Stopped reading when I realized Bol Bol wasn’t mentioned.
Do the Denver Nuggets Not Play Rookies?
As the Nuggets get closer to the NBA Draft, roughly half the fanbase wants to get younger and reset, while the other half wants to just run it back. Part of the “run it back” argument is, “We don’t play rookies, a reset would just lead to a long period of mediocrity.”
Well, how true is that statement? To be clear, I’m not even sure it applies to this current coaching staff. The only true rookie they’ve had was coming off an ACL injury, and they still played Spencer Jones a ton.
Anyway, let’s go through this decade of Nuggets rookies, starting with 2020.
2020: Zeke Nnaji
Zeke Nnaji played 42 games at 9.5 MPG. If memory serves me right, he dealt with several ankle injuries on top of just not being good at basketball.
2021: Bones Hyland
Hyland played 69 games at 19 MPG.
Legitimately good rookie who actually played, is anyone shocked?
2022: Christian Braun and Peyton Watson
Braun played 76 games at 15.5 MPG.
Peyton Watson, an extremely developmental prospect, spent his entire rookie year in the G League.
Once again, an actually good rookie played regular minutes for a championship roster.
2023: Julian Strawther, Jalen Pickett, and Hunter Tyson
Is anyone surprised that not a single one of these guys broke 10 MPG as a rookie?
2024: DaRon Holmes
ACL injury, who knows here.
2025: No rookies.
As far as I can tell from this front office and coaching staff (which has seen quite a few new faces since the COVID era), the idea is pretty simple: if you’re good as a rookie, you’ll play as a rookie. This is one of the deepest, most stacked drafts this century. As long as this front office has its shit together, the guys they add at 26 (or hypothetically at 23) should play roughly Christian Braun or Bones Hyland-level rookie minutes.