Nuggets head coach Michael Malone was back on the sidelines for Thursday’s preseason finale after spending some time away from the team following the death of his father. However, even during his absence, Malone didn’t stop coaching his players, according to Bennett Durando of The Denver Post, who writes that the veteran coach sent a text message to two-way player Braxton Key before Tuesday’s preseason game telling him to slow down on offense.
“I was just doing some things that were uncharacteristic. Trying to do a little too much at the offensive end. So I listened to him,” said Key, who responded with 14 points and 10 rebounds on Tuesday vs. the Clippers.
As Durando notes, Key wasn’t the only young Nuggets player to get a message from Malone ahead of Tuesday’s contest. Michael channeled his late father Brendan in a text he sent to rookie Hunter Tyson.
“I said don’t ever lose your confidence,” Malone recalled. “That’s something my father told me for years. Don’t let anybody take away your confidence. I said, ‘Hunter, you’re a good shooter. And I see you hesitating now, I see you tentative.’ I said, ‘If you’re open, shoot the ball. Make or miss, shoot the ball. That’s what you do.'”
Tyson, who made just 9-of-28 field goal attempts (32.1%) and 5-of-19 three-pointers (26.3%) in his first three preseason games, responded by scoring 19 points on 6-of-12 shooting (3-of-7 threes), Durando writes.
Here’s more on the defending champions:
- Speaking to Mark Medina of Sportskeeda about a variety of topics, Nuggets wing Kentavious Caldwell-Pope expressed confidence in the team’s depth even after the offseason departures of key role players like Bruce Brown and Jeff Green. “We already know what Christian Braun can do with stepping into that role that Bruce had,” Caldwell-Pope said. “We’re still going to be great. I still feel we haven’t lost a step.”
- Nuggets star Nikola Jokic didn’t suit up for the Serbian national team in this year’s World Cup, but Bozidar Maljkovic, the president of the Olympic Committee of Serbia, expressed confidence in an interview with Juan Jimenez of AS.com that the two-time MVP will be playing in Paris in the 2024 Olympics, per BasketNews.com.
- Jamal Murray‘s torn ACL cost him a full regular season and two postseasons, but Jokic believes the guard has gotten to the point now where he’s even better than he was before the injury (story via TalkBasket.net). “He’s much better. Not even close. … Mature, experienced,” Jokic said. “I think just because the injury slowed him down, so he needed to read a little bit better. Maybe it sounds stupid, but the injury helped him.”
- As part of an interview with Katie Heindl of Uproxx, Murray said he appreciates how the Nuggets’ front office has handled its business since he joined the franchise. “These guys do a good job of communicating what’s happening or what they’re thinking,” Murray said. “I just like how they treat us like human beings that have families and lives and houses and mortgages and all that stuff, you know? It’s nice to get an update every once in a while about work.”
A repeat champion is one hardest things to accomplish. Nuggets are still in their prime. So have a good chance to do it. Imo MPj is the one who can still get better. He’s the key to me for this team. The West has a few contenders. And Nuggets have lost players who were a big part of their championship run. Should be fun to see how they do.
They’re going to probably need to make a trade for a depth piece at the TD. At least one, really. I’m not sold on the health or consistency of the roster as currently constructed. Ceiling is about the same, but the floor is lower.
Health and consistency relative to which team? Lakers? GSW? Suns? Any team can have injury problems, but out of those 4 I’d trust the nuggets most re health particularly.
They’re not among the most injury prone teams, but Porter being injured at some point is 100% guaranteed because of his back problems, Murray is one year removed from an ACL tear, and the rest of the roster isn’t immune. I’d also bet on Jokic missing at least some time this season. He’s been remarkable in terms of health for a player his size. Once you get to 6’11 and over 250, injuries will happen eventually.
However, the problem isn’t their starters. The Nuggets have as good a starting 5 as any team ever. It’s that they literally have one good bench player, Christian Braun.
Watson, Jackson, Jordan, Nnaji, and Holiday are all either unproven (Watson), inconsistent (Nnaji, dear god), or washed. And the rest are the same. Five rookies, Braxton Key who has 14 career games, and nothing else. Their depth is nonexistent. The Lakers are crazy deep. The Suns have enough pieces to at least back up their whole roster. The Warriors have one of the scariest second units in the league. The Nuggets have Christian Braun and a bunch of mid to bad players.
What they can do in the regular season isn’t in question. It’s how much they’ll have left come playoffs.
What would you expect the over under on games played for LBJ vs MPJ? It is a bit speculative to suggest MPJ will be injured bc he had a back problem in the past. James is 40, and he has already surpassed any reasonable career expectation. How long can he do the unimaginable? And as far as benches go, while I agree with your assessment on the unproven aspect, what would happen if nuggets and Lakers swapped players 6-15? I think we both know the narrative would be the same. Bruce Brown was good in the regular season and outstanding in the playoffs. Their issue will be replacing those playoff minutes and they have 82 games to figure it out