AURORA — In his last bit of summer fun, Nuggets guard Ty Lawson was the star attraction in a prep all-star game at Overland High School on Saturday.
And he wowed the crowd, playing sparingly but with every bit the impressive speed and court vision that he displays on NBA courts during the regular season. He is back in town for good now, because just 10 days remain before the Nuggets open training camp.
“We know about a lot of kids who are good,” Lawson said. “We just wanted to do something to get more exposure for them, come out and show their talents.”
At least 300 spectators turned out, and that resulted in a packed auxiliary gym at Overland. The game not only attracted talent such as Overland’s own De’Ron Davis and Doherty’s D’Shawn Schwartz, it brought in other interested players from across the city who simply came to watch. University of Colorado freshman point guard Dominique Collier was among those in the crowd.
“It was pretty fun,” said Davis, who has CU, Wake Forest and Arizona among the schools at the top of his recruiting list. “Usually in games like this, people don’t really go too hard. Everybody competed hard. Ty competed. (Basketball trainer) Nick Graham competed. It was just a good experience to showcase Colorado’s talent.”
Lawson spent the majority of his time setting up other players, something he’ll get into doing full time when the Nuggets’ season begins at the end of October. Right now, he says he’s ready for camp to get going for a Nuggets team that has designs on getting back into the Western Conference playoffs after missing them last season.
“I’ve been here for the last week-and-a-half, two weeks,” Lawson said, “just trying to get back in shape for the season. Next month is going to be crazy, so everybody had better be ready.”
Lawson says he returns to the team in similar shape as what he played in last season, when he set career highs in points and assists per game.
“I’m probably over by about four pounds,” Lawson said. “But that’s all. I always come back and work it off in one or two weeks and will be ready for training camp.”
Christopher Dempsey: cdempsey@denverpost.com or
