Nuggets need a more aggressive Nikola Jokic versus Wizards

With only two games on the books for the Denver Nuggets in this young NBA season, it is far too early to tell if the more attention-grabbing micro-patterns in gameplay and player performance which have emerged so far might stick, or if they will wash out after more games are played and things return to a more average baseline.

But Denver has played enough minutes to catch some glimpses of factors both promising and concerning and based on those, here’s what the Nuggets should focus on Monday night against the Wizards to come out with a win.

Nikola Jokic attempts at least 12 shots

While the mystery of why Jokic appears to have stopped shooting has yet to be solved, what we can say for certain is that as a starter last season he averaged 12.7 field goal attempts per game. And although that’s not a lot of shots for a star-caliber player, he still made a lot of hay with even that moderate amount of shooting. To keep opposing defenses honest, as well as for pure points production, it’s critical for the Nuggets that Jokic make his offensive impact felt not only as a playmaker but as a scorer. The fact he hasn’t done this so far when it seemed to come so naturally to him last season is puzzling, and it’s time for him to get back to his old self.

Wilson Chandler stays the course

Sure, his shooting in the first two games has been a mess — 31.6 percent from the field including 28.6 percent from the arc, to be exact. But he’s averaged seven rebounds, 2.5 assists, a team-high 1.5 steals, and he’s been asserting himself on defense. Chandler’s a better shooter than his performance so far, so that should improve just by positive regression. But what Denver needs most from Chandler in his new role with the starting five is for him to be exactly the cleanup and glue guy he’s been playing like already.

Paul Millsap, Kenneth Faried small ball lineups play a lot

Of all the five-man lineups that have played over three minutes this season, the only one with a positive Net Rating which does not include Jokic is Emmanuel Mudiay, Gary Harris, Will Barton, Kenneth Faried, and Millsap at +19.8. The success of the Jokic-Faried lineups last season was well documented, and it appears Millsap and Faried have quickly established some positive chemistry in small-ball lineups which are well suited to match up against many teams in today’s NBA. This may be especially important for Millsap to establish a level of comfort on his new team which has, for the most part thus far, seemed to elude the Jokic-Millsap pairing.

Denver’s guards stay aggressive on defense

Let’s face it: It is highly improbable that the Nuggets will be stopping, or perhaps even hindering Washington’s star backcourt duo of John Wall and Bradley Beal. But that shouldn’t stop Jamal Murray, Mudiay, and Barton from guarding them with the same relentless tenacity that reaped benefits in the Nuggets’ home opener win against the Sacramento Kings. It may not yield huge results – not many guards in the league can slow down Wall and Beal, but opportunities like this are where Denver’s young players must cut their teeth in learning what it takes to step up to defensive challenges of this magnitude.