The Denver Nuggets are looking for their first win of the Summer League schedule as they face the Toronto Raptors, but luckily these games don’t mean anything in the record books. What matters is getting the work in and proving what skills a player has that can help the big club, and everyone who gets on the floor tonight will be hoping to find the spotlight on them!
Who: Denver Nuggets (0-2) vs Toronto Raptors (2-0)
When: 6:30 PM MDT
Where: Cox Pavilion. Las Vegas, NV.
How to watch: NBA TV, Altitude TV, ESPN+.
Rival blog: Raptors HQ
The thing to watch for: Roleplayer Spotlights
This is the time in Summer League when guys who are looking for contracts or to show they deserve callups from the G League early in the season will try to show out. I have no idea if Tamar Bates or Curtis Jones will get to play a lot tonight, but I do expect them to try to show everything in their bags. Bates will be shooting and defending, Jones will bomb from deep and hopefully get some more assists this time. EJ Liddell needs to find some scoring to get attention, especially if Hunter Tyson doesn’t play any more this summer – he may get one more game but most guys with real NBA minutes don’t play every Summer League game.
If Holmes also doesn’t play there will be a ton of minutes for front court players who are looking to hook on with other teams if the Nuggets don’t give their final two-way to one of the front court players on their Summer League squad. The players all know each other now – it’s time for them to get some eyes on their games.
The thing to remember: it’s hard to look great if you don’t get set up
The Nuggets had trouble in their last game with point guard play. Denver got 10 assists from Reece Beekman, but just 3 from Curtis Jones, 2 from Tamar Bates, and then nobody else had more than 1. For a couple of seasons now the Nuggets haven’t really had great point guard play, which makes it harder to evaluate the roster for their offensive skills. If the only thing available is driving the hoop off the bounce or pulling up for a stepback, it’s tough to get front court players to shine. Even DaRon Holmes had a pretty quiet offensive game against the Minnesota Timberwolves, because the ball simply did not find him. Hopefully the ball moves a little better against the Raptors, but their defense was really good in their first Summer League game so it may be a struggle again to find the easy scores.
The thing to bet: that you all are not drinking enough water
Hopefully the game doesn’t drive you to the harder stuff, but find some H2O while you yell at the screen you maniacs.
