Denver's veteran forward hosted his first youth basketball camp near home and handed out a short, confident review of the team's two newest players.
Forward Aaron Gordon hosted his first youth basketball camp at Gold Crown Field House in Lakewood, and while he was there he offered a scouting report on the Denver Nuggets rookie class that could not have been more direct.
Gordon is not a player who hands out praise for show, so when he vouches for a rookie class this plainly, it is worth paying attention to what the team saw in June.
September is usually the quietest month on the NBA calendar, which is why an endorsement from a starter means more than the usual camp talk, and Denver reshaped its depth chart in ways that make these two names worth learning.
A Short Review
"Bryce is really good. 'TB' is really good. They can play. I'm not entirely sure where they're going to fit in, but they can go," Gordon said of the rookies at the camp.
The two names deserve a quick introduction.
TB is forward Trevon Brazile, the No. 35 pick out of Arkansas, whom Denver landed by trading down from No. 26 and collecting two future second-round picks in the process.
Brazile averaged 13.0 points and 7.3 rebounds in his final college season and gives the Nuggets a bouncy frontcourt defender with three-point range.
Bryce is forward Bryce Hopkins, the No. 49 pick from St. John's, who signed a two-way contract this month after averaging 13.6 points and 6.2 rebounds as a fifth-year senior.
Neither arrived with lottery hype, and while Gordon admitted he does not know where the two fit in yet, his belief in the talent was plain.
Second-round picks and two-way players rarely get named by a starter in September, so the shoutout suggests what the veterans saw this summer matched what the front office drafted.
Why Denver Needs Them Quickly
The endorsement means more in a summer when the wing depth thinned out.
The Nuggets sent forward Peyton Watson to Cleveland in a sign-and-trade that brought back an unprotected 2031 first-round pick, a move Gordon has been open about feeling personally, since he considers Watson family and said he is happy about the situation his former teammate landed in.
Denver answered by signing guard DeMar DeRozan to a one-year deal, and there is a case that the addition is one of the most underrated moves of the summer, but a 37-year-old scorer fills a different role than a young defender does.
If Brazile or Hopkins can give real minutes behind Gordon and around center Nikola Jokic, the rotation suddenly has the cheap depth that championship rosters lean on.
A Reset Summer for Gordon
Gordon sounded like a player who needed the break, describing an offseason of soul searching and training that got his mind and his body right, including a stretch of workouts in Puerto Rico because he wanted something out of the norm.
He turns 31 on Wednesday, he has already given a promising update on where his body is, and training camps around the league open on September 29.
Denver's veterans have carried heavy playoff minutes for years, which is exactly why a rested Gordon and two rookies he already trusts might quietly be the best news of the Nuggets' September.
