Denver Nuggets: Ty Lawson Needs To Be The Man

For the past few years now, all I’ve heard from my Denver Nuggets fan-friends is how Ty Lawson is the key to their future. And I absolutely, 100 percent agree with them. Other than a healthy Danilo Gallinari and Kenneth Faried five years from now, Lawson is the closest thing this current Nuggets roster will have to an All-Star for quite awhile. Somehow Lawson always gets left out of the conversation when it comes to “top 10 point guards in the league,” though he definitely fits that category in my opinion. However, it’s only understandable that people so quickly forget about Lawson when Denver’s marquee trait over the past few years has been all-around balance.

Last season, the Denver Nuggets seemed like THE dark horse in the Western Conference. They were coming off their best record in franchise history, had a lockdown defender who molded perfectly with the Nuggets’ playing style in Andre Iguodala and even though Gallo was out for the rest of the year, Wilson Chandler and Evan Fournier seemed more than capable of assuming bigger minutes. But as awesome as Stephen Curry‘s third-quarter performances were in that first-round series, so too were Denver’s playoff performances devastating for a fan base that had something real to be excited about.

So what was the problem? It certainly wasn’t Lawson, who averaged 23.2 points, 8.8 assists, 3.0 rebounds and 1.4 steals per game in the playoffs. If you ask anyone with knowledge of the game of basketball, the most logical answer to that question was George Karl. Not sticking one of the five best perimeter defenders in the NBA (Iggy) on the biggest potential threat of the series (Curry) was Denver’s fatal flaw that ultimately cost them.

But after a tumultuous offseason, what the Nuggets need most right now is stability. Although there’s been a lot of material for people to criticize in the Nuggets’ offseason, the fact of the matter is, they’re still in the playoff race this season. They just need a leader to step up and help a new coach and new teammates get acclimated to more than just the elevation of playing in Mile High City. Though Faried shows promise for the future, the real leader of this team, the heart of soul of this ball club, is still Ty Lawson.

Last season, Lawson got off to an incredibly slow start and he was actually pretty up and down from month to month. He missed quite a few games due to injury and seemed timid to take open jumpers the defense was giving him. Backing off and giving a guard as quick as Ty Lawson a little breathing room is a good idea considering not many people on this earth can stay in front of him when he attacks the basket. But Lawson didn’t make defenders pay for giving him too much space, usually opting to swing the ball around the perimeter or trying to force a move to the basket.

In February, however, Lawson started showing more consistent signs of life. He averaged 23.3 points, 8.4 assists and 3.1 rebounds per game that month and was much more assertive on the offensive end. It was a complete turnaround from his slumping play in November and December, when he averaged 13.6 points, 6.9 assists, 2.6 rebounds and 1.6 steals per game. Why is this important? Because the Nuggets can’t afford another slow start from Lawson if they’re intent on making the playoffs this year. They need these kind of jaw-dropping plays, consistently.

A new coach, a new general manager and the loss of perhaps the team’s best all-around player seem like a lot, but this Nuggets roster still has plenty of talent to compete for the West’s seventh or eighth playoff spot. Lawson’s already acknowledged all the changes, but still believes his team is in good shape. And they are. If the Nuggets are out of the race it wouldn’t surprise me to see them tank down the stretch, but most Nuggets fans believe another playoff appearance is in the cards.

If that’s true, it’ll have to be Lawson that leads them there. Faried isn’t ready yet to step up and be the man, Iggy’s gone, Gallo will be injured for about half the season and JaVale McGee is JaVale McGee. Throw in a new coach and a bunch of wild cards like Randy Foye and Nate Robinson and you’ve got a recipe for pure chaos. The influence of a veteran like Andre Miller will be extremely helpful (assuming he’s not traded, that is), but Lawson represents the stability and the leadership this ball club needs to make the postseason. He’s improved his all-around numbers every season since he first came into the league, but those improvements seem marginal on paper. Entering his fifth year in the league, the time for potential is over. It’s time for Lawson to be the man and play with the kind of experienced skill that’s capable of leading Denver back to the playoffs.