Chris Humphreys – USA Today Sports Images
The Denver Nuggets suffered one of the biggest losses of any team in the NBA this summer when Andre Iguodala elected to opt-out of the final year of his contract and then elected to sign with the Golden State Warriors rather than to re-sign with the Nuggets. That leaves an enormous hole in their backcourt as Iggy was their best perimeter defender and a leader for Denver.
With the Nuggets not really making any moves to this off-season to address the departure of Iguodala, that means they are going to have to look in-house to make things happen at the two-guard. They could look to second-year guard Evan Fournier, but the onus is more than likely going to fall on Wilson Chandler.
Chandler missed almost half of last season with the Nuggets, playing in only 43 games. However, he submitted a more than solid season, averaging 13 points, 5.1 rebounds and one steal per game while shooting 46.2 percent from the field and a fantastic 41.3 percent from three-point range.
Chandler has had issues with injuries over the past two seasons, but when he’s healthy he is a solid player. However, his biggest issue has always been with consistency and with being dedicated on the defensive end of the floor. He’s always been a player to show flashes of great play, but has never been a player who can string together a sustained period at that level.
Playing at a high level for a whole season is what the Nuggets are going to need from Chandler. Chandler has enormous shoes to fill this season and will need to be a threat offensively as well as defensively. If not, the Nuggets could be in for a rude awakening.
Cody Williams is a Senior Writer with Rant Sports. Follow Cody on Twitter @TheSizzle20, add him on Google and like his Facebook page.
