A Denver Nuggets fan guide to the Tokyo Olympics

The Tokyo Olympics are right around the corner and while Denver Nuggets fans would usually be keeping an eye out for Serbia and Nikola Jokic, this year, their attention should be on the Nigerian and Argentinian National Teams.

Monte Morris has committed to join the Nigerian men’s basketball team, the D’Tigers, in the upcoming Olympics, joining fellow NBA players like Spencer Dinwiddie, OG Anunoby, Jahlil Okafor, and Miye Oni to name a few.

The team is rich with NBA talent and will be led by Golden State Warriors associate coach Mike Brown. Brown was excited when looking around at the roster per ESPN:

"“It is no different from a player like Monte Morris. He is a young guy, his assist-to-turnover ratio is one of the best in the league; he is small but he is physically tough; he is a true point guard; he will get others the ball.“So, you look at these things and you evaluate. Does this make sense for your team based on the players you have, or doesn’t it? And a guy like Monte, in my opinion, makes sense for our team, if it all works out.”"

The D’Tigers are also expected to add Al-Farouq Aminu (Chicago Bulls), Chimezie Metu (Sacramento Kings), Josh Okogie (Minnesota Timberwolves), and Wes Iwundu (New Orleans Pelicans) per Marc Spears, The Undefeated.

Additionally, former players like Festus Ezeli and Emeka Okafor are helping the team out from a coaching standpoint:

And building on top of that, Colin Udoh recently reported that Mike Brown may be forced to pick two different Nigerian teams, one for the AfroBasket tournament that starts in Rwanda on 24 Aug. 2021 and one for the Olympics.

If there is a need for two teams, Spears adds that Zeke Nnaji, among other names, would be in consideration for a roster spot.

Denver Nuggets: What’s Monte Morris’ role on the D’Tigers

We’re likely going to see Monte Morris starting at one of the guard spots next to Spencer Dinwiddie as early as next week. Nigeria will play exhibition games against the USA, Argentina, and Australia between 10 and 13 Jul. 2021.

You read that right, we’re primed for some Monte-on-Facundo Campazzo action in these exhibition matchups.

Monte will have plenty of options on the D’Tigers with pick-and-roll partners like Okafor and veterans like Ekpe Udoh and Ben Uzoh. The athleticism on this roster is incredible and there’ll be plenty of opportunities to run with the reliable passing of Morris finding guys like Okogie, Anunoby, and the Miami Heat’s Precious Achiuwa on the break.

Mike Brown adds that the exhibition tournament is going to be fierce:

"“And the thing that [the other teams are] going to have that’s advantageous over us is, they’re already going to be practicing for the pre-qualifying tournament that they got to participate in, so they’re going to be seasoned and ready to go.“Come Olympic time, they’re going to be in some sort of a groove when it comes time to play games.”"

Denver Nuggets: Facundo Campazzo and the Argentinian NT

And one of those teams that’s in some sort of groove (as it always is) is Argentina. Denver Nuggets fans are very familiar with point guard Facundo Campazzo.

Campazzo is likely the starting guard alongside veteran Luis Scola (yes, he still plays), 2020 draftee Leandro Balmaro, and OKC Thunder wing Gabriel Deck.

I’m not going to sit here and list off the accolades in Europe from the rest of the roster because firstly, this is a Denver Nuggets blog and secondly, I don’t have a clue. What I do know is that the single blemish to USA’s Olympic men’s basketball success came at the hands of the Argentinian national team, the golden generation.

Since then, they’ve been a tough out and a thorn in USA’s side. Campazzo is coming off a great season for the Nuggets off the bench and it’ll be exciting to see how he’ll perform back in FIBA rules with his fellow countrymen.

What a change of pace for Nuggets fans who went from adopted Serbians during international play to two different teams to root for these Olympics.