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Denver Nuggets: Fortifying The Training Camp Roster

By Kevin C Keller

Mar 10, 2014; Charlotte, NC, USA; Denver Nuggets head coach Brian Shaw during the second half of the game against the Charlotte Bobcats at Time Warner Cable Arena. Bobcats win 105-98. Mandatory Credit: Sam Sharpe-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 10, 2014; Charlotte, NC, USA; Denver Nuggets head coach Brian Shaw during the second half of the game against the Charlotte Bobcats at Time Warner Cable Arena. Bobcats win 105-98. Mandatory Credit: Sam Sharpe-USA TODAY Sports /
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The dark days of summer are coming to a close as the Denver Nuggets’ 2014-15 training camp is only five days away! We’ve made it, my friends! We’ve actually made it through all that baseball, and now we get wonderful NBA basketball as our reward.

The Nuggets are sparking the training camp flames a little early after signing Joe Alexander, the eighth pick in the 2008 draft, and Marcus Williams, the 33rd pick in the 2007 draft, to their training camp roster with one-year deals, according to RealGM.

The two players have been mostly struggling to stay on an NBA roster since they’ve been drafted, but each will get an opportunity to prove themselves in Denver this October.

Marcus Williams is a forward out of Arizona (boooooo! Sorry, the ASU fan in me can’t help it). The 6’7″, 207-pound forward averaged 14.7 points and 5.6 rebounds per game in college, but since he got drafted he’s failed to make any real impact in the NBA. He played with the Austin Toros in the NBA D-league until 2009 when he made the trip overseas to play in China’s CBA. This will be his first NBA experience since the summer of 2010 when he played for the Indiana Pacers summer league team.

Williams was suspended six months by the Chinese league after testing positive for marijuana last January, so he’ll get along well with J.J. Hickson.

Joe Alexander has had a similar NBA experience as Williams. The 6’8″, 220-pound forward played sparingly for the Milwaukee Bucks in his rookie season, but then the team declined his rookie option, He then played with the D-League’s Fort Wayne Mad Ants and Texas Legends (where he was named as a 2011 All-Star while averaging 20.2 points and 8.9 rebounds a game). Finally, the former top-10 pick went overseas to Russia to play until the Golden State Warriors signed him last September and stashed him back in the D-League.

Yes, the Nuggets signing two D-league players for training camp isn’t exactly a fireworks show to get us all even more excited for the upcoming season. And yes, there is a slim chance either player does enough to make this deep Nuggets roster. The pair brings the Nuggets total to 17 players, but they have to reduce that to 15 by Oct. 27. However, the Nuggets are making good moves nonetheless.

It only makes sense for the Nuggets to get as much talent on the floor for those grueling training camp practices as possible. The more talent, the better chance everyone has to get better, and the Nuggets need to get better every day in training camp get that western conference playoff spot.

Having the additional players will also help the Nuggets who are returning from serious injuries, Danilo Gallinari, Nate Robinson, J.J. Hickson, and JaVale McGee not push themselves too hard at the start of camp.

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