If Jalen Pickett, Denver’s second selection in Thursday’s draft, needs time to develop in the G League with Grand Rapids Gold, he will be playing for a coach and former Nuggets guard with a comparable game.

“When he plays point guard, he reminds me a little of Andre Miller — long-time Nugget great — but he can also swing over and play some at the two. If you want to play a small lineup, you might be able to play him at the three,” Nuggets director of scouting Jim Clibanoff said in a video the team posted on social media.

“He’s not going to be an above-the-rim guy, (but he’s a) highly cerebral player.”

Like Miller, the 6-foot-4 guard from Penn State is comfortable with his back to the basket and plays at his own pace.

The Denver Gazette looked at two of Penn State’s biggest games and a career night from Pickett to gauge what kind of player he can be for the Nuggets as soon as next season.

Nov. 14: Penn State 68, Butler 62

This could’ve been the game that caught Calvin Booth’s eye. Pickett posted 15 points, 11 assists and 10 rebounds to become just the second Nittany Lion men’s basketball player to record a triple-double. Booth was the first, in 1998.

Pickett recorded his first assist 30 seconds in, operating a pick-and-pop with Caleb Dorsey. After drawing a double team near the baseline, Pickett makes the smart pass back to the wing for an open 3.

After missing a couple of shots, Pickett went back to pick-and-roll, though it wasn’t a typical drive after the screen. Pickett starts backing his defender down. He changes directions a couple of times before fading away to create separation for his first bucket.

Later in the first half, the Bulldogs force Pickett to navigate a screen on an in-bounds play. His man gets open, but Pickett recovers and forces a pass out of the post. Butler goes on to make a 3 on the play, but Pickett did his job to prevent a layup.

Pickett needed a put-back layup and hit a couple of free throws for six points before halftime, but he also grabbed nine of his rebounds and dished out seven of his assists in the first half. He grabbed his 10th rebound to complete the rare collegiate triple-double with more than five minutes left in the game.

It was the most impressive play from his eye-opening stat line, which also included two blocks and a steal.

March 16: No. 10 Penn State 76, No. 7 Texas A&M 59

A complete performance from Pickett allowed Penn State to cruise in its NCAA Tournament opener.

The Nittany Lions posted up Pickett on the left side on the game’s first possession, and he records the first of his assists by identifying where the Aggies’ help and hitting Kebba Njie in the paint for a layup. Pickett then spun out of a double team and found Andrew Funk, a sharpshooter who reportedly agreed to play with the Nuggets in Summer League, for a 3 before he scored his first bucket, a step-back midrange jumper from the left elbow.

Texas A&M tried to pressure Pickett’s dribble as the first half went on, but he handled it well by using his body to fend off defenders for a short jumper in the lane midway through the first half. A minute later, he got back in the paint and kicked it out to Seth Lundy, who hit the open 3. Pickett scored or recorded an assist on 13 of Penn State’s first 16 points.

Pickett got back into the paint for another assist and a layup that started with a perimeter post up and finished with a right-handed layup from the left side. He closed the first half by finding Funk for another 3 and passing out of another double team to Evan Mahaffey for a dunk that put Penn State up 16 points at halftime.

Penn State continued to increase the lead behind a three-point play and a 3-pointer from Pickett. While the defensive intensity seemed to wane with Penn State up comfortably late in the second half, Pickett played all 40 minutes and finished with 19 points on 7 of 18 shooting and dished out eight assists without a turnover to go with seven rebounds, guiding Penn State to the program’s first NCAA Tournament win since 2001.

March 18: No. 2 Texas 71, No. 10 Penn State 66

Pickett’s five-year college career ended in frustrating fashion.

His final college game got off to a promising start, using a screen and his patient approach to pick the right time to attack the paint for a left-handed layup to give the Nittany Lions an early lead. From there, things got a little sloppy. Pickett committed three turnovers, two of which were steals by Dylan Disu, in the first nine minutes. He got back to the foundation of his offensive game by attacking a switch and converting inside to keep the Nittany Lions with two points later in the first half.

Late in the first half, Texas tried Pickett defensively. The Longhorns ran Marcus Carr off a screen to free him of Pickett on an in-bounds play. Pickett recovered only to face another screen, which he navigated well. Carr, however, made the right pass at the right time to Disu and beat Penn State’s coverage for a layup. 

Pickett showed that he does have solid defensive instincts on the first play of the second half when he helped off his man and came up with a block on a rear contest. It looked a little like a play Bruce Brown made numerous times this season.

Pickett finished the game 5 of 13 from the field for 11 points. He added 10 rebounds, four of which came on the offensive glass, with one assist, one steal, one block and seven unsightly turnovers. The assist-to-turnover ratio could’ve been a little better, as he made multiple passes that could’ve been counted as assists.

The Nuggets are getting an interesting prospect with an unorthodox approach to either guard position. The comparisons to Miller and other big guards of prior eras are legitimate. Pickett seems most comfortable operating with his back to the basket and finishing around the rim. He’s a capable passer as both a creator and out of the post, which could fit with Denver’s small-ball second unit that could feature a lot of shooters.

The shooting runs hot and cold. While there wasn’t a highly efficient shooting night in any of the games we watched, Pickett did score 26 points in three straight conference games against Iowa, Michigan and No. 1 Purdue, while shooting 56.3% or better in all three games. He made 7 of 8 attempted 3s in that three-game stretch and scored a season-high 41 points on 20 shots against Illinois in February behind a 5-of-9 showing from 3. He finished a 38.1% shooter from 3 as a senior.

The defensive upside might be capped, because he’s not an elite athlete by NBA standards, but he showed an ability to play bigger than his listed height with active hands. He averaged 1.2 steals and 0.8 blocks in college.

Projecting his pro career is tricky due to the throwback nature of his game, but the Nuggets have made tricky fits work in the past. If Pickett’s not ready for the NBA as a rookie, there’s a guy in Grand Rapids who could figure out how to make his game work for the Nuggets.