The Denver Nuggets are loaded with young talent and they just got even younger with the signing of Juan Hernangomez.
The Denver Nuggets are a shining example of how targeting international prospects can actually work out. A lot of Denver’s roster is comprised of players drafted from overseas, whether they came to the NBA immediately like Jusuf Nurkic, or were stashed for a period of time like Nikola Jokic and Joffrey Lauvergne.
This success led the Nuggets to acquire some more foreign talent in the 2016 NBA Draft, most notably Juan Hernangomez from Spain. Hernangomez was undoubtedly successful in the ACB League this past season, posting the second-best Player Efficiency Rating of the last decade behind only Nikola Mirotic and ahead of notable names like Kristaps Porzingis, Serge Ibaka and Ricky Rubio, per DraftExpress.
Obviously he has a ton of potential. The only question was whether the Nuggets would bring the young Spaniard over to the NBA immediately or stash him overseas. Well it looks like that question has been answered as Gigantes del Basket reported that Hernangomez will be in Denver for the 2016-17 season.
Los Nuggets deciden quedarse con Juancho. Décimo español en la NBA 2016-17 https://t.co/l5zhRlZisN pic.twitter.com/Tb1XvaQ0ZM
— Gigantes del Basket (@GIGANTESbasket) July 22, 2016
The first line of the article translates to “Juancho Hernangómez (2.06 m.; 20 years old) will continue his career in Denver Nuggets, as has been told Gigantes del Basket.”
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This is big news for the Nuggets as it means they will have a huge batch of young talent to integrate into the NBA this season. Hernangomez, Jamal Murray and Malik Beasley will all be rookies next season and will all be on the Nuggets’ roster. Denver is clearly looking toward the future and this season could be a landmark one for their rebuild.
Hernangomez gives the Nuggets an interesting new weapon in their arsenal. He’s already played pro-ball in arguably the second-best basketball league in the world, so he may become acclimated to the NBA quickly. If he does, Denver would have a stretch-4 for the first time in several years.
The presence of a stretch-4 would contribute to the “learn to shoot better” initiative that Denver has been pushing since the end of last season. The Nuggets finished tied for 25th in the NBA in three-point field goal percentage in 2015-16, leading them to draft the sharpshooting Jamal Murray, who they hope will help remedy that issue. With Hernangomez coming over to help as well, Denver could end up with some drastically improved shooting numbers next year. He shot 35.8 percent from three in the ACB League last season.
He could also give the Nuggets the flexibility to finally move Kenneth Faried, someone who has had trade rumors surrounding him for a few seasons now. Faried is a fairly one-dimensional player who is known more for rebounding and energy than actually being a well-rounded power forward.
Having Hernangomez on the roster could make the Nuggets comfortable enough to finally pull the trigger on a deal, knowing they have not only the rookie Juancho but also Lauvergne and Darrell Arthur to fall back on.
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Hernangomez coming to the Nuggets for the 2016-17 season is a bit of a surprise, but it accelerates the rebuild that Denver has been working hard on. That has to be a welcome sign for not only Nuggets fans, but management as well.