How the Nuggets managed to build a successful player development program without a G League team

The commercial flights instead of the team charter, solo practices and pre-game cramming sessions with Nuggets coaches paid off in the end for Torrey Craig.

Craig, who logged 39 games last season for Denver under a two-way contract and averaged 4.2 points in 16.1 minutes per game, inked a two-year $4 million contract with the Nuggets earlier this month. He became one of the few players that played under two-way contracts to re-up with their original team on a regular NBA deal.

Craig’s whirlwind journey took the undrafted 27-year-old out of the University of South Carolina Upstate in 2014 from the Gold Coast of Australia – where he played for the last three seasons before arriving in Denver – to the Nuggets’ Summer League team in 2017. Nuggets president of basketball operations Tim Connelly was tipped off to the rangy 6-foot-6 wing by his brother, Joe, who coached against Craig in the NBL. But Craig nearly turned down Denver’s invitation in favor of staying in Australia for another season.

After a standout performance in Las Vegas last summer, the Nuggets offered Craig one of their two two-way contracts which allocated him a maximum of 45 days to spend with the Nuggets. To preserve those days of service, Craig and other two-way players around the league often flew separately from the rest of their teammates and at times weren’t privy to organized practices. Impromptu huddles at shootaround and prior to games with Nuggets assistant coaches was a common routine for Craig, who at times felt like he was cramming for a final exam when learning Denver’s game plan for that night.

Signing both Craig, and Monte Morris, who also played on a two-way contract last season, to NBA deals represented a landmark achievement for the Nuggets and the league. Denver became the first NBA team to sign both of their two-way players from last season to regular NBA contracts after two-way contracts were added into the league’s collective bargaining agreement last year.

In theory, two-way contracts expanded NBA rosters to 17 players while also allowing the G League to grow with an influx of high-level talent. When two-way players weren’t accruing days of service with their parent club, they’d play in the G League on their NBA team’s affiliate.

But the Nuggets are one of three NBA teams, along with the Trail Blazers and Pelicans, that do not have a G League affiliate. Craig and Morris played with the Miami Heat’s affiliate, the Sioux Falls Skyforce and Rio Grande Valley Vipers, who are operated by the Houston Rockets, respectively when they weren’t with Denver.

That meant both two-way players wouldn’t be under the immediate supervision of Nuggets coaches while on assignment in the G League. Denver needed to fill their final two roster spots, as well as their entire roster, with NBA-level talent but also with self-motivated players who the Nuggets knew had good work ethic and would improve on their own watch

Connelly echoed the organization sentiment prior to this summer’s draft when asked what kind of players he would target.

“I think coach (Michael) Malone has done a great job creating a culture of guys who get in the gym on their own and work,” said Connelly. “Our young guys are reflective of who we want to be, so we want to add another guy with a similar mindset and approach.”

In Craig and Morris, Denver got just that. Despite his restricted free-agent status, Craig spent most of his offseason in the Nuggets’ practice gym. As did Morris, who was always eager to get out on the court following pre-draft workouts this summer.

Last season, Morris averaged 17.8 points and 6.5 assists per game in the G League. At Summer League, he proved he was one of the better players in Las Vegas and averaged 17.5 points and 6.2 assists in four games. Morris also handed out 25 assists to just five turnovers and scored and assisted on 32.8 points per game in Las Vegas — the highest average of any player at Summer League.

Even after signing Isaiah Thomas to be Jamal Murray’s backup, Denver rewarded Morris with a multi-year contract, in a large part because of the strides he’s made over the past year.

The contract was a testament to Morris’ play in the G League and what he showed at Summer League, but also reflected Morris’ desire to be coached. After last season, Nuggets coaches, including Malone, asked Morris to rework his shooting form and the placement of his guide hand so that his release was smoother after he hit just 33 percent of his threes last season in the G League.

That process started on May 1. Initially, Morris’ reworked jumper was consistently short. But more time with Nuggets’ director of player development John Becket and his staff, and Morris’ new jump shot eventually became second nature. He debuted his refined jumper at Summer League where he hit a healthy 35.7 percent of his three-point field goals.

The Nuggets’ track record in signing both players reflects well throughout the rest of the league too. If potential two-way players are weighing their future, the Nuggets’ history of promoting two-way players from within shows that if you’re an NBA-level talent who comes to Denver and puts in the necessary work, an opportunity can be had. Currently, the Nuggets have one two-way spot available for this upcoming season. The other is taken by center Thomas Welsh, who Denver selected 58th overall in the draft.

Even without a G League team, the Nuggets have manufactured a successful player development program. Craig and Morris are their two latest graduates.