NBA Summer League Watchability Rankings: Denver Nuggets vs Warriors
The Denver Nuggets 2019-20 NBA Summer League kicks off in Las Vegas on July 5. At Nugg Love we will be compiling watchability rankings for the four Nuggets summer league contests.
2. July 10 Denver Nuggets vs Golden State Warriors
When the Denver Nuggets take on the Warriors summer league squad on July 10, we will get a chance to see some more fun perimeter play from the 2019 rookie class, but most important: we get to see more of Jimmer Freddette.
Jimmer set the Chinese Basketball season ablaze during the 2018-19 season, averaging 36 points per game while shooting 41.9 percent from the 3-point line. The Denver Nuggets will have lots of perimeter shooters to worry about on the Warriors summer league roster aside from Fredette, but it will be fun to see if the former BYU sensation can recapture a spot in the league after playing in six games with the Phoenix Suns last season.
For starters, Warriors first-round pick Jordan Poole is a 6-foot-5 combo guard who burst onto the national scene after his amazing heroics in the 2018 NCAA Tournament.
Poole followed that up with a 2018-19 season averaging 15.4 points per 40 minutes while shooting 36.9 percent from the 3-point line. He could be erratic at times, as he is always looking to score but has an incredible belief in his jump shot. At the NBA level he will be fine taking jumpers out of pick-and-roll action, but hoisting up tons of 18-footers off of isolation actions will be sure to get him in Steve Kerr’s dog house quickly.
Summer league will be a great chance for Poole to show that he has refined his shot selection, while also getting to show off his potential for greater production in an even larger on-ball role.
This matchup could be big for Thomas Welsh. In the 2018-19 summer league, Welsh posted a below-average 13.9 PER and struggled with the higher threshold for athleticism that the NBA Summer League brings, posting a subpar 46.6 true shooting percentage. Assuming he plays in this game, Welsh will go against experienced, former Villanova big Eric Paschall, as well as Dedric Lawson out of Kansas.
Both Lawson and Paschall are players who averaged over 16 points per game over the 2018-19 season, and both possess the ability to pick-and-pop and stretch out to 3-point range with decent consistency. The path to more minutes for Welsh lies in a more active approach to defense. He won’t develop lightning quick reactions all of the sudden, but even a small improvement in his ability to move laterally will help big time.
A great example of a player who does this is Alen Smailagic, who the Warriors just drafted out of the NBA G League.
Talked about Alen Smailagic earlier and Golden State's relentless pursuit of him, starting from when he was 16-years old. Someone will one day write a 10,000 word story about how this went down, and it will be a hell of a read. Question is: was he worth it? One day we'll find out
— Jonathan Givony (@DraftExpress) June 21, 2019
Smailagic posted an 18.1 PER, +8.9 net rating and a very impressive 4.8 percent block rate per Real GM. He was widely known in basketball circles as a player the Warriors wanted to hide from the world and with good reason.
The 18-year old Smailagic will certainly see an uptick in competition level this summer, and he should provide an interesting matchup for the Nuggets frontcourt depth. Though the Denver Nuggets often lock and trail or drop back in screen/pick-and-roll coverage, summer league provides a great opportunity for them to practice different coverages.
Related Story. Denver Nuggets set to add Michael Porter Jr. to the mix next season. light
A player of Smailagic’s size and skill level is a solid approximation of the type of stronger, more post-oriented bigs that Michael Porter Jr. and Vlatko Cancar could have to deal with down the line in high-leverage situations.