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“
I feel like I’ve been able to completely round out my game mentally and physically.” Julian Strawther
Denver Nuggets forward
MILE-HIGH EXPECTATIONS BRIMMING WITH CONFIDENCE, FORMER GU WING STRAWTHER AIMS TO SEIZE NEW OPPORTUNITIES WITH NUGGETS By Theo Lawson
THE SPOKESMAN-REVIEW
LAS VEGAS – Julian Strawther couldn’t necessarily point to a single “welcome to the NBA” moment that defined his rookie season with the Denver Nuggets. He’d rather point to four individual moments that made up one memorable sequence about a month into his professional basketball career. On Nov. 27, the second night of a back-to-back, Denver traveled to play the Los Angeles Clippers at Crypto.com Arena without its usual cast of characters. Nikola Jokic took the night off with lower back pain. Jamal Murray and Aaron Gordon stayed home in Denver as well, each dealing with minor injuries. In the fourth quarter, Denver’s shorthanded roster made an unexpected surge. Looking to stop the bleeding, Los Angeles’ trio of All-Star veterans took account of the five Nuggets on the floor to identify potential mismatches. Strawther, a 21-year-old rookie known more for his knockdown shooting than his lockdown defense, was an easy target. “We’re getting down to the fourth quarter and four straight possessions, Russell Westbrook, Paul George and Kawhi (Leonard) called me up for the iso,” Strawther told The Spokesman-Review in July. “That’s a tough island to be on with those guys, but I was able to get a few stops.”
Strawther spent his rookie season learning from Denver’s veteran players, adjusting to the speed of play and settling in to the NBA lifestyle without the expectations and pressure of contributing as a rotation member to a team with title aspirations. That won’t be the case in Year 2 with a Nuggets team expected to lean heavily on its young core – especially at the wing position – after reshuffling its roster this offseason. Strawther entered training camp as one of two candidates to replace veteran shooting guard Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, a key role player on Denver’s title-winning team in 2023. The former Gonzaga standout ceded the starting role to third-year wing and former Kansas star Christian Braun in all three preseason games, but Strawther continues to build a solid case for himself, averaging 16.3 points off the bench in the preseason compared to Braun’s 8.0 points per game. “I feel like I’ve been able to completely round out my game mentally and physically,” Strawther said. “When you come out of college and you see the NBA, everyone’s so talented, so you’ve got to
find a way to find an edge on guys. So something our vets have taught me is just to think the game and understand guys’ tendencies. It’s things you have to find an advantage. Everybody’s so talented here, your talent isn’t going to be an advantage anymore.” Braun’s strengths as a defender, particularly in a starting lineup that features three of gifted offensive players in Jokic, Murray and Porter, could give him an upper hand in the competition with Strawther. If so, the former Zag would likely become a go-to offensive option as part of a second unit led by Westbrook, the 35-year-old point guard and nine-time All-Star who joined the Nuggets in free agency. “One of the things I want to do is push the ball and get Julian open looks from 3,” Westbrook said, according to The Athletic. Strawther’s impressive preseason numbers – he’s made 6 of 13 shots from the 3-point line – come on the heels of an even better showing at NBA Summer League, where the See STRAWTHER, 2
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