If DaRon Holmes calls you a legend, don’t be too flattered.
It’s nothing personal. It’s just Holmes’ all-encompassing expression, his hello and goodbye. It started in high school. By the end of college, it was practically a comprehensive attitude on life.
“Every time he saw you, every time you did something, it’s: ‘You’re a legend. You’re a legend. You’re a legend,’” Dayton basketball assistant coach Ricardo Greer said, laughing.
“All my friends, we call each other kings and legends,” Holmes explained. “… So I always say to everybody, ‘You’re a legend.’ And the first time I say it, people are just happy, like, ‘Thank you, man!’ And then after a couple of times they’re like, ‘You call everybody this.’”
Denver’s newest rookie wields a friendly disposition to go with his versatile basketball skillset — characteristics that won over the Nuggets in equal measure this spring during the pre-draft process. They traded up six places in the first round Wednesday to select Holmes 22nd overall, their latest bet on non-lottery youth as a viable asset capable of contributing to championships.
Holmes is a player whose shape-shifting ability could position him to play right away. At 6-foot-9 without shoes, he occupies the awkward space between a power forward and small-ball center. Nuggets general manager Calvin Booth outlined a future this week in which Holmes can eventually start as an NBA four. It’s certainly easy to envision him defensively in lineups next to Nikola Jokic, who plays higher up the floor against ball screens than most centers. Holmes was an elite college rim protector and help defender who could rotate across the paint to anchor Denver behind the less vertically gifted Jokic.
For now, he seems just as well suited to space the floor as a center, which could help provide Denver’s second unit a fresh look. Dayton played a lot of five-out last season with Holmes, even entrusting him to bring the ball up and start the offense.
“I definitely see (playing the four) in the future, especially the way the game is now,” Holmes told The Denver Post this week. “You look at the Grizzlies. They just got Zach Edey. They’re probably gonna play him and JJ (Jaren Jackson Jr.) together. I think that’s perfectly fine for me. Small-ball five will be good at times. I don’t think that will be an all-time thing for me. I’m probably not gonna start at the five if I’m gonna be a starter (someday).”
Holmes grew up mostly in the Phoenix area. His mom coached him in YMCA hoops, but he didn’t instantly gravitate toward basketball as a dream career. He enjoyed playing soccer as well. Above all, his goal was to travel the world. Then he started to develop basketball talent, and as he put it, “I found out, hey, I can make money playing this thing. After I found that out, I was like, ‘I’ve gotta train as hard as I can.’ … If it’s anything to help out with everything, future family and all that type of stuff, I’m all in for it.”
Holmes transferred twice in high school, going from Arizona to Florida and back, before becoming the highest-ranked high school recruit to ever sign with the Flyers.
His full potential as a pro prospect was unlocked last season, when he started making 3s to round out his game. In his first two years at Dayton, Holmes was 27% beyond the arc. As a junior, he catapulted to 38.6% with a wide-base form that Booth compared to Al Horford’s.
Behind that improvement was a commitment to training that Denver loves to see in its draft targets.
“We did the same drill every night. And this was the first year I can truly say I was in the gym, dang near every day, and just getting up a lot of shots,” Holmes said. “I also was asking my coaches about just the little details I can fix on my shot.”
His standard regimen took anywhere from an hour to 90 minutes, usually after practice or otherwise the night before a game. It started with 10 shots from each of the five spots around the perimeter. Then a star drill. Then the same pair of exercises, repeated at the other end (but first, free throws in between). Then another drill in which he gradually slid his feet along the perimeter between every attempt, covering every inch of the arc until he hit 50 shots going corner to corner.
Then back the way he came. Another 50.
Then more free throws.
Then shots out of specific sets, like pick-and-pop 3s at game speed.
“My freshman and sophomore year, mainly the bigs would be in drop (coverage),” Holmes recalled. “I didn’t really even notice, because my mind was just: ‘Catch. Swing. What am I supposed to do next?’ … I was just trying to make sure I was doing everything right — which is good. You need to do a lot of things right. And then we looked at the film.”
Holmes remembers head coach Anthony Grant bringing him into his office, along with Greer, to show him how an improved shot could change the dimensions of Dayton’s offense. “I literally need to see how it can impact winning if I can bring that to the table,” Holmes said. “So they showed me how, if I’m able to knock down that shot, it will make the big come out. And if the big comes out, you have so many other options.”
With increased time in the gym came elevated confidence. That was the story of Holmes’ shooting evolution, but also of his entire development throughout college, from Greer’s perspective.
“The first year, I don’t think I heard him curse one time,” Greer said. “He would get mad, and he’ll go ‘Darn it’ or ‘Yeesh.’”
He was afraid of imperfection at first. Dayton allowed him to play through mistakes and mismatches, and he slowly learned to get over it. The growing pains are the pivotal moments that resonate with Holmes now. Early in his freshman season, Lipscomb’s 275-pound center went for 21 points, eight rebounds and three blocks against him. Dayton lost by 19.
A week later, he was the primary matchup against Belmont senior Nick Muszynski (245 pounds). Dayton escaped with a two-point win, but Holmes got demolished inside again.
“He was moving people with his arms,” Holmes said. “I will never forget, he had a play where he caught it on the right block, and I was trying to front him. And one of my teammates came to help me, and he literally had this arm right here and moved both of us. Hit a hook shot.
“This is when I’m a freshman, and I’m like, ‘I don’t know if I’m built for this.’ But all those moments really truly helped me out. Because I would go back and watch the film and see, ‘Hey, this is how you do handle those situations.’”
He learned to trust his IQ and talent eventually. Greer started to notice him swearing more — and calling people “legend” more — signs that Holmes was growing more comfortable in his own skin.
“The way he spoke to the team managers, the GAs (graduate assistants), the freshmen, all the way to his academic advisor — he always had that great personality in him,” Greer said. “Even when he started getting all his accolades, he was consistent. For me, you want the kid to be that way.”
Holmes’ rookie season in the NBA might resemble a reset of freshman year. But he wanted the opportunity to experience that in Denver, where he can observe “one of the best big men of all time.” He knew the Nuggets were especially interested in him during the pre-draft process, though he says he wasn’t sure if that interest was to the extent of a full promise.
“I’m here to have fun. I’m here to win. I’m here to get better,” Holmes said. “And if (people) do see me (in Denver), don’t be afraid to come up to me and say what’s up. I’m very cool, chill. I’m not the type of athlete that’s like, ‘Oh, I can’t talk to you.’ That doesn’t apply to me. My family raised me a way to be respectful to everybody.”
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Originally Published: June 29, 2024 at 5:45 a.m.
