Worldly flavor at pre-draft workouts
After hosting Bosnians Dzanan Musa and Ajdin Penava, who played college basketball at Marshall, and Lithuanian Arnoldas Kulboka for pre-draft workouts Wednesday, the Nuggets maintained an international theme by welcoming 7-foot-1 Tryggvi Hlinason of Iceland to Thursday’s group session.
Hlinason’s rise to a fringe NBA draft prospect has been swift. He grew up on a small-town sheep farm and has been playing organized basketball for less than five years. But last year he jumped from the top league in Iceland to Valencia Basket in Spain, which plays in both the best professional league in that country and in the prestigious EuroLeague. While playing in the 2017 Under-20 European Championships, Hilnason averaged 16.1 points, 11.6 rebounds, 3.1 blocks and 2.1 assists.
“It’s insane,” Hlinason said of his journey. “It was quite sudden how it developed.”
Hlinason credits his work on the family farm with helping him build natural core strength that helps him physically on the basketball court.
D-II prospects hoping to prove worth.
Dayon Goodman realizes “a lot of dudes, they don’t know who I am.” Ditto for Todd Withers.
Goodman is from Westminster College, a Division II liberal arts school in Salt Lake City. Withers is from Queens — not the New York City borough, but the Division II university in Charlotte. And that anonymity has brought extra motivation to both prospects who worked out in Denver on Thursday.
“A lot of the stuff that we do goes unseen until we get in the big stadium or something like this,” Withers said. “I’m just trying to prove that D-II players can play with D-I players as well.”
The 6-foot-8 Goodman, who was his conference’s player of the year this past season after averaging 27.7 points and 8.5 rebounds per game, highlighted his 46.7 percent mark from 3-point distance in 2017-18 and his ability to guard multiple positions. Withers, an All-American in 2017-18 after averaging 13.6 points and eight rebounds per game, also thrives on defensive versatility.
Cyclones reunited.
Donovan Jackson could not wait to work out for the Nuggets. That gave him the opportunity to reunite with former Iowa State teammate Monte Morris, whom Denver drafted and signed to a two-way contract last year.
Jackson and Morris visited with each other in the Nuggets’ locker room prior to Jackson’s session on the practice floor. There, he hoped to show Denver why he ranks fifth all-time in Iowa State history in 3-point field-goal percentage (41.6) and 11th in career makes from long range (139).