Nikola Jokic was brutally honest after the Denver Nuggets‘ 87-102 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder. He noted that the Nuggets are not a good shooting team while mentioning Michael Porter Jr. and Jamal Murray as the exceptions. He added that the rest of the squad are just average shooters, and they need to get better.
“I mean, we don’t shoot the ball really well. We are not a good shooting team. Except (for) Mike [Porter Jr.] and Jamal [Murray]. All of us are kind of streaky. Not streaky, but you know, just average shooters. We have something else, we can probably be better and have advantages in some other areas.”
Jokic, who put up 15 points, eight rebounds, two assists, and one steal, was not the only member of the Denver Nuggets who spoke on the team’s three-point shooting weaknesses.
Head coach Michael Malone also noted that he knew that three-point shooting was going to be a weakness for their team this season, especially after they lost Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, a career 40% shooter from three.
“Going into the season, shooting was a concern of mine. You lose a guy like KCP, who’s a 40% shooter.”
The Nuggets had a terrible night shooting the three. As a team, they went 7-38 from beyond the arc, registering a measly 18.4% from range.
The best three-point shooter last night was Jamal Murray, who went 2-5 from beyond the arc with 40.0%. The other shooters included Nikola Jokic, who went 1-3 with 33.3%, and Michael Porter Jr., who went a disappointing 3-10, with 30.0%. And lastly, Russell Westbrook went 1-6 from beyond the arc with 16.6%.
Nuggets’ Players Are Historically Average Shooters
The Denver Nuggets roster is filled with players who are average shooters, not just from last season, but in their career. Below is a list of all the players on the Nuggets along with their career three-point shooting percentage.
- Michael Porter Jr. – 40.9%
- Jamal Murray – 38.0%
- Christian Braun – 36.9%
- Zeke Nnaji – 36.8%
- Dario Saric – 36.1%
- Vlatko Cancar – 36.1%
- Nikola Jokic – 35.0%
- Jalen Pickett – 34.6%
- Aaron Gordon – 32.2%
- Russell Westbrook – 30.4%
- Peyton Watson – 30.0%
- Julian Strawther – 29.3%
- Hunter Tyson – 26.7%
- DeAndre Jordan – 15.4%
- Trey Alexander – N/A
The only player the Nuggets have shot above 40% from three is Michael Porter Jr., and he has a history of being an inconsistent shooter. His performance from beyond the arc in last night’s game, where he went 3-10, is a prime example of why he shouldn’t be the relied-upon shooter on the Nuggets.
The Nuggets only have seven players who shoot the three at a clip of 35% or higher, which is not good enough if they want to compete for an NBA championship. The Nuggets also know this, so they need to use their assets to try and make some moves before the trade deadline is done.
Losing Kentavious Caldwell-Pope in free agency was a huge loss for them, and the Nuggets need to do everything in their power to try and replace him, or at least find one or more decent shooters in the market. While they didn’t do it in the offseason, they still have till February to make some roster moves.
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