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This week Dan Fatigato (DNF_on_NBA), Luke Binder (@303luke), Joel Rush (@NuggetsDenJoel) and T.J. McBride (@BSN_McBride) came together to hopefully shed some light on some of the bigger questions surrounding the Nuggets.
What are your thoughts on Danilo Gallinari thus far, who hasn’t looked like the same player he was last season?
An: I’m harsher on Gallinari than most. When Gallo came here I considered him a jack-of-all-trades type player, he can shoot, can put the ball on the floor better than 99 percent of players his height and has a unique creativity to his playmaking. Since then I have seen that although he has all the tools, he’s content with barrelling into the lane looking for a foul or shooting contested hero-ball jumpers. On a team lacking a go-to scorer, it seems Gallinari feels that it is his responsibility to take up the mantle. Instead, the Nuggets would be much better off moving the ball and playing off of one another. I believe Gallo’s best role would be a go-to scorer off the bench, as his defense (which once was great) and lack of off-ball movement make him a less than ideal choice as a starter.
Dan: I think Gallo is sort of a man without a country right now. This whole team has an identity problem and last season’s best player is not immune to the effects. He’s getting to the line less, which helps explain his three point drop in points per game. But he’s also only shooting 39.9 percent from the floor, the lowest mark of his career. The lack of spacing on offense has really hurt Gallo as an isolation weapon and outside shooter. There’s just nowhere to go too often offensively. I think he can bounce back, but he still lacks any kind of chemistry with Emmanuel Mudiay and he doesn’t fit with most of Denver’s bigs.
Joel: The direction Michael Malone is taking the overall Nuggets team offense is moving away from the player who Gallo is at heart, and I believe this inherent tension is central to his struggles. Gallinari’s default mode is ISO, whereas what Denver is trying to accomplish offensively is largely predicated on good ball movement and unselfish play. Gallinari is a smart player who should be able to adapt his game to operate more within the flow of the offense, even if it cuts against his natural grain, but thus far he seems uncomfortable with the transition. It was easy to see when he was injured that the ball just stuck less, and although the Nuggets do rely on his heroics at times, he will need to adjust to avoid the perception of growing incompatibility with the team offense.
T.J.: Gallinari looks like a player being pulled in two different directions. He has not assimilated into the new offensive philosophies but still acts as the offensive safety net for the younger players on the roster which leads to lots of isolation jump shots or bull-dozing drives to the rim looking to get fouled. It seems that Gallinari is the most effective offensive weapon the Nuggets have at their disposal but he needs to find a way to play within the offense and not in spite of it.
Kenneth Faried has shown more defensive energy and fundamental development to start the year but has faded as of late. What have you seen from him?
An: The way I always describe Faried is he makes good things happen but isn’t a good player. There is no doubt that Faried can make great things happen on the court. He fights hard for every rebound, flies through the air for highlight blocks and has excellent touch around the rim. As a player, however, he is fatally flawed. The good things he does are often nullified by the blown defensive rotations, lack of size in the post and negative spacing. Faried is the type of player you want for high variance, chaotic and unpredictable play, not if you want a solid player. He’s best suited for coming off the bench along with Gallinari to wreck havoc on opposing reserves. He’s been in trade talks for years but general managers around the league aren’t stupid — they’re just as aware of his flaws as the couch GMs. It’s unclear what his value is around the league right now.
Dan: Pardon the team name-inspired pun here, but Faried is fool’s gold. He’s lured us in since the beginning of his career with soaring dunks, a cool nickname, and flashes of defensive brilliance. But as it’s been said many times, the league has evolved away from his style of play and he takes coming off the bench as a personal slight. I think it’s great that he’s playing with more intensity on both ends this year – he is playing better. But his negative net effect on the rest of the team, especially guys like Emmanuel Mudiay and Gallinari, is irredeemable. There’s a reason the Nuggets haven’t found a trade partner for him yet, his value as an off the bench energy guy doesn’t fit his price tag and years left on his deal.
Joel: If it becomes clear that Mudiay has a future with the Nuggets as a starter playing big minutes, then it is equally clear that Faried does not, or at least should not. I am definitively not aboard the Malone bashing bandwagon that so many fans are hopping onto these days, but that said, I think his biggest failure as a coach this season has been to stifle Mudiay’s potential development by starting lineups that absolutely kill the floor spacing he so desperately needs. To Malone’s credit, he axed “Jurkic,” but moving Faried into the starting lineup doesn’t help Mudiay much. That isn’t Faried’s fault, and his improved effort on defense this season is commendable, but he really doesn’t fit with the team’s future, and especially with Darrell Arthur back healthy, it may be best for both sides to part ways.
T.J.: While Faried has looked much more controlled defensively that does not mean he fits this roster. His lack of shooting and limitations defending on the perimeter and in the low-post cannot be overlooked. Malone has done everything to find a spot for Faried to get consistent minutes but with Faried being served up a DNP-CD against the Wizards it seems that the options have dissipated. Faried could help multiple NBA teams but it does not seem the Nuggets are among them.
A cloud of negativity is surrounding the Nuggets at the moment. What steps need to be taken for Denver to get back to winning basketball games and making the playoffs?
An: They need some confidence. Too often the Nuggets are faced with adversity and stand around looking for someone or something to save them. The ball stops moving and the players stand still, as the offense comes to a screeching halt. The players take turns playing isolation basketball, a strategy that only works when you have a top-tier scoring talent. Denver does not. The players need to be mentally stronger against opposing momentum. They need to shrug it off like a great shooter shrugs off a close-out – ignore it and keep your eyes on the prize. Take it one possession at a time and don’t just outwork your opponent, out-execute them as well. That’s the only hope the Nuggets currently have against the elite teams in the league.
Dan: I think the Nuggets are the West’s most disappointing team, outside of maybe Dallas and Minnesota. There’s bound to be negativity, not just because of the losing but how they’ve lost. Mudiay has been awful of late. They’re terrible in clutch situations. Last time we did this, I mused that they might need a five-game road winning streak in this supposedly easy stretch of games to get back in reasonable playoff position. Instead, they just lost in Brooklyn after an underwhelming win in Philly. They still have a nice slate over the next week to build some momentum, but they need to overhaul the lineup. I’d lean on Mudiay-Jamal Murray-Gallinari-Wilson Chandler–Nikola Jokic for heavy minutes and try to run these bad teams out of the gym. The Nuggets’ defense has been terrible anyway, just put the best spacing, shooting, and playmaking lineup out there. And pray Gary Harris is back sooner than later.
Joel: This Nuggets team needs to stop overreacting to every ripple that slaps the side of their boat, which may not be winning any races, but also isn’t sinking. Losing sucks, but we knew going into this season that it’s a young team which will have its ups and downs. Frustrating as that may be, it’s too soon to abandon patience and lose sight of the fact that progress is being made. Injuries and the Jurkic misfire have slowed down the development process, but with so many young players – and just so many players – it was never going to happen overnight. This team has shown it can be relentless in the face of adversity, and Malone has shown he can let go of (and, importantly, own up to) ineffective approaches. With increasingly clarified roles, tightened rotations, and team growth, this team if healthy, ends up at .500.
T.J.: Everyone needs to take a deep breath and remember the average age on this roster is a is 25.4 years young. There are going to be extreme ups-and-downs but the talent on the roster is undeniable. Malone is just now nearing a fully healthy roster at his disposal for the first time and the lineups are finally starting to sort themselves out. This is not a roster meant to win a championship this season and will require lots of tweaking before they can be considered contenders. There will be plenty more bad losses and great wins but for now building confidence and developing in Denver’s potential future cornerstones should be priority number one.
