Denver Nuggets: Time To Say Goodbye To Quincy Miller
When you are three deep at every position like this year’s Denver Nuggets team is, making the choice on the final 15 to keep on the roster is anything but easy.
The team is making it a little easier on head coach Brian Shaw, as everything appears to be set for the Nuggets final roster except for that final 15th spot that usually makes up the habitual benchwarmer. Ty Lawson, Arron Afflalo, Danilo Gallinari, Kenneth Faried, JaVale McGee, Timofey Mozgov, J.J. Hickson, Darrell Arthur, Gary Harris, Jusuf Nurkic, Nate Robinson, Randy Foye, Wilson Chandler, and Erick Green all have their roster spot locked up.
That leaves one single spot left, and head coach Brian Shaw will have to award the “benchwarmer” spot to either long-term Nuggets prospect Qunicy Miller or Alonzo Gee, an offseason acquisition the Denver Nuggets used to round out the preseason roster.
Quincy Miller has captured our attention ever since the Nuggets drafted him in the second round of the 2012 draft. A 6’11” small forward (even though NBA.com lists him at 6’9″, he’s recently grown and is taller than 6’9″), Miller definitely has an NBA build. He was actually ranked right behind Anthony Davis (NOTE: A previous version of this article incorrectly listed Kevin Durant as the number one high school prospect in 2011) as the No. 2 prospect in the country when he committed to Baylor for college, so he has the basketball skill to be good too. However, he tore his ACL at Baylor, and since then he’s never been able to quite live up to his promise. He managed to start in 16 games last season when the Nuggets were at their most injured.
Miller got off to a great start with Brian Shaw at the start of last season too. Shaw went far enough to say that Miller reminded him of Pacers star Paul George. Even with the hype, we’ve only seen a couple flashes of a legit NBA game from Miller, like when we scored a career high 19 points on over 50 percent shooting in a loss against the Houston Rockets last season.
Alonzo Gee never had the hype that Miller did when getting recruited, but he’s been in the NBA since 2009. After going undrafted in the 2009 draft, Gee was picked up by the Cleveland Cavaliers, and even managed to start all 82 games for the Cavs in the 2011-12 season. His career numbers of 7.9 points, 3.6 rebounds and 1.2 assists per game aren’t anything special, but his experience and veteran defense has impressed the Nuggets and put the pressure on Quincy to keep his job.
“What he’s doing, the intangible things he’s bringing, the defensive ability,” Shaw told the Denver Post about Gee. “He absolutely shut down (Thunder guard) Sebastian Telfair when he was on the point guard. When he was on the twos and threes, he forced them out a lot further in their offense. He caused turnovers without going for steals, just from having body pressure on guys.”
Quincy Miller has struggled on the defensive end in his time in Denver, and Shaw was irate at Miller for missing an assignment late in the fourth quarter during a preseason loss against the Phoenix Suns on Oct. 10. Lately, Miller has struggled to get court time even in preseason — he didn’t get a single minute in the Nuggets’ preseason win against the Los Angeles Clippers — and when he has made the court he hasn’t looked like an guy trying to fight for his job. In 8.8 minutes a game, he’s averaging just 3.4 points on 33 percent shooting this preseason.
Gee, on the other hand, has done more than just impress coach Shaw. His numbers look a bit better than Miller’s too. In 12.8 minutes a game this preseason, Gee has put up 4.1 points on 60 percent shooting, and added 3.0 boards a game in the process. As the Nuggets expect to make the playoffs this season, that means they are a “win now” team. Even though Miller’s potential is higher, Gee is the better player right now and he’s earned a spot on Denver Nuggets final roster this preseason over Quincy Miller.