No Offense: The Nuggets are Hapless

The Denver Nuggets are off to a 2-1 start—but unless you've watched the games, you don't really know how bad the offense has been.

Sure, the Nuggets put up over 100 against a very young Sonics team, then followed it up with a 99-91 comeback in Minnesota.

But in Sunday night's home loss to New Orleans, it was more of the same—a stagnant offense that relies too heavily on 1-on-1 play.

The main problem is the lack of a low-post scorer. Kenyon Martin and Marcus Camby both hang around the foul line taking perimeter jumpers—though neither can convert with any consistency.

K-Mart was never a good player, and only succeeded in New Jersey because Jason Kidd fed him brilliant passes for easy dunks. His inability to create his own shots makes him an offensive liability, even if he brings a welcome measure of intensity on defense.  

Allen Iverson and Carmelo Anthony, meanwhile, both focus too much on creating for themselves, leading to a noticeable lack of ball movement.

In the young NBA season, the Spurs, Lakers, and Pistons have all done tremendous jobs of sharing the ball and getting easy shots. The Nuggets would do well to learn by example.

With an upcoming five-game road swing against the likes of Boston and Washington, Denver has to get more efficient on offense. To get past the first round of the playoffs next spring, though, they'll need to add three key pieces:

 

1. A post player who can score with his back to the basket

The closest thing they have is Nene, and he's still raw and very injury-prone. Trading for a big man isn't out of the question.

 

2.  An actual point guard

Chucky Atkins is out 6-8 weeks. Mike Wilks—who'd looked good to open the year—went down against New Orleans.

Iverson isn't a pure point guard, and it shows. He might get a lot of assists, but they mostly come on plays where the scorer is so wide open that anyone would see him.

AI rarely makes a great pass, and will always be a shoot-first guard.

 

3.  Someone who can defend the interior

Camby should never have won Defensive Player of the Year. I don't care how many rebounds he grabbed or hoe many shots he blocked—the man cannot defend.

Next time out, watch how Camby leaves the hoop wide open. He moves up to defend guards, allowing opponents to cut behind him for easy layups

His numbers are great, but his actual play needs serious work.

 

The bottom line: Yes, it's only three games in...and yes, we're 2-1...but we have a long way to go if we're to have a shot at winning 55+ games this year.