Renck: Lost in a qui­et off­sea­son, ques­tion­able defense and Jamal Murray’s fit­ness, did the Nuggets find the Strawther than stirs the drink? Or at least the Liq­uid IV to caf­feinate the bench? The Nuggets dropped four of their five pre­sea­son games, but there has been one pos­i­tive devel­op­ment: the improve­ment of sec­ond-year pro Julian Strawther. At 6‑foot‑7, 205 pounds, he pro­vides an ide­al mis­match on the perime­ter, but it nev­er trans­lat­ed last sea­son when his rook­ie year was a brick-by-brick con­struc­tion project. A year lat­er, every­thing is dif­fer­ent. So, Sean, can Strawther become the focal point of a Nuggets bench that des­per­ate­ly needs scor­ing to pre­serve min­utes for Niko­la Jokic and Murray?

Keel­er: Can he? Sure. I mean, did you see those 23 points against Chica­go? Or those 20 vs. Phoenix? Or … wait, wait, wait. Those num­bers are from LAST fall’s pre­sea­son games. But you see my point, right? Pre­sea­son num­bers don’t always trans­late when the real cur­tain goes up. Love the touch. Love the con­fi­dence. Love the swag. And the Nuggets need him. Bad­ly. But if I have lin­ger­ing doubts, here’s why: Per NBA.com track­ing data, the ex-Gon­za­ga star aver­aged 24.2 points, 3.3 rebounds and 3.3 made 3s per 36 min­utes this month. Strong, right? Only Strawther aver­aged 27.6 points, 2.3 rebounds and 5.4 made treys per 36 in the ’23-’24 pre­sea­son — then got hurt and sort of fad­ed from the rotation.

Renck: Pro sports remain a hum­bling expe­ri­ence. In his last year at Gon­za­ga, Strawther pro­vid­ed a series of wows with clutch shots. In the NBA, he became a ghost. Coach Michael Mal­one was unable to trust him after he lost his range from dis­tance. How a young play­er responds to adver­si­ty often defines his career. After shoot­ing 29.7% from 3‑point range last year, Strawther took the hint and hit the gym. The dai­ly work is pay­ing off. He is 13 for 26 from the behind the arc this pre­sea­son. Fake games can give real impres­sions. Strawther has earned the right to start the sea­son as a vol­ume shoot­er for the sec­ond unit.

Keel­er: Strawther is one of sev­er­al what I call “Hat­te­berg” guys on the Nuggets’ ros­ter. Remem­ber the movie “Mon­ey­ball?” Strawther is sort of a Scott Hat­te­berg type, a build­ing block put in place by GM Calvin Booth who the coach/manager may not want to play. In the movie, fic­tion­al Ath­let­ics’ man­ag­er Art Howe refused to play Hat­te­berg, a walk-hap­py con­vert­ed catch­er, at first base even though that was the front office’s vision. Booth didn’t trade KCP, but he did trade Reg­gie Jack­son, and the idea was large­ly the same — to clear more min­utes for Strawther, Chris­t­ian Braun and Pey­ton Wat­son in the rota­tion because there aren’t any real alter­na­tives for Mal­one. For bet­ter or worse.

Renck: The con­cern is sim­ple. Strawther shot well in the exhi­bi­tion sea­son as a rook­ie. So, he has to prove this is not a mirage. But those watch­ing him believe he has turned a cor­ner. The real­i­ty is that it is dif­fi­cult to have con­fi­dence with­out results. Mal­one needs to design some ear­ly looks for him over the first few weeks to goose his scor­ing. The 22-year-old has the plat­form, now it is time to deliv­er. He has the tal­ent. The Nuggets ros­ter demands they show him patience, and on a team that must shoot and drain more 3s, Strawther rep­re­sents this team’s most obvi­ous X‑factor.

Keel­er: The Nuggets can win with­out being a “vol­ume” 3‑point shoot­ing team — Niko­la Jokic and Aaron Gor­don are THAT good, espe­cial­ly as a tan­dem. But I’m not sure Den­ver can win big, or even notch home-court for the play­offs in the West with­out Strawther mak­ing up at least some of those depart­ed KCP and R‑Jax treys. That sec­ond unit needs a long-range hero. Rus­sell West­brook needs snipers to feed. Strawther is long and strong, but he’s not an elite defend­er (yet). That shot’s either going to be his meal tick­et or his tick­et out­ta town.

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