Inside David Roddy's pre-draft workout: Could he be Denver's ultimate glue guy?

David Roddy will do whatever it takes to make it in the NBA.

Need him to get a bucket? Roddy averaged 19.2 points per game last season at Colorado State. He shot 43.8% from 3-point range and registered a 64.5 TS%.

Defense? Roddy led CSU in steals (1.2 per game) and blocks (1.1 per game) last year. Playmaking? Roddy can get his teammates involved too. At just 6-foot-5, Roddy also averaged a team-high 7.5 rebounds last year, the sixth-most in the Mountain West.

“If I need to just get rebounds like Dennis Rodman, I’ll do it,” Roddy said Tuesday following his pre-draft workout with the Nuggets. “I’ll be willing to do anything to stay in the league.”

That’s what whichever team selects Roddy in the draft on June 23 will welcome into their building. Roddy’s team-first all the way. He’s a pro’s pro. He’s a culture-setter and torch-bearer. He’s a worker and a grinder. That’s been apparent while watching him go from a part-time starter as a freshman to Colorado State’s leading scorer as a sophomore and to the Mountain West Conference Player of the Year as a junior.

The projected second-round pick has raised every aspect of his game along the way. Roddy shot 19.5% and 27.8% from 3 over his first two seasons in college but upped his 3-point shooting to 43.8% last season on 3.4 attempts per game. He has improved his defense and his body too. Throughout the pre-draft process, Roddy has been training in Phoenix with renowned trainers Phil Beckner, Damian Lillard’s personal trainer and coach, and Vaughn Compton, a player development coach based out of Arizona. A top focus has been to make Roddy a more consistent shooter from distance.

If it all comes together, Roddy envisions himself as the ultimate glue guy that has a role on every winning team.

“A lot of teams covet people like me, a PJ Tucker, a Draymond Green, a Jae Crowder or a Grant Williams,” said Roddy listing some of the current NBA players he’ll be looking to emulate going forward. “Bringing that physicality and can knock down shots and can set great screens and be a glue guy and do the dirty work for a team. I think that’s where I will really thrive, especially in Denver.”

Roddy’s right. The Nuggets could use that ultimate jack of all trades glue guy. Denver has star power in Nikola Jokic, Jamal Murray and potentially Michael Porter Jr. Strong complementary players in Aaron Gordon, Monte Morris, Will Barton and Bones Hyland line the rest of the Nuggets’ rotation. But there’s still an opening on Denver’s roster for that classic blue-collar rotation piece who brings toughness and plays every possession with an edge.

Denver likes Roddy and has liked him for a while. The Nuggets’ front office has seen him play in person countless times and knows his game inside and out. Denver invited him to a meet-and-greet with its staff last month, Roddy said, and then back to the Nuggets’ practice court for Tuesday’s workout. The Nuggets had dinner with Roddy recently and have done their research and background work on who the 21-year-old former all-state high school quarterback really is. They’ve come away impressed.

“Yeah, I would say so,” Roddy said Tuesday when asked by DNVR if he can sense the Nuggets’ interest in him. “Everybody’s a fan of my game in here. They’ve told me that.”

But at 21st overall where Denver is currently picking? That’s too early for Roddy. The Nuggets trading down or getting back into the draft in the second round seems like the best avenues for Roddy potentially landing in Denver. I’d think Roddy would be a prime free-agent target and two-way contract candidate for the Nuggets too if he went undrafted.

Denver loves a unique prospect, and that’s what Roddy is. Just look at Jokic and some of the other players the Nuggets have taken a chance on over the last several years. Roddy has a football player’s build and an old school, bully ball game but possesses ballerina’s feet and a sky-high basketball IQ. I can’t think of a player in the NBA quite like him. Roddy said Tuesday that it’s easy to envision how he could step into the Nuggets’ rotation and play a role.

“I think my 3-point shooting would definitely help,” he said. “At CSU we were required to move off the ball and play very similarly to the Nuggets. Cutting hard. Catching great passes. Being that glue guy that gets rebounds and guards 1-5.”

There are obvious concerns surrounding how Roddy’s game will translate to the next level. At 6-5 he’ll be undersized at either forward spot. He’s not a leaper either, although he makes up for a somewhat ground-bound game with his strength and motor. Can Roddy guard his position? Can he score efficiently against NBA length and athleticism that he didn’t see too often in the Mountain West? Is he a 3-point marksman, or is Roddy actually closer to the up-and-down shooter he was from beyond the arc throughout his first two college seasons?

Roddy’s hoping to answer those questions during a slew of workouts over the next couple of weeks. The chatter from Roddy’s workout with the Nuggets was that he shot the ball well.

“We’ve watched him several times. He’s a fantastic player,” Nuggets general manager Calvin Booth said. “There’s not much he can’t do on the basketball court.”

Roddy looked comfortable and at home on the Nuggets’ practice floor Tuesday. Following his workout, he dapped up Booth at center court. Roddy then walked over to Michael Malone and chatted with the rest of the Nuggets’ front office on the far sideline of the gym.

He hopes it’s not his last time on that floor.

“So many Colorado fans have been supportive of me over the past three years,” Roddy said. “If I end up here that would be an amazing blessing.”

“Hopefully I can get No. 21.”