NUGGETS’ LYDON BACK ON COURT AFTER KNEE SURGERY
Tyler Lydon’s left shoulder is now covered by tattoos, highlighted by a wolf’s head.
The body artwork is still a work in progress, Lydon said. But it’s a nod to his hometown of Hudson, N.Y., and his love of the outdoors, which earlier this summer took him coyote hunting on a friend’s property in Jefferson.
The ink could also serve as a representation of the perspective Lydon has gained over the past year. His first professional season was cut short when a January knee injury required arthroscopic surgery. But Lydon had ditched the yellow sleeve on his left leg by the Nuggets’ second summer league practice, the latest sign that he is ready to get back on the court starting Friday in Las Vegas.
“Each day, it gets better and better, and I feel even more and more comfortable with it,” Lydon said. “Mentally, I know my knee’s good. I know it’s 100 percent, so I’m ready to go.”
The former first-round draft pick played in just one game for Denver last season. The Nuggets were already overloaded at power forward, and the plan was for Lydon to primarily develop in the G League following his two seasons at Syracuse, when he was a double-digit scorer, averaged 7.4 rebounds per game and shot 40 percent from 3-point distance.
The injury forced Lydon to change his approach. He utilized his time with the Nuggets’ strength and conditioning staff to add upper-body muscle to his lanky, 6-foot-8 frame. He studied games from the bench, peppering teammates with questions about how they read the floor. He refined his shot — perhaps his biggest weapon as a stretch-4 — by focusing on his footwork, where his hands catch the ball, and his release point.
Lydon has been cleared to play 5-on-5 basketball for about a month. Nuggets assistant Jordi Fernandez, who is coaching this year’s summer league team, has noticed some early tentativeness from Lydon in the form of passed-up shots. Lydon is expected to be in Denver’s starting lineup for Friday’s summer league opener against Minnesota, a setting in which he struggled last year because the style can veer toward a pickup game rather than running a structured system.
“Hopefully, for the first game, he’ll feel really good,” Fernandez said of Lydon. “I just want him to have confidence.”
But Lydon assures that he feels different this summer — and not just because of his new body art. After a trying first professional season, he is thankful his knee has fully healed.
“For (the injury) to happen so fast and everything, you step back and look and feel grateful for even playing,” Lydon said. “Even practice and stuff feels really good again.”
Footnote: The Nuggets’ summer league team scrimmaged for the first time Tuesday night, with a starting lineup of Lydon, Malik Beasley, Monte Morris, Kenrich Williams and Thomas Welsh.