porter is second in total rebounds.
Russell Westbrook is shooting 80% FT.
Aaron Gordon is shooting 40% from 3pt.
Interesting Stats That I Would Not Have Predicted
Moderator: THE J0KER
Interesting Stats That I Would Not Have Predicted
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NuggetsWY
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Re: Interesting Stats That I Would Not Have Predicted
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THE J0KER
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Re: Interesting Stats That I Would Not Have Predicted
One of these 5 stats is actually expected, MPJ was 3 times out of the last 4 seasons our 2nd best rebounder PER GAME, and in the previous season when he managed to play 81 games during the regular season he actually finished as #1 in total rebounds (or in 2nd place) of all SF players in the NBA league (depending how we should to count Jayson Tatum last season, as SF or PF), which is no surprise considering how tall he is for that position, and the fact that our PF starter Gordon often takes some specialized roles in our defensive end so MPJ is usually the main support to Jokic to protect the rim.
Christian Braun's stats are temporary, I guess, but he will stay high in both categories because his game is the most physical on our team, along with Watson and Gordon. Once Watson finishes his current slump and gets more minutes, he should take the lead in both these stats (BLK and PF's). BTW Braun had more PFs per 36 minutes last season than any of our 2023-24 starters, so now when he becomes a starter and his minutes significantly grow we can see that without advanced stats. But CB's block numbers exploded so far this season. I see two logical explanations - first that 4 games is a small sample, and second that in the first two seasons, Braun played mostly at the SF position coming from the bench, but now he plays at the SG spot only. So, the player with such intense defense when is not anymore undersized SF but an oversized SG from now, will collect many more blocks than before (but the current 1.8blk per game seems an unreal jump for a player who finished 0.4blk last season).
Westbrook's FT% story so far looks good in Denver, let's hope it is not a small sample thing but that he is just "back on track" in this stat department. Russ was in 1st half of his career known as a good over-80% FT% shooter, but once dramatically dropped his free throws shooting level and was for years around-65% very bad FT% shooter. Talking about free throws we are disappointed about the Nuggets' October start of the season, but in FT% we overperforming by all means. Not only Westbrook but also Gordon, Braun, and Watson, all known as bad FT% shooters (aka under 70%) so far shooting 80%+ from the line!
Talking about our 3p% shooting I must say that it is Nikola Jokic who stole the show so far with 11/20 (55%, 2.8 per game) in 4 games. Gordon is not a good shooter from a distance, but his movement without the ball is fantastic and very well fits with Jokic's game vision, so if AG stays self-disciplined in 3pt shot selection and takes only open threes from the corner where he is good, he can stay high in 3p%.
Christian Braun's stats are temporary, I guess, but he will stay high in both categories because his game is the most physical on our team, along with Watson and Gordon. Once Watson finishes his current slump and gets more minutes, he should take the lead in both these stats (BLK and PF's). BTW Braun had more PFs per 36 minutes last season than any of our 2023-24 starters, so now when he becomes a starter and his minutes significantly grow we can see that without advanced stats. But CB's block numbers exploded so far this season. I see two logical explanations - first that 4 games is a small sample, and second that in the first two seasons, Braun played mostly at the SF position coming from the bench, but now he plays at the SG spot only. So, the player with such intense defense when is not anymore undersized SF but an oversized SG from now, will collect many more blocks than before (but the current 1.8blk per game seems an unreal jump for a player who finished 0.4blk last season).
Westbrook's FT% story so far looks good in Denver, let's hope it is not a small sample thing but that he is just "back on track" in this stat department. Russ was in 1st half of his career known as a good over-80% FT% shooter, but once dramatically dropped his free throws shooting level and was for years around-65% very bad FT% shooter. Talking about free throws we are disappointed about the Nuggets' October start of the season, but in FT% we overperforming by all means. Not only Westbrook but also Gordon, Braun, and Watson, all known as bad FT% shooters (aka under 70%) so far shooting 80%+ from the line!
Talking about our 3p% shooting I must say that it is Nikola Jokic who stole the show so far with 11/20 (55%, 2.8 per game) in 4 games. Gordon is not a good shooter from a distance, but his movement without the ball is fantastic and very well fits with Jokic's game vision, so if AG stays self-disciplined in 3pt shot selection and takes only open threes from the corner where he is good, he can stay high in 3p%.
Re: Interesting Stats That I Would Not Have Predicted
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BelgradeNugget
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Re: Interesting Stats That I Would Not Have Predicted
THE J0KER wrote: Gordon is not a good shooter from a distance, but his movement without the ball is fantastic and very well fits with Jokic's game vision, so if AG stays self-disciplined in 3pt shot selection and takes only open threes from the corner where he is good, he can stay high in 3p%.
One observation about Gordon's 3pt shooting. Whenever he is moving before the shoot, even slightiest, I feel he has no chance of making it. In transition, of the dribble, behind screen...When he is set, standing for catch and shoot, he 3's are falling.