One silver lining with the ridiculous rash of injuries for the Nuggets this season has been the opportunities for a lot of young players to step up and prove what they can do. One guy who has been taking advantage and turning some heads recently is Jalen Pickett, who especially shone in the team’s improbable win against the 76ers.
While raving about the Nuggets and how well they’ve played recently without Nikola Jokic on a recent podcast, Kevin O’Connor of Yahoo! Sports compared Pickett to Tyrese Haliburton more than once. In his conversation with Tom Haberstroh, KOC gushed about how Pickett kept attacking Philadelphia, specifically dragging Joel Embiid into pick-and-roll actions, and crushing him with step-back three-pointers.
They talked about Pickett’s crafty, back-to-the-basket game that he showcased at Penn State, and how far he has come as a three-point shooter in the NBA. Now, thanks in part to some injuries, Pickett is getting a bigger chance, and we saw him go off in Philly, playing 41 minutes in the overtime thriller, and putting up 29 points, 7 assists, and 5 rebounds, shooting 7-11 from distance.
Nuggets' injuries have been blessing in disguise
O’Connor raved about Pickett for minutes, saying he looked like a smaller Haliburton, and Haberstroh agreed with his whole sentiment, even calling some of these injuries a “blessing in disguise” for the Nuggets, how they’ve allowed Denver to get real minutes for all of these young players like Pickett, Peyton Watson, Zeke Nnaji, and others.
Obviously, you never want to see players get injured, especially four starters and multiple bench players, but it’s hard to deny the positive impact this situation has had on multiple players. We’ll see how much of what we’ve seen translates when everyone is back, but even if it doesn’t, it’s great to know the capabilities are there.
The Nuggets are never going to go 12-deep, and when the playoffs start, they may whittle things down to 8 or 9, but there’s no guarantee that the team will suddenly just get healthy for the rest of the year. Every game is important, and being able to survive stretches with guys out is huge.
Also, the Nuggets aren’t going to be able to keep this team together for long, and they are going to have to make major decisions sooner rather than later. Getting a good look at some of these guys in real minutes not only informs those decisions, but it’s also boosting trade value and giving the team more leverage and leeway in any potential negotiations.