Andrew Nicholson, resurrected
Andrew Nicholson was buried on the bench for much of the next two years. His offense has re-appeared and so has he in the Magic’s regular rotation.
The beginning of the 2014 season seems a lifetime ago.
There were all of Andrew Nicholson’s hopes and dreams laid bare so clearly. He was popping out for 3-pointers and draining corner 3-pointers like he had been doing it his entire basketball career. The impeccable post game was still there. His first-half stat line scoring 17 points aid it all.
Then Nicholson began his run into obscurity. The promising rookie was no longer promising, he was forgotten to the tune of 15.4 minutes per game in 76 appearances.
Nicholson continued to fall in the depth chart to 11.6 minutes per game in 32 appearances so far this season. His per-36 numbers have actually increased this year, but his once pristine post game has flat lined at 42.9 percent shooting on the year.
Nobody seemed to know what to make of Nicholson or his potential for the rest of his career (he is due to become a restricted free agent at the end of next season).
That is, until the last month or so. Nicholson has appeared in 11 of the team’s 14 games in March, the most this season. He averaged 7.9 points per game in 16.0 minutes per game with a 50.0 percent field goal percentage.
This was the Nicholson the Magic knew.
“He’s been fantastic,” James Borrego said. “He never put his head down when he wasn’t playing. He kept working. Before practice, after practice. He’s worked on his body. If you look at his body now on the floor, he battles against big men, fours, fives. It is a credit to him.”
Borrego said Nicholson put in a ton of work behind the scenes even while he was not receiving playing time. He changed his body some and became stronger through tireless weight training to better bang with bigger power forwards and centers in the low post.
The Magic’s interim coach said they are trying to get Nicholson back to the low post more.
According to NBA.com, Nicholson has taken just 16.7 percent of his possessions in the post in his 29 appearances. He has totaled only 25 field goal attempts out of postups.
Broken down in a simpler way, Nicholson has taken 61 field goal attempts within 10 feet. Nearly 40 percent of his shots come within this range.
In March, however, Nicholson was 18 for 30 from within 10 feet, taking 41.1 percent of his shots from within 10 feet. That sounds more like the Nicholson the Magic saw his rookie year — 54.9 percent of his shots came within 10 feet that season.
This is a good sign for Nicholson that he has regained the offensive touch that has made his career. Perhaps it has not made it all the way back.
What has changed is his defensive presence and positioning.
Nicholson may never be the kind of athlete to be an elite defender, but to go from where he was — struggling to get into position — to where he is now — at least, much improved — is a feat. It could be enough to keep him in the league. It has helped him earn minutes.
“I’m playing solid defense,” Nicholson said. “Just getting where I need to be. They want to come out there, I’ll be ready. Just play solid defense like I have been doing.”
Nicholson put in tireless work on his defense. The coaches noticed it and even the usually tight-lipped Nicholson said he spent time in the gym working on his craft. Consistency is still his issue.
Of course, it is hard to say definitively whether Nicholson made much of an impact. In March, the Magic’s defensive rating with Nicholson on the floor was 117 points per 100 possessions, according to Basketball-Reference. That is very bad.
Observing Nicholson though, you can see he is working to get to the correct spots quicker and largely doing so. Like Nikola Vucevic and Channing Frye, he is not a rim protector by any stretch. Those defensive warts have not gone away, but he is making fewer mistakes.
As his offense gets better, improving defense becomes more valuable and gets him playing time. Nicholson has scored 10 or more points in his three games before Wednesday’s loss to the Spurs. Getting more than 20 minutes per game helps as Nicholson just has a knack for scoring.
Nicholson has found his way back into the rotation through his own hard work and the trust he has gained to get back into the rotation. It has been a rough couple of season for Nicholson, but he waited for an opportunity and he took it.
And, by his coach’s estimation, he has taken advantage of it.
“There is a number of bigs now in the rotation,” Borrego said. “We’re just going to have to fill it out game-to-game. Their job, our job is to keep them ready. You never know when you’re number is going to get called. When your opportunity is there, make the most of it. And that group has done that.”
Nicholson especially.