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Nuggets' Faried calls performance so far this season 'awful'

Isaiah J. Downing-USA TODAY Sports

Armed with a four-year, $50-million contract extension and coming off a strong showing with USA Basketball at the FIBA World Cup, 2014-15 was supposed to be a breakout season for Kenneth Faried.

It hasn't worked out that way. Not even close. It's actually been more the opposite, with the Denver Nuggets struggling and Faried now looking to rediscover his groove as he regresses statistically. The poor showing has not been lost on the 25-year-old.

"Awful," Faried said when asked how he feels about his season so far. "I just haven't been playing my game. I know it. My teammates know it. My coaches know it."

Faried's tough self-evaluation included him saying it's on him to correct things, and when asked specifically what needs correcting he suggested it was his whole game.

"Nope," Faried said when asked for specifics. "Just everything."

That may not be the best way to go about attacking the problem, but Faried's correct that there's no one area that stands out, at least in the numbers. He's scoring less and doing so less efficiently, he's rebounding less, he's blocking shots less and the Nuggets are worse on both ends of the floor with Faried playing than they were a year ago.

Faried 2013-14 1/1/2014
Pts/36 18.1 15.8
FG% 54.5% 50.0%
TS% 57.3% 54.1%
PER 19.8 16.9
RB% 16.9% 15.1%
BLK% 2.3% 1.7%
O-Rtg 113 109
D-Rtg 106 108

There's still plenty of time for Faried to turn things around, of course, and it's worth noting he struggled early last season, too, before catching fire. But it's unquestionably a disappointing start for both player and team considering the new contract and the expectations entering the season.

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