Denver Nuggets to sign Jerrelle Benimon: Analysis

The Denver Nuggets have agreed to a two-year deal with forward Jerrelle Benimon, according to Shams Charania of RealGM.com.

Given that it’s partially guaranteed, this is probably just a camp invite to see if they can use him. The Nuggets are already on 13 guaranteed contracts. They also have Erick Green and Quincy Miller on non-guaranteed deals, but one would think that they’re both pretty much locks to make the team. But with injuries and players returning from injury plaguing their roster, it makes sense to bring in more guys like this.

Benimon is one of the most interesting undrafted prospects from the 2014 draft. He was probably the second best statistical player in the NCAA last season after Alan Williams. The extremely versatile Towson product was the only NCAA forward last season to have a true shooting percentage above 55 percent (his was nearly 60 percent), have a rebounding rate above 17 percent, and and an assist rate above 20 percent. It would be pretty fair to call him Towson’s entire offense last season, and he combined all of those skills for a PER of 26.9. Undoubtedly his best skill is his rebounding, where he was third in the NCAA the past two seasons and averaged 11 per game in summer league for the Nuggets. Adam Reisinger of ESPN did a writeup of Benimon for Hardwood Paroxysm during summer league, and if you want to learn more about him I will point you in that direction happily.

I’m a fan of Benimon, and think that it’s a smart idea to bring him into the fold at least for training camp. Even if he doesn’t make the team, the level of competition will increase during practices. Benimon always plays hard, has a nose for the ball, and can shoot. While a lot of his skills overlap with Kenneth Faried’s, you can never have too many guys like that at the end of your bench. My guess is that he probably doesn’t make the Nuggets, but that he will get NBA time somewhere this season if he decides to stay on this side of the Atlantic.