Every week during the offseason, Denver Gazette beat writer Vinny Benedetto takes you around the NBA and inside the Nuggets:

Julian Strawther found enough water in the desert to grow his game.

Right after the Nuggets selected the Gonzaga University wing with the 29th overall pick and introduced him to the franchise in Denver, it was back to Strawther’s hometown of Las Vegas.

“Summer League, I was just getting my feet wet,” the rookie said after Sunday’s preseason game. “There’s a lot of nerves and getting used to the NBA game. Obviously, you go straight from draft to kind of getting thrown out there, and there’s a lot of expectations.”

There’s not much time to fill out a Summer League roster, get all the players to Denver and install much of an offense between the June 22 draft and the Nuggets’ first Summer League game on July 7. Strawther was satisfied with his Summer League showing. He put up 18.2 points, 4.6 rebounds and 1.8 assists per game.

He’s showing even more in the preseason after learning how the Nuggets truly operate.

“I’ve just grown like a bunch of confidence, and I’ve been able to show that out on the floor,” Strawther said.

In his first three preseason games playing against real NBA competition, Strawther’s putting up 19.7 points per game. After shooting 40% from the field and 34% from 3-point range in five Summer League games, Strawther’s shooting 58.3% from the field and 50% from 3 in the preseason. He’s committed one turnover in 66 minutes.

“Young fella is pretty good,” acting head coach David Adelman said Sunday after Strawther dropped 23 points on the Bulls.

It was the Nuggets’ second game against Chicago in four days. Strawther scored 16 points on nine shots Thursday in Chicago.

“Their antennas were up, and he still found a way to be really efficient,” Adelman said.

It’s not just the shooting that’s promising. During limited minutes playing alongside the starters, Strawther showed comfort playing with Nikola Jokic. Strawther’s already cut to the basket for a couple of easy scores off Jokic assists, a move past Nuggets took time to learn.

“I think he probably watched us play or whatever. The coaches did a really good job of explaining (to) him how we are playing,” Jokic said Monday.

“He buys into (the) system.”

Adelman believes part of that comes down to Strawther’s three years at Gonzaga. He played in 11 NCAA Tournament games for the Bulldogs and played alongside future NBA talents like Jalen Suggs, Andrew Nembhard, Corey Kispert and Chet Holmgren during his time in Spokane.

The Nuggets’ juggernaut offense is familiar to Strawther, who saw his Gonzaga teams finish No. 1, 3 and 1 nationally in offensive efficiency.

“He’s from a great program, a well-coached program,” Adelman said. “I think just some guys, they get to us, and they discover they have something that maybe they didn’t know. I think he always had it.”

He started to show it at Summer League, made the most of his time before training camp and is reaping the rewards in the preseason. After Strawther took 12 shots in his preseason debut, Adelman joked to the rookie he would never run that many plays for him again. Then came Sunday, when Strawther got 15 shots. Adelman joked on his way out of his postgame press conference Sunday that he ran nearly 100 plays for Strawther.

“I don’t know how many times he’s going to keep doubling down on that, but nah, I appreciate it for sure,” Strawther said.

He also appreciates the Nuggets approach to basketball, an unselfish philosophy that mirrors his experience at Gonzaga. It provides water for the hot hand to continue to grow his game.

“If someone got it going, I feel like this team does a great job of just finding that guy whoever it may be. I feel like once I got it going, they hunted me out, and they’re going to see how long I can ride it,” he said. “I’m just going to keep on going and keep on pushing.”

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WHAT I’M THINKING

The easiest way for Michael Malone to figure out his eventual rotations will be to keep things fluid early in the season.

Entering the season, the Nuggets coach has maintained Christian Braun is the only reserve with a solid standing in the second unit. Braun’s yet to play this preseason with a calf contusion. The best-case scenario is the second-year wing plays in Denver’s final preseason game Thursday against the Clippers. Malone is yet to coach the team in preseason. The plan is for him to meet the team in Los Angeles following his father’s funeral services.

Malone returns to a team with a handful of guys vying for the few spots left in the regular rotation. Last season started with a nine- or 10-man rotation. It got cut down to eight, with Jeff Green and Bruce Brown joining Braun off the bench for most of the playoffs. Coming off the championship and short offseason, the Nuggets must utilize the first few months of the regular season to figure out their bench plans. There’s no shortage of possible permutations. Most positions feature an established veteran and a younger player who’s showed promise in Summer League and/or preseason.

At point guard, there’s Reggie Jackson, who’s played in 75 playoff games across his stops with the Thunder, Pistons, Clippers and Nuggets, and rookie Jalen Pickett. Jackson will benefit from a full offseason, training camp and preseason with the Nuggets after joining the franchise late last regular season. Jackson was the first guard off the bench in both the preseason games he’s played, but Pickett has made a solid case with a 3-for-7 start from 3-point range with five assists and just one turnover in 51 preseason minutes.

The plan is for Braun to be the back-up shooting guard, leaving a bunch of guys competing for playing time at the forward positions.

Justin Holiday’s the veteran at small forward. The 34-year-old has been an obvious culture fit on and off the court in his short time with the Nuggets. He’s filled out the starting five in all three preseason games with Michael Porter Jr. sidelined with an ankle injury. Holiday shouldn’t be comfortable just because he’s starting, considering the argument Julian Strawther has made in the preseason.

The power forward position features a pair of young players in Vlatko Cancar’s absence, and neither are necessarily true fours. Peyton Watson said he put on nearly 20 pounds of muscle this offseason, but he’s still slight to play the position the same way Aaron Gordon does. Hunter Tyson’s the better bet if the Nuggets want more of a floor spacer. The rookie shot 50% from 3 on more than seven attempts per game at Summer League. Preseason hasn’t started as lethally, but the team has expressed a lot of confidence in Tyson’s shot.

The center debate looks a lot like last year with DeAndre Jordan and Zeke Nnaji providing much different skillsets. Jordan’s ability to roll and be a lob threat puts a lot of pressure on the rim, while Nnaji, who shot 40% or better from 3 in each of his first two seasons, said he feels comfortable after reworking his jumper over the last year. Jordan’s also better around the rim defensively, while Nnaji provides the team an ability to switch every screen when he’s on the floor. Malone said he plans to play the matchups this regular season.

It makes sense to give the young guys a shot early in the season to see if the momentum carries over. If it doesn’t work out, they can hit the G League to continue their development, while the veterans carry most of the bench’s responsibilities as the team gears up for what it hopes is another long postseason run.

At least, Malone’s starters are settled.

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WHAT I’M READING

Bulletin-board material made its return this week, as ESPN unveiled the top 10 players in their ranking of the league’s best players. Be warned, Nuggets fans, Nikola Jokic is not considered the best player in the world.

There’s plenty of other conversation-inducing rankings throughout the list, which is broken into three pieces. The Nuggets finish with four players in the top 100.

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WHAT THEY’RE SAYING

Hunter Tyson and former Nugget Torrey Craig went at it throughout Sunday’s exhibition. Tempers flared when Craig fouled Tyson, and the two went nose-to-nose before being separated.

“Hunter’s a tough kid, and we all know Torrey. He’s tough as well. Those are two people that are not going to back down,” Adelman said. “They’ll probably end up loving each other and respecting each other even more because it happened. People’s personalities are what they are, and Hunter’s pretty tough.”

That’s helped the 23-year-old listed at 6-foot-8 and 215 pounds survive life at the ‘4’ as a professional power forward.

“I thought he handled it better tonight. It’s just getting used to it. You’re getting hammered and hit, and then we’re telling you, ‘You better make an open shot.’ I think that takes time and experience. He’s going to have that this preseason and throughout the year wherever he’s playing. Really good night for him, a physical night,” Adelman said.

“His shot looked really smooth tonight, like it’s looked throughout Summer League all the way up until training camp.”

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THE LIST

The biggest winners of the Nuggets’ preseason:

1. Julian Strawther

See above.

2. David Adelman

The lead assistant’s chances to assume the head coach’s chair in Denver have always come via unfortunate circumstances, whether its COVID or a death in the family, but he’s filled in admirably when afforded the opportunity. He said Monday he’s still not used to sitting in the big chair and answering questions from the media, but he better get used to it. The guy they call “DA” will be the next to leave Malone’s bench to build a coaching staff of his own.

3. Jamal Murray

Murray laughed at the reporter (me) who suggested he looked lively in the preseason. Murray maintained he has another gear or two before he gets up to top speed. If that’s the case, watch out, because Murray’s continued his postseason game, putting up five assists in limited minutes in all of Denver’s preseason games.

4. Zeke Nnaji

The forward who’s still only 22 showed something different, in addition to the defensive versatility, throughout the preseason. He opened with 17 points on eight shots against Phoenix, a game where he got to the line seven times. He took four more free throws in the first game against the Bulls. Sunday, he flashed a little more rim protection with four blocks and added three assists.

5. Braxton Key

A bit of a deep cut, but the two-way player made impressive plays when given the chance in Denver’s first two games. Against the Suns, it was a nice drive-and-kick to Strawther for a 3. In Game 2, Key forced overtime against the Bulls with an improbable tip-in off an in-bounds pass with under a second left. The Nuggets have also used the 6-foot-8 forward as a small-ball center. That versatility should help his cause as he splits his season between Denver and the team’s G League affiliate in Grand Rapids, Mich.