Wilson Chandler scored 26 points in this one, and scored 26 points in another game about a week ago, so I had formed the half-baked impression that he had improved his play lately. Getting your season-high in points twice in a week means something, right?
Then I checked the stats and my ill-informed opinion was thrown right into the garbage where it belongs, because Chandler scored a big fat zero against the Pistons the game immediately after he scored 26 for the first time. He played forty minutes, attempted six shots, and did not score a single point. Coincidentally, that was the only game the Nuggets have won in the past week.
That swing in production is emblematic of the consistency issues Chandler has faced this season. All of a sudden, he is maybe the fifth-best scorer on the team (Jokic, Harris, Murray, and Millsap are all ahead of him), and he doesn’t always get as many shots as you think he should. He’s been on the Nuggets since the 2010-11 season, and this is the first time he’s been marginalized in the offense, unless you consider sharing a position with Danilo Gallinari for however many years to be a “marginalization”.
Next year is a contract year for him, so I expect him to take back some of the offensive opportunities that have been snatched away from him, and I also expect Nuggets fans to resent him immensely for this as they again fight for a low playoff seed.