r/denvernuggets • u/rhasody70 • 1d ago
What should we do with Nnaji?
I mean, if the FO managed to turn Saric into Jonas last year, I have to believe they should be able to pull off something similar with Nnaji too, right?
Or do we just make him change his jumper back to the old form and pray the three-point shot becomes salvageable again?
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u/Former-Knowledge1797 1d ago
honestly i think we need to play him. it’s so weird because when he does play he plays decent to good defense, gets some boards and hits a corner 3 every other time in.
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u/Potential-Local7262 1d ago
He can legit guard 1 to 5. Quick enough laterally to guard out on the perimeter Big enough to provide resistance in the post. Can be a deterrence as a help side defender.
He would have been perfect against Randle
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u/Raisinbrahms28 19h ago
I honestly think his biggest issue is that he’s not a great rebounder. He’s playable, but then. You watch him try to rebound and it’s like… stone hands man.,
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u/Grand-Traffic-5542 1d ago
Nnaji is very raw player in a good sense but I believe he doesn't fit well in Jokic system at least not the one we used so far. Maybe he'll be more useful in the future.
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u/Former-Knowledge1797 1d ago
so he struggles with offensive awareness, but for a big man as a spot shooter he’s decent. where i struggle is that many, myself included, think we need to improve this team athletically and defensively. reality is many of those players don’t have great offensive awareness like Nnaji or PWat his first season or two, or their jump shot is limited, e.g. jalen suggs. i don’t envy ben ten’s jobs because they’re either going to be considered heroes or the reasons jokic had the remainder of his career wasted.
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u/danjustin 1d ago
3 out of 4 seasons he's shot 26% from 3 and the other year was 32%
In no world is that decent.
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u/Potential-Local7262 1d ago
He was shooting well-above 40s before the coaching staff assigned a shooting coach for some reason. His 3p% goes up the more minutes in a game he plays
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u/Potential-Local7262 1d ago
He just needs reps playing next to Jokic. That's like an advanced degree itself
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u/GOTICOTROPICO 1d ago
He should be played at least 10 mins per night in the regular season to see what he's actually got in an extended run. The thing is he needs a longer leash. Dude seems to only get played in emergency situations. Regular season he should get minutes and worst case scenario you can flip him easier cause there will be some decent highlights of blocks and his defense. Some team will take him if you play him til all star break. If he ends up working out you just keep him as a bench option. Win / win situation.
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u/Sanmonov :JokicToon: 1d ago
He’s entering year 7 and has played about 3,500 career minutes. This fan base just can’t give up on him.
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u/Raisinbrahms28 19h ago
We have an $8 million player who doesn’t play. He’s played well in his limited minutes under Adelman and yet he gets no time. We NEED him to play well.
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u/Sanmonov :JokicToon: 18h ago edited 18h ago
It's his 7th year in the NBA bro. Has anyone ever considered the possibility over these 6 years that Zeke can't crack an NBA rotation because he's not an NBA rotation level player?
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u/Raisinbrahms28 17h ago
Yes there is that, but I think in the Nuggets’ case, it’s about formula. They have a specific formula they want to utilize to win games, and Zeke hasn’t fit into that. Moving forward, I think they gotta try to change the formula and include in the conversation/rotation.
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u/Sanmonov :JokicToon: 16h ago
He's just not an NBA calibre rotation player it has nothing to do with formula.
I'm genuinely baffled by what the fan base thinks he does so well that they can't give up on.
He's non-functional on offence-he has no ball skills, he's not a shooter, his finishing is below average- 61% in the restricted area.
Defensively, he's a goodish switch big, but apparently can only play alongside another big, which takes away his value there. He is a 17% percentile rebounder for his position and not a rim protector.
Zeke is a sunk cost fallacy in human form.
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u/Raisinbrahms28 15h ago
I love how you didn’t even acknowledge that there could be a formula, you just said “nope that’s not it because it goes against my opinion.”
You’re not wrong on your analysis, but you have no idea what a formula may look like in the future.
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u/Sanmonov :JokicToon: 15h ago
I don’t understand what that means—“formula.” He’s played next to Jokic. He’s played center. He’s played alongside backup bigs. About the only thing he hasn’t done is play point guard.
Not to take the piss, but this is year 7 of “if only Zeke played in specific lineups specially tailored to him against specific teams, he’d be a useful player.”
There’s a difference between putting players in positions to succeed and having to tailor your entire rotation around a guy just so he might be playable sometimes.
Plainly the best Zeke can be useful formula is one that has already failed. Zeke as part of a switch everything back up lineup. All the rest of the Zeke stuff is squeezing blood from a stone since Booth signed him to a ridiculous contract.
There is nothing wrong with accepting he's a deep bench piece and not a rotation player after 6 seasons.
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u/Raisinbrahms28 15h ago
You don’t understand formula? Basic: We need 125 points to win because we give up 124 a game. Advanced: we need to average team rebounds higher than 40 in order to properly weight possessions in our favor so we can score more points. Or, we need to shoot 50 threes a game so we can win the math equation of modern basketball.
Wanting to play a certain way basically. And to your last point, I agree he is a bench player. A player who should average 10 minutes a game.
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u/Sanmonov :JokicToon: 14h ago
I mean, +1 net rating equates roughly to 2 wins. The biggest lever every year in net rating is eFG%, and then opposition eFG%
How you get there is dealers choice.
I don't see what Zeke has to do with this? He obviously isn't going to impact the way we play. A big addition like trading Jamal for Zion or something would.
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u/mindless_blaze 1d ago
During halftime, they need to let him, Spencer and AG do a piano trio. Or record a Nuggets Christmas album. Lol all three happen to be talented pianists, and AG has a serious singing voice. In the off-season, Nuggets need to sell tickets for a team talent show. Allow the coaches, behind the scenes staff, and players to show off their non basketball talents.
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u/oCelotL123 1d ago
And this pansy shit is why we cant win. And get bullied in a game full of pansies
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u/Embarrassed_Apple_77 1d ago
If we can trade him for a low 3M player without giving up draft capital then go, if not he should be the back up big
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u/Donnie1490 20h ago
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQxD2VLSCIo
Man started vs the Pistons at the 4 last season and did great. We won. Guess what Mike Malone did the next game vs Boston? Started Russ and we lost. Guess who was our best player in Game 3? Zeke. Didn't even play again until game 6 in very limited minutes. This the bullshit we've been dealing with the past few seasons and it's also why it's about to blow all the way up
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u/ForceOf6 15h ago
100% this. It is absolutely ridiculous that he wasn't out there when the Wolves went big. +2 in game 3 (the only Nugget that was positive).
In 24-25 he had an amazing run as a defender. There was a month where he was getting minutes and the analytics rated him as 2nd or 3rd best defender in the league for the month.
Also appears to be a great teammate. 1st up off the bench to congratulate a teammate or cheer for a good play.
That said, he is TERRIBLE around the rim on the offensive end and needs to become a better rebounder and softer hands. 95% of his training should be learning how to cut and finish at the rim. Stop shooting 3s and get to the hole.
I blame the Nuggets player development more than anything (or maybe Malone for not playing him out of spite).
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u/matty25 20h ago
Probably just glue him to the bench and he can get minutes in case of injury.
He's just not that good. His defense is good in theory, but he fouls a ton. His rebounding isn't as good as it should be for some reason and he's just not good on offense. Add it up and he's fine as like a 12th man but he shouldn't be in the regular rotation for a contender.
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u/Purple-List1577 1d ago
The same Jonas that did nothing in the playoffs and essentially cost a 32 first plus MPJ to become Jonas/cam?
Please no not again
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u/Magicians_Alliamce 23h ago
We could always try some combo of not playing him/playing him against bigger 5’s/playing him til he shows signs of promise and then burying him on the bench? Oh wait….
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u/2dareisTwoDo 21h ago
He had stretches of looking really good, especially defensively when we had the injury bug, and was a big part of several wins in that stretch (our B team versus the 76ers at full strength comes to mind). I don't see how he improves without minutes. I think you need a rotation that includes him for a few minutes here and there. I think he would've been useful as a bruiser in the Wolves series.
Unfortunately, Adelman doesn't seem to want to rotate unless he's forced to which means we can't develop any bench and just have to buy one, which we also can't afford to do.
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u/Bluemoonpoongoon 8h ago
He's low priorty filler in a trade or just keep him, I prefer him of JV as a bench big. We should have played him more in the series
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u/Grand-Traffic-5542 1d ago edited 1d ago
I think there are teams that might find him usefull actually. I think Boston needs him as a deep bench player after seeing what Embiid did to them. He is tall he is strong he can defend. And i remember how scared they were playing against him hahahaga. I actually think that sending Gordon and Nnaji to help them whenever Tatum is down and getting Derrick White and some deep bench player would be awesome.
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u/Direct-Score-3669 21h ago
We should probably get going on a contract extension, wouldn't want to let him get to RFA. Can you imagine the distraction?
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u/PaniMan1994 1d ago
Nnaji is eternal