Following JaVale McGee‘s decision to sign with the Western Conference Champion; Phoenix Suns the Denver Nuggets are in a tough spot in finding a backup center to give Nikola Jokic rest. However, second-year player Zeke Nnaji had flashes of excellence last year and showed the potential to space the floor and possibly even play alongside Jokic.
Nnaji is a hyper-athletic big from Arizona who was selected with the 22nd pick in the 2020 NBA Draft. In college, he averaged 16.1 points and 8.8 rebounds on 57 percent shooting. He has a very impressive frame standing at 6’9″ with a 7’1″ wingspan.
He may look skinny but he weighs a formidable 240 pounds, letting him dominate defenders on the block and use his length to finish over seemingly anyone.
Zeke has a surprisingly strong shot-making ability and face-up game beyond the arc and in the mid-post. He is a bit out of control when driving downhill at times, but showed flashes of real potential in being a Giannis-like attacker of the basket.
Additionally, he’s a strong finisher at the rim and a solid lob threat. He is very capable of punishing undersized forwards at the rim and has a real awareness of his size and frame. What’s promising is that he showed a decent post-game that should continue to develop, especially when practising against Jokic on a regular basis.
Nnaji needs to work on keeping the ball high down low and being strong in the paint. Too many times he allows guards to swipe at the ball and take away angles under the basket too often. If he isn’t able to dominate on smaller players, he becomes much less valuable on offense.
He is not as skilled at making the right reads on defense, he needs to definitely work on seeing the floor better. With more in-game reps and film breakdowns, I expect this to improve. He is great at reading the defense and slipping screens when he needs to.
Zeke has the ability to hit pull-up threes on the break if given the space to step into them. His floor spacing ability still allows the Nuggets to run a five-out offense like they would with forwards, and potentially get a rim-protecting and running big man. He can knock down shots around the wings and corners off the catch at a pretty high clip, has a good shooting motion, and shot 80 percent from the line last year. He shot 40.3 percent from beyond the arc on about 1.5 attempts per game.
This was echoed by Denver Nuggets president of basketball operations Tim Connelly when speaking at his postseason press conference:
"“I think Zeke’s ability to guard and make shots is really unique for a 20-year-old big. Even though he’s 6-foot-10, he’s going to be a heck of a three-and-D guy.”"
I was very impressed with his ability to play alongside Nikola Jokic. If Nnaji’s growth continues, the Nuggets could begin to incorporate a twin towers lineup that is able to defend teams if they go small and punish them down low on the offensive end.
Jokic is an incredible floor spacer and passer which allows him to operate wherever he wants on the offensive side of the ball.
The Nuggets ran some interesting sets with them together, incorporating a double pick-and-roll that caused confusion for the defenses when it was run well.
Nnaji and Jokic both have the ability to pop and space the floor, roll hard and punish the backside defender, or make a pass to a shooter from the collapsing defense. This array of abilities allows them to kind of just feel out the defense and attack where they see fit.