What's Up With The Nuggets?

Last season, the Nuggets won 57 games, grabbed the number three seed in the playoffs, and averaged 106.1 points a game, tops in the league* as well as having the 11th most efficient defense in the NBA. So far this season, they are 0-2, including losing on Friday for the first time at home in twenty-four games. Denver is scoring only 93 points a game (23rd in efficiency) while giving up 101.5 (20th in efficiency). Obviously this is a tiny sample-size that is hard to learn much from, but it bears out what is pretty clear on the court, this team is a mess right now and nothing like what it was last season. This isn't surprising considering all the changes they went through in the off-season, from the top of the organization on down. After GM Masai Ujiri left for Toronto, the Nuggets fired George Karl and hired Brian Shaw, a first time head coach who helped the turnaround in Indiana. They also allowed Andre Igoudala to leave in Free Agency, traded Kosta Koufos for Darrell Arthur, and signed Randy Foye, Nate Robinson, and J.J. Hickson. So far they have really looked like they are struggling to make the pieces fit together on both ends of the floor. Shaw, a discipline and defense oriented coach, has been given a number of undisciplined players who struggle on defense. JaVale McGee, who signed a four-year, $44 million deal last summer, was supposed to be a franchise player for them this year, but he logged only 10 and 13 minutes in Denver's first two games. Kenneth Faried, who became a star for them last season and started 80 games, was moved to the bench and had his role decreased. Andre Miller, who Karl came to rely on heavily, has also seen his minutes drop. These were all big parts of last year's team, relegated to minor roles so far. It is hard not to point to their defense as a reason for the decreased roles. But if Shaw doesn't want to play them, he is left with limited options and no real dynamic talent except Ty Lawson, until Wilson Chandler and Danilo Gallinari return from injury. The other issue is that Faried and Miller have two years left on their deals, while McGee has three and Miller, who is 37 and hasn't had a ton of playoff success potentially wanting to bolt for a better team and more minutes, and he does have a reputation as being a little bit of a trouble-maker in the past. Shaw could turn this all around and the team could look completely different in a couple weeks, but the possibility of a pretty big mess is laying in the weeds right now. All is not lost in Denver however, Chandler should be back soon and Gallinari could be back as soon as soon as January, but the issue remains that the Nuggets have a lot of pieces at high prices that their new coach doesn't seem thrilled with. If they continue to struggle, there could be some trades coming.

*They were 5th in offensive efficiency.

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