Denver Nuggets: Erick Green Heading Overseas

Erick Green, the Denver Nuggets’ second-round pick in this year’s draft, will be playing in Italy for the upcoming season.

Green, 22, signed a deal with Montepaschi Siena of the Italian League and Euroleague for one year. He was acquired by Denver on draft night after being selected by the Utah Jazz.

Making the Nuggets’ roster this year would’ve been a difficult task for Green. If placed at the point guard spot, he would’ve been behind Ty Lawson, Andre Miller and newly acquired Nate Robinson. If at the shooting guard, Randy Foye and Evan Fournier would have been in front of Green.

With the addition of Foye and Robinson, the signs were beginning to show that Denver wanted Green to develop his game more before he suits up for the team. The former Virginia Tech Hokie averaged 25 points per game in college and continued to show his scoring capabilities in the summer league, scoring 9.3 points per game in 21.7 minutes.

The downsides that helped in Green’s decision to go overseas were the fact that the Nuggets already have a 15-man roster, while his lack of defensive skill and ability to be a distributor also showed in summer league play, averaging just 1.8 assists in his summer league action. Expect him to focus on those aspects of his game in Italy while also keeping up his offensive intensity.

Denver still retains rights of Green since he never signed a contract with the team, so they’ll still have the first chance at seeing Green’s improvements next year. Making Green only the fifth player on the roster of Siena, it can be sign that the team intends to play Green a lot of minutes and give him more experience to work on his weaknesses.

The Euroleague is typically regarded as a league with a much higher level of competition than the D-League, so Green is expected to make progress and give a much better run at a roster spot for the 2014-15 season.