The Denver Nuggets had no draft picks and did not trade into the draft over the past two days, but they added guards Tamar Bates and Curtis Jones after the draft in an attempt to find some shooters for potential bench options. Tamar Bates is a two guard who is 6’3.75 barefoot with a 6’10.25 wingspan and a frame that can add a few pounds of muscle to the 191 points he weighed at the Combine. Bates has a great motor on both ends and can shoot from all levels, but was not the featured offense at Missouri – rather they split the workload three ways and he functioned as a glue guy on both sides of the ball. He was fractions of a percentage point from being a 40 / 50 / 90 player his senior year at Josh Kroenke’s alma mater Missouri, and he was signed to a two-way contract that will have him play at Summer League. He’s the sort of player who Denver would be looking to have fill the backup role to Christian Braun eventually if things work out: make corner threes, deflect passes, run in transition and finish at the rim. He has good skills in all those areas but would likely get a lot of time in the G League to work on having them function at an NBA level.
The second guard they drafted was Iowa State’s Curtis Jones, who is similarly sized at 6’3 with a 6’8 wingspan but even skinnier than Bates. There is no word at this time as to whether he is on another two-way deal or if he signed a summer league or training camp deal. He plays more like the taller Julian Strawther, a guy with fairly unlimited range from 3 (and took nearly 7 a game last year) who can work off of screens and has a nice floater. He plays a more crafty than explosive game, but unlike Strawther he doesn’t have the size to play the 3 and could use some time to work on his game as a lead guard because he’s very light still to play full-time at the two-guard. Denver’s biggest weakness last year was probably bench shooting though and these additions are a way to have ready shooting in case something happens with their free agents or returning players. Expecting immediate impact from them is not realistic, but Denver having available emergency shooters (and some two-way versatility) is a useful backstop for a team that can’t afford to have a bench that can’t put the ball in the hoop again. Congratulations to both men, and we’ll get a longer look at them in Summer League in two weeks!
