հ𱹴Dz has more hops than the entire Coors Brewery.
Coaches who crossed paths with him throughout a five-year college career each had their own epiphanies, when the full extent of his athleticism hit them — moments that lifted them out of their seats or lowered their jaws or left them with whiplash.
Usually, it was a searing dunk in front of a packed crowd somewhere in the SEC. In Ronnie Brewer’s case, it was a quieter occasion.
Brazile was relatively new at Arkansas, and Brewer already knew what the sophomore could do, having recruited him out of the transfer portal. But Brazile was still in the process of discovering his own powers. “I remember him coming out of practice one day, saying, ‘Shoot, coach, I can almost touch the top of the backboard,'” like the possibility had only just occurred to him, the Razorbacks assistant said. “I’m like, no way.”
So Brazile walked out from the locker room, sized up the stanchion and catapulted. Brewer watched in awe.
The half-measure of humility in Brazile’s claim was accurate. Almost the top.
“I thought he was athletic,” Brewer said. “I didn’t know he was that athletic.”
The Nuggets found themselves facing a shortage of above-the-rim athleticism as they evaluated their roster this offseason. It’s why they’re entering the NBA free agency window with Peyton Watson in mind as their top priority. And it’s why they snagged Brazile with the 35th pick in the draft last Wednesday, taking a chance on second-round talent for frontcourt depth.
If the 6-foot-9 forward can ascend from the G League ranks and earn playing time in Denver, like undrafted Spencer Jones over the last two seasons, Nuggets fans will get to experience the same epiphanies.
“He’s a first-round talent,” said Kenny Payne, another Arkansas assistant coach. “Lottery pick athleticism and talent. That’s what he is.”
‘There’s no lob that’s too high for him’
Payne’s favorite highlight was this March. He had already coached Brazile for most of two seasons since joining John Calipari’s staff in 2024. He was familiar with Brazile’s penchant for windmill dunks on fast breaks. The fifth-year senior had already compiled, as Brewer said, “an array of top-10 SportsCenter dunks.”
But he still was capable of catching Payne by surprise. He managed it this time with stand-still burst. It was the first half of a home game against Texas. Brazile screened and rolled for star teammate Darius Acuff Jr., catching a pass just outside the restricted area as Longhorns center Matas Vokietaitis showed and recovered across the lane to him. The 7-footer formed a wall between Brazile and the basket. He went vertical. .
“His feet were already planted,” Payne said. “So he caught the ball and just exploded. It was like he shot out of a rocket. To do that over a 7-footer without a step into it? He’s in a squatted stance, and the ball hit his hands and he just jumped. To be able to flush the ball — not just dunk it, to flush it — there weren’t five players in college basketball that could make that play.”
Two of Denver’s highest flyers spent last season grounded by injuries. Aaron Gordon missed 46 games and finished the playoffs in street clothes. Christian Braun missed 38 then struggled to play through a calf injury as the Nuggets faltered in the first round.
Their three-time MVP center, Nikola Jokic, prefers a floor-spacing arrangement that deploys someone in the dunker spot. It keeps the defense honest along the back line, often allowing him to choose between shooting his floater and lobbing an alley-oop, depending on how he’s guarded. But without an adequate vertical spacer available to him, his ability to punish a shrinking defense is compromised — as he realized at a season-defining moment in April.
As a second-round draftee on a playoff team, Brazile will have to find ways to be effective off the ball to stamp himself. His hops seem tailor made for the dunker spot.
“There’s no lob that’s too high for him,” Payne said. “He’ll be head above the rim at times.”
“I think he’ll take another step now in terms of the spacing at the NBA level,” said Cuonzo Martin, who coached Brazile his freshman year at Missouri and remains close with his family. “That’s where you see there’s a (small) percentage of guys that flourish when they leave college and go to the NBA level, because of the spacing. I think with him, playing with a player like Joker, who’s one of the greatest to ever play the game — great vision, a very willing passer — it’ll make Trevon’s job much easier in terms of lob passes. Back-door passes. It’ll be exciting because he’s still in his element, because he’s a guy who doesn’t have to have the ball. Some guys have to (play with) the ball. Some guys as shooters, they need to feel the ball every other time down.”
‘An unbelievable talent that needs nurturing’
Martin was reminded of his epiphany by Brazile’s father recently. It happened in December 2021, when the freshman put on a show in the “Braggin’ Rights” rivalry game between Missouri and Illinois.
Martin told the Brazile family after that game that “if he stays on this path, he’ll certainly be an NBA player.”
In the years that followed, Martin kept tabs on the Springfield, Missouri, native even though he wasn’t coaching him anymore. Sometimes, there was no escaping his former pupil. Brazile’s fast break dunks were “all over the internet,” Martin said, laughing.
Brazile also shot semi-efficiently from the 3-point line throughout college, which could give Denver more options on where to put him, if his methodical shooting form can translate to the next level. He finished his NCAA career 35.1% from deep. Brewer worked with him on adding layers to his perimeter game over the years, while advocating for Brazile to stay at Arkansas through ACL rehab and a coaching change. (Calipari replaced Eric Musselman two years ago.)
“If you can catch and shoot, that was the first level,” Brewer said. “The next level was the shot fake, one-dribble pull-up. The third was the shot fake, get to the rim and dunk. Then shot fake and be able to do a counter, whether that’s a euro (step), spin move, floater, whatever. It was pretty easy to coach because he’s a really talented basketball player.”
“He’s played in arguably the most athletic conference in the collegiate landscape,” Nuggets co-general manager Jon Wallace said. “He’s been coached well. You look at him as being like a modern-day NBA swing(man). Being able to get out on the perimeter, handle a little bit. He has the ability to hit shots. At the same time, defensively, he’s able to get back in the play. Rebound in and out of his area.”
For a “first-round talent” to be a consensus second-round pick, there must also be perceived flaws to the prospect, of course. ahead of the draft that Brazile’s feel for the game and inconsistent motor could hold him back. Payne says “digesting” the physicality of the NBA game will require resilience and an adjustment process for the 23-year-old, who’s lanky for a power forward.
“Everybody wants to question: They know his talent. They know he’s NBA athleticism. He’s going to answer the question of consistency, because it came up: Why, at times, were you inconsistent?” Payne said. “I think that’s the other step where he was headed (last season) and where he’s taking this — to be the best version of himself consistently.”
Payne admired Brazile’s willingness to embrace those questions, to be coached. By all accounts, he has a quiet and observant personality, but Payne and Brewer watched him gradually open up to them as he learned to trust their intentions.
“What you found is that here’s a kid who — as much as you think you’re evaluating the player — the player is evaluating us,” Payne said. “Are we nurturing men? Are we honest men? Are we telling the truth or are we liars? … You’re talking about an unbelievable athlete, an unbelievable talent that needs nurturing and help to take it to the next level. He can do it.
“I just think he’s one of those players that could be probably one of the steals of the draft.”
