Game 1 : Oklahoma City Thunder (0-0) @ Denver Nuggets (0-0)

[BelgradeNugget]

Zeke is a waste of time. We have more than enough of a sample size that says his ball skills (or complete lack thereof) will hurt us on offense in the long run. Vlatko is your bench PF.

The only reason Zeke should see the court is if Saric/Jokic are in foul trouble.

I think Zake could be usfull if properly used.
Simmilar to Westbrook situation, who was good in our 1st preseason game. He missed layups, had TOs, but had a ball in his hands with bench and had 8 ast. In our first regular season game he shoot poorly, had TO's but didn't had a ball in his hands. He was used as court spacer with Jokic in the low post. Or in 2 PGs lineup with Murray. How stupid it was?

So for Zake in his first 2 seasons he was used as court spacer, catch and shoot player, cutter. And he was good on O. Half of his shots came from 3. In the last 2 seasons he was used as C in pnr actions. He can't set a proper screen, he is not lob threat and can't finish around the rim through contact. Well, don't use him that way. Use him to his advantages. 40+% 3 pt shooter and one of the best offensive rebounder in the league (95%). Backdoor cutter. Play him with Jokic some and see what hapenes.

Defensively, as good as he is as O rebounder, he is terrible as D rebounder. But if you play him as PF with Saric at C it is not such a problem. And if you play Watson as SF he is good rebounder for his position. Also Zake was in 91% in the NBA as shot blocker last season. Him and PWat could be nightmare at the rim for opposing drivers.

So I'm not sure can Zake help, I would try to use him to his strenghts as see results. Vlatko is still not 100% after ACL injury and was bad for Slovenija, and in preasison. He needs time. Try Zake, but not as C but PF. If it doesn't work, go with Vlatko.

[famicommander]

Zeke has the ball skills of a buttered tree stump. That's why he can't play forward in this league. He can't catch, dribble, or pass to save his life. That's why they insist on playing him at C despite his inability to rebound or set good screens.

Citing his shooting splits from small samples two or three years ago is nonsense.

[BelgradeNugget]

Yes Zake can't catch, dribble, or pass. He can catch and shoot 3s. Those kind of players are called strech bigs. Power forwards whose main skill is shooting. You know like PJ Washington, Maxi Kleber in Dallas, G Williams (ex Boston), Jaylin Williams in OKC, Obi Toppin in Ind, Dean Wade... P.J. Tucker and Jae Crowder were good in that role...

Zake has 2 years as sample size, half his career, when he was played in that role to his strenght.

He can at least protect the rim (the best rim defense among Nuggets with PWatt) with his shooting.

Vlatko can move the ball...and that is it. Has sample size of 1 month (February of 2023) as NBA player, had ACL injury last season, missed a year, was terrible ever since. While Zake at least had 3/5 good games in presseason, Vlatko had 1. That is 1 passable game in 2 years. Good luck with that. Calling him "your bench PF" is utter nonsens. He is right there with Pickett as future Nuggets rotation players. But you know what. I would be more than happy to see him suceed because I like him as a person very much.