NBA.com's John Schuhmann gets you ready for the 2017-18 season with a key stat for each team in the league and shows you why it matters. Today, we look at the Denver Nuggets, who made a big leap on one end of the floor.

THE STAT

The Denver Nuggets were the most improved offensive team in the league last season, scoring 7.3 more points per 100 possessions (110.3) than they did in 2015-16 (102.7).



THE CONTEXT

League-wide efficiency hit an *all-time high of 106.2 points scored per 100 possessions last season. Twenty-six of the 30 teams scored more efficiently in 2016-17 than they did in '15-16.

* We can only really estimate efficiency for the last 40 seasons, because turnovers weren't counted before 1977. But given the lack of 3-pointers and poorer shooting in the 50s, 60s and early 70s, it's safe to say that the league hasn't scored more efficiently than it did last season.

Of those 26 teams, the Nuggets took the biggest leap offensively. They shot better in the restricted area, on other shots in the paint, from mid-range, on corner threes, and on above-the-break threes. No team saw a bigger increase in total 3-point percentage from 2015-16 to '16-17.

The Nuggets also swapped a lot of mid-range shots for 3-point attempts, getting more points per attempt out of their jumpers. In regard to both field goal percentage in the paint and effective field goal percentage from outside the paint, the Nuggets went from the bottom 10 in the league (23rd and 22nd) in '15-16 to the top 10 (fourth and ninth) in '16-17.

Four Nuggets - Jameer Nelson, Nikola Jokic, Danilo Gallinari and Gary Harris - ranked among the league's 25 most-improved shooters.



Jokic's development was the biggest reason for the team's improvement. From the point Jokic became the full-time starting center (Dec. 15), the Nuggets had the league's best offense, scoring 113.3 points per 100 possessions over their final 57 games (117.7 with Jokic on the floor).

From that point, he was one of three players to average at least 15 points, 10 rebounds and five assists. And he was a more efficient scorer and had a higher assist/turnover ratio than the other two (Russell Westbrook and DeMarcus Cousins).

From Dec. 15 on, Jokic led the Nuggets in usage rate (using 25 percent of the team's possessions while he was on the floor), rebounding percentage (grabbing 21 percent of available rebounds) and assist percentage (assisting on 29 percent of the team's buckets while he was on the floor). He was the fulcrum of an offense that assisted on 64 percent of its buckets, a rate that ranked third in the league over the last four months and was up from 56 percent (17th) prior to Dec. 15.

Of course, while the Nuggets had the league's best offense after Dec. 15, they also had the league's worst defense, allowing 111.9 points per 100 possessions, over that same time. Their biggest problems were on the perimeter, where they ranked last in both opponent 3-point percentage and opponent turnover rate from that point when Jokic became the starting center.

Paul Millsap arrives having played on one of just three teams (the Hawks, Spurs and Warriors) that has ranked in the top 10 in defensive efficiency each of the last three years. His addition, along with the further development of the young core could help Denver take another step forward offensively.

But it will be the defensive end of the floor that determines whether or not the Nuggets can end a four-year playoff drought.