Monte called up to the Nuggets
- Thread starter Cyclonepride
- Start date
There's always the possibility of a trade opening up some minutes for him, too. You have to figure Murray or Mudiay could be available to teams in need of PG help.
It's a good thing that they aren't breaking those poor owner's bank accounts by having two-way players on an NBA minimum salary. If your contract keeps you completely under the control of one team, you should get league minimum.
He really passed well of the pick-and-roll; most of those assists were in half-court sets. Nice to see.
Running the pick-and-roll was one of his biggest strengths going into the draft. Seeing the highlights makes you realize how special he was and how much more progress Nick still needs to make. The biggest may be Nick realizing he's THE man and needs to be more assertive and not defer too much to the others.
The key to the pick and roll is that both players up top need to be a threat to either slash to the basket or shoot the three. Without Brase up there with him, we're just bringing up a second defender to guard against the drive.
I love how Monte makes a great over the top pass on his drive into the lane to the 7 footer Zhou and the announcers call it a missed shot. If Zhou would have just been a little quicker and caught that a half a step earlier they are raving about the awesome allez-oop.
Wouldn't it be best if Monte was with a different NBA organization? Would it be best if he was traded?
I think it's ok where he is. Frankly, if he hasn't been able to crack the roster and rotation for the Nuggets and their disastrous PG situation then he wouldn't be able to do it anywhere else right now. He's getting valuable reps and PT in the G League. We'll see how he develops.
I think he's in a great spot with the Nuggs. They are very committed to letting their young guys develop and dumping Jameer Nelson was a sign that they were willing to lose a couple of more games if it meant getting their young guys more PT. I don't think Monte will ever beat out Jamal Murray for the starting job, but I think he'll be a solid second unit guy in a couple of years. Murray is starting to look pretty damn good.
Boggles my mind Monte isn't good enough to start getting numbers like that. Really don't care for NBA. White, Kane, Morris all good enough to be playing somewhere. At least Nader is getting his shot.
If they were good enough, they would be playing for someone.
I think Morris will make it there eventually, but need to be patient.
There really is only enough PT for ~250 players... you need something special to stand out in that group.
All were very good college players - depends if you want to toil in the minors with a small chance to make then NBA or go get paid and lose that opportunity. Morris and Nader chose the first option. Kane and Ejim the second.
See, I disagree. Monte's selling point was always being a smart, steady hand, not that anyone was projecting him to breakout as a star in the NBA. Denver is looking for that high-upside starter. That's why they traded Nelson and keep trying to see what they have with Murray and Mudiay. Monte isn't ever going to be that part of that discussion. But if he had landed somewhere that had an established starter, but needed to develop a cost-effective and safe backup, he'd have been golden.
CycloneErik
Well-Known Member
He's a rough spot. Not a future star or legend, but way too good for the G-League.
I think you're right. He just needs a home that needs that inexpensive backup.
Yea, if he'd have ended up in a situation like Fred VanVleet in Toronto or Tyus Jones in Minnesota, I don't think he'd be bouncing between the bench and G-league like he is.