As Nuggets offense thrives, Jonas Valanciunas quips: ‘Setting a good screen is selfish’

To screen or not to screen is not a question in Denver To roll and perchance to figure now there s the appeal First-year coach David Adelman doesn t deal lightly in superlatives so it was notable when he in the last few days described Denver s roster as the best Nuggets screening company we ve had in a long time But he and one of his preponderance prolific screeners did have an amusing difference of opinion about the nature of setting a good screen the implication of it Guys are giving themselves up Making the effort to get a hit for somebody else to allow them to have success Adelman raved last week Sometimes the assist total is great But you look back and you look at the screen-assist numbers and what creates offense behind that it s an unselfish thing that guys in the NBA don t all want to do Adelman listed names crediting almost half of Denver s roster for contributing Bruce Brown Peyton Watson Tim Hardaway Jr Spencer Jones Centers Nikola Jokic and Jonas Valanciunas The biggest bodies obviously are often the heftiest screeners Our unit for whatever reason this year Adelman declared has been very fruitful at doing it Valanciunas has a reason You know setting a good screen is selfish he declared Because you re gonna be open I m a selfish guy Setting good screens Disclaimer At least half of what the Lithuanian big man says is tongue-in-cheek to selected extent and he even laughed at his own comment in this incident But the humor in his voice didn t take away from the sliver of truth to his words Adelman agreed on Monday night before the Nuggets hosted the Houston Rockets I think it was Hall of Famer Chris Mullin that stated I want to be the best screener on the organization because I want to shoot the majority of shots It makes a lot of sense Adelman explained If you set a rip screen correctly and you cause confusion you get to shoot If you re a big that sets screens you create the pocket The ball finds you in the pick-and-roll Same thing with a guy like Jamal Murray If you set a flare screen a lot of times two defenders are gonna go with him And that means you re the guy that benefits Peyton gets dunks every other challenge that way So yeah there is something to that The Nuggets have long been particularly adept at using their guards as screeners Christian Braun who didn t make the list of shoutouts from Adelman in his initial comment has mastered the art of when and how to release from a screen He often reads the defense and slips to the basket for easy layups and dunks courtesy of assists from a distributor like Jokic Murray or Aaron Gordon Hardaway has frequently benefited from being the weakest link in three-man actions with Jokic and Murray stepping out to the -point line after setting a screen and launching open shots when the defense fixates on Denver s stars Related Articles Renck vs Keeler Nuggets Jonas Valanciunas or Avs Brent Burns better offseason addition Nuggets prepare to host Rockets twice in crucial games toward eventual NBA playoff seeding How Nuggets are navigating injuries to keep cooking on offense with Peyton Watson Spencer Jones starting Jonas Valanciunas for Dario Saric contract yielding lopsided results for Nuggets Nuggets Podcast Jamal Murray s spectacular start and chances of definitively making an NBA All-Star Meeting The band s primary form of offense the split action involves two non-centers converging then splitting apart with one screening for the other Late in close games Murray and Jokic tend to revert to their reliable two-man meeting for buckets with Murray snaking around his center Other times the Nuggets will run pick-and-rolls with two bigs deploying Jokic as the screener or the ball-handler alongside Gordon They even tried a pick-and-roll in recent times with Valanciunas setting the screen for Jokic a uniquely adept center at initiating facilitating offense As Valanciunas walked away after his half-joke to reporters he shrugged and mimed a pick-and-roll motion receiving the imaginary ball and scoring a layup Funny that he disclosed that because everything he says is funny Adelman reported But it s true It s selfish and unselfish at the same time And great scorers in our league are guys that can really screen off the ball It s been like that forever Want more Nuggets news Sign up for the Nuggets Insider to get all our NBA analysis