The Denver Nuggets Have A Secret Weapon

The Denver Nuggets Have A Secret Weapon

Cam Johnson, Tim Hardaway Jr., and Jonas Valenunis. Those are the three newest Denver Nuggets. And they are three names who have left NBA fans terrified of what a Nicola Joic le team could look like with actual depth. The thing is, those three guys aren’t Denver’s only new players. Beakman, a nice pass to Holmes. His first shot attempt. That’s a good Holmes. That’s what he does best. Watch out. rising in favor. After being drafted 22nd in last year’s draft, Dron Holmes was expected to make an instant impact as a rookie because despite being a rookie, he was 21 years old and coming off a college season in which he averaged 28 2 and two, doing literally everything for Dayton as one of the best players in all of college basketball. Unfortunately, that’s when disaster struck. See if Denver can try and get him out. They can. They got the buzzer there. Take a look at the 22nd pick. An Achilles tear one game into summer league. Just the most devastating injury and timing for such an injury. But one year later and Don Holmes has made a full recovery. And more importantly, not only does he look healthy, he looked dominant in summer league finishing his last game of summer league with 1917 and five. Yes, if you wanted any indication of whether or not Daron Holmes was worth a first round pick, dominating summer league after a year of recovering from an Achilles injury seems like a pretty good indication to me. And as the stat line would suggest, he does a little bit of everything. Just take this play for example, where he’s facing up his defender. The defender is pressing him to prevent that jumper. So, Holmes puts the ball on the floor, draws the help defense, and kicks it out for the open three. And if you’re wondering why he was being guarded so heavily at the three-point line, oh, it’s because in addition to being a 610 shot blocker who can roll to the rim and attack downhill, he’s also a very capable shooter. Look no further than his first game of summer league against the Bucks where Beakman gets in the paint and watch Holmes relocate from the corner to the wing to provide an option and knock down the three. Or how about in transition running the floor providing an option and once the ball hits him in stride, he knocks it down. It’s not just regular threes either, as you saw in a couple of those clips and as you will continue to see, he’s able to relocate. He’s able to knock down threes on the move. He can spot up and hit threes in the corner, in the wing, pick and pop, he has versatility in his three-point shooting bag that goes beyond just a couple of pick and pop threes a game. But the thing is, whilst a lot of people will get caught up on the three-point shooting, and it is great if they can hit threes, what takes a player to that next level is what they can do once the defense closes out on them. What is the next move? Well, this is how Daron Holmes takes advantage of that. He sets the screen, flares out to the wing, and watch here as the defender lunges to try and contest the shot. And look at Dron drive past him and then the soft finger roll. And for what it’s worth, I’m sure once he’s a bit more comfortable with his body, he’s going to be throwing that down. Or look at this play where the defender is pressing him 25 ft from the basket because of the three threes he had already made in that game. He looks as though he’s searching for the handoff, but just drives. than a hesitation and the underhand finish at speed. That right there is special. At his size, the hesitation into an outside of the hand finish moving at speed. You don’t see players 6’10 doing like that in addition to being able to knock down threes as well. Or how about here where he’s operating just inside the three-point line. Instead of waiting for a handoff, he drives right at Baldwin, spinning back inside, and then with the contact, he floats it in. The scariest part is you can see Holmes is still feeling himself out athletically. This is someone who is a supreme athlete when he is fully healthy and you can see he is still getting back to that. But the skill, the size, the physicality, those are all absolutely apparent. And even if he’s lost 10% of that verticality, as you can see by these clips, I think he’s still going to be an impactful player on the offensive side of the floor. And that’s just offensively. And if you’re wondering who he models his game after at the NBA level, this is what he said before the NBA drafts. I like guys like Nars Reed, Al Hawford, Nicola Joic, and Aaron Gordon. Sure, Joic is Jokic, but all four of these guys are highly skilled, highly versatile, and highly intelligent bigs that are perfect for the modern NBA. You couldn’t ask for a better group of bigs to model your game after than that. And what I love is you can see elements of all of those guys in his game. And what better team to learn how to develop than a team with Aaron Gordon and Nicola Joic. And a big reason he mentioned the likes of AG and Al Hawford is because of what he did defensively in college. Both of those guys despite their size, their strength, are great at switching onto smaller players and holding up defensively. that fluidity and athleticism you see from Holmes offensively at Dayton, he was able to translate that to the defensive side of the floor, moving his feet, his hips well, and then also, you know, blocking two shots a game. So, he has that rim protection. He has the switch ability to go with all of that offensive skill set. There is a reason he was so dominant in college. Now, you might be thinking to yourself, “This is all cool, but surely Denver won’t actually be relying on a rookie to help them win a championship.” We saw how that worked out with the reliance on the likes of Strawther and Watson last year, who weren’t rookies, but young players. Well, the key word here is reliance. This is what has made the Nuggets off season so great. No longer are they relying on all of these young players to deliver. Last year they had no other options, so they had to play these guys regardless. This year they will get the opportunity, but there will be competition and depth. But we also need to remember the impact young players can and have had for Denver, not just in the regular season, but in the playoffs. Look no further than game three of the 2023 finals when it was none other than rookie Christian Brown who stepped up and scored 15 points singlehandedly changing the outcome of that game. Or how about Julian Strawther helping them win a game against Oklahoma City in last year’s playoffs. And what was great about Brown in his rookie season was he changed games in moments, which is what I’d expect from Deron Holmes. There’s a chance he is a 15-minute per game player straight away because he’s that talented and there is a bit of a void at the backup for position, but there’s a very strong chance that he’s going to make an impact one way or another, even if it’s just in moments. And I think the problem is Calvin Booth went allin on filling all of the depth out with young players. Now, the Nuggets actually have the security blanket of some more veteran players. And finally, at last, well, I think so, despite the rumors, at last, Yokic has a backup center. And instead of Zeke Naji playing minutes as the backup for, you could have someone who does everything you would have hoped Zeke could do, just better. And no longer do Nuggets fans have to be scarred by what Booth did. They have this young talent plus depth. It is a good time to be a Nuggets fan. And if you want to hear me continue to talk about the nuggets and more content like this, dropping a like on the video would be cool. 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