Kenneth Faried is easily the Denver Nuggets’ most divisive player.
On one hand, he’s a fan favorite. The flowing dreads, the sparkling smile, the earth-shattering dunks, there’s a lot to love about The Manimal. He’s fun, and for a long time, he’s largely been marketed as the face of the franchise.
On the other hand, he’s moody, has consistently disappointed on the defensive end and doesn’t really fit in with today’s modern NBA.
Every offseason and at every trade deadline, Faried’s name inevitably comes up in rumors, and up until this point, those discussions have always fallen short. When Denver made the long-anticipated move, though, of having The Manimal come off the bench, it looked to be a sign that the organization was closer than ever to moving on from their power forward.
But now, he’s back in the starting lineup, and he’s playing some of the best basketball of his career.
So what now?
We’ll find out, but one thing is for sure: Kenneth Faried has every intention of proving his doubters wrong.
Let’s breakdown his remarks from Wednesday night, where he posted 20 points, 15 rebounds, four steals and a block in just 25 minutes:
On his play
“It’s great. A lot of people count you out in this league, saying you’re washed up and all that other stuff. I’ve always been the underdog in my whole career, so this is great for us.”
Don’t ever listen to those people who say athletes don’t read their Twitter mentions.
Kenneth Faried is very aware of what people say about him, and there’s nothing that he would love more than to prove them wrong.
What you have to hope for is that “the underdog role” truly means something for Faried. If he can use his frustration as motivation, all the more power to him. If he loses that edge as soon as success comes, he can’t complain when criticism follows.
On Malone praising his defense
“For me, a lot of people in this league and a lot of the media has been disrespecting me, saying, ‘Kenneth’s defense.’ Even past coaches say, ‘Oh, your defense is suspect.’ But that’s what I predicate myself on; that’s how I got into this league. So I just find that as disrespect, and I just want to shut everybody up, not by saying it but by doing it.”
Faried can be frustrated about the criticism of his defense, but there’s been no reason to think otherwise. It’s been half a decade since he posted a defensive rating below 107.1 (per NBA.com), which means that when he’s on the court, the Denver Nuggets are performing like a bottom-five defensive team, allowing 107.1 points per 100 possessions.
Just last year, the Nuggets were five points better on defense when Faried was off the court. That’s not good.
To be fair, though, Faried is playing better defense now than we’ve seen in years, and the Nuggets have actually been about a point better on defense when he’s been on the court.
While that doesn’t eliminate the fact that Faried has historically been a very poor defender, it is a much-welcomed improvement for both him and the team.
On starting
“That’s my spot. That’s my spot. I don’t like people taking my spot. I didn’t take kindly to that — coach knew that, my teammates knew that. I was outspoken about it. I was really upset. But I wanted it, and I worked for it. That’s what I wanted to get back. When I came out of that starting spot, it was kind of gave me a wakeup call, like ‘Hey, you need to get back to who you are.'”
Kenneth Faried deserves all the credit in the world for winning back his starting spot, as long as he can recognize that he was the one who lost it, too.
Right now, Faried is playing some of the best basketball of his career, and I’m going to guess his demotion went a long way towards motivating him to reach this point.
My only worry, though, is that Faried has only one thing on his mind: Kenneth Faried.
With so much talent on this roster, everyone is going to have to sacrifice; there simply aren’t enough minutes or glory to go around. If Faried doesn’t “take kindly” every time he’s asked to sacrifice for the good of the team, it could put a sour taste in the locker room.