It is almost impossible to quantify the impact that Torrey Craig has had one the Denver Nuggets — the most injured team in the entirety of the National Basketball Association.
In the second game of the season, Will Barton went down with a groin injury that sidelined him for just about three months. After Barton’s injury, Gary Harris hurt his hip which was followed closely by Paul Millsap breaking his big toe. Even worse is that those injures were in addition to two of Denver’s rookies — Michael Porter Jr. and Jarred Vanderbilt — and Isaiah Thomas being out for the entire season thus far. Suddenly, the Nuggets only had 11 healthy bodies at any given time for the better part of a month.
With so many players in and out of the lineup, one of the few constants the Nuggets have had is the infectious and unrelenting energy that Craig brings on both ends of the floor in every minute of every game. Craig has played in 40 of Denver’s 46 games this season and has logged 34 starts which is the third-most on the roster behind only Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray.
The most obvious example of Craig’s impact has to be on the defensive end of the floor where he has been tasked with guarding the best perimeter player on the opposing team on a nightly basis. Because of that fact, Craig’s agent has claimed to Mile High Sports that Craig is one of the best defenders in the entire NBA and that he should be an All-Defense member by the time the season ends. Additionally, there is hope within Craig’s camp that he will be selected for the Rising Stars Challenge during the All-Star break being that this is Craig’s sophomore season.
Look below at how Craig is able to violently block Russell Westbrook’s shot.
The best part of Craig’s big defensive play above is that he perfectly baits Westbrook into the help defense of Mason Plumlee. Craig knows that Westbrook does not have anywhere to pass the ball so the only option is for Westbrook to go straight into Plumlee. In order for Westbrook to get this shot off, he first has to absorb the contact from Plumlee which allows Craig just enough time to size up this demoralizing block.
That was not the only time that Craig got the better of the former Most Valuable Player.
In the clip above, Craig shows off his freakish physical ability. There are very few players who have the quickness, speed, and strength to defend a Westbrook at full speed while back-pedaling, but Craig also added in the presence of mind to be able to time his steps to get up and block Westbrook’s layup attempt against the backboard in addition to being able to keep up with arguably the fastest player in the NBA.
In two games this season, the Nuggets have managed to hold Westbrook to 11-of-38 shooting from the field which equates out to an abysmal 28.9 percent, but that pales in comparison to Westbrook shooting 2-of-15 from 3-point line which is good for 13.3 percent. Craig is the biggest reason for Denver’s success against a tough division opponent in the Oklahoma City Thunder.
It really does not matter who Craig is defending. One thing that is for certain is that he is going to do everything he can to keep his opponent from scoring; even if that means trying to defend both Steph Curry and Draymond Green at the same time in transition.
First and foremost, credit needs to be given to Craig for choosing to stop Curry and not Green in transition even though he was stuck defending both. Once Craig steps up to slow Curry, he knows that the pass will be thrown to Green, who gets open behind the defense for a split second. Because Craig was able to read all of this in real time, he knew that all he had to do was spin away from Curry after he made the pass and block Green’s shot at the rim. That is just terrific awareness and team defense by Craig.
Craig is not just a strong interior defender either. Look at his explosive ability to close out to shooters in the clip below.
There is a lot going on in this sequence so let’s go step by step. First, Craig gets caught up on a Bobby Portis screen which forces Jokic to hedge out to contain Zach LaVine. Instead of abandoning Portis to get to LaVine, Craig does a great job of staying connected to Portis which gives Jokic time to recover onto him. Craig then does a great job of knowing when to release off of Portis. If Craig leaves to early, Portis likely gets a pass going to the rim from LaVine which would collapse Denver’s defense. If Craig sticks with Portis for too long, LaVine gets a mismatch with Jokic defending him on the perimeter. Instead of allowing either of those options to take place, Craig perfectly times the recovery and gets a big-time block on LaVine’s 3-point attempt.
But Craig’s impact has not been purely on the defensive end of the court.
“What is getting lost for Torrey Craig the other night is not just his defense,” Malone explained after Craig gobbled up a career-high 16 rebounds and a career-tying, three-made 3-pointers against the Miami Heat. “The guy gets 10 rebounds, six offensive, and one of them was a huge offensive rebound in traffic for a put-back. He had an impact on all areas of the game; defense, rebounding, loose balls, hustle plays. It was great to see.”
Craig’s tenacity on the boards is truly a sight to behold; especially on the offensive glass.
What makes Craig such a spectacular offensive rebounder is that he is always hunting for a way to create an extra possession for his team. In the clip above, Craig knows he isn’t going to be able to get over Bam Adebayo for the rebound, so he instead waits for him to get his hands on the ball before swiping it away from him and dishing the ball to Plumlee for the two-handed slam.
There is simply no other way to describe Craig offensive rebounding proficiency beyond just stating that he wants it more than anyone else around him. If you still do not buy into the fact that Craig is an elite offensive rebounder, just watch the clip below.
Craig out-battles not only Hassan Whiteside, who has six inches and about 50 pounds on him, but also Justice Winslow, who is one of the stronger wings in the NBA. Not only does Craig corral the offensive board, but he has the frame of mind to kick the ball out to Jamal Murray as quickly as possible which leads to three points that would not have other wise excited.
Without Craig’s defensive producing and undying energy, the Nuggets would have had a significantly tougher time winning in spite of all the injuries they have dealt with. Craig has bee a multi-tool at head coach Michael Malone’s disposal and, without Craig picking up so much slack, Denver almost assuredly would not be off to their best start in franchise history and in the second seed in the Western Conference.