Strike 2: Zeke Nnaji watched from the sidelines while the newbie’s in Denver Nuggets gear struggled during the recently completed NBA Summer League. While everyone in Nuggets camp was expecting to watch newly minted draft pick DaRon Holmes show that he was ready to contribute to the Denver front court this fall, an injury took Holmes out of the equation. In the process, it may have put Nnaji right back in it.
With Holmes out, the draft/trades/free agent market in total netted the Nuggets a backup for Nikola Jokic in Dario Saric, and another badly needed point guard in Russell Westbrook. Otherwise, there are no new additions arriving to supplant Nnaji as an important part of the Nuggets front court rotation. Now, the onus is on the former first-round pick to up his game and prove that he’s up to it.
For the past several seasons, Nnaji has been badly miscast as the second unit center. He lacks the size and strength – at 6-foot-9 he’s about three inches too short, and at 240 about 25 pounds of muscle too light – to bang with the real bigs underneath. He’s much more a power forward-type in the mold of Aaron Gordon – playing a face the basket game and crashing the boards, which has been his best attribute as a Nugget, especially on the offensive end. He’s shown occasional touch from the outside, too.
In a perfect world, Saric fits right in and allows Joker more time on the bench. That also allows coach Michael Malone to not play Gordon at the center spot while Jokic rests. If Nnaji can be productive and contribute defensively as well, neither Jokic or Gordon will have to play as many minutes as they did last season and can be fresher for the postseason.
It wasn’t Malone and his “drive for the top seed” that did Denver in last spring. It was the reserves collective inability to produce during the “non-Jokic minutes” that forced Malone to play his starters too much, even during games that should have been blowouts. The 35-year-old Westbrook – provided he isn’t asked to play as many minutes as Reggie Jackson was last season – is being brought in to provide playmaking and scoring off the bench. Saric has NBA experience and can make opposing teams respect his three point shot. Julian Strawther should be able to do the same. Vlatko Cancar’s in that mix, too. But as far as defense and rebounding are concerned, the Nuggets need another big to step up and be able to clean the glass and block a few shots when the starters aren’t in. That should be what Nnaji provides, since he’s already shown glimpses of the ability to do all that.
The upcoming season will be Nnaji’s fifth with the Nuggets. He’s yet to average better than seven points and four rebounds per game, with his best season being his second one back in 2021-22. While he doesn’t need to be a double figures scorer every night, if he gets to play a face-the-basket game, he could benefit from playing with Westbrook. And the Nuggets would benefit just from him playing consistently.
