Kostas Papanikolaou was acquired by the Denver Nuggets in the trade that involved Ty Lawson going to the Rockets. Nuggets recently decided to waive the Papanikolaou which has now made him a free agent. Papanikolaou, age 25, has made noise around the league during his short tenure with the Houston Rockets last season as a rookie.
The 6’8 forward from Greece would help fill in the role of Mike Dunleavy Jr if he misses more than 10 weeks with the surgically repaired back. Papanikolaou averaged only 4.2 points per game on 35% shooting from the field. However, these stats won’t tell you the whole story; they’re more deceiving than you think.
Not many fans know about what’s going on in the Rockets locker-room besides fans living in Houston, but Papanikolaou was treated poorly by his teammates which resulted in his poor performance at times. When Papanikolaou was given fair minutes, the rookie performed at a high level. With his shooting not being his biggest strength, his ability to distribute the ball to his teammates left in the rotation despite adding Josh Smith to the roster.
Papanikolaou’s play last season has warranted him a chance to be invited to training camp from the Chicago Bulls. With Dunleavy out until mid to late December, Papanikolaou would be a good temporary option to have on the bench while Tony Snell and Doug McDermott try their best to fill in the hole at small-forward.
