Of all the problems the Nuggets thought they might have coming into this season, scoring wasn’t one of them.
It wasn’t even near the radar.
And that’s because it was one of the few things the Nuggets believed they could count on during their 36-win season a year ago.
But this season? It’s been a drag.
Across the board, the Nuggets have been terrible on offense, a reason they are headed toward a lottery draft pick. Scoring has dropped from 104.4 points last season to 99.5, their field-goal shooting has dropped from 44.7 percent to 42.7, and their 3-point shooting has sunk from 35.8 percent to 31.2.
The advance metrics that are all the rage in basketball tell a similar tale.
The Nuggets’ offensive rating a season ago was 103.3, meaning the Nuggets scored that many points per 100 possessions. This season, that number is 100.3.
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“Our guys are more plodders as opposed to lane runners and getting out and running,” Nuggets coach Brian Shaw said. “So that has a lot to do with it. We have gotten the ball inside more to (Jusuf Nurkic), which has slowed things down.”
Defense was the Nuggets’ main concern coming into the season, and remains a point of frustration. But Denver’s 105.3 rating is nearly identical to its 105.5 rating of a season ago.
It’s just now the Nuggets can’t score. They have scored fewer than 100 points 26 times, seven times in February.
“Right now it’s just spacing,” Nuggets point guard Ty Lawson said. “We can’t figure out the spacing, from driving lanes to post-ups and stuff like that. That’s the biggest part we’re having trouble with.”
While team play hasn’t been great, of the core players that were to be counted on this season — Lawson, Arron Afflalo (until traded), Wilson Chandler, Kenneth Faried, Danilo Gallinari, J.J. Hickson, Darrell Arthur, Randy Foye and Nate Robinson (until traded) — six of those players had slight to significant drops in their scoring averages. The players whose averages took the biggest hit from last season to this are or were Foye (-7.7), Robinson (-4.6), Hickson (-4.0), Afflalo (-3.7) and Faried (-2.4). Lawson’s average is down about a point.
In the last few weeks, Shaw has implemented new offensive sets with more weakside actions to help free up things for many of the new faces who are playing bigger roles.
But it still comes down to one thing.
“We have to figure out how to knock down the shots we’re getting with better efficiency,” Shaw said.
Christopher Dempsey: cdempsey@denverpost.com or
NEW ORLEANS AT DENVER
6 p.m. Sunday, ALT; 950 AM
Spotlight on Alexis Ajinca: The most surprising aspect of the Pelicans’ most recent win — 104-102 over Miami on Friday — wasn’t that they won; they’ve won a lot of games this season. It’s how they won. And that was on the shoulders of Ajinca, a 7-foot-2 center who came off the bench to score a career-high 24 points and grab eight rebounds in just 22 minutes. He will try to put pressure on the Nuggets’ injury-depleted frontcourt Sunday.
NOTEBOOK
Nuggets: Jusuf Nurkic (ankle) won’t play Sunday, but Darrell Arthur (calf) might return. He is listed as questionable. The duo missed Friday’s home game against Utah and the Nuggets’ interior defense suffered, allowing 50 points in the paint. Utah won 104-82. … Denver players voted Saturday to reinstate the morning shootaround, which will return with the home game against Milwaukee on Tuesday.
Pelicans: All-star center Anthony Davis won’t play Sunday because of a shoulder injury. Davis, the Pelicans’ leading scorer (23.9) and rebounder (10.3), has missed three consecutive games. … New Orleans comes to Denver trying to stop a two-game losing streak to the Nuggets at the Pepsi Center.
Christopher Dempsey, The Denver Post
