Collin Gillespie adds an asterisk to his NBA title with the Nuggets

Watching, you saw the joy. Collin Gillespie looked as happy as any of his Denver Nuggets teammates on that podium, NBA champions. The rookie was in the thick of Monday night’s celebration just as he had been in college, celebrating Villanova’s 2018 NCAA title in San Antonio.

“It was different,” Gillespie said of 2018, coming off the bench as a Villanova freshman. “Because I was actually playing. Now, you’re part of it, but you’re not playing, so you’ve got to do other things.”

Gillespie answered his phone about 18 hours after Denver had taken out the Miami Heat in Game 5, securing the franchise’s first NBA title.

He’d slept?

“A little bit,” Gillespie said.

The fact that the Archbishop Wood High graduate — 2017 Philadelphia Catholic League champion, too — was on that podium offers a window into how Denver put this team together. A franchise that has tried to take the long view, estimating value years down the road, not counting on any quick fix. In addition to the Nuggets having the best player on the court in Nikola Jokić, it can be the little things that help explain a championship culture. Like how they treat literally the last player on the bench.

“It speaks volumes,” Gillespie said.

Apparently, Gillespie was someone Denver wanted even after he suffered a season-missing injury in circumstances that couldn’t have thrilled the franchise that had signed him to a free-agent contract as soon as he went undrafted in 2022.

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Gillespie was on a two-way contract, which essentially means you’re paid at one level for the time you’re on the NBA roster and a lesser amount for the days when you’re playing in the G League.

“Two-ways aren’t guaranteed,” Gillespie said, which he knew when he fractured his left leg just above the ankle last July playing with Villanova at a workout.

“The first thing, when I got hurt, I was really nervous,” he said. “I was like, I might be screwed here. It wasn’t like I was in Denver [when he got hurt]. I wasn’t doing something for their organization. … They just kind of kept their word. They said they were going to help me rehab, they weren’t going to let me go. I was just extremely grateful.”

He’d impressed already during the NBA Summer League. (One report: “Gillespie showed the ability to create a shot for himself and others.”) But now there was surgery, months off the court.

“I mean, it was hard,” Gillespie said. “This is probably the worst injury I’ve been through, getting back, trying to feel healthy again. I was told I would start to feel better after like six months-ish …”

After six months, there was still a “small little fracture.”

“It was a long process, a long journey, to feel like myself,” Gillespie said, using the word annoying several times. “Once you get through to the other side of it, it’s really a good feeling, breathe a little bit, check off boxes.”

Just over a month ago, he was cleared to fully practice. Even before then, Gillespie tried to do his bit. He was part of the scout-team process. In that role, “I know all the plays” for other teams, “if I know what they’re about to run, call it out. … Anybody playing, see what you see, give them what you see.”

It was fine doing that as a rookie?

“Sometimes these guys are in the heat of the game — obviously, they’re not going to hear everything,” Gillespie said. “I think our team, we had such an authentic team. Everybody had great relationships. If anyone saw anything that could help — they would want that advice. Mike Porter, he would always ask guys on the bench, ‘What do you see on my shots? Am I taking bad shots? Am I on balance?’”

A Villanova comparison for Gillespie would be Donte DiVincenzo in 2016, redshirting with an injury during that NCAA title run, eventually an important scout-team contributor, before DiVincenzo was named outstanding player of the 2018 Final Four.

This season, maybe the only time Gillespie was noticed on Denver’s bench came in January, Gillespie clapping for something on the court, Nuggets vet Jeff Green telling him, “Move out my spot.” Gillespie moved, saying, “Sorry, Dad.”

“It was funny,” Gillespie said. “I didn’t know he had a mic. He claims he told people he had a mic. I didn’t hear it. We all call him Unc or something, he’s the old guy on our team. I mess around with him because he’s a Georgetown guy. It wasn’t serious.”

The vet wasn’t demanding subservience from the rookie?

“No, nah,” Gillespie said. “We were just playing.”

From his perch, Gillespie took it all in.

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“One of the best teammates I’ve ever had,” Gillespie said of Jokić. “One of the most humble superstars you’ll ever have. He literally just wants to win. Everything you’ve heard about him is true. He doesn’t care about his own personal success. He cares about his family and his horses. Treats everyone the same. It’s cool to be around and watch him, see how he interacts with everyone, with respect.”

Jamal Murray, of course, was the other Nuggets star.

“Jamal was really cool to be around,” Gillespie said. Last summer, Murray also was rehabbing from a knee injury, so they talked a lot, sharing struggles — “just watching his work ethic. It’s weird. He’s two years older but he’s been in the league for seven years. I’m really close with Jamal. He’s been really cool.”

He’s naturally close with Christian Braun, another rookie, a big contributor to this title run. They were talking in the locker room the other day, Gillespie said, about how different the playoff run is from college, in the sense that if you lose once in college, you’re done — like in 2022 when Braun’s Kansas Jayhawks beat Villanova at the Final Four, before beating North Carolina to win the NCAA title.

“The journey of it, going through it, it’s not easy,” Gillespie said of the NBA playoffs. “To go through the season, then you have to win 16 games. Win four series, win four games in each. Really different. The team just got so much closer over the season, grew so much.”

Gillespie, fully cleared, will be back playing summer league. Trying to find his way to the roster and the court. No guarantees.

Safe to say he won’t be jumping into practices back at Villanova?

“Uh, I won’t be back at Villanova, like playing,” Gillespie said. “I’ll still be around, working out there individually. If Jalen [Brunson] is back, I love to work with him. Guys I played with, Jermaine [Samuels.] I won’t be stepping foot in there to play five-on-five until my career is over.”