NBA: 5 positional battles to watch as training camps begin
By Sean Carroll
Denver Nuggets: Paul Millsap vs. JaMychal Green
It was over a year ago that people were wondering if Jerami Grant, who at the time was recently acquired from the Oklahoma City Thunder in exchange for a first-round pick, was going to start at the power forward slot ahead of Paul Millsap or slowly take his spot as the starter later in the year.
It was very 2020 of him that he ended up starting but as the small forward next to Millsap in the end and then played so well he went to Detroit on a $20 million per year contract.
JaMychal Green isn’t the same young prospect and future starter that Grant was, but he’s a younger (30) and faster player who looks like he’ll succeed next to Nikola Jokic in the same way Grant did.
Green came off the bench for the Clippers last season behind the forward group of Kawhi Leonard, Paul George, and eventually Marcus Morris. Denver doesn’t have the same depth as the Clippers in the forward slots (they still beat them in seven) and Millsap, in his age-35 season, is definitely in his decline.
Millsap’s minute loads have been steadily dropping since he came to Denver three seasons ago, averaging just over 24 last season but I can see head coach Mike Malone going with the veteran in Millsap to start games so calling him the ‘starter’ in that sense, but closing games with Green next to Jokic.
Also, JaMychal shot nearly 40 percent from behind the arc when using Cleaning the Glass’ metric. With all due respect to the playmakers that the Clippers have, I’m excited to see the kinds of looks he’ll get alongside Jokic and how much better he can get on the offensive end.
It is such a shame that Jerami Grant left though and I’ve written about it before. The Nuggets ended up in a fine spot with Green and maybe he wouldn’t have come to Denver if Grant was still on the roster, but imagine a forward rotation with Millsap, Grant, and Green. Can we get an ‘F’ in the chat?