Erick Green to sign contract with Denver Nuggets

Erick Green is expected to sign a contract with the Denver Nuggets in the coming days, according to Nikos Varlas of eurohoops.net. The news was then confirmed by our good friends at Denver Stiffs, Nate Timmons and Jeff Morton. Here’s their take:

"Denver Stiffs can confirm, through unnamed sources, that the Nuggets hope to announce the signing of Erick Green in the next day or two with details of the contract still being ironed out.Green was the 46th pick of the Nuggets in the 2013 draft and spent last season in Italy playing for Montepaschi Siena, where he averaged 10.9 points per game in the Italian league (44 games), 11.2 points in the Eurocup (six games), and 11.1 points in EURO play (10 games), according to Draft Express. The 6’3″ point guard was a four year player at Virginia Tech, where he led the nation in scoring as a senior with 25 points per game."

I was a pretty big fan of Green coming into the draft last season and had him as bottom-of-the-first-round talent. He’s more combo guard than true point, but he has really good instincts in the pick-and-roll, which is all-too-important in the NBA. His best skills shine when in that situation, as he’s a good midrange pull-up shooter and finishes well at the rim despite his size (66.4% his senior season at Virginia Tech). It’s also worth mentioning that he’s a capable passer should the Nuggets play him at the nominal point guard position, but his best skills revolve around his ability to put the ball in the basket. With that said, there is potential here for him to be a pretty solid change-of-pace scoring guard off the bench eventually.

However, I’m not quite sure how he fits in Denver this season. The team still has Ty Lawson, Randy Foye, and Nate Robinson as offensive-minded scoring guards. Plus, he’ll now have to compete with Arron Afflalo and Gary Harris at the 2-guard if he’s to see any minutes there. It’s a very, very crowded backcourt for the Nuggets, which means that Green should expect to see quite a bit of time in the D-League. Their backcourt could clear up a bit next season though with Afflalo — who has a player option for $7.5 million that he should decline — and Robinson set to become free agents.

However, that doesn’t really provide any answers for this season, which may prove to be a little adventurous for the former Hokie.