NBA Rumors: Nikola Jokic gets honest about what could end up derailing the Denver Nuggets' season.
It's clear that losing to the Minnesota Timberwolves on their home floor in Game 7 of the Western Conference semifinals last season left a bit of a bad taste in the Denver Nuggets mouth. How could it not? That's why heading into this season, the Nuggets are playing with a bit of a chip on their shoulder as they look to reemerge as a championship contender in the Western Conference.
Unfortunately, their quest in doing so this season has gotten off to a rough start. And after Denver's season-opening loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder, Nikola Jokic got extremely honest about what may end up dooming the team's championship hopes: their lack of 3-point shooting.
"We are not a good shooting team, except Mike and Jamal. All of us are kind of streaky, not streaky, but just average shooters."Nikola Jokic
Considering the team went 7-38 from 3-point range against the Thunder and that it was the second-worst performance of every team's season-opening games, Jokic may have a point.
Do the Denver Nuggets have a real 3-point shooting issue?
It's only been one game. To jump to this conclusion after one game would be insane. However, we can look at a few facts that could point to this potentially being true. Looking at the Nuggets' rotation, only three players had an above-average 3-point shooting percentage (35%) last season. Those players are Jamal Murray, Michael Porter Jr., and Nikola Jokic.
That's, in short, not ideal. Losing Bruce Brown and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope in back-to-back offseasons could genuinely be catching up with the Nuggets. Add in the fact that there is plenty of uncertainty regarding this team outside of their starting 5, and it's easy to see why there's already growing concern around this team after just one game.
The hope is that the Nuggets can find some rhythm at some point early on in the season and calm some of those concerns. However, to automatically turn a blind eye to them would also be a mistake. After a somewhat disappointing title defense run, the Nuggets are looking to reemerge this season as a contender in the West. They've clearly gotten off to a rough start on that front and the argument could be made that this is a team that has a significant amount of pressure on their shoulders.
And if they continue to disappoint as a team, you can't even begin to predict what could lie ahead for this team. The Nuggets may have some real issues, and it could end up derailing this team's season.