NBA: Kenneth Faried Worth Every Penny of New Deal

Calculated risks are the only acts towards true progress. In the world of sports, those acts include spending significant amounts of money on players whose careers could take off or plummet at any moment.

Kenneth Faried is the latest example of a calculated risk that will pay off.

The 2014 FIBA World Cup is in the books and Team USA secured yet another gold medal, but the reverberations of the event can still be felt. International stars are signing guaranteed contracts in the NBA and domestic players have vastly improved their respective reputations.

Faried, a star of Team USA, can be found in the latter section.

According to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports, the 24-year-old agreed to a new and lucrative contract extension with the Denver Nuggets.

Faried was slated to become a restricted free agent in 2015. Not anymore.

After a season in which trade rumors suggested he could be traded to the New York Knicks for Iman Shumpert, Faried has found job security. He’s one of the faces of the franchise in Denver and is expected to complete his breakout in 2014-15.

While some may question the deal, Faried is worth every penny of his new contract with the Denver Nuggets.

Explosive 2013-14

Unless you have him on your fantasy basketball team or follow the Nuggets closely, you likely viewed Kenneth Faried’s 2013-14 campaign as another solid, but not spectacular season.

In the eternal words of Lee Corso, “Not so fast, my friend!”

After the All-Star Break, head coach Brian Shaw upped Faried’s minutes and his numbers skyrocketed. Most impressively, he flashed a game that ranged far beyond powerful rebounds and rim-rocking dunks.

In 31 games after All-Star Weekend, Faried averaged 18.8 points, 10.1 rebounds and 1.1 steals in 31.2 minutes per contest while developing his low-post attack and improving his stride in transition.

What’s most significant about that improvement is that Faried’s field goal percentage remained virtually the same. He shot 54.4 percent in 49 games beforehand and upped that number to 54.6 percent afterwards.

As his playing time increased from 24.7 minutes before the All-Star Game to 31.2 after it, the only thing that changed about Faried’s quality of play were the number of opportunities he received to score.

Danilo Gallinari, JaVale McGee and Nate Robinson all return from injuries, and Arron Afflalo was acquired this past summer. All will command some form of significant touches on offense, which could potentially hinder Faried’s production.

It won’t.

Faried has emerged as Ty Lawson’s favorite offensive target, and it’s not too hard to see why. He can take over in transition, play with his back to the basket and crash the offensive glass to create his own looks.

That carried over to the FIBA World Cup, where he was the star of the American squad.

Team USA Success

When a player shines on the international stage, their numbers rarely compare to those posted in the NBA. The opportunities are far less consistent when a team possesses a slew of All-NBA and All-Star talent.

One of the players who transcended the numbers to become a star of the tournament was Kenneth Faried.

Faried ripped off 22 points and eight rebounds on 11-of-14 shooting in a comeback against Turkey. That was the beginning of a magnificent run that consisted of explosive athleticism, strong post play and impressive defense.

On a team with the likes of DeMarcus Cousins, Stephen Curry, James Harden and Kyrie Irving, Faried managed to stand out as the star of the show.

While this hardly guarantees success in the NBA, Faried has been playing at a star-caliber level since the All-Star break. He started that progress during the second half of the 2013-14 regular season and followed it up with a wonderful summer.

In an up-tempo offense that relies heavily on Faried for his rebounding and burst at the rim, he’ll have opportunities to shine. With Ty Lawson running point, that success will both be expedited and facilitated.

There’s inevitable doubt when a player’s expected to go from 13.7 points to nearly 20 per game in the span of one season. With a combination of system, momentum and rapidly developing skills, however, Faried is a safe bet.

In 2014-15, look for the 24-year-old power forward to emerge as a front-runner for both the Most Improved Player award and his first career All-Star Game appearance.

Over the next five seasons, expect Faried to be worth every penny of this lucrative new deal.