How Kenneth Faried can become the impact player the Nuggets need
Forget the jumper. If the Manimal can give the Nuggets consistent defense and his hyper-aggressive effort plays, he can make an impact and really help the team win.
By
Matt Moore
•
10 min read
Here, in short, is the Kenneth Faried problem.
The only way for him to become a franchise superstar, the kind of player you can build your team around as a core element and come to rely on night after night, and the only way for him to reach the level of being considered elite in this league and to obtain all the benefits (i.e. money) that comes with it is for him to become a traditional star big man. He needs a jumpshot, post moves and finesse to go along with all that athleticism and energy.
Except that to focus on those elements, to put Faried in a situation where he's not playing instinctively, tearing holes in the hardwood with his legs as he tears up court for a dunk and generally wreaking havoc on the opponent, removes what makes him so dangerous, so impressive and so effective.
The Denver Nuggets are trying to find a way in 2015-16 to unlock the Manimal from the cage he's been stuck in for two seasons, to allow him to spread his wings, while also making sure those talons are still ripping the opponent to shreds.
It's a tricky thing.
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On Media Day, Faried was asked about balancing being "the Manimal" with trying to evolve into that more complete player. Faried answered in the third person, saying "It's not a problem because the Manimal is me." The conversation went on with Faried continuing to talk about "the Manimal" as if it were a separate entity. It was weird, but you can also kind of see what he was getting at. Faried believes he can take advantage of situations where he can make the crazy effort plays he's known for, while also handling a bigger role in the offense. The issue is that his offensive game isn't there yet. Not even close.
It's hard evaluating any of the Nuggets over the past two years because they were trapped in a cage of misery and dysfunction they built in partnership with the failures of Brian Shaw. The players didn't get along with, or honestly, respect Shaw, and Shaw didn't know how to handle them. No one suffered more than Faried, who under George Karl was a player who could single-handedly swing a game with momentum-blistering energy. Under Shaw, Faried was frustrated, angsty and confused. Faried averaged .686 points per possession in the post last season, according to Synergy Sports, while shooting 34.6 percent from the field. His jumper was even worse. He averaged 33.9 percent from the field on jumpshots.
Not that you need any more proof of the slop his skill-based offense encapsulated, but here's his shot chart.
Faried is 25. How much of an offensive game is he really going to master? Where are these post moves going to evolve from? Where is that finesse game going to appear from? Where is the basis for what he's supposed to be in those terms? The most likely scenario is that Faried is never going to be a complete offensive player in star terms. He is what he is, an energy player that can make huge dunks, grab offensive rebounds and snag put-backs.
If he can add a pick-and-pop jumper to that, great. If he adds a baby hook shot in time? Awesome. Forcing the issue is a bad idea, but the greater thing here is that the Nuggets, and especially Faried, needs to throw out the entire concept and realize how great he can be without ever needing to touch the ball on offense.
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"One thing with Kenneth Faried from the outside looking in," new coach Michael Malone said during his introductory press conference, "is you never have to worry about his effort. He brings it every night. That motor, that running, the rim running, the attack mentality on both ends, there's not many ways you can measure that."
Malone set the bar from Day One. He wants Faried to improve on defense. It's the biggest area where Faried can improve, and the area where his improvement could change things the most for Denver. The key is that Malone hit the ground running by talking up Faried. Shaw took the opposite approach by challenging Faried openly in the press, and it backfired. Malone seems set to praise Faried consistently. He took this same tactic with DeMarcus Cousins, which made him the only coach to get along with Cousins.
Faried's defensive impact is a mixed bag. Blocks are sometimes empty stats. If your block rate is high but teams are scoring regularly and efficiently, it can mean that you're chasing blocks and leaving your man open for easy baskets. However, they can also turn momentum. Faried will do all the things that count in the effort department. He makes blocks. He deflects the ball. He'll dive out of bounds for a loose ball. However, that's physical effort. The problem is that Faried has never been willing to put in the mental effort to be a good defender.
However, there are early signs of improvement. One problem that the Nuggets suffered with under Shaw was a constantly shifting set of defensive principles. Things are more established under Malone. Early on the Nuggets are switching everything, 1 through 5, constantly in preseason. As the season goes, you can expect to see more of this, as Malone described to Grantland this summer:
Have you thought about pick-and-roll schemes you might use with him — like if you want to drop back, or switch, or have him trap a lot?
He’s fast, but he’s never struck me as the most intuitive defender.That’s a good word — intuitive. What we’ve always done is, with our power forwards, be more aggressive, and with our centers, drop back a bit. You always have the blitzes in your pocket in case a guy really gets going. But Kenneth is so athletic, with great feet. Maybe you can even switch a lot. You want these versatile players now, these Draymond Greens, that can switch and guard every position.
Faried does come to mind when you think of big men who at least have the speed to switch like Draymond. But does he have the feel?
Obviously, Draymond is different. But what Kenneth has, you can’t teach. He has that motor. That’s why he’s made it in the NBA. Now, we just have to make sure he’s playing with that same motor on defense.
If Faried feels confident in what he's doing and takes the same level of aggression in hedging as a power forward, in challenging shots off the pick and pop that he does with all the other plays he makes as "the Manimal," that can help Denver out a lot. It's disruptive, and that buys time for the Nuggets to maintain their defensive principles.
However, the biggest thing to do is to provide a support system defensively for Faried. He needs a floor general on the floor with him to take the more complicated assignments, or someone with raw size. This chart is something I've repeatedly gone back to, because it is downright startling the difference in these combinations. For every combination of Faried and player X, the blue chart represents how many points per 100 possessions the defense surrenders with that player off the floor and Faried on, and the yellow chart shows how many when the two are on the floor together.
Five key things you need to know about this chart:
1. J.J. Hickson and Kenneth Faried cannot be on the floor together at the same time. I have been screaming this to the high heavens and anyone in Denver who will listen to me for two years. For whatever reason, youth, scoring balance, whatever, Shaw consistently kept those two on the floor together. They are a total disaster. They are redundant in many ways. They lack height, but what they lack in size, they make up for in devastatingly low court awareness. Under no circumstances should those two share the floor unless there is a rash of injuries that rivals a biblical plague. They cannot play together.
2. Jusuf Nurkic and Faried make a lot of sense together when Nurkic is healthy. Nurkic is working his way back from a knee injury, but when he gets back, plug the young bruiser right on in. It's true that Nurkic doesn't necessarily have the knowledge base, but what he lacks in feel he makes up for by being a complete monster. This is an easy combo, and they should spend most of their time together this season.
3. Darrell Arthur makes Faried much better. The problems with Arthur at five are that he's too small and not a great rebounder. What he is, however, is the most talkative on defense and the guy with the most experience. Arthur learned the value of communication and defensive study in Memphis and has taken that with him. He simply makes the Nuggets' defense better. He provides Faried with someone to take the tougher assignments in pick and roll and defending high-quality post players, while Faried can handle the bruisers with his strength. Faried's defensive numbers in the post are pitiful, in large part because he can't hang with guys like LaMarcus Aldridge. Have Arthur take the skill guys, Faried take the bruisers and focus on rebounding, and you have a balanced combination with a history of success.
4. Nikola Jokic is the wild card here. The rookie played well in the Nuggets' first two preseason games and is a mix between Arthur's length and lateral speed and the raw size of Nurkic. There's every reason to think he and Faried could work together, but that's a situation where Faried may have to take the tough assignments.
The Nuggets will also run Faried at the five, with Danilo Gallinari at the four this year, and that lineup is going to bleed points. That's OK, because the focus is on the offensive end. But Faried has the ability to make this work if he can improve at his rotations and defensive awareness. Faried almost has defensive tunnel vision, zeroing in on drivers and shot attempts without considering the big picture of the defense.
If he plays within himself, and uses that energy, intensity and athleticism to his advantage in channeled ways that facilitate the team's approach, that can make Faried way more valuable than becoming a 42 percent shooter in the post. And the more he does that, the more Malone intends to feed him opportunities.
"To his credit, he wants to expand his game," Malone said on media day. "He doesn't just want to be an energy guy. He's worked on his low-post game. I believe in rewarding the big man. If that guy's doing all the dirty work, we owe it to him to give him the ball once in a while. If he's efficient, we'll continue to do so. If he's not, we'll take that back. He's been working hard to expand it.
"I don't want him to forget who he is. The core of Kenneth Faried, that's a guy who plays harder than anyone else on the floor. If he does that for us, we'll give him the opportunity to showcase his offensive ability."
That showcase may never bear real fruit. If it does, that's great for Faried and the Nuggets, who they have committed significant long-term money to. However, if he becomes a great defender, if he channels the Manimal aspect of his game into significant plays that help his team win, he plays in an era where that won't be forgotten. He'll effort his way into points and rebounds, but Faried can be so much more than that, and so much more than an empty stats player.
He can be a player that truly helps his team win. He's just got to unlock that Manimal, and train himself to give impact, and not just energy.
