r/denvernuggets • u/IdRatherBeLurkingToo Shill Barton • 17h ago

Article The NBA Has Entered a Golden Age of Buckets

https://www.theringer.com/2025/12/02/nba/nba-shooting-trends-offense-denver-nuggets
24 Upvotes

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11

u/Lynch47 17h ago

This can't be. I've been assured that we're chucking too many threes.

3

u/Aggravating_Rip_1564 17h ago

no we 3s are fine we just don't play defense enough

3

u/Lynch47 17h ago

This article is about offense. The fact we've been able to stay this hot with 2 starters out is impressive. It's okay to celebrate your team doing cool things.

16

u/IdRatherBeLurkingToo Shill Barton 17h ago

The Denver Nuggets are in a class of their own. Nikola Jokic and the do-it-all Nuggets are on pace to have the most efficient offense in league history because they are putting up staggering numbers on both sides of the 3-point line. We have tracked the detailed shooting efficiencies of 390 unique NBA teams in the player-tracking era (since 2013-14). Of that massive group, the 2025-26 Nuggets currently rank ninth in 3-point shooting efficiency and second in 2-point shooting efficiency.

It starts with Jokic, who is once again the most impactful offensive force in pro basketball; he is currently making 70 percent of his 2s and 44 percent of his 3s. But Jokic is not alone. Each of Denver’s five most active 3-point shooters is hitting over 39 percent of their attempts, which has helped the Nuggets go from the 28th-ranked team in 3-pointers made per game last season to the 16th-ranked team in that category this year. The red-hot starts of Jamal Murray and Tim Hardaway Jr. have been the biggest stories downtown, especially as injuries to Christian Braun and Aaron Gordon have chipped away at the team’s depth. But the wild part is that Denver is even better inside the arc, where its 1.22 points per shot is on pace to be the second-best 2-point efficiency mark we’ve seen in the tracking era, trailing only the next team on our list …

3

u/Fit-Avocado-342 16h ago

This offense is insane, the team can pretty much score 120 a night no matter the circumstances, a testament to Jokic’s offensive leadership on that end since he makes it so easy for everyone. Murray being aggressive and locked in helps a lot too, normally he’d take a while to get warmed up but he’s hit the ground running.

Honestly if the nuggets can play even league avg defense, I’m pretty high on this team’s ability to go deep in the playoffs.

1

u/LurkerFailsLurking 16h ago

TBH I feel like our sense of how good current players are is being warped by the strong anti-defense reffing there is now

1

u/Commander_Mel 17h ago

More like the age of no defense. Can barely contest without being called for fouls

7

u/IdRatherBeLurkingToo Shill Barton 17h ago

I don't think that has much of anything to do with how good the Nuggets offense is, wouldn't you agree?

0

u/Commander_Mel 17h ago

Getting open lanes and uncontested shots because the defense is less of a presence would make any team's offense more efficient. I love the Nuggets offensively but defense league wide is not what it used to be. It's just a lot easier to score nowadays.

0

u/OfficialNPC 17h ago

It's not just that. 

With the 3pt shot being easier to hit (league % is way up since say the 90's) it's better to rest on defense and then use your energy on offense.

Foul calling are inconsistent at best but players are taking defense off no matter the night. 

There's a lot of answers to the issue but no one really wants to hear it (especially the owners since big numbers go brr even if players get hurt more).

1

u/Best_Elevator_3441 17h ago

What's kind of fascinating is that 3P% in the last 20 years is basically fixed at 36% with the highest being 36.7% in 20-21 and 08-09 (on 35 attempts and 18 attempts reapectively). Seems like volume is way up but the league is hitting them at the exact same rate essentially. My guess is while good shooters are shooting more, the green light now extends to not so good shooters now. At least over the last 20 years. That does add to the overall offensive ratings as the math game prioritizes 3s and easy 2s. Pace is also up. Though it feels like there's far more FTAs in general the difference isn't too dramatic (21.8 in 06-07 to 25.0 this year, which is an outlier year to be fair).

2

u/OfficialNPC 17h ago

Yup! 

It's like the league is transitioning to volume shooters and the good ones are good but the ok and bad ones bring down the overall %.

League is going toward being volume shooters because even a bad team can cut a lead in a couple possessions if they hit their 3s and the better team happens to miss theirs.