Micah Nori to tailor the Nuggets' Summer League offense around Denver's shooting, more from day 2 of minicamp

 

Last season, without a significant amount of threats from 3-point range that could stretch the defense, the Denver Nuggets were forced to run a fairly traditional offense, at least from the outside looking in.

The look and feel of the Nuggets, at least on the offensive end should be different this Summer as head coach Micah Nori plans to tailor his offense to the multiple shooters on Denver’s roster.

“100 percent,” Nori said on if he’s planning to shape the Nuggets’ offense around the perimeter shooting the team is bringing to Las Vegas.

Gary Harris, Jamal Murray, Jimmer Fredette, Axel Toupane, and even Juancho Hernangomez are more than capable shooters from three and will allow Nori and the Nuggets to run creative sets on the offensive end of the floor. Those floor spacers will give Emmanuel Mudiay and Murray space in the halfcourt to operate, something the Nuggets didn’t have a lot of last season with their lack of spacing.

“We will tailor our offense to be a lot more free flowing, and just more drive and kick, create off the dribble,” Nori said. “And then coming out of timeouts you’ll see more catch and shoots for Murray, get him shots – that’s what he does, get pick-and-roll action for Emmanuel. But for the most part you’re going to see more up and down, floor spread, maybe a pick-and-roll but a heck of a lot of drive and kick and hopefully the ball is just moving.”

The greatest benefactor of the Nuggets upgrade in shooting this offseason is Mudiay. The 20-year-old was frustrated on the offensive end at times last season because of the lack of gravity Denver’s perimeter players had, which limited the room he had to operate in the halfcourt.

“That’s one thing that me and Tim Connelly talked about,” Mudiay said of the Nuggets lack of shooting. “We just talked about that we need more shooting, we need more space for me to operate. Whether that’s penetrating and kicking or me penetrating to the rim.”

The Nuggets want their offense in Las Vegas to be an up and down, continuous medley of ball movement, driving and kicking with all five players sharing the ball. They’ll attempt to emulate what the Golden State Warriors did so well last season and rely on their personnel to read and react, rather than operate from more of a rigged and structured approach.

“The last thing I want to do is be over there calling plays, having guys looking over, [asking] what are we running,” Nori explained.

As far as concepts go, Nori is taking it slow with the young roster and preaching the defense-first approach that head coach Michael Malone brought to Denver last year. But when the Nuggets get stops, they’ll get out and run and space the floor with creative lineups.

“With us having so many shooters and being small, with Juancho at the four even Jakar Sampson at the four, you can play Axel at the four,” Nori said. “I mean shoot, there may be times early on with Jimmer, Gary, Mudiay, and Murray, who knows, you can put that group out there.”

Nori learning from his mistakes 

The Nuggets hired Michael Malone and his staff days before the 2015 draft, meaning they came into Denver without a great feel for the roster, even if some of those players were drafted that same summer.

Nori, now in his second straight season coaching the Summer League team, reflected on last summer and how he may not have used or featured some players on the Nuggets roster to the best of their abilities. This year, Nori says that the team is doing a lot more scrimmaging in the past so they have a better understanding of their roster before they head to Las Vegas.

“Last year we did so much because we were brand new at implementing our system that we didn’t do a lot of playing early,” Nori said of little scrimmaging the Nuggets did leading up to Summer League last year. “If you watched summer league, Jokic, we didn’t utilize him very well. Getting here late and not knowing what he could do and what he was all about, I felt that I did a disservice [to him] last year. So I wanted to make sure this year, that we play enough and get guys up and down where they’re playing so I have a better idea of what guys can do and try and put them in position to be successful and show well in Vegas.”

Mudiay, Murray already meshing well

Much has been made already about the future backcourt of Emmanuel Mudiay and Jamal Murray and how they’d fit together down the line. While Murray has looked impressive early on in minicamp, Gary Harris is still on the roster, had a great season last year, and will enter next season as the starting shooting guard.

While Mudiay and Murray may be the backcourt of the future, they’re not the backcourt of the present. However, both seem to be meshing well and are excited to play with one another this summer and next season.

“He definitely can space the floor out, so that’s one thing that’s going to be fun to see,” Mudiay said of Murray. “I don’t know what coach is going to do yet with him and Gary, so it’s going to be interesting to see, but I like Jamal, he’s a good player, he did really good in college, and like I said, he’s just going to keep getting his confidence higher and higher.”

Mudiay and Murray are seemingly a perfect fit. Mudiay can make up for Murray’s lack of size in the backcourt by guarding the taller opposing guard, and Murray’s shooting perfectly compliments Mudiay’s penetrating ability.

“It was good to see his game, learn his tendencies and learn when I’m going to be open,” Murray said of Mudiay. “I’m just trying to help him out and create space for his drives, and obviously, I’m going to be open I’m sure.”

The Nuggets continue with their Summer League minicamp this week before heading to Las Vegas for their first game on July 8.