The Denver Nuggets had a really rocky start to their 2021 Summer League in a blowout loss to the Miami Heat. Denver lost by 20 points and was ran out of the building in the first quarter as Miami held on to a lead all night.
Not only did the team lose, but Denver was down nine players entering the matchup due to the NBA’s Health & Safety Protocols. The nine players out included the Nuggets’ 26th pick in this year’s draft, Nah’Shon ‘Bones’ Hyland, as well as Zeke Nnaji and Markus Howard.
Reminder: Nuggets signed two players THIS MORNING (Josh Gray, Daniel Hamilton) so they'd definitely have enough players tonight. They've been scrimmaging against the coaching staff at practice.
— Harrison Wind (@HarrisonWind) August 9, 2021
Denver trails 30-12 after one quarter.
Winning isn’t everything in the Summer League, but it’s always nice to win games and without three of the team’s best players, it’s hard to expect too much.
Despite this, the team played extremely hard. Turnovers are going to be an issue in Summer League regardless, let alone after meeting your new teammates the morning of the game. Miami capitalized on this with several fastbreak dunks in the first half off turnovers.
And if this was the low watermark for a Nuggets Summer League team, this was the high watermark for Miami as they shot the lights out of the building. Only an earthquake could stop this game.
But even without Bones Hyland and other big names, we caught a glimpse of some of Denver’s young talent. Let’s get into what we saw from game one of the 2021 NBA Summer League.
Takeaways from the Denver Nuggets first Summer League game: Bol Bol is on display
This Summer League is simply a glorified way for Bol Bol to display his talents, showing Denver Nuggets fans what he can do at the head of an offense, not just garbage time.
On the night, he finished with 21 points, five rebounds, and six turnovers while shooting 5-14 from the floor and 11-14 from the free throw line.
He came out aggressive and was hunting for blocks and that’s both a compliment and a complaint. On offense, it’s nice to see Bol looking around, trying to show off his inside-outside game.
Whether it be off the dribble or in a post up situation, Bol was going to be scoring the ball. In the fourth quarter, when the game was well-and-truly in the books, the team was getting him all the post fadeaways he wanted. It looked… fine.
He can obviously get his shot off over anyone with his frame, but given how tall he is, you’d prefer he take some shots closer to the rim. Off the top of my mind, he had two big inside buckets, the first was an uncontested putback and the second was a baseline spin to the rim.
The most promising part about his performance was the number of free throws he took. He wasn’t able to shoot efficiently, but he was able to get to the line and finished with a -7 in a 20-point loss.
On defense, there are some times when he’d be better suited to staying grounded and vertical. I cringed hard when he jumped at a 3-point attempt – I don’t know many people that would be comfortable shooting over Bol with his hands up, no need to jump.
Takeaways from the Denver Nuggets first Summer League game: Caleb Agada is solid
Caleb Agada played extremely solid in his first Summer League game for the Denver Nuggets. After playing for the Nigerian National Team in the Tokyo Olympics, Agada looked like he was a clear level above the rest of the court.
Agada ended the night with 21 points, five assists, and eight rebounds and was +3 in a 20-point loss. Caleb played just over 28 minutes and was +3, think about that.
What surprised me most about his play was how strong he is. When watching him in the Olympics, it’s easy to discount his play as he’s one of the younger players on the roster. In Summer League, he looks capable, strong, and switched on.
He was trying to get things going early on in the game and was finding his teammates in some great positions. Obviously, nothing was falling in this game and a lot of those good looks ended up being misses.
Some players in Summer League hesitate before making a decision and that can’t be said about Agada. He’s directing the offense and making quick decisions based on how the defense reacts.
If Agada can keep this up, he might even find himself on Denver’s final roster, adding guard depth to a team that desperately needs it.
Takeaways from the Denver Nuggets first Summer League game: Don’t worry too much
At the end of the day, while the Denver Nuggets got blown out by a hot shooting Miami team, don’t read too much into Summer League.
We all know this. If there are some aspects of a players game you like, acknowledge it, but know it’s against sub-par competition. If a player isn’t playing that well, know that it’s such a small sample size and hard to glean any information.
This game, more than others, was hard to read into since Denver was missing nine players. In a normal situation, these teams have such little time to prepare. Imagine getting a call up to Summer League the morning of the game?
Let’s hope that the rest of the roster can come out of the Health & Safety Protocols and we get to see more of Denver’s young talent on display in the coming days.