Denver Nuggets: 3 Players Who Disappointed This Season

In the process of finishing just 3 games behind the mighty Warriors on the Western Conference standings, the Nuggets achieved much more during the regular season than just the second seed on the leaderboard. In the playoffs, Denver bowed out to the surging Trail Blazers in the second round via a heartbreaking Game 7 loss.

“For us, tonight is the end of the season, but I’m not going to allow this Game 7 loss to take away from a magical year and it doesn’t feel that way right now,” Michael Malone said after Denver’s loss. “But, when I reflect and when our players reflect on what we were able to accomplish, hell of a year, couldn’t have asked anything more for our guys.”

Although they were not as dominant in the postseason, Jokic and his Nuggets had manufactured a sturdy launching pad for the franchise for years to come. Their impeccable run meant growth for everyone involved in the overall operation from the coaching staff to the star players to the role players and the front office as well. Carrying one of the youngest rosters across the league and considering the strides they made along the year, it's safe to say that future is in safe hands down in Denver.

However, as the team found its identity under Coach Malone, there were some players who couldn't quite get it done. Let's take a look at the three most disappointing players during the Denver Nuggets' 2018-19 campaign.

#1 Will Barton

This was Barton's 5th straight season playing for the Nuggets.

During the regular season, Barton played just 43 games (missed considerable time due to a hip injury in just the second game of the year) and averaged 11.5 points, 4.6 rebounds and 2.9 assists per game in over 27 minutes of playtime per contest.

Despite showing flashes of brilliance in the playoffs, Barton was inconsistent as a whole, coming off the bench. He averaged an unimpressive 9.1 points and 4.6 rebounds per game during the 14 postseason games that he appeared in this year. Not the best defender on the court by any means, Barton also shot a miserable 27.3% from beyond the arc - a step down from his 34% 3-point conversion during the regular season. Moreover, he had just 8 points in Denver's Game 7 loss the Blazers.

Keeping in mind that he's slated to make another $12,960,000 during the 2019-20 season, there are numerous players available in the NBA who can provide more production than the 28-year-old at a much lower price.

#2 Juan Hernangomez

Hernangomez was the 15th overall pick by the Nuggets back in 2015.

Juan had to miss considerable time last season due to a case of mononucleosis which affected his conditioning and physical strength.

In his third season with the Nuggets franchise, the 23-year-old saw increased minutes(19.4) as Coach Malone involved him in the rotation more often. In the 70 regular season games (25 of which he started) he played for Denver, the Spaniard averaged just 5.8 points, 3.8 rebounds and 0.8 assists per game.

In the playoffs, he averaged a dismal 0.6 points and 0.6 rebounds per contest across the five playoff appearances. By now, memories from his promising rookie year have started to fade away into a distant memory.

Hernangomez was held back by injury and had to miss a bunch of games down the stretch. Recently, he went through surgery to repair a core muscle injury and has been projected to suit up for Spain in the 2019 FIBA World Cup.

Hernangomez put on the moves and the Nuggets bench lost it 😂 pic.twitter.com/0wCuC2o8Mz
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) May 8, 2019

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#3 Trey Lyles

Trey Lyles spent two seasons in Utah prior to joining the Nuggets.

Simply put, Lyles shot 49% from the field and 38% from the deep last season. And this year, it went down to as low as 41% conversion from the field (attempting around 7.7 shots per game) and a dismal 25% from beyond the arc (on 3.1 three-point attempts per game).

In over 17 minutes of playtime per game, Lyles averaged a sub-par 8.5 points, 3.8 rebounds and 1.4 assists per game. The 23-year-old had a prominent role to play only when big names such as Gary Harris, Paul Millsap were out due to injuries.

Earlier expected to lead the scoring in the second unit, Trey has proven to be ineffective and inefficient on both ends of the floor. He was productive coming off the bench last season but failed to live up to the expectations this year by a huge margin.