I'm a big fan of this new nuggets team. Mudiay is showing semblance of being a real NBA point guard this year. He's still not where he needs to be and has awful 2-17 type games that are killing his percentages, but when he's locked in he's hard to deal with, ala the boston game where he scored 24 points in the first quarter. His willingness to be a (albeit relatively ineffective) number one option has opened up the door for a multitude of player to thrive as secondary options: Chandler, Gallo, Jokic, Murray, Faried, Nelson- are all thriving with ts% .534 or above

The Nuggets are the only team in the league this year that hasn't been outrebounded yet; the two young centers, Farried, and two long wings in Gallo and Chandler are getting it done. Never a bad trait to have if you're a fast pace team that shoots early in the shot clock often (and struggles on defense). If Jokic improves as a rim protector he has the potential to be Marc Gasol 2.0. Controlling the game without putting up huge numbers.

Nice to see Murray crushing it. Completely nuts how many people preferred Hield. Lol Pelicans.

I like Seafood talking smack over his first Nuggets bet in years that will still have equity in December

ThayThay I have won every Nugs bet in the Malone era my dood.

Also lol @ the people that were saying pre-draft that Hield should be the #1 pick. Guy can't even stay in the rotation of a bottom 8 team despite the fact that he was supposed to be among the most NBA ready players in the draft (and needed to be given his age). Keep undervaluing age-adjusted production and overrating the guys that break out as upperclassmen.

don't think tim duncan was actually a role player

edit: i guess he was last year

Buddy is still averaging 18 per 36 despite 24% 3pt shooting. I think he's a lot better shooter than that and will become a very good player in the league

I wanted Buddy and I have no idea what I was thinking. I was enamored with his shooting even though he's old, and his better combine measurements even though he plays a different position.

His shooting percentages will of course rise but right now he's averaging 16 points per 36, which seems pretty awful for a one way player that is probably a huge defensive negative. He hasn't been getting to the FT line at all either. He's turning 23 in a few weeks as well.

So STAPS post-up numbers look excellent on a pretty decent number of attempts. I have not watched the Knacks enough to know where/how he's getting his touches, but is it safe to say he's just shooting over people and not relying on moves?

yeah - it's the 2nd coming of Shawn Bradley with, like, 5% better shooting.

Staps is nothing like Bradley

Agree about Buddy needing more time/will develop into a viable starter itl

you don't say

?

i cant stop watching. Hes the first person since Vince that i can remember that just makes it look effortless.

The pause before he dunks it makes it that much more awesome.

You never met TZ GMs before did you? 3pt shooting has gotten overvalued to some ridic extent here. TZ GM probably would have Kyle Korver on a max right now until 2020

Is that Bruno guy on the raptors any closer to the league than he was when he was drafted?

I actually think 3 point shooting for a draftee is undervalued. IMO we tend to lump all 40% shooters together without taking into account context, release times, and whether or not these shots are off-the-dribble or spot ups.

Like, if NBA GMs knew who'd be the elite shooters vs the average ones I think they'd be overdrafting the marksmen.

He' a little less than two years away.

Yeah but that's kinda my point when valuing prospects. Not saying it's the case with hield but any sort of sample even if small of >40% 3pt shooting in college gets people super excited without particularly looking at the context.

There are lots of people here who go Ingram > Simmons for example. I personally think drafting Ingram over Simmons would be a really bad mistake and I'm guessing many other people would think that if he had shot 35% instead of 40% on his small sample in college

Yeah I get what you're saying, and I agree with the small samples. If a guy shoots 40% on say 70 total attempts you can pretty much give it zero credence..

Seedood has just spent the last 12 months telling us that Staps is a fraud and Nurkic is a much better prospect.

the next steph curry