Kenneth Faried, who had some issues with former Nuggets coach Brian Shaw, likes the direction the team seems to be headed in and is surprised by the decent record so far under new coach Michael Malone, Christopher Dempsey of the Denver Post details.
“Coming out, I felt that we were going to struggle at first,” Faried said. “And we’ve had our struggles, but we’re 6-6. If you would have told me at the beginning of the season, ‘Oh, the Nuggets will be 6-6 and ahead of a lot of people in the West,’ I would have said ‘all right.’”
Here’s more from around the Northwest Division:
- The Thunder recalled small forward Josh Huestis from the D-League, the team announced in a press release. Huestis has appeared in three games in the D-League this season, averaging 7.7 points and 3.7 rebounds in 29.3 minutes per game.
- Noah Vonleh, on whom the Blazers exercised their rookie scale team option for the 2016/17 season in September, is one of the team’s younger players who has developed through putting in extra practice time, Jason Quick of CSNNW.com writes in a three-part series on how the team is improving. While the team’s younger players show up well before practice, the veterans have logged hours after practice and both groups are vital parts of the Blazers’ rebuilding process, Quick adds.