Player Report Card: Reggie Evans

(Boulder-CO) When taking a closer look at Reggie Evans in relationship to the Denver Nuggets season one has to understand that he was fighting for light with the Defensive Player of the Year and Big Brazil shading all the sun. The Joker is a rebounding specialist, and with a majority of the rebounds being handled by the previously mentioned, Reggie’s services were often times not needed. But with the season-ending injury to Kenyon Martin coming within the first week of the season… the question of why is still in the mind of many Nuggets fans.

In 2006-07, Evans played in the fewest amount of games of his five-year career by only registering appearances in 66 games with eleven starts. In addition, Reggie also tied his career-low in average playing time with 17.1 minutes. His overall numbers were relatively on par for his career totals, (4.9 points and 7.0 rebounds), but there is a bigger story going on with Reggie Evans. Out of the 66 games he appeared in, 16 of those appearances were for what many would label, “garbage minutes”, and were for less than ten minutes per.

The main problem that I see with Reggie Evans is that he is very one dimensional on the offensive end. On the left side of the block, he is very capable of creating his own lay-up with a series of head-fakes that are usually intended for setting up an up-and-under move, but other than that single area on the offensive end, Reggie is relatively uncomfortable. The left handed Evans has a hard time making even the shortest of shots on the right hand side, (even off the offensive glass), and is horrendous from the free-throw line with a sub .500 percentage.

So, with the pending return of the untradable Kenyon Martin, the emergence of Nene, and the fan favorite Eduardo Najera all clogging up the four spot, I can not find any reason why the Nuggets would want to keep Reggie Evans for the duration of his five-year contract. He earned $4,000,000 big ones for his services last year, just below the mid-level exception, and could be a very intriguing trade for any team down at the bottom of the rebounding barrel. I’ll have more on how I think the Nuggets should wheel and deal this off-season, but Reggie Evans is definitely one of the more valuable commodities on their roster and if were to be combined with say, an unnamed starter, could fetch exactly what this team is lacking. As for what this team is lacking, feel free to discuss that topic in the comments section. I’m anxiously awaiting what all of you think is the absent major component.