Russell Westbrook didn’t necessarily replace Kentavious Caldwell-Pope on the Denver Nuggets. They don’t even technically play the same position. One of them is making almost $23 million this season. The other is earning the minimum. But as the Oklahoma City Thunder throttled the Nuggets 102-87 on their home court Thursday, it was hard to think anything besides “the Nuggets look like a team that replaced Kentavious Caldwell-Pope with Russell Westbrook.”
Almost all of Denver’s problems from last season persisted into their opening night defeat. Many were exacerbated. Denver attempted a league-low 31.2 3-pointers per game last season. They shot 7-of-39 from deep on Thursday. They ranked 29th in free throw attempts at 19.9 per game. They attempted just 14 against the Thunder.
Westbrook was hardly the only offender on these fronts, but his presence was a startling reminder of just what a step back the Nuggets — who are only two seasons removed from an NBA championship — took when they let Caldwell-Pope walk. Caldwell-Pope shot over 40% on 3-pointers a season ago. Westbrook is perhaps the worst high-volume shooter in NBA history, and he finished with only six points as he went 2-of-10 from the floor and 1-for-6 from deep in the opener. Having Caldwell-Pope space the floor helped create advantages for drivers near the rim. The Thunder didn’t bother guarding Westbrook as he hung around the perimeter. They devoted those extra resources to walling off the paint without needing to foul. Caldwell-Pope’s perimeter defense would have been pretty useful against reigning MVP runner-up Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who scored 28 for Oklahoma City in the victory.
This was all somewhat predictable. Westbrook is on his sixth team in seven years largely because of these defects, but introducing him to a roster that already shared some of these issues only served to magnify all of them. Bench minutes had already been a disaster for Denver dating back to the beginning of the Nikola Jokic era. Sure enough, the Nuggets lost Westbrook’s 21 minutes by 24 total points.
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