The newest Denver Nuggets player is Erick Green out of Virginia Tech, according to Benjamin Hochman. Green led the nation in scoring last season, as a senior, with the Hokies as he scored 25 points per game. Green was slotted to be an early second round pick and fell to the Nuggets with the 46th selection.
I wrote this on Green last night:
Consider, Green scored less than 20 points in just four of his 32 games. That's incredible. He averaged 25 points per game and 3.8 assists (which might be a bad indicator of his passing since his teammates were sub-par). Against five ranked opponents (Oklahoma State, Miami twice, Duke twice) and Colorado State he averaged 24.5 points, 3.8 rebounds, and 2.5 points.
Green drew an incredible 8.3 foul shots per game (81-percent). Trey Burke, perhaps the highest rated point guard in the draft drew only 4.3 foul shots per game (80-percent) in comparison. Yes, Green was the offense for Virginia Tech and he shot 47-percent from the floor (46-percent for Burke) and 38.9-percent from three point land – while taking 4.9 threes per game (Burke 38.4-percent and 5.1 attempts). Green is also just a year older than Burke.
And if you'd like to get to know a bit about his personality – check out the "Getting to know" piece I did with Green when he was in Denver:
NT: Not necessarily guys who you mirrored your game after, but who did you admire or like watching growing up?
EG: Isiah Thomas, I really liked him growing up. Nick Van Exel, I liked him growing up. My father, he used to love watching basketball and I like taking after good point guards.
(Nick Van Exel? One of my all time favorite college (Cincy) and NBA players!)
NT: How about on a cheat day – what could we find you pigging out on?
EG: Taco Bell. I love Taco Bell.
NT: What do you get there? The Mexican pizza?
EG: Nah, the Doritos tacos. Those things are crazy! I could eat like five or six of them.
NT: Have you tried the Cool Ranch?
EG: I just tried them! Those are my favorites.
