Locked On Nuggets - Daily Podcast On The Denver Nuggets

This Could Be Huge! Trey Alexander and Julian Strawther Could Be the Nuggets Bench Catayst!

The Denver Nuggets SL team is 0-2 but all is not loss and the two young guards are giving the Nuggets reason to hope.

Julian Strawther continues to prove his value as he drops 32 points on 6/12 from 3PT and Trey Alexander shows off his size, range and offensive upside. This duo could prove to be pivotal for the Nuggets this upcoming season.

How should we evaluate the 2023 NBA Draft class a year later? How have Hunter Tyson and Jalen Pickett looked this summer? Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!

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Duration:: 31m
Broadcast on:: 16 Jul 2024
Audio Format:: mp3

It's the lockdown podcast network, your team every day. The Denver Nuggets are in an interesting situation. Summer League is here and the Nuggets, they have a couple of prospects that are showing to be, they might be a great rotational value this upcoming season. And they also have a couple of players under roster that they recently drafted that honestly haven't shown a lot in. It's really time to start asking some very poignant questions about the 23 draft class outside of Julian Shrother, we're gonna talk about all that and more here, a locked on nuggets. You are locked on Nuggets, your daily Denver Nuggets podcast, part of the locked on podcast network, your team every day. What's going on y'all? Welcome to locked on nugget. This is your host, Swiper. This is your team every day. Thank y'all so much for joining us on a Tuesday. We are in the middle of NBA Summer League right now with a lot of great basketball being played all across the league in Las Vegas and yo, the Denver Nuggets, they're right there with them. Y'all, today's episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Make every moment more as playoffs wind down, the sport stops sporting like we want them to. But this summer, FanDuel is hooking up all customers with the boost or bonus daily. That's right. There's something for everyone, every day, all summer long, visit fanduel.com to get started. Y'all, let's talk some hoops, Denver Nuggets, they're in the middle of Summer League right now and y'all, the nuggets are showing that they have some very good young prospects that are making their argument for the Denver Nuggets roster and yeah, I'm just gonna get this. You know, we talked about this a little bit, Deron Holmes, Noah, unfortunately Deron Holmes goes out with an Achilles injury, it's a tear, don't know how significant the tear was where it was full or partial, but Deron is going to be out for the whole season, obviously hoping for the absolute best for Deron Holmes. He was gonna be a big part of what the nuggets are doing this year and he's still gonna be a big part of what the nuggets are gonna be doing over the next several seasons. So get healthy Deron, nuggets nation already loves you and hoping for best for you, but y'all, Julian Strathor and Trey Alexander have been the reason for hope if you're a Denver nuggets fan. If you're a Denver nuggets fan and you're looking at this off season saying, we got really ready Jackson, okay, three second round pace, okay, we were signed, black hole chance, okay, we were signed, DeAndre Jordan, okay, we haven't resigned Justin Holiday, KTP walked to Orlando Magic, what are we doing? What are we doing? Where are we going? What are we doing? And where are we going? If you're asking that question, I agree, it's not been a great off season. I graded the Denver nuggets off season on Bleacher Report. They got a D for me, a D minus from me, failing grade. So far this off season outside of Deron Holmes, they haven't done much of anything. Now Deron Holmes and down with injury, they are literally missing now a rotational big that was going to get missed this year. And so what do they stuck with? We're going to talk about here in a little bit, but Jalen Pickett and Hunter Tyson were the additional draft pick with Julian Strathor last year and they just to be quite honest with you, they haven't panned out to show that they are ready to be NBA players. We're going to spend a good bit of time talking about that because that is important, especially for the way that Calvin Booth is constructing this team. But yeah, Trey Alexander and Julian Strathor are a very unique pairing. They're a very unique pairing. They both offer some real upside for the nuggets as players because their games are similar in some ways and different in other ways similar in that they're both primary scores. They're both primary scores. They both are players that when you're looking for a bucket, when you need somebody to score, they're both players that can give you buckets in really, really timely fashion. And y'all, we saw this last game versus the Toronto Raptors. I'm talking about Julian Strathor and Trey Alexander, they were going ham and down the stretch of the four quarter of that game, down the stretch of the four quarter of that game, they went hunting for buckets and it was paying off in a great way. Now they weren't able to secure the victory, they ended the third quarter, nuggets let go of the lead. They've been dominating that Raptors game, but then they ended up giving the lead up. But the thing about Trey Alexander is, man, he is a very good, shifty guard out of Creighton. He has a lot of tools that really aid him as a basketball player. And he's a bigger guard as well. He's a bigger guard as well. This is just the kind of player that can makes a lot of sense for the nuggets rotation. And honestly, y'all, honestly, is a really, really, really good indication that the nines were able to pick him up, just simply, simply because right now with having Jalen pick it on the roster, they don't have another backup guard, like a lead ball handler, they can turn to, that can give them anything real, Colin's gone. Jalen and Jamal Murray are the only ones, are the only ones why, are the only ones on the roster that are in point guards right now that could be primary ball handlers need be. And so Trey Alexander is going to offer a lot as a score. He's going to offer a lot as a playmaker, distributor, again, he's not like a Chris Paul level playmaking guard, but for what he's supposed to be, he does a lot of good things by putting pressure on the basket, by putting pressure on the defense, and forcing you to have to bend your defense around his attacking skill set. And if you look at this as well, with Julian Shrother, the reason why this works so well is because Julian Shrother is a legit six, but six, maybe six, seven, he's a big guard and he's legitimate to guard as well. Julian Shrother, so far, y'all, is averaging 28.5 points per game in summer league, 28.5 points per game in summer league. They played a night versus the Charlotte Hornets and look, man, like Shrother's having a little bit of a coming out party right now. Shrother, this last game versus the draft has 32 points, get five assists, three rebounds, one steal. Now, he was six to 10 from the free throw line, make your free throws, they win the game, but he was 10 to 21 from the field, 47.6%, that's not bad at all. For 21 shots and for a guard, that's not bad at all. But he was six of 12 from three, six of 12 per 50% from three, and he was a plus six in the minutes that he played that game. And so if Julian Shrother continues to make this kind of ascension where he's showing that he could be a primary scorer off the bench, that he can give you some offensive punch. And especially with the way that I've been looking at this, Christian Brown going into the starting unit, that's going to be a good, I think a really good starting five. They're probably still going to be a plus 12 plus 13 ish on the year. They're going to be dominant. But the other part of this is, the other part of this is Christian Brown, because even though he's a good above the break three point shooter, he is going to shrink the court for the defense. They're not going to guard Christian Brown, like they are at KCP. Now, let's Christian Brown come back this year and has like a Grayson Allen resurgence where he shoots 46% from three, 42% from three, which by the way, given the shock quality he's going to be getting, 41% from three isn't crazy, but he needs to be about that. He needs to be putting a nut pressure on defense at this year that it makes it like, Oh damn, like KCP is gone. So we're still dealing with a really good defender, but he can't shoot. All right. Close out. All right. Trap yoke. Trap yoke. Close out of your mall. Close out of MPJ. They kick it over. Aaron Gordon sets a back screen for Christian Brown. And the next thing you know, Christian Brown 41% from three wide open bucket needs to be that kind of like, we need you to bend the defense Christian. But the thing is what Julian is the nuggets are going to have the ability this year with Julian's frother to be like, what they did with Peyton Watson last year. Remember, Peyton will close over my reporter junior at times, Peyton closed over KCP at time, Peyton closed over Aaron Gordon at times. And I think the great thing about what they could do with Julian and Julian is going to have that. And Julian only shot 29% from three. So y'all, it's not even just about percentages. It's about do you have the shot? Do you get the shot up fast enough and consistent enough with the defense nose? That's a threat. That is a threat. Strathor can also be that now, Strathor, he has to make a substantial leap from where he was last year at the three point shooter. I think being a rookie, learning how to play NBA basketball, having to deal with the physicality of the NBA, learning how to hunt for your shot in the NBA on and off ball. Quinn needs to take a real step, but if Julian takes a significant step as a shooter and gets his number up to about 39%, which is about where it needs to be, because again, the nuggets don't have a lot of shooters. You got NPJ, you got your ball. Those are guaranteed snipers. Yokech is usually a very good shooter. AG? No. KCP was he's gone, but on the other end of this, they're going to need Julian to offer some punch with that. On the other side, we're going to talk a little bit more about the Julian trade-offs and their pairing because, "Ah, man, this just could be a really hopeful thing for the nuggets." And as they're continuing to figure out this roster, maybe players they have to really rely on. We'll talk about all that and more here at Lock Don Nuggets. You know, we love talking stats here at Lock Don, and here's one that's super simple to remember. Discover automatically doubles the cashback you've earned on your credit card at the end of your first year with cashback match. That means with Discover, you could turn $150 cashback to $300. That's right. You could put it towards some memorabilia you've had your eye on, or treat yourself to a premium sports network. 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What's going on y'all? Welcome back to the Nuggets. This is your host, Swiper. This is your team every day. Y'all, if you're listening to this on the audio side, on the Apple iTunes side, please give us a five-star review, let the people know where you like getting some of your favorite Denver Nuggets content. And y'all, if you're on YouTube, like, share, and subscribe, we want to get to 10,000 subscribers by the end of the next season, y'all. This is one of the best lockdown communities. There is on the internet, and we're going to continue to build it up. Let me address this real quick. Crash, Crash says that Strathor might be more consistent than Porter in terms of shooting this season. I highly doubt that. Michael Porter has been one of the best all-fall snipers in the NBA, one of the best pull-up snipers in the NBA, since he walked into the league, and he's also six foot 10. By Porter isn't just a really good scooter shooter. Porter Jr., to start his career, is one of the best shooters to come into the league ever. Best volume three-point shooters ever. He shot 50% from mid-range. Porter is a lights out shooter. So Julian Strathor, if he gets into the Michael Porter Jr. conversation, oh, we are having a different conversation. If you're telling me Julian Strathor have the potential to hit 43% from three or seven attempts a game or seven attempts, let's just say, per 75, per 75, per 75, yo, if Julian Strathor gets a seven attempts a game, 43% from three, look, we're cooking. We're absolutely cooking, per 75, seven attempts a game, we are absolutely cooking. So here's the thing. I think Trey Alexander right now is my lock for the backup point guard position. And I know it's only been two-summerly games, why, but how do you know? Because that's all I need to see. That's all I need to see. Like Trey Alexander has more pop to his game. He got more, bink, bink, bink, that's the handle, bink, bink, bink to his game. He got more shot, pull it to his game. He got more action to his game, get into the rim. But honestly, he's a bigger player, like he's six foot three, so his defensive potential is also there. His defensive potential is also there. So I think that's where we are right now, man, I don't think, again, I know the plan for the Denver Nuggets is further reports, further reports. Russell Westbrook is supposed to be in Denver. He's supposed to be in Denver. The Clippers are either going to trade him to Denver, or they're going to wave him to come to Denver, or they're going to trade him somewhere else, and then he gets waived. Further reports, that is the plan for Calvin Booth. But right now, Russell Westbrook's not on the roster. So if you ask me, based on what they have right now, oh, yo, Trey Alexander, got to be the God, because you just cannot have a player out there that's not putting any pressure on the defense. That's not putting pressure on the defense. And y'all, it looks like Serbian fans and Nuggets fans are having a little bit of a pow wow in the comments section, you know, we're all following the same team, y'all. But look, I do think this is important that Trey Alexander pans out for the team, the Julian Strother pans out, because right now, look, you know, at the guard spot, there's really only four dudes. That's it. Like Russ has to get in the building. If they don't get Russ, they're going to have to get, you know, Dennis, you know, Dennis Smith Jr, Marco Foltz, one of those kinds of players, because right now it's Jamal and Christian. Okay. It's Julian Strother, Jalen Pickett, and Trey Alexander. No, I'm not good enough. It's not enough. They're going to need to add to that room, regardless of what happened to a tray. But the thing is, I do think Trey gives them some ability to look at Jalen Pickett and say, look, dude, like we drafted you in 30 second overall, I believe, like you're in a situation now where we're trying to give you keys and help you earn the keys to the second unit. But dude, you got to get out here and play. Like you have to get out and play. You have to be able to defend. You have to be able to get to a good shot. You have to be able to initiate the offense. And that is a part of my criticism right now for Jalen Pickett, is that the offense hasn't been great, that he's not getting by anybody. And then he's getting blown by on the other end. And you just cannot have that kind of player next to Jamal. Again, I poach all multiple times with Jamal Murray needs. Jamal Murray is the second highest player player on this team. It's the second best player on this team. He played like an NBA player at playoffs. And he is going to have to have a player around him at that guard spot that leans defense and effort. And they're going to try every possession to guard in because it's going to take that kind of consistent effort. Now here's the thing, what I think people are sleeping on outside of the nuggets world is that Dario Sarge Russell Westbrook, should he come, Peyton Watson, Leko Chanchar, Zeek Nadia. That's a good bench for the nuggets. You remember, they haven't had a good regular season bench in years. In the playoffs, the reason why it was viable in 2023 was because they had Bruce Brown and James Jamal and Jeff Breen with Aaron Gordon and like Michael Porter, Jr. and KCP. So they had this very, very elite top six, and they would just kind of rotate players around that in order to make it work. Christian Brown was also involved in that. So I think at this point, this is a matter of can we get the players on the court to optimize the young players were developing and also that can help Yokich not have to play so many minutes. Because Dario Sarge is probably going to be the best backup big that nuggets have had since DeAndre Jordan in the 21-22 year. And really before that, the Mason Plumlee era when he was the backup center. And I think that Sarge is going to be able to offer a lot of a passer and as a shooter in particular, but again, defensively, he's going to have to be covered up. And so it's also important that everybody bought into the system and bought into a scheme and can play together. Because Sarge is going to have a really big role on this roster in Black O'Chanchar, Lord willing, he stays healthy is going to have a big role on this roster. And I think that's the biggest takeaway from Deraun Holmes is injury. The court was deep in terms of a lot of bodies and now it's deep, but it's not as deep. Like knowing you're not going to have Deraun Holmes, you know who that makes, not expendable as much anymore, Zeek Naji, Zeek Naji is going to have to have a career year this year. He's starting to get paid this year, it's time, like it's time for you to have a career year. It's time for you to be able to play next to Nikole Yokich at times to be able to get me here in Gordon to break. And also too, like if it's going to be Zeek, Sarge and Peyton, then Zeek, hey, you know, we need good rim protection from you. We need you to slide your feet if you switch out on defense. We're going to need to see all of those things because all that stuff is going to be helpful for everybody else. And that's just kind of where the Denver Nuggets are right now. Like everybody has to be able to contribute in an important way. But unfortunately, you know, that's just where we are because of the CBA, that's because of the new agreement, because of the potential cost of the second apron. Even the first apron is that you have to be going to win on the margins and winning on the margins to be getting players that fit and that will buy into the system. Y'all in segment three, we're going to talk about the 2,023 second round picks in the second round because some stuff is not enough, but we're talking about all that and more here and locked up. Hi, I'm Jake from Lockdawn. There's a lot to say when buying a new home or car, but really the first words you want to say are like a good neighbor, state farm is there and trust me, as someone named Jake, that is a fact. That's the phrase that will help you feel good knowing that you have people who could help you find the right coverage for the things you want to protect. Insurance doesn't need to be complicated with a state farm agent with so many coverage options it feels good knowing you can find what fits you because your situation is unique. 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There's something for everyone every day all summer long. So head over to FanDuel.com and start making the most of your summer FanDuel official sports betting partner of Major League Baseball. We'll be right back for more here on Locked on Nuggets. What's going on y'all? Welcome back to Locked on Nuggets. This is your whole swipe. This is your team every day and we are no matter what's going on, excited because the Denver Nuggets are getting closer and closer and closer to the start of the NBA season. Nikola Yolkich, Serbia and just played today, Yolkich with the 14-point double WIPA lead. They lost to Australia who just lost to the U.S. and the U.S. and the U.S. took down Australia just a couple of days ago. So y'all, Olympic basketball is on the way. The exhibitions are all here and basketball is basketballing, but y'all, the Denver Nuggets, they made two second round picks last year. They made two second round picks last year and unfortunately neither one of those second round picks is hitting super well right now. Neither one. Now, Swiper, why are you bringing that up? Their second round picks. Well, let me tell you why I'm bringing it up because Calvin Booth had vision and in his vision, he wanted to build a young bench and a young roster that allowed for them to have some flexibility with their roster, with the new CBA agreement to allow for them to have young players that are sending within the system that can play and buy into what they're supposed to do. That way, if they couldn't afford free agents, if they couldn't afford free agents, they could get these young players in the system and grow them in-house and they got older players that knew how to play basketball. That way they were starting off at 18 to 19-year-old, but the problem is, me, it again, I was hoping that Jalen Pickett and Hunter would turn out and they still could, but as of right now, speaking today, July 16th, 2024, neither one of those players looks like they're going to be rotational players for the Nuggets right now. Hunter Tyson is getting hunted every possession in Summer League, every possession in Summer League. Jalen Pickett, he's not an elite shooter, he's not even like Nutsery and Lee Pass or something that's because of his size and athleticism that he doesn't have, he's very intelligent, he has a way to play the game, he does a lot of things well, but he's also not a great defender. So that is the other part for me. It's like Christian Brown and Peyton and Julian, they all have like the physical archetypes that make sense. Okay, we need long range athletes and then we need two of them that are elite defenders and one of them who's an elite shooter. And then the other guys, Jalen Pickett and Hunter Tyson are not long range athletes, they're not super athletes. Hunter is a good shooter, but he's also a pretty noticeably bad defender. So right now, man, like Calvin Booth in this young strategy, he hit on Christian, hit on Peyton, you hit on Julian Strathor, I think, you don't hit on Hunter Tyson, you don't hit on Jalen Pickett, and then on the other end of this, now to run home is it down within the Achilles injury. This is all the part of the plan and right now, three players, one dude injury and then two of those due to play, they're just not there, not contributing. And that's obviously frustrating and again, you know, you hope for the best for people when they're injured and you want them to come back when they feel comfortable, but that's what it is. And you want to run to wait as long as possible, but this is just a situation. Calvin Booth's entire strategy was built around the youth movement, and in order to have the youth movement, you have to have playable players in the building, playable players in the building that are all going to contribute at different levels. And while I think they have Christian, Peyton, and Julian, those three are going to have to have some huge years. Because honestly, the Denver Nuggets top seven right now should be Jamal Murray, Christian Brown, Michael Porter, Junior, Aaron Gordon, Nico Leyokich. And then it should be Peyton Watson and Julian Shrother, that should be their top seven. Like when we're going into a game, we have heavy minutes. That's our top seven. And then if you need a big, sorry, we're paying you $5.3 million a year. This needs a break, get in there, get in there, play smart, dedicated physical basketball and help the Denver Nuggets get a game, help them get a game. But that's the roster right now. Those and again, I'm cool with like Peyton and Julian, but you've got to win. You have to win those picks, win those minutes. You have to win those moments because those moments are going to be so important towards determining the rest of this window, of this era for the Denver Nuggets. But that's where we are. Now I just do not think at this point that Hunter Tyson and Daniel make a lot of sense on this roster. And especially given the fact that Zeke Najee, Flaco Chanchar, and Holmes this year, they were all going to play in front of Hunter. All of them, Hunter Tyson just doesn't have the physical abilities. He doesn't have the athleticism. And again, he's still figuring out the game. So like, are you ready for that? Are you ready for a player that has an athletic deficit to figure it out on a fly? Maybe. Really, truly maybe. And then obviously, you know, for Jalen Pickett, he just doesn't necessarily have like the kick tool and maybe it's just now like Alan Pickett might be able to turn it around. Maybe he really is the Kyle Lowry 2.0 where he's able to take care of business. Just take care of business. He's a good defender, good playmaker, good force base. But as of right now, Russell Westbrook has to be on the target for the Nuggets. Because Russell Westbrook is a type of player that I'm alone with, trust, remember, Malone was playing players that are steady and mature. Russell is much steadier and much more mature than Jalen Pickett right now. And again, Trey Alexander can get there. He might be able to continue to ascend as a player over the course of the year to get some real minutes with this team. And maybe even, you know, as the backup at some point, but as of right now, going into the year, man, they have to make some adjustments. I don't know what's going to happen with the both of them. I mean, there are some possibilities that I mean, it really just depends like on what Kyle was able to do, honestly, it really just truly depends on what Kyle was able to do. Jalen might end up, you know, popping or whatever. Like I said, that's just a huge risk in the second year, second round pick, not named I/O DuSomu. By the way, that was I/O, that was I/O second round pick, but he was six foot four, defensive presence was there. And then all of a sudden he developed a shot and some creation skills and people are like, huh? How did he fall in the second? But that's what it is like you need to prove yourself and you need to prove that you were under drafted and you have the efforts of doing it. So I mean, we're going to find out real soon, y'all, because again, Summer League, we've got another game tonight versus Charlotte. I think Julien's her author and Trey Alexander, y'all continue to feed, feed, feed your shot, continue to do it. Make sure that as y'all are locking in, that you're playing defense, that you're staying connected and that you're communicating. So like they're going to continue to put up shots. Good. That's good. Keep doing it. But do the things that are going to help you win championship. Do the things that are going to help you play in Denver. That's those are the important things, but y'all, that's going to do it here for this episode of Lockdown Nuggets again. Make sure y'all like, share, subscribe on the YouTube side, give us a five star review on the audio side. I believe Matt Moore and Adam Montez will be with you tomorrow for Lockdown Nuggets. Y'all know what time it is. This is your boy Swiper. See y'all on the other side.