The List: The Denver Nuggets are stuck in a rut

“The List” is a brand new series that serves as a companion piece for the “Notebook” episodes of the Locked on Nuggets podcast and the DNVR Nuggets podcast. In this edition, I share some notes on the brutal loss to the Atlanta Hawks on Tuesday. Many of these topics were discussed in detail on Wednesday’s edition of the DNVR Nuggets podcast.

1. Part of what made the loss to the Atlanta Hawks so painful for the Denver Nuggets was that a home game against a below average opponent is an excellent opportunity to gain some momentum and fix whatever issues have been ailing a team. For the Nuggets, the half court offense was past due for a feel-good game where the ball got poppin’ and the shots were falling.

So when the team opened up with a 12-0 Nuggets run behind patient, smart, pass-happy possessions like the one below, everyone in the arena felt like the night was shaping up to be exactly what the doctor ordered. Just look at how patiently the team probed for an open shot.

2. Michael Porter Jr. will not get consistent minutes until he can start to show more urgency and focus on simple plays like the one below, where he jogs back in transition before allowing a comfortable catch-and-shoot corner three. Corner threes are among the most valuable shots in basketball and there was no reason for Porter Jr. to allow such an easy shot in that situation.

This play provides another example of the lack of urgency from Porter and the rest of the Nuggets players. Watch closely as Kevin Huerter is right alongside Porter Jr. when the ball goes through the net but somehow manages to get all the way down the court for an easy lay up before Porter even makes it to the three point line. Porter Jr. wasn’t guarding Huerter so this is as much a problem for Monte Morris and Mason Plumlee as anyone but you can still see the general lack of urgency in everything Porter does on defense and in transition.

3. Speaking of little effort in transition, watch Jamal Murray’s matador defense on this transition possession. Murray had been the one to set the tone for the team over the previous several games so it was a pretty big disappointment to see him get utterly destroyed by Trae Young while providing very little resistance. This was Young’s 19th point of the game. You’d think Murray would’ve taken this matchup a little more personally.

4. I’ve been hammering home the importance of the weak side cut when there are three or more players spacing the floor opposite the ball. In this clip, Murray makes that cut (albeit a hair late) but Jokic completely misses the read and throws it away. No play from Tuesday’s game better highlights how out of sorts the Nuggets’ offense is right now that this one. Even when the team does the right thing they are still screwing things up.

5. Part of what makes Jokic an effective defender when he is locked in is that he is always taking away the easiest options for the offense and forcing them into slightly more difficult shots. He doesn’t block a lot of shots, but he does help turn three-foot shots into five-foot shots, right handed hooks into left handed ones, and so on. But the mopey, uninspired version of Jokic that has slogged up and down the court so far this season is doing much of the opposite. Just watch how he takes a lazy jog back to recover to his man after showing on the pick and roll and how he gambles for a hopeless steal rather than force Alex Len to take a contested eight-footer.

6. As I highlighted in more detail on Tuesday’s edition of THE LIST, teams are beginning to ignore Jokic behind the three-point line in favor of clogging up passing lanes and protecting the rim. Jokic can make them pay for this by shooting at least 34%. At 34%, the Nuggets are scoring roughly 1.02 points per possession, which is roughly league average. Sadly, Jokic is shooting just 22.4% this season, despite the fact that most of his attempts are as open and uncontested as the one below.

Jokic is shooting just 21.2% on four three-pointers per game this season with at least four feet of space, according to nba.com. Jokic seems to be so far inside his own head that he is even hesitating on shots from the elbow like this one.

In both clips, the rest of the Nuggets seem to be at a loss for ideas on how to run an offense until their star player can knock down the easy ones.