Bones Hyland and Nikola Jokic are already "clicking" ahead of training camp

Here’s what you need to know from Day 1 of Nuggets Media Week, or what I’m dubbing Denver’s “Syllabus Week.”

The Bones Hyland hype is building

Bones Hyland was impressive at Summer League. He averaged 19.8 points, 4.8 assists, and shot 40% from 3-point range across four games. Still, it’s wise to temper expectations for any Nuggets rookie who’s trying to carve out playing time on a loaded roster with championship hopes even with Jamal Murray sidelined for the start of the season.

Those expectations might have to be tweaked as we approach training camp, which begins one week from today in San Diego. Hyland said he’s already established healthy chemistry with Nikola Jokic during the open runs that have taken place on Denver’s practice court. Nuggets coaches have also been impressed with his play. Hyland said they’re telling him he looks like he belongs.

“We were playing together for five games,” Hyland said Tuesday. “We didn’t lose. It looked like 2K. You could just tell the connection. It was clicking instantly. They put me on a different team because it was just too easy, honestly.”

Am I buying the Bones hype as we sit here today a little under one month away from the start of the regular season? I am, to some degree. Is Hyland going to take the Nuggets by storm and vault a presumptive starter like Monte Morris or Will Barton into the starting backcourt? No way. But is he going to get a crack at actual, meaningful minutes at different points throughout a 48-minute game if he continues to play well over the next couple of weeks? I think so.

Hyland’s going to be an excellent shooter at the NBA level. He was just that in college, has logo range, and showed in Las Vegas that he had already adjusted to the longer NBA 3-point line. His feel for the game is strong too. Hyland also thinks he’s a better playmaker than he got credit for at VCU. If you ask the Nuggets, they’re adamant that the rookie’s a better passer than people thought he was coming out of the draft too. Those skills, plus the threat of a 3-point shot, will be valuable to a Nuggets team that’s looking for some needed firepower with Murray out.

Here’s another note on Bizzy Bones and why he’ll be impactful this season even if he doesn’t play a ton: his energy. It’s real, it’s genuine, and it’s authentic. It’s as if Bones doesn’t have an off switch. He can liven up any practice gym and any locker room just by being himself. That will help this team, especially considering the Nuggets brought back mostly the same roster from last season. Bones will do his part in ensuring the Nuggets don’t become stale.

“My role is going to be me coming in playing my game,” Hyland said. “It’s no pressure. It’s just me going out there and getting Bizzy. It’s what I’ve been doing my whole life.”

Monte Morris is finally healthy and thinks his game can level up

Monte Morris decided midway through last season that he had to address the pain in his knee this summer. Morris had dealt with sharp pains in his knee on and off ever since arriving in Denver four years ago, and the knee bothered him throughout last season and into the playoffs. The 26-year-old determined it was something he had to address to take his game to the next level.

“It’s been a situation since I got here. I had bad tendonitis,” Morris said. “We just fixed it, did what we was supposed to do on our end, and just strengthened it back up and took care of it.”

Morris was lined up to play for Team Nigeria at the Tokyo Olympics but canceled those plans before Nigeria’s training camp in June. He says he rehabbed his knee for 9-10 weeks this summer and has since played and practiced with physical contact. Morris feels good and is ready to go for the season.

With the pain gone, Morris thinks his game can level up from where it was last year. Morris says in the past that he has shied away from attacking the rim at times because his knee hindered his explosiveness. Now, Morris thinks he’ll be both more explosive and faster. He also wants to shoot more off-the-dribble 3s and play 82 games after missing 25 games last year due to injuries.

Morris shot an impressive 71% at the rim last season, which placed him in the 91st percentile among all guards per Cleaning The Glass, but he still wants to improve on that number. Because his knee is taken care of, combined with his added strength — Morris put on 10 pounds of muscle to get up to 183 pounds after playing at 173 last year — he thinks he’ll be able to play more physically, get downhill more often, and get that 71% even higher.

“I’ve got a lot of stuff that I can bring out and do that y’all haven’t really seen yet,” he said.

Morris is the presumptive starter at point guard until Murray returns but hasn’t officially been named the starter by Michael Malone. While Morris wants to start, he doesn’t wish for Malone to simply hand him the job. Morris wants to go out and earn the starting gig throughout training camp. I’m sure that’s what will play at in San Diego.

“I want to show the world that I could be a leader also and just win games,” Morris said. “Win us as many games as we can together, and just be a general.”

“We’ve got everything we need in order to get to where we want to get.”

Nikola Jokic is setting the tone

Big surprise, but Nikola Jokic is setting the tone for the Nuggets on and off the court. He’s been a fixture at Red Rocks when the Nuggets are working out there and on Denver’s practice court. Jokic looks like he’s in great shape.

“It feels like he didn’t stop from last season,” Vlatko Cancar said of Jokić’s conditioning entering camp.

Another big surprise: Jokic is dominating Denver’s closed-door scrimmages.

“He’s just on another level,” said Cancar. “He shouldn’t be playing with us. It was just unfair.”

Cancar is too familiar with what Jokic can do between the lines. Someone like Hyland isn’t, but the rookie is already getting a crash course in what it’s like to share a basketball court and locker room with the NBA’s MVP.

“You would never know that he won MVP,” Hyland said. “It’s like, he don’t want to talk about it. The way he carries himself, it’s crazy. It’s hard to describe. When you’re walking in the locker room, when he’s walking in the gym, you would never know he won the MVP.”

“Just the way he carries himself, it’s like he’s grinding for another MVP, or he’s grinding for that next contract. He’s 1 of 1 for sure.”