Bones Hyland is giving the Nuggets' bench something it badly needs

Bones Hyland played a career-high 21 minutes Wednesday against the Grizzlies in the rookie’s third game as a member of Denver’s rotation. Those 21 minutes led the Nuggets’ bench, and Hyland’s nine points were more than the rest of Denver’s second unit — Facu Campazzo, PJ Dozier, JaMychal Green and Jeff Green — combined to score in a 108-106 loss.

One of Hyland’s four buckets stuck with me — this dribble-drive right past Xavier Tillman from early in the second quarter. It’s a key reason why Hyland’s minutes should continue to grow.

The Nuggets bench has treated the paint like hot lava this season. Denver’s second unit seems to avoid it at all costs unless Will Barton is leading a one-man molten flow to the basket, like did in the third quarter Wednesday. He’s the only member of the Nuggets’ default second unit that’s gotten to the basket with any regularity.

Denver is currently last in the NBA in drives per game, which isn’t too shocking considering the Nuggets finished in the bottom-5 of the NBA in drives each of the last three seasons. It’s predictably Denver’s starters — and Hyland — doing most of the attacking.

Nuggets drives per game, per Second Spectrum tracking:

Will Barton: 7.4
Monte Morris: 5.8
Aaron Gordon: 3.5
Bones Hyland: 2.8
Michael Porter Jr: 2.8
Nikola Jokic: 2.6
Facu Campazzo: 2.3
Austin Rivers: 2.2
Bol Bol: 2.0
Jeff Green: 2.0
PJ Dozier: 1.6
Markus Howard: 0.5
Zeke Nnaji: 0.5
JaMychal Green: 0.3

As the Nuggets have proven throughout the Jokic era, it’s a formula that can still lead to a healthy offense as long as Denver’s consistently knocking down 3s. But the Nuggets are currently the NBA’s third-worst 3-point shooting team only ahead of this year’s tank commanders the Pistons and Thunder. When Nikola Jokic is off the floor, 45.5% of Denver’s field goal attempts have come from 3-point range — a high-water mark for the Jokic era — with Denver shooting just 27.4% from beyond the arc when its big man is sitting on the sideline.

That’s where Hyland enters the equation. The Nuggets need players on their second unit who can get downhill and create higher quality shots than the short-circuited pick-and-pops Denver’s bench typically defaults to. Michael Malone has mostly staggered Barton or Porter with that group, an idea that would cure most of those bench struggles if both players — and not just one in Barton — were able to be the engine of the second unit’s offense. Porter is yet to prove that he can be that this season. Denver desperately needs another north-south attacker, and Hyland is a fearless one who’s already shown that he can break his man down and get into the teeth of the defense.

This was the Nuggets’ first possession after Hyland checked into the game in Wednesday’s first quarter. It’s exactly the type of aggressiveness and mindset the Nuggets need from the guards on their bench

Part of the thinking in picking the Nuggets to capture a top-4 seed in the West even with Jamal Murray out for the first several months of the year centered around the fact that Denver had a regular-season formula that produced wins. Jokic staying at an MVP level night in and night out plus a bench that could play its opponent just close to even would get the Nuggets there.

But Denver has been outscored by 61 points in the 136 minutes Jokic has spent off the court through eight games. That’s almost hard to do. The Nuggets’ offense drops from a 108.3 Offensive Rating with Jokic to an 88.9 Offensive Rating without him. Denver’s defense has cratered without Jokic too.

Malone didn’t sidestep around the central issue facing his team after the Nuggets’ latest loss which dropped them to 4-4.

“Every time (Jokic) comes out, everything just falls apart. It’s every night,” Malone said. “I went to him in the fourth quarter and I called his name. He looked at me kind of like, ‘Already?’ And I feel for him. To close the third quarter I think it was a 5-0 (Memphis) run. To start the fourth quarter a 6-0 run. 11-0, part of an 18-3 Memphis run. Nikola’s going to be worn down by Christmas at this rate. And that’s unfortunate.”

“So I have to do my job to try to figure it out. Try to help that group, that unit, mix and match, try different guys, whatever it is. We just have to be better when Nikola Jokic is not on the floor.”

Hyland crossed the 20-minute barrier for the first time on Wednesday.

It won’t be the last.