The Denver Nuggets hired Brian Shaw, the highly sought-after coaching candidate who was an assistant with the Lakers under Phil Jackson, to his first head-coaching job in the NBA last summer with high hopes. At the time, Denver was a team brimming with potential and young, explosive player after another.
The roster composition is still basically the same as it was when Shaw signed on, but the success and expectations have fallen off a cliff. The Nuggets were bad last year, finishing with a 36-46 record and in 11th place in the Western Conference. To be fair, that result was due to a prolific amount of injuries as well as the growing pains associated with a youthful team.
This offseason, Denver made a splash and re-acquired shooting guard Arron Afflalo from the Orlando Magic for Evan Fournier and Roy Devyn Marble. The move looked like a really smart one for Nuggets general manager Tim Connelly: he picked up a borderline All-Star for unproven Fournier and second round pick Marble.
However, so far, the trade has backfired as Fournier is having what looks like a career year in Orlando and Afflalo is struggling to score in the crowded Denver backcourt. The move came just one summer after Denver lost forward Andre Iguodala via a sign-and-trade with the Warriors that only netted them scoring-minded Randy Foye, whose skills clash with Afflalo’s.
Kevin Arnovitz of ESPN wrote a thorough analysis of the Nuggets’ precipitous fall from grace and it hits on many of the key points and reasons why the past few seasons have been so rough for Denver. He focused on the reportedly incompetent front office in terms of how Kenneth Faried‘s contract extension was handled as well as how Connelly just was not ready to be hired as a GM.
That is just one aspect of the whole situation, though.
It would seem many of Denver’s issues arose when change occurred at the top and Masai Ujiri left for Toronto. Photo by Troy Babbitt-USA TODAY Sports
The biggest worry the Nuggets should have is how many pretty good players they have. Yes, I said it. Denver’s problem is that the roster is compiled of roughly 12 players who are of a relatively-equal skill level, give or take a little. Arnovitz touched on this idea in the story but talked more about Denver’s off-floor personnel than its on-floor ones when contextualizing the organization’s surprising failure.
A starting lineup of Ty Lawson, Arron Afflalo, Danilo Gallinari, Kenneth Faried and JaVale McGee looks stellar on paper. Then add in supplementary players like Randy Foye, Wilson Chandler and J.J. Hickson to name a few and you have a decent-looking roster. Certainly one that seems better than 4-7, Denver’s current record.
But then consider how all of those players have to share playing time and that those players have individual personalities that do not want to sit on the bench for more than they want to. And when most of those players are not playing well, the team loses which angers the head coach.
It is a dangerous domino effect that last season resulted in Shaw ripping his team multiple times.
The losing is a product of Shaw’s inexperience as a head coach, ineffective front office executives, youth and immaturity, strange roster construction and even some bad luck. It is hard to pin the blame on one person when organization-wide miscues occur but it is certain that Denver’s issue is not a talent one.
Now, specifically what it is is in the eye of the beholder. The players currently on the team should be more than enough to be a top offensive team. Defensively, I am not sure if the same can be said but Mike D’Antoni‘s “seven seconds or less” Phoenix Suns from the 2000s was able to be successful focusing just on offense.
There is no reason the Nuggets cannot do the same.
