虎扑体育网

Facu Campazzo Is Finding His NBA Groove With The Denver Nuggets

That the Denver Nuggets have struggled mightily when their All-NBA center and reigning NBA MVP Nikola Jokic has been off the court is one of the most definitive and striking storylines of their 20212-22 season. But after a dreadful early season for Denver’s bench, it has been finding better footing of late, and improved play from Argentinian point guard Facundo Campazzo is helping give its performance a boost.

In the opening seven weeks of the regular season, through December 7, the Nuggets had the second-worst bench in the NBA in terms of point differential per 100 possessions, with a minus-7.2, edging out only the lowly Orlando Magic. The more recent weeks since December 8, however, have seen Denver’s bench take an upswing to 21st in the league at a minus-3.0.

This obviously doesn’t mean the Nuggets reserve unit has transformed into the cream of the crop, and that minus-three remains a concern for a team with ostensive (if diminished) title hopes. But given the Nuggets’ relative dominance with Jokic on the court, it may be a number they can live with. As long as their bench can keep the bleeding of points to a minimum rather than throwing the flood gates wide open as they did all too often to start the season, the team stands a good chance of staying competitive until the hopeful return of Jokic’s co-star Jamal Murray, which in turn should further bolster bench performance as Monte Morris returns to his role as Murray’s backup.

In the meantime, the bench’s improvement has coincided quite closely with a recent ramp-up in play by Campazzo, who gets a share of the credit for its recent turnaround. Campazzo, who signed a two-year, $6.4 million deal with the Nuggets in free agency last season as a 29-year-old rookie, arrived in Denver holding a long, varied resume of international basketball accolades including multiple championships, but has more often than not struggled to make the same kind of impact in the NBA as in the earlier chapters of his professional career.

On media prior to the start of training camp, Campazzo acknowledged that one of his challenges in adjusting to NBA play was in three-point shooting. “The line is a little bit longer than in FIBA,” he said. “I had to get used to that, I’m trying to get used to that. This season’s going to be part of the adaptation as well.”

Campazzo added that he would have to get better at taking the shot when he gets open looks, and to “keep training” in improving his three-point shooting. “Keep working on my shot, try to be as lethal as possible and think in that way.”

It would seem that his efforts are paying off. According to the statistics site Cleaning the Glass, which filters out garbage time and heaves for better accuracy, Campazzo’s three-point percentage has improved from 36% last season to 38% this year. He’s also seen a far bigger jump in his shooting around the rim, which has leapt from 55% to 68%, with both improvements making arguably solid exhibits in the case that he is adjusting better to the speed, style and level of NBA in his sophomore year.

Facu Campazzo: 2020-21 Season vs. 2021-22 Season Statistics DATA VIA CLEANING THE GLASS

Campazzo’s block rate – even as one of the shorter players in the league at five-foot-ten – has also taken a jump from last season while his steal rate has remained high, and he is now in the 91st percentile at his position in both categories.

But digging into the more granular details of Campazzo’s improvements over last season, much of the most noticeably impactful change has come in recent weeks, where he has surged particularly in the area of playmaking and ball discipline.

In the first month of the season, through November 20, Facu was averaging 1.9 assists per game, per NBA.com. Since then, his minutes have grown from about 16 to 27 in the wake of Denver’s many injuries, illnesses and absences due to COVID health and safety protocols, but his assists soared by more than double the rate of his minutes increase, up to 4.9 per game.

At the same time, his assist-to-turnover ratio has likewise more than doubled, meaning that despite his heavier workload and increased usage, he’s simultaneously assisting his teammates at a higher rate and taking better care of not turning over the basketball.

Facu Campazzo, 2021-22 Season Statistics Through November 20 vs. From November 21 DATA VIA NBA.COM

As with the improvement in Denver’s bench unit net rating, the jump in Nuggets’ net rating with Campazzo on the floor is from a negative to another negative, with minus-20.3 climbing to minus-11.3, And again, while there is still very much room for further improvement, the upward shift from absolute tire fire to, say, a less-bad fire, is still a plus-9 movement in the right direction.

Whether it’s Campazzo’s own individual improvement and adaptation to NBA dynamics, his developing better chemistry with his teammates, or a combination of these and other factors, he does appear to be hitting his stride in the league now better than ever before. And that is some welcome news for a Nuggets team which desperately has needed, and will continue to need better production from its reserves, particularly when Jokic is off the court.