Denver Nuggets: Juan Hernangomez’s sophomore slump
After a promising rookie season, Juan Hernangomez is out of the rotation for the Denver Nuggets and is struggling following an illness early in the season.
When the Denver Nuggets snagged Juan Hernangomez with the 15th overall pick in the 2016 NBA Draft, it appeared that they had lucked into a steal. Hernangomez had the size to effectively play both forward spots, and the shooting touch to devastate opposing defenses.
After his rookie campaign, Hernangomez certainly looked like a steal. He was one of the team’s most effective role players last season, capably filling in as a stretch-4. While his defense left a lot to be desired, he was not much worse than the average rookie big on that end.
This season, however, has been a different story for Juancho. After missing most of the first month of the season with mononucleosis, Hernangomez has failed to earn his way back into the rotation. His poor shooting, particularly from deep, has turned a valuable rotation piece into an end of the bench player. The Nuggets will have to hope that Juancho is simply mired in a sophomore slump.
Misfiring from deep
During his rookie season, the Denver Nuggets relied on Juancho Hernangomez to stretch the floor. The 6’9″ forward has the bulk to play most of his minutes at power forward, but the foot speed to play up a position in a pinch.
His size and speed were not the main reason behind his value, however. That value came mostly from his touch from long range. More than half of his shots (50.4 percent) came from deep, and Hernangomez canned 40.7 percent of his shots from outside.
This season, Hernangomez has actually increased his volume from deep. A remarkable 65 percent of his shots this season have been from beyond the arc. However, his success from deep has simply not been up to par. He has not been getting as much lift on his shots, and has been short on many of his long range tries:
Hernangomez is shooting just 28.2 percent from beyond the arc this season. While it is stating the obvious, a stretch-4 who cannot make his shots will not get much playing time. Juancho has fallen out of the rotation as his shots have stopped falling.
Future outlook
Oddly enough, the Denver Nuggets should actually be somewhat encouraged by the way that Juancho has been missing shots this season. Being inconsistently off-track with his shot would be a really bad sign.
However, the fact that he is often short on his shots would indicate that he is not yet back in game shape. Spraying shots with random inaccuracy would show a broken shot; being short most of the time means that Hernangomez should improve once he gets his legs back under him.
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Juancho Hernangomez has been almost as disappointing as a sophomore as he was impressive as a rookie. However, the sample size of his success in year one is much larger than that of his poor second season. With an offseason to recover from his maladies and get back in game shape, Hernangomez should be able to return to the strong play he showed as a rookie in his third season.