2011–12 Denver Nuggets season

2011–12 Denver Nuggets season
Head coach	George Karl
Arena	Pepsi Center
Results
Record	38–28 (.576)
Place	Division: 2nd (Northwest) Conference: 6th (Western)
Playoff finish	Lost in First Round
Stats @ Basketball-Reference.com
Local media
Television	Altitude Sports and Entertainment
Radio	KCKK

The 2011–12 Denver Nuggets season was the 45th season of the franchise, and its 36th season in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Denver finished the lockout-shortened season in sixth place in the Western Conference with a 38–28 record and were eliminated in the first round of the 2012 NBA Playoffs by the Los Angeles Lakers in seven games. The Nuggets finished the regular season leading the league in points per game (104.12) and assists per game (23.96).

Key dates

• June 23: The 2011 NBA Draft took place at Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey.

Draft

Main article: 2011 NBA Draft

Round	Pick	Player	Position	Nationality	School/Club team
1	22	Kenneth Faried	PF	United States	Morehead State University

Roster

2011–12 Denver Nuggets roster
Players	Coaches
Pos. No. Name Height Weight DOB (YYYY–MM–DD) From G 6 Afflalo, Arron (C) 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 215 lb (98 kg) 1985–10–15 UCLA G/F 13 Brewer, Corey 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 188 lb (85 kg) 1986–03–05 Florida G/F 21 Chandler, Wilson 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 225 lb (102 kg) 1987-05-10 DePaul F 35 Faried, Kenneth 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 228 lb (103 kg) 1989–18–11 Morehead State G/F 5 Fernández, Rudy 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 185 lb (84 kg) 1985–04–04 Spain F 8 Gallinari, Danilo 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) 225 lb (102 kg) 1988–08–08 Italy G/F 1 Hamilton, Jordan 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 220 lb (100 kg) 1990–06–10 Texas F 7 Harrington, Al 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 250 lb (113 kg) 1980–02–17 St. Patrick HS (NJ) C 41 Koufos, Kosta 7 ft 0 in (2.13 m) 265 lb (120 kg) 1989–02–24 Ohio State G 3 Lawson, Ty 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m) 195 lb (88 kg) 1987–11–03 North Carolina C 34 McGee, JaVale 7 ft 0 in (2.13 m) 252 lb (114 kg) 1988–01–19 Nevada G 24 Miller, Andre 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 200 lb (91 kg) 1976–03–19 Utah C 25 Mozgov, Timofey 7 ft 1 in (2.16 m) 250 lb (113 kg) 1986–07–16 Russia G/F 10 Stone, Julyan 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 200 lb (91 kg) 1988–07–12 Texas–El Paso	Head coach George Karl Assistant coach(es) Melvin Hunt John Welch Chad Iske Legend (C) Team captain (DP) Unsigned draft pick (FA) Free agent (S) Suspended Injured

Depth chart

Pos.	Starter	Bench	Reserve	Inactive
C	JaVale McGee	Kosta Koufos	Timofey Mozgov
PF	Danillo Gallinari	Kenneth Faried	Al Harrington
SF	Wilson Chandler	Corey Brewer		Jordan Hamilton
SG	Arron Afflalo	Rudy Fernández		Julyan Stone
PG	Ty Lawson	Andre Miller

Regular Season

Standings

Northwest Division	W	L	PCT	GB	Home	Road	Div
y-Oklahoma City Thunder	47	19	.712	–	26–7	21–12	10–3
x-Denver Nuggets	38	28	.576	9	20–13	18–15	6–7
x-Utah Jazz	36	30	.545	11	25–8	11–22	9–4
Portland Trail Blazers	28	38	.424	19	20–13	8–25	4–10
Minnesota Timberwolves	26	40	.394	21	13–20	13–20	4–9

#	Western Conference
	Team	W	L	PCT	GB
1	c-San Antonio Spurs	50	16	.758	–
2	y-Oklahoma City Thunder	47	19	.712	3
3	y-Los Angeles Lakers	41	25	.621	9
4	x-Memphis Grizzlies	41	25	.621	9
5	x-Los Angeles Clippers	40	26	.606	10
6	x-Denver Nuggets	38	28	.576	12
7	x-Dallas Mavericks	36	30	.545	14
8	x-Utah Jazz	36	30	.545	14
9	Houston Rockets	34	32	.515	16
10	Phoenix Suns	33	33	.500	17
11	Portland Trail Blazers	28	38	.424	22
12	Minnesota Timberwolves	26	40	.394	24
13	Golden State Warriors	23	43	.348	27
14	Sacramento Kings	22	44	.333	28
15	New Orleans Hornets	21	45	.318	29

Playoffs

2012 playoff game log
First round: 3–4 (Home: 2–1; Road: 1–3) Game Date Time Team Score High points High rebounds High assists Location Attendance Series 1 April 29 @ L. A. Lakers L 88–103 Danilo Gallinari (19) Andre Miller, Kenneth Faried (8) Andre Miller (7) Staples Center 18,997 0–1 2 May 1 @ L. A. Lakers L 100–104 Ty Lawson (25) Kenneth Faried (10) Andre Miller (8) Staples Center 18,997 0–2 3 May 4 L. A. Lakers W 99–84 Ty Lawson (25) JaVale McGee (15) Ty Lawson (7) Pepsi Center 19,155 1–2 4 May 6 L. A. Lakers L 88–92 Danilo Gallinari (20) Andre Miller, Kenneth Faried (7) Ty Lawson (6) Pepsi Center 19,155 1–3 5 May 8 @ L. A. Lakers W 102–99 Andre Miller (24) JaVale McGee (14) Ty Lawson, Andre Miller (8) Staples Center 18,997 2–3 6 May 10 L. A. Lakers W 113–96 Ty Lawson (32) Kenneth Faried (11) Arron Afflalo, Danilo Gallinari (7) Pepsi Center 19,770 3–3 7 May 12 @ L. A. Lakers L 87–96 Al Harrington, Ty Lawson (24) JaVale McGee (14) Andre Miller (8) Staples Center 18,997 3–4
2012 playoff schedule

Player statistics

Legend
GP	Games played	GS	Games started	MPG	Minutes per game
FG%	Field-goal percentage	3P%	3-point field-goal percentage	FT%	Free-throw percentage
RPG	Rebounds per game	APG	Assists per game	SPG	Steals per game
BPG	Blocks per game	PPG	Points per game

Regular season

Player	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3FG%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
Arron Afflalo	62	62	33.6	.471	.398	.798	3.2	2.4	.6	.2	15.2
Chris Andersen	32	1	15.2	.546		.610	4.6	.2	.6	1.4	5.3
Corey Brewer	59	17	21.8	.434	.260	.692	2.5	1.5	1.2	.3	8.9
DeMarre Carroll	4	0	5.3	1.000			.8	.8	.0	.0	3.0
Wilson Chandler	8	6	26.9	.392	.250	.833	5.1	2.1	.8	.8	9.4
Kenneth Faried	46	39	22.5	.586		.665	7.7	.8	.7	1.0	10.2
Rudy Fernandez	31	1	22.9	.440	.328	.698	2.1	2.4	1.0	.1	8.6
Danilo Gallinari	43	40	31.4	.414	.328	.871	4.7	2.7	1.0	.5	14.6
Jordan Hamilton	26	2	9.9	.432	.362	.400	2.4	.8	.2	.1	4.4
Al Harrington	64	1	27.5	.446	.333	.676	6.1	1.4	.9	.2	14.2
Nene Hilario	28	27	29.5	.509	.000	.677	7.4	2.2	1.3	.9	13.4
Kosta Koufos	48	24	16.5	.599		.600	5.4	.3	.5	.9	5.5
Ty Lawson	61	61	34.8	.488	.365	.824	3.7	6.6	1.3	.1	16.4
JaVale McGee	20	5	20.6	.612		.373	5.8	.3	.5	1.6	10.3
Andre Miller	66	7	27.4	.438	.217	.811	3.3	6.7	1.0	.1	9.7
Timofey Mozgov	44	35	15.6	.526		.684	4.1	.5	.3	1.0	5.4
Julyan Stone	22	2	8.1	.419	.182	.727	1.1	1.7	.4	.3	1.6

^a Statistics with the Denver Nuggets.

Playoffs

Player	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3FG%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
Arron Afflalo	7	7	32.7	.405	.200	.800	3.6	2.7	.7	.3	10.9
Corey Brewer	7	0	16.6	.426	.300	.750	2.0	.9	1.0	.3	8.3
Kenneth Faried	7	7	27.4	.533		.750	10.0	.6	.7	1.1	10.4
Danilo Gallinari	7	7	31.7	.362	.174	.917	5.1	2.4	.7	.6	13.4
Jordan Hamilton	2	0	2.5	.667			.0	.0	.5	.0	2.0
Al Harrington	7	0	23.3	.320	.286	.667	4.3	.9	.4	.1	9.7
Kosta Koufos	3	2	8.7	.333			3.7	.0	.0	.1	.7
Ty Lawson	7	7	34.6	.514	.321	.632	2.6	6.0	1.0	.1	19.0
JaVale McGee	7	0	25.9	.434		.538	9.6	.7	.7	3.1	8.6
Andre Miller	7	0	28.6	.425	.571	.867	5.6	6.0	1.3	.1	11.3
Timofey Mozgov	7	5	14.1	.480		.500	3.3	.4	.3	.9	4.0
Julyan Stone	2	0	2.5	.500			.5	1.0	.0	.0	1.0

Awards

• Ty Lawson was named Western Conference Player of the Week (February 27 – March 4).
• Kenneth Faried was named Western Conference Rookie of the Month for March and was selected to the NBA All-Rookie First Team.

Injuries and disciplinary actions

• Before the start of the postseason, Wilson Chandler had a labral tear in his hip and was out for the remainder of the season.
• Arron Afflalo earned a 1-game suspension for throwing an elbow at an opponent during a game against the Utah Jazz on March 23.

Transactions

Main article: List of 2011–12 NBA season transactions

Overview

Players Added Via draft Kenneth Faried Via free agency DeMarre Carroll (later waived) Julyan Stone (Undrafted) Via trade Corey Brewer Rudy Fernández JaVale McGee Andre Miller

Players Lost Via trade Raymond Felton Nenê Via free agency Melvin Ely Gary Forbes Kenyon Martin J. R. Smith Waived Cory Higgins Ronny Turiaf (acquired in trade)

Trades

June 23, 2011	To Denver Nuggets Andre Miller Draft rights to Jordan Hamilton (from Mavericks)	To Dallas Mavericks Rudy Fernández Draft rights to Petteri Koponen (from Trail Blazers) To Portland Trail Blazers Raymond Felton Draft rights to Tanguy Ngombo (from Mavericks)
June 23, 2011	To Denver Nuggets Draft rights to Chukwudiebere Maduabum	To Los Angeles Lakers Future second round pick
December 13, 2011	To Denver Nuggets Corey Brewer Rudy Fernández	To Dallas Mavericks Future second round pick
March 15, 2012	To Denver Nuggets JaVale McGee Ronny Turiaf Future second round pick (from Clippers)	To Los Angeles Clippers Nick Young To Washington Wizards Nenê Brian Cook Conditional 2015 second round pick (from Clippers)

Free agents

Additions
Player	Date signed	Former team
Julyan Stone	December 9	UTEP (undrafted rookie)
DeMarre Carroll	December 13	Houston Rockets
Nenê	December 14	Re-signed (later traded to Washington)
Arron Afflalo	December 20	Re-signed
Wilson Chandler	March 18	Re-signed

Subtractions
Player	Date signed	New team
J. R. Smith	September 13	Zhejiang Golden Bulls (China) (later signed with the New York Knicks)
Kenyon Martin	September 21	Xinjiang Flying Tigers (China) (later signed with the Los Angeles Clippers)
Melvin Ely	December 14	Charlotte Bobcats
Gary Forbes	December 14	Toronto Raptors

Many players signed with teams from other leagues due to the 2011 NBA lockout. FIBA allows players under NBA contracts to sign and play for teams from other leagues if the contracts have opt-out clauses that allow the players to return to the NBA if the lockout ends. The Chinese Basketball Association, however, only allows its clubs to sign foreign free agents who could play for at least the entire season.

Played in other leagues during lockout
Player	Date signed	New team	Opt-out clause
Timofey Mozgov	July 21	BC Khimki (Russia)	Yes
Ty Lawson	August 15	Žalgiris Kaunas (Lithuania)	Yes
Wilson Chandler	August 29	Zhejiang Lions (China)	No
J. R. Smith	September 13	Zhejiang Golden Bulls (China)	No
Danilo Gallinari	September 20	Armani Milano (Italy)	Yes
Kenyon Martin	September 21	Xinjiang Flying Tigers (China)	No

External links

• Official website