Denver Nuggets basketball is back…sort of. The Nuggets are technically in action tonight but only for their Summer League team. The annual Las Vegas NBA-con event kicks off today with Denver having the nightcap against the Los Angeles Clippers. For the Nuggets it will be an opportunity to get an extended look at the group Calvin Booth is building to be the next generation of role players around superstar Nikola Jokic. Last season the Nuggets added three rookies to their roster, this Summer they brought in three more, including first round pick DaRon Holmes II who Denver moved up to acquire in the draft. He’ll join Denver’s sophomore trio of Julian Strawther, Jalen Pickett and Hunter Tyson along with two rookies on two-way contracts to create the top end of Denver’s Summer League rotation.

The Essentials:

Who: Denver Nuggets (0-0) vs Los Angeles Clippers (0-0)

When: 8PM MDT

Where: Las Vegas Pavilion. Las Vegas, NV.

How to watch/listen: Denver Stiffs does not condone piracy (though the new TV deal announcements make it hard for us not to)…unless it’s the romanticized 18th century type. Altitude TV where available (Altitude TV is available on DirecTV, DirecTV Stream and Fubo TV), NBATV, NBA League Pass for those not in the Nuggets market. Show up to Vegas three games prior so you can get a good seat, spend an evening watching fringe NBA players run isos for 90% of the time that otherwise could have been spent watching the Blue Man Group.

Rival Blog: 213 Hoops

The Matchup

…Listen, I have no idea. No one has any idea save for the respective coaches on how this rotation is going to go. I expect Pickett, Strawther, Tyson and Holmes will all start and the starting group will be finished out with one of Denver’s two-way rookies in PJ Hall or Trey Alexander. I wouldn’t worry too much about matchup advantages, guys are going to be playing against a bevy of matchups as the coaches mix and match lineups to see how players work in varying roles.

The Three Things

The thing to watch for: Daron Holmes II

Jun 26, 2024; Brooklyn, NY, USA; DaRon Holmes II arrives for the first round of the 2024 NBA Draft at Barclays Center. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports

This will be Nuggets fans first taste of Holmes in a Denver uniform…even if it is a greatly watered down in design Summer League uniform. Given what Denver did this offseason by bringing in Dario Saric, not trading Zeke Nnaji and re-signing Vlatko Cancar and DeAndre Jordan its far from a guarantee that Holmes will be in the rotation to start the season, but he can work towards making it a guarantee starting tonight. I’ll be looking for what he can provide in terms of stretching the floor as a big, setting screens and being an effective roller to the basket, and helping Denver with rim protection and defensive rebounding. If we get a chance to see some playmaking out of Holmes as well, all the better.

The thing to remember: Summer League is bad basketball

The Nuggets have six guys on their Summer League roster who will play for the team in some capacity this season, and there’s still one two-way contract up for grabs so potentially even a seventh NBA player on this roster. That being said, the vast majority of Summer League players are guys whose NBA dream is on life support. They are not out here to play team basketball and work within a system, they are out here to get noticed and hopefully secure a two-way contract with the Nuggets or any other team that will have them. That leads to a lot of individual basketball and not a lot of team basketball which is not exactly the most beautiful game to watch. So buckle in and get ready for some contested mid-range jumpers.

The thing to bet: Under 181.5 points (-110)

A whopping total of five games eclipsed the 181 total point mark in the Utah and California Classic Summer Leagues last week. With the game being more of an individual showcase than an actual team event it will bog down the offenses and lead to plenty of poor shot selection. There’s also the chance one team gets thoroughly blown out and puts up sub 80 points on the board. In reality, you shouldn’t bet on Summer League at all because it’s ridiculous to think anyone can predict what will happen in such a clear exhibition game, but if you must my suggestion is to take the under.