While we wait to find out who will be making the personnel decisions for the Nuggets, some information about, at least, a couple players that will workout for the team have come to light. Colorado State alumni Colton Iverson and Greg Smith are expected to workout for the Nuggets on June 3rd and June 4th, according to Matt L. Stephens, of the Coloradoan:
<blockquote class=”twitter-tweet”><p>I have confirmed that Colorado State forward Greg Smith will workout for the Denver Nuggets on Tuesday. Colton Iverson goes Monday.</p>— Matt L. Stephens (@MattStephens) <a href=”https://twitter.com/MattStephens/status/340150972959571969″>May 30, 2013</a></blockquote><script async src=”//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js” charset=”utf-8″></script>
This would mean that the Nuggets predraft workouts will likely start on Monday, June 3rd (no official word yet from the Nuggets on when the workouts will kickoff). Iverson has already worked out for the Houston Rockets and is expected to workout for the Dallas Mavericks before coming to the Pepsi Center. Iverson is being projected as a second-round pick and the Rockets own the 4th pick of the second round, the Mavericks the 14th pick, and the Nuggets do not currently have a second-round selection.
Iverson has been climbing up the draft boards and is currently slotted by Draft Express.com to be the 48th overall pick (second round) – to the Los Angeles Lakers. He’s a massive 23 year-old that turns 24 years-old on June 29th. He measured 7’0″ in shoes and a whopping 263 pounds at the draft combine.
Iverson is down at least seven pounds from what he weighed toward the end of the season. Iverson has also worked to lower his body fat percentage.
And yet, he realizes one fact about being one of the biggest post players available to be drafted.
"It's not necessarily a bad thing to be the heaviest guy in this draft," Iverson said. "Because there's a lot of skinner guys that won't necessarily be able to bang in the league next year." –Chris Dempsey, Denver Post
Iverson wasn't thought to have much of an offensive game when he arrived to Fort Collins as a transfer from Tubby Smith's Minnesota program. During his three seasons as a Golden Gopher he never averaged more than 5.4 points per game, but in his lone season at CSU he averaged 14.2 ppg and 9.8 rebounds in nearly 30 minutes a night.
One would think that if the Nuggets were serious about drafting him, they would need to trade for a second-round pick. He will provide for a good measuring stick for any and all bigs that the Nuggets bring in to play against him as he's known for being a physical defender.
Greg Smith, on the other hand, is not projected to be drafted after a four-year career with the Rams. Smith, a 6'6" and 221 pound forward is sort of your classic "tweener" – meaning he's a man caught between two positions. Smith isn't nearly big enough to be considered a classic power forward and yet he's not exactly the quickest or rangiest guy to be your classic small forward. He could be the perfect hybrid forward in a small ball system if things broke right for him at the next level. But he's a long-shot to not only make it, but to get a chance to make it.
Smith did shoot 40.5% from three point land his senior season (41% as a junior), but only attempted 1.2 shots per game from deep. He averaged career highs in points (11.2) and rebounds (5.1) as well as minutes played with 25.1 per game. Smith should make a Summer League roster and it'd be nice to see the Nuggets give him that opportunity and from there … it'll be up to his game to see how far he can go.
As we await a decision by Masai Ujiri on his future with the Nuggets, we also can start looking ahead at what the Nuggets will be doing with the 27th pick of the NBA draft and maybe with some other prospects like Iverson and Smith, as well.
Nate_Timmons on Twitter
ntimmons73@yahoo.com
