Denver Gazette beat writer Vinny Benedetto takes you around the NBA and inside the Nuggets locker room:<\/p>\n
NBA Insider<\/p>\n
Denver fans don\u2019t like Tamar Bates\u2019s favorite football team, but his game might quickly win them over.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been with the Chiefs since Matt Cassel, you know what I\u2019m saying?\u201d Bates unabashedly revealed after his first Summer League practice with the Nuggets. \u201cDwayne Bowe, Jamaal Charles, Tamba Hali, I could go on all day.\u201d<\/p>\n
Don\u2019t give up on the Kansas City, Kan. native and former Missouri Tiger just yet. Bates, who signed a two-way contract with the Nuggets after going undrafted last month, can start to win back Nuggets fans as soon as Denver\u2019s Summer League run starts Thursday in Las Vegas.<\/p>\n
\u201cI would describe myself as a 3-and-D guy that has the skillset to score at all three levels. Just somebody that can play on the ball, off the ball and just somebody that plays really hard,\u201d Bates said. \u201cI try to pride myself on my communication and energy that I bring. Whatever it takes to win and whatever my job is depending on the night, no matter what team I playing for, whether it be the Gold or the Nuggets, I\u2019m going to do whatever coach asks me to do.\u201d<\/p>\n
It didn\u2019t take long for Bates to make an impression on his new teammates.<\/p>\n
\u201cReally good player. He\u2019s fiery, good defender. He\u2019s done a really good job these first two days and even last week. He was here early. I like his game,\u201d Nuggets forward Hunter Tyson said.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s got a lot of energy. He talks.\u201d<\/p>\n
Basketball has taken Bates to a lot of places. After starting his high school career at Kansas City\u2019s Piper High School, Bates transferred to Florida\u2019s IMG Academy where he finished his high school career as a top-25 prospect, according to ESPN. Before the transfer, Bates and Spencer Jones, another Nuggets two-way player, were on a collision course to play in the Kansas Class 4A state tournament.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey lost when they were supposed to play us in the state tournament, but that\u2019s neither here nor there,\u201d Bates said.<\/p>\n
Nuggets guard Christian Braun gives the Nuggets a third player from the Kansas side of the city. Braun played at Blue Valley Northwest.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been knowing those guys and been in the gym with them since my freshman year, eighth grade,\u201d Bates said. \u201cDefinitely good to have familiar faces in the locker room.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bates started college at Indiana before transferring to Missouri for his final two seasons. He shot better than 37% from 3 in each of his final three college seasons and capped his collegiate career by posting 13.3 points, 2.6 rebound and 1.3 steals while shooting 50.8% from the field and 39.7% from 3.<\/p>\n
\u201cTamar is a really high IQ guy,\u201d Summer League coach Andrew Munson said.<\/p>\n
\u201cReally positive, high energy dude. Man, he can really shoot it, which is a pretty good skill to have when you\u2019re playing basketball.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bates has hardly stopped since his college career ended. After the Tigers lost in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, Bates played in a college All-Star Game, the Portsmouth Invitational Tournament, the G League Elite Camp and NBA combine before traveling to 13 different pre-draft workouts.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was more like mentally taxing than physical just because of the flights and all the travel and everything, but I did it,\u201d Bates said.<\/p>\n
That was a pretty good introduction for NBA life, especially for a player who\u2019s going to split his time between Denver and Grand Rapids, Mich., the home of the Nuggets\u2019 G League affiliate. If the rookie needs more help adjusting, another member of the Kansas City contingent is ready to pay the help forward.<\/p>\n
\u201cCB really helped me kind of understand how to stand out to Malone in this limited role and stuff like that,\u201d Jones said of Braun before offering his advice to Bates. \u201cFor him, I would just say honestly, one, ask questions and be direct. That\u2019s what I love about this coaching staff. When I ask a question like \u2018Hey, what\u2019s my role? What do you envision for me?\u2019 They\u2019re simple, direct.\u201d<\/p>\n
It hasn\u2019t taken him long to win over people within the Nuggets organization. Winning over the other Denver diehards might take a little more time.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not no fake Chiefs fan,\u201d Bates said.<\/p>\n
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\u201cI\u2019m in Broncos country, but when the Chiefs come to town, y\u2019all know what colors I\u2019m going to have on.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n Hunter Tyson aims to shine as Nuggets’ only Summer League veteran<\/a><\/p>\n What I\u2019m Thinking<\/p>\n There aren\u2019t many like Andrew Munson anymore.<\/p>\n The Nuggets assistant who will serve as the Summer League coach for a second straight year isn\u2019t the son of a former NBA coach like Michael Malone or David Adelman, though he did play for his father up until high school.<\/p>\n \u201cHe was a big influence, obviously, taking me to all the high school games,\u201d Munson said, later adding he grew up watching Kirk Hinrich\u2019s prep career up close.<\/p>\n Munson doesn\u2019t have a decorated playing career after his days at Iowa\u2019s Sioux City East High School where he played a couple seasons of varsity basketball for the Black Raiders, according to MaxPreps rosters, under Ras and Jeff Vanderloo.<\/p>\n \u201cI talk to those guys all the time,\u201d Munson said. \u201cThe amount of fundamental things I learned going to their basketball camps when I was like a second grader that we still use in practice every day in the NBA. That\u2019s always a fun conversation.\u201d<\/p>\n That was the end of his playing career, but he stayed involved by becoming a student manager at University of Iowa under Fran McCaffrey. That was enough to get his foot in the NBA door, and he named Michael Malone, Wes Unseld Jr., Micah Nori and Jordi Fernandez as other coaches who\u2019ve helped him get to this point.<\/p>\n \u201cThe list is very long, but that\u2019s a few of them,\u201d Munson said.<\/p>\n Munson\u2019s NBA coaching career started in inglorious fashion as a video intern, but he\u2019s stuck with the franchise for nearly a decade. That\u2019s the road less traveled in the NBA these days.<\/p>\n