Jarred Vanderbilt Will Earn Minutes for Denver Nuggets

Former Kentucky Wildcat forward Jarred Vanderbilt is a raw and uber-athletic forward who will get minutes for the Nuggets this season

Former Kentucky wildcat Jarred Vanderbilt was drafted in the second round of 2018’s NBA Draft. Coming off a season where Vanderbilt watched most of his freshman season at Kentucky from the bench due to a mysterious injury, his position in the NBA was up in the air. The 6-9 forward, though he played very few games, was a squealing pig on the basketball court in college. A raw, chaotic bundle of pure energy. Jarred rebounded like Dennis Rodman, ran the court like Pascal Siakam, and passed the ball like a senior point guard. But he couldn’t shoot and lacked true feel for the game; one of the stranger players to suit up during the Calipari era. Luckily, the Denver Nuggets took a flier on him in the second round.

After a season spent mostly on the plush cushions of the Denver bench, Vanderbilt was unleashed during the 2019 summer league; and he proved exactly why he will earn minutes this coming year and deep into the future.

Throwing Vanderbilt into a basketball game–especially in a laid back setting like Summer League–is like throwing Nicolas Cage into a 90s movie. You’re taking a human-shaped lightning bolt and tossing it out there with mortal human beings. That’s the energy Vanderbilt brings to the table; uncontrollable and freakish. Defensively, he’s swarming like a bee around a pot of flowers during spring, zipping every which way and refusing to settle.

That frenetic energy translates to the glass, where Vanderbilt is as strong a rebounder as you’ll find. It’s the first thing that jumped off the screen when he was at Kentucky. The man just swallows rebounds. As a quick, smart, and bouncy 6’9 forward, Vanderbilt is a flawless positioner on the rebounding front. The ball just bounces to him, and it isn’t luck. I don’t know what else to say, Jarred (with two R’s) is a basketball genius when it comes to rebounding the ball. Maybe Bill Walton mentored him.

Next, there’s the defense. When a human being is 6-foot-9 and can outsprint half of the guards in the NBA, that man is going to be a good defender. It’s simple basketball theory. I cracked the code. Be tall and fast and jump high. Defense will come easily. In all seriousness, he can lock dudes down, dare I say, at all five positions? Vanderbilt turned 20 a few months ago and already possesses elite defensive qualities and mouth-watering measurables. There might be an All-Defense appearance lined up for this young man in the future.

Now, of course, you’re wondering (if you are a Nuggets fan) about Vanderbilt’s offense? Great, we have a rebounder who can defend; but can he score the ball, like, at all? Well, not really; not at this stage in his development. But there’s time to mature as a scorer. Jarred’s hasn’t even drank alcohol yet, so cut him some slack. However, his contributions on offense come in a variety of ways. 1.) He rebounds ferociously on offense, enabling easy second-chance buckets for himself or his teammates. 2.) Vanderbilt is an effective screener with above-average agility and athleticism for a big man, which makes him a lethal target on the roll. 3.) Jarred Vanderbilt can pass. Not in the sense that he’s able. In the sense that he ran point guard for a few minutes in his first game as a Wildcat.  Jarred throws bullets. You’ll end up like Ned Stark if Jarred whips one at you and you aren’t paying attention. He is a hyper passer who delivers on-target darts. It’s an awesome skill to have as a 6-9 forward, just ask Ben Simmons. And unlike Simmons, he made a three-pointer once.

Vanderbilt will be a rotation caliber forward for the next decade. I think there’s an outside chance he booms into something resembling a Ben Simmons with a good attitude and more effort. Passing, IQ, relentlessness, quickness, rebounding, elite defense, Vanderbilt holds a unique mixtape of skills that could be molded into stardom. I love Mike Malone and the Denver Nuggets staff, they’ll discover the best version of Jarred Vanderbilt, I’m sure of it.