Denver Nuggets put finishing touches on roster, add 7-footer
Jul 17, 2023, 11:06 AM
The Denver Nuggets offseason is now done, as they filled up their entire roster with a signing over the weekend.
The reigning NBA champs added their third and final two-way contact player in seven-foot-tall 25-year-old Jay Huff. The former undrafted big man from the University of Virginia was the G League’s Defensive Player of the Year last season and has gotten into 11 NBA games across two seasons between the Los Angeles Lakers and Washington Wizards.
In an extremely small sample size, he’s shooting a hot 54% from the field, over 43% from the three-point line, and over 94% from the free-throw line in his young NBA career. The center could splash from deep in college too, hitting on 39% of his deep attempts his senior season where he scored 13 points a game and snagged seven rebounds. This was two years after Huff was a rotational piece on the Cavaliers championship-winning team.
Huffs’ teammate in that title will be his teammate in Denver as the Nuggets signed forward Braxton Key late last week.
Huff and Key join former champion Villanova guard Collin Gillespie as Denver’s two two-way guys. The new CBA, which began at the month’s beginning, allows for every team to have three of these players. Gillespie is yet to play in the NBA due to a catastrophic leg break last summer but these types of players will bounce between the G League and NBA throughout the season with a limited amount of time they can spend with the NBA Nuggets.
It’s clear what Clavin Booth keeps targeting, a bit older of a group of players than the normal prospect with a dearth of winning experience. For Booth, Huff is another big body who can shoot a bit. Huff also adds some depth to a somewhat thin Nuggets front line.
In the past the Nuggets have had a lot of success with two-way players, getting great contributions from Monte Morris and Torrey Craig who later became full-time players. In addition to Gillespie, last season the Nuggets also rostered Jack White who went on to sign a full-time deal with the Thunder this offseason. The Nuggets also had former two-way player Davon Reed on the roster for much of the season.
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