Meet Facu Campazzo, a key to the Nuggets' refined and retooled offensive attack

The Nuggets’ first team practice Sunday began with Nikola Jokic cursing out Michael Malone.

Don’t worry. It was only in jest.

There’s a bit of a different energy on Denver’s practice court this season. The Nuggets have seven new players on their roster after running back much of the same team over the last two seasons. To get the Nuggets old guard up to speed with the septet of newcomers, Malone played highlight reels of JaMychal Green, Isaiah Hartenstein, and rookies Zeke Nnaji, RJ Hampton, Facu Campazzo, Markus Howard and Greg Whittington for the rest of the team.

The last edit Malone played was of Campazzo, the 5-foot-11 Argentinian point guard who played for Spanish powerhouse Real Madrid for the last several seasons before signing a two-year contract with the Nuggets last week. Included in the highlight package was of a dazzling behind-the-back assist that Campazzo threw for Argentina when it eliminated Jokic and Team Serbia in the 2019 World Cup semifinals.

It’s not Jokic’s fondest memory based on his carefully worded response to the clip.

“It was one of the best passes I’ve ever seen,” Malone said.

Campazzo was Denver’s star import this offseason. If you want to lean a little bit about his career accomplishments on the international stage and in Europe, just scroll his Wikipedia page.

• 2x Euro League Champion (2015, 2018)
• 3x Spanish League Champion (2015, 2018, 2019)
• Spanish League Finals MVP (2019)
• Spanish League Most Spectacular Player (2017)
• 2x All-Spanish League First Team (2019, 2020)

The list goes on.

Campazzo’s already legendary point guard to the rest of the world. Now, he’s trying to build an NBA career. It has long been a dream for the 29-year-old. He flirted with the NBA in the past, but several factors including an open roster spot in Denver this offseason finally helped bring Campazzo stateside.

“I’m finally here,” Campazzo said. “I’m so happy right now. I feel like a little child at this moment. This is a dream, but you know, I’m just going to keep working.”

The first thing to know about Campazzo is that he’s a ruthless competitor. He wants to win at all costs. Campazzo is small in stature but won’t back down from any battle. He’s not afraid to ruffle some feathers either. In 2012, a 21-year-old Campazzo appeared to deliver a below-the-belt blow to Carmelo Anthony while the forward attempted a three during a matchup against the United States in the 2012 Olympics.

Compazzo doesn’t care who he’s going up against or what the name on the back (or front) of their jersey reads. Like Jokic, he’s not intimidated by any matchup, opponent or stage. That’s Facu, according to those who’ve gone up against him and watched him closely over the years.

“He just wants to rip your heart out,” one NBA scout told DNVR. “He’s an absolute mother fucker.”

Defensively he’s a staunch competitor despite his stature. Campazzo’s smart, instinctual and a master anticipator with a nose for the ball. He’ll frustrate his matchup by deploying a full-court press and has such quick and strong hands that if an offensive player holds the ball out in front of him for too long, Campazzo will swipe it away. He’s only 5-foot-11 but is strong and knows how to use his body defensively.

Off the ball, he’s savvy and smart enough to bait opponents into turnovers.

But Campazzo, after all, is known across the basketball globe as “The Magician” because of his offensive brilliance. Malone has watched the point guard for years and was a staunch supporter of Denver’s efforts to sign him each of the last two offseasons. He calls Campazzo a “top-5 pick-and-roll player in the world.”

Campazzo makes passes that shouldn’t be possible. He has a feel for the game that can’t be taught. There’s only a few players in the world who can make the reads that Campazzo can.

One is a current teammate.

“He makes plays that most people don’t even think about or see,” said Malone. “He’s like Nikola in that regard.”

Campazzo is key ingredient to a refined and more modern offensive attack that Malone is planning to implement this season. Denver was a top-5 offense last season, but is aiming even higher this year. The Nuggets also want to play at a faster pace and cut down on the number of shots they’re taking from the mid-range. Instead, Denver wants those drives into the paint to result in either free-throws or three-pointers. Campazzo can make all of that happen. He’s also as unselfish as they come.

The Nuggets only attempted 30.6 threes per game last season, which ranked just 26th in the league. Malone wants considerably more threes, and specifically corner triples.

It’s a familiar tune from the Nuggets who came into training camp in 2019 with a similar hope: to shoot more threes. A key difference this year is their personnel. Denver swapped out Torrey Craig and Mason Plumlee for more capable shooters in Whittington and Hartenstein. Add in Campazzo, a solid but not elite three-point shooter, and Denver should have a much quicker trigger from beyond the arc, especially if the higher rate of threes Jamal Murray was attempting in the bubble (he shot 1.7 more threes/game in the playoffs than the regular season) carries over.

Expect the Nuggets to play smaller, faster and scrappier this season too. Campazzo and Monte Morris are in line to spend significant minutes on the court together with Denver’s second unit. Internally, the Nuggets are excited about the prospects of that pairing. Don’t be surprised if Murray and Campazzo also log playing time alongside one another in an effort to play Murray off the ball more and ease his burden throughout the regular season.

“They are great players,” Campazzo said of Murray and Morris. “I think we can play together at the same time. We can take advantage of that.”

It could all lead to the Nuggets fielding the most potent offensive attack of the Malone era. With Michael Porter Jr. moving into a more central offensive role behind Jokic and Murray and the changes Denver made to the backend of its rotation this offseason, this iteration of the Nuggets has the potential to lead the league in offense.

“I’m all about offense now, baby,” Malone joked. “We’re going to score 130 a night.”

The fireworks start Saturday. The Nuggets visit the Warriors for their first preseason matchup where Jokic and Campazzo could share the court for the first time, both as teammates and since Campazzo and Argentina sent Serbia packing last summer.