Denver Nuggets Offseason: Recapping The Summer League

The NBA Summer League is highly regarded as a talent show, a stomping grounds, for future franchise/NBA All-Stars, that are put on parade for the fans to see.

The Denver Nuggets claimed no stars in June's draft, and only had a brigade of undrafted rookies and unsigned veterans to bring out to put on display.

Even so, the Nuggets went 4-1 in the NBA Summer League; coached by Assistant Coach Chad Iske.

DEN 95-89 PHI

DEN 90-79 TOR

MIL 79-67 DEN

DEN 105-104 HOU

DEN 92-79 LAL

Their play was a fair representation of the youthful core belonging to the Nuggets, however only a few will still be linked with the team.

My analysis:

Dahntay Jones weakened his chances of landing a spot on the Nuggets roster; finishing with six points in the finale against the Lakers.

Jones really needed to close out the Summer strong and make a statement, unfortunately he failed to.

In his defense, his minutes were cut in half, as he played only 12:30 in the finale, but came into the contest averaging 26.04 minutes per game, leading the team.

Also, in all five Summer League games, he came off the bench, and still managed to lead the team in scoring. That will definitely be a factor in his favor come decision day.

Sonny Weems and Taurean Green rebounded from their back-to-back lackluster efforts, to score seven points apiece against the Lakers.

Green, however, has downgraded his play throughout the five games and his role on the Nuggets squad is in serious jeopardy.

If Chris Lofton progresses this offseason through drills and team workouts, he maybe able to leap frog Taurean, and battle for the starting job with current point guard Anthony Carter.

Weems didn't quite play the way some had expected, but he will be given time to adjust to the NBA during course of the 2008-09 season, whether it is in the NBA Developmental League or with the Nuggets.

I still believe Douglas-Roberts was the smarter choice; who was chosen with the 40th pick, and Weems the 39th.

Here are stats from major contributors and the most notable players on the Nuggets Summer League team:

(Bench) SG Dahntay Jones 18.4 PPG, 1 APG, 2.4 RPG

PG Taurean Green 6.4 PPG, 1.6 APG, 0.8 SPG

SF Bobby Jones 10 PPG, 4.6 RPG, 1.6 APG

C Elton Brown 13.4 PPG, 10 RPG

SG Sonny Weems 9.2 PPG, 3 RPG, O.8 APG

(Bench) PG Chris Lofton 2.3 PPG, 0.3 RPG, 60% 3pt shooting

Surprise of the Nuggets Summer League:

Elton Brown was a hard-nosed rebounder out of Virginia and carried that into NBA competition. Brown averaged a double-double this summer, but he is only 6-9 and didn't block a single shot in his league.

MVP of the Nuggets Summer League:

Dahntay Jones was hands down the best player on the Nuggets roster, and led the team in scoring besides being also apart of the second string unit.