‘The way Coach Few runs his ship is very similar’: Gonzaga experience helping Julian Strawther thrive in second NBA season
DALLAS – Former Gonzaga basketball star Julian Strawther is not unlike a lot of NBA players who remember the biggest difference between their first season and their second.
After a rookie season in Denver in which he averaged 4.5 points and 1.2 rebounds over 50 games, the former Zag likes where he is midway through his sophomore season as a Nugget.
“I feel like my biggest takeaway (from my rookie year) was how rocky it’s going to be and how many opportunities there are to go out there and prove yourself,” said Strawther, who spent three seasons at Gonzaga before going 29th overall in the 2023 NBA draft. “It’s different. In college, you get 30 games a year and (if you had) a bad game on a Saturday, you’ve got to wait until Thursday to redeem yourself. With the NBA, if you have a bad game on a Monday, you’re probably playing on a Tuesday or a Wednesday night, so you get a chance to redeem yourself and you just got to kind of ride with the wave.”
That realization, along with encouragement and trust from his veteran teammates, has made all the difference this season, Strawther said. After last week’s games, Strawther is averaging 9.5 points, 2.1 rebounds, and 1.4 assists.
At 36, Nuggets veteran center DeAndre Jordan is tied with Russell Westbrook for the oldest player on their roster, but the savvy big man who is in his 17th season in the league, likes the noticeable progression he’s seen from Strawther, especially on defense.
“Yeah, his growth on the defensive side of the basketball has gotten better,” Jordan said. “We’re not asking him to be an all-defensive team kind of player, but I think it’s just his awareness and studying of the scouting report has gotten a lot better. Once you play a lot of minutes (in this league), the game slows down for you and you see things that you probably wouldn’t have seen your first year. I think he’s gotten a lot better at that and, obviously, we rely on him to make shots and score the basketball for us, but it’s the other things that he has gotten better at that I personally love.”
Strawther agrees, crediting extra reps for the adjustments he’s made.
“I feel like we play a lot,” he said. “There’s a lot of live reps and structured workouts. Playing against live defense is obviously the best way to get used to that type of stuff. Being able to make a read instead of a coach telling you what to do and doing exactly that, having to make a read or having to adjust as a shooter, that helps a lot.”
In addition to leaning on his teammates for guidance, Strawther points to the tough love that coach Mike Malone – who led Denver to its first NBA title in franchise history in 2023 – showed in his first season, and the trust he’s showing now.
“He (Malone) has been amazing with his patience and ability to understand I’m a young guy and I’m going to make mistakes and throwing me in the fire,” he said. “I’ve been super grateful for that, because I feel like it’s the best experience and the best way to learn is to go through it.”
Making the jump from college to the NBA is always a big leap for any player. Strawther said he believes his three seasons in Spokane gave him a leg up on many of his fellow rookies last season because of how Gonzaga coach Mark Few runs his program.
“The way coach Few runs his ship is very similar to an NBA squad,” he said. “It’s always about playing the right way. I felt like coming into the NBA, I felt that I could mold with any group of guys and be able to understand the game, play the right way, play a role. At Gonzaga, your freshman year and as a sophomore and junior, you’re always going to expand your role. That’s kind of how I feel this year.”
And like his fellow Zags who he counts as NBA colleagues, every time the Bulldogs hit the hardwood, he casts a watchful eye toward Spokane or whatever West Coast Conference locale they happen to be playing in that night.
“I like the group that they got a lot, so I’m really confident in those guys,” he said. “It’s an older group, especially with Nolan (Hickman) and those guys who have been in the program for a while. I’m super excited. I always love watching them play. They play super hard and play with a lot of emotion this year. I think it will work out.”
Strawther has a good idea about what it is about Gonzaga players that allows them to stand out to NBA coaches and personnel types above most players from other programs.
“I think it’s character, honestly,” he said. “Even the Zags that I didn’t play with, didn’t share any time with, when I see them out here (in the NBA), it’s like a brotherhood,” he said. “A lot of programs call themselves a brotherhood, but I feel like Gonzaga’s the only school that actually has one.”
Stephen Hunt is a freelance writer based in Frisco, Texas.