By Demetrius Jacobs
The smell of hoops is in the air and, believe it or not, the start of training camp is just around the corner! After a season decimated by injuries, second year head coach Brian Shaw and the Nuggets are excited to see what kind of damage they can do in the west with a fully healthy roster.
With 14 current or former first round draft picks, the Nuggets are loaded. They go three deep at every position and nearly every player on the roster has logged quality minutes and valuable game time experience.
Over the next five days, we’ll breakdown the roster, position by position.
Let’s tip it off with the point guards.
Obviously, Ty Lawson has been the team leader and is ready to pick up where he left off last season, averaging a team high 17.6 points per game as well as 8.8 assists per game, tied for second in the NBA. The motor that pushes the high octane, run-and-gun offense the Nuggets want to play, Lawson missed 20 games last season due to injury. He is, without a doubt, one of the most important point guards in the Western Conference, but he needs to stay healthy for the Nuggets to take advantage of the altitude at home.
Where Ty Lawson leaves off, Nate Robinson picks up. Not the passer that Lawson is, but the freak athlete and scorer comes to the table with more offensive skills than his 5 foot 9 inch frame would suggest. While sometimes a streaky shooter, Robinson came up with big shot after big shot for the Nuggets last season before a knee injury cut his season short midway through. Expected to be fully healthy, Nate brings a spark off the bench that the rest of the team seemed to feed off of last season. He also brings an attitude and toughness that this team needs.
Erick Green was a 2013 draft night acquisition by the Nuggets. Formerly the ACC Player of the Year for the Virginia Tech Hokies, Green led the nation in scoring with 25.0 points per game. He spent last season honing his skills overseas with Montepaschi Siena of the Lega Basket Serie A in Italy. He had a much better summer league in 2014 than he did the previous year, averaging 16.6 points per game. Green finally signed with the Nuggets on August 1, 2014.
Three different point guards, three different styles, but they have the talent to do some damage. Assuming they remain healthy, this get-up-and-go crew can push the pace and comfort zones of a lot of backcourts in the league.