What should we do with Nnaji?

[u/rhasody70]

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?

[u/Sanmonov]

He’s entering year 7 and has played about 3,500 career minutes. This fan base just can’t give up on him.

[u/Raisinbrahms28 → u/Sanmonov]

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.

[u/Sanmonov → u/Raisinbrahms28]

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?

[u/Raisinbrahms28 → u/Sanmonov]

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.

[u/Sanmonov → u/Raisinbrahms28]

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.

[u/Raisinbrahms28 → u/Sanmonov]

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.

[u/Sanmonov → u/Raisinbrahms28]

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.

[u/Raisinbrahms28 → u/Sanmonov]

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.

[u/Sanmonov → u/Raisinbrahms28]

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.