There were doubts and concerns within the basketball community and Nuggets fanbase on whether or not moving on from Kentavious Caldwell-Pope was a wise decision. Taking the risk and letting him walk for nothing meant that their perimeter defense and perimeter shooting would take a hit. What it also meant was that Nuggets GM Calvin Booth would be taking a leap of faith and putting all his stock into Christian Braun to take over responsibilities for that role in his own unique way. Braun has been nothing short of impactful for Denver this season in the starting role playing alongside the best player in the world, Nikola Jokic. In only his third season, he has shown leaps in his development offensively and has been a spark for Denver’s lethal starting unit.
Through the first 17 games of the season, Braun has been incredibly productive on the offensive side of the ball starting the year off averaging 16.2 PPG, shooting 58% from the field (64.7 EFG%) on a bit over 10 FGA per game. Although he’s hitting it at a low volume, he is shooting 47.9% from 3 on 2.8 attempts per game, which is similar to the rate and volume KCP was at last year shooting 40.6% on 4.1 3PA. He’s also coming in with a 120.3 offensive rating, which makes sense because Nikola Jokic and Braun have played over 440 minutes together this season and are currently rated number two in the entire league in net rating (14.5) among each team’s most used two-man lineups. Their chemistry on the court together has been beautiful to watch and a specific upgrade when comparing Braun and KCP is Braun’s ability to put the ball on the floor and finish above the rim. With him developing into a more respectable outside shooter in the league, the defense has to choose between letting him shoot uncontested threes or running him off the line which plays right into Braun’s favor.
In transition, he has been able to generate easy buckets by leaking out and running the floor hard and he is currently leading the Nuggets in points off turnovers. Offensively he gives Denver a different look that KCP didn’t necessarily provide which is being that slasher who has the ability to attack closeouts and generate rim pressure off the bounce and from off-ball movement. Forcing the defense to constantly collapse makes life easier for a shooter like Michael Porter Jr. and a vertical athlete like Aaron Gordon. Also, his explosive finishing and physicality at the guard/wing spot help balance Denver out. He uses his body well to initiate and absorb contact at the rim and draw fouls. For example, Braun ranks in the 94th percentile this season for shooting fouled percentage getting fouled on 15.8% of his shot attempts so far this season.
Defensively, he is serving the same role KCP excelled at as the POA/perimeter first line of defense. Naturally, this isn’t a role Braun seems used to, specifically defending some of these smaller, quicker ball handlers out in space. Usually, he is tasked with defending the other team’s primary or secondary ball handler/creator, but during a handful of his active on-ball possessions in the first 17 games, he struggled a bit navigating high ball screens and containing the ball in front. In the 4th quarter of these closer games the Nuggets find themselves in, Braun is much more effective in containing the ball handler and being a defensive playmaker, coming away with timely stops. Although Braun finds himself trailing behind plays at times (like every player) he continues to compete and find a way to either get back in front of the ball and/or disrupt shots from behind whether it is at the rim, or a floater/pull-up jumper.
What the coaching staff and front office are asking of Braun is something very difficult to do throughout an 82-game season. Still, his development and maturity over the last two years and overall fit with the starting unit have sped up this process. In only his third season he has been one of the more impactful players on his team and stepped up making plays in big moments. Only time will tell what the future has in store for him and the Denver Nuggets.