Nuggets season in review: Facundo Campazzo

The story of the regular season:

Few Denver Nugget players have caused such a stir among Nuggets fans as Facundo “Facu” Campazzo has. Facu is in his second year playing in the NBA but didn’t give the production many hoped he could bring. Outside of a 5 game stretch in the middle of the season where he started, Facu came off the bench and ended the season getting DNP’s. Facu still gave Denver some production in the regular season, scoring 10 + points on 9 separate occasions and dishing out 7 or more assists in 8 games. However, Facu put up a negative +/- in 42 games while putting up a positive +/- in only 18 games.

Facu was given an opportunity to show what he could do at the beginning of the season, but ultimately it became clearer and clearer that he was not the option for the bench. Despite what became of Facu’s 2nd year in Denver, there were some undoubtedly fun moments during his tenure. One of my favorite moments of the season was Facu’s career-high 22-point game against the Houston Rockets on New Year’s Day. Facu was always entertaining to watch when he was playing well.

Did it translate to the playoffs?:

No. Campazzo was completely out of the rotation come playoff time and only entered the games for a very brief amount of time. There just wasn’t a role for Facu in the series versus Golden State. He played quite a big role for Denver in last year’s playoffs but his talent was not needed this postseason.

Best Moment – January 1st vs the Houston Rockets:

I actually talked about this in the best moments of the season article done by the Stiffs staff, but Facu’s best moment is undoubtedly the New Year’s Day game versus Houston. Facu dropped a career-high 22 points and 12 assists to go along with it. Facu also recorded a crazy highlight of crossing up Kevin Porter Jr. and then dishing a behind-the-back pass to JaMychal Green for a dunk. This game also consisted of KPJ leaving the arena at halftime after an altercation with the Rocket’s coaching staff. Could Facu have been part of the reason he left the arena? Maybe… no one will ever know for sure.

Season Grade: D-

Facu had a disappointing season all around, any sort of drop-off from last year couldn’t be tolerated. His numbers are down all across the board and had quite a few terrible games this season. The only reason Facu is not getting an F is because he had select moments that were entertaining and helped the Nuggets win a few times. Facu was nothing but a good sport the entire season though, he could’ve been upset at the situation at hand but he never complained once.

What does the future hold for Facu Campazzo?:

There’s a world where Facu could exist in the NBA, it just might not be in Denver. Campazzo’s contract is up after this season, it is still possible Denver brings him back for another year as one of the last guys on the roster though. It is my belief that he is well-liked and respected amongst the locker room. But, it is probably more likely the Nuggets go in a different direction. Facu had a legendary euro league career and that just might be where he belongs. Having to move your family to the U.S. is hard, I imagine Facu will be disappointed if he does not get another NBA job but I’m sure he’d be happy to move back home.