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Nuggets’ Will Barton To Miss At Least Six Weeks

October 23rd, 2018 at 9:23am CST by Dana Gauruder

OCTOBER 23: Barton has undergone successful surgery to repair core and hip muscle injuries, according to the Nuggets, who noted in a press release that the veteran swingman will be re-evaluated in six weeks.

OCTOBER 22: Nuggets swingman Will Barton will have surgery for an adductor muscle injury on Tuesday and is expected to miss 5-6 weeks, ESPN’s Marc J. Spears tweets. The injury is in the right hip area.

Barton was off to a solid beginning as the team’s starting small forward. He averaged 16.5 PPG, 5.0 RPG and 3.0 APG during the team’s first two games before he felt something pop during the second half against Phoenix on Saturday. He missed Denver’s victory over Golden State on Sunday.

Barton, 27, averaged career highs in points (15.7) and assists (4.1) last season.

It’s unlikely Denver will pursue trade options unless the timetable for Barton’s injury changes. With the 6’6” Barton on the shelf, Torrey Craig, Juan Hernangomez and Malik Beasley will see an uptick in minutes.

The undrafted Craig, 27, broke into the league last season and started on Sunday. Hernangomez, a 2016 first-rounder, is a career 37.1% 3-point shooter. Beasley, another 2016 first-round pick, appeared in 62 games in reserve for Denver last season.

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Pacific Notes: Lakers’ Lineup, Green, Cousins, Crawford

October 22nd, 2018 at 8:57am CST by Arthur Hill

Lonzo Ball will take over Rajon Rondo‘s starting spot while he serves his suspension, but Lakers coach Luke Walton is still deciding who will fill in for Brandon Ingram, relays Mike Trudell of NBA.com. L.A. will be shorthanded for a while after suspensions were announced yesterday for Saturday night’s fight against the Rockets. Rondo has been docked three games for his role in the incident, while Ingram will miss four.

Walton has several options to slide into the starting lineup, with Josh Hart, Kyle Kuzma and Lance Stephenson all being considered. Hart, who is second on the team in scoring at 15.5 points per game and is hitting 40% of his threes, seems like the most likely choice, Trudell writes. Ball has been playing limited minutes in the wake of offseason knee surgery, but Walton said the coaching staff will consider changing that.

There’s more from the Pacific Division:

  • Warriors forward Draymond Green was critical of the short suspensions, telling Mark Medina of The San Jose Mercury News the league has a “double standard” in handing down punishments. Green suggested he would have been out longer if he had been involved and referred to his suspension in the 2016 NBA Finals. “I’m never in favor of guys losing money,” he said. “But I got suspended in the NBA Finals for attempting to punch somebody. Guys punching each other are getting two games or three games. I attempted to punch somebody, and not in the face, either.”
  • Nuggets coach Mike Malone, who had plenty of experience with DeMarcus Cousins when they were together in Sacramento, thinks he will benefit from joining an established winner like the Warriors, Medina writes in a separate story. Malone calls Cousins “misunderstood” and says he was always professional in his approach to the game. “If the jump ball went up, I never had to worry about if he was going to be ready to play,” Malone said. “My challenge to him was to get him to be the best version of himself.”
  • Devin Booker is thrilled that the Suns were able to add Jamal Crawford, according to Cody Cunningham of NBA.com. Phoenix signed the former Sixth Man of the Year last week to help stabilize its backcourt. “Somebody that I idolized growing up,” Booker said of Crawford. “People just all see his handles, but he’s a player… He’s a good veteran, good guy. He loves basketball. So I think we’ll relate very well.”
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WNBA Star Sue Bird To Meet With Nuggets

October 21st, 2018 at 3:22pm CST by JD Shaw
  • WNBA star Sue Bird is meeting with the Nuggets executive staff this week, which could turn into a job with the team, Chris Dempsey of Nuggets.com reports (Twitter link). Bird is still an active WNBA player, meaning she cannot work full-time with the organization.
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Will Barton Suffers Hip Injury

October 21st, 2018 at 10:57am CST by Arthur Hill
  • An MRI is scheduled today for Nuggets guard Will Barton, who had to be taken off the court in a wheelchair after hurting his hip Saturday, according to an ESPN report. Barton fell to the floor after making a layup in the third quarter and said he heard a pop when he started to jump. Barton signed a four-year, $54MM deal over the summer and entered this season as a full-time starter for the first time in his career.
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Nuggets, Michael Malone Agree To Extension

October 17th, 2018 at 1:29pm CST by Luke Adams

The Nuggets have extended the contract of their head coach, announcing today (via Twitter) that they’ve reached on a new deal with Michael Malone. Details of the extension weren’t disclosed by the team, but ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski tweets that it adds two years to Malone’s current contract, locking him up through the 2020/21 season.

“I never had any doubt that this would get done,” Malone said today, per Chris Dempsey of Altitude Sports (Twitter link). “My conversations and relationship with [president of basketball operations] Tim [Connelly] and [owner] Josh [Kroenke] throughout the summer have been nothing but positive.”

Malone, who served as the Kings’ head coach for a season and a half before joining the Nuggets, has helped the franchise improve its record in each of the last three years. After moving on from Brian Shaw and interim coach Melvin Hunt in 2015, Denver increase its win total from 30 to 33 in its first season under Malone, then won 40 games in 2016/17 and 46 in 2017/18.

In total, Malone has a 119-127 record for the Nuggets. Although he has yet to lead the team to the postseason, the organization is trending in the right direction. Denver missed out on a playoff spot by losing to Minnesota on the last day of the regular season in 2017/18, but is viewed as a probable playoff team for the coming season.

Malone’s original contract with the Nuggets was a three-year deal with an option for a fourth year. Denver picked up that fourth-year option for 2018/19 over a year ago, so Malone would have been on an expiring contract this season if not for his new extension.

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Nuggets Have One Of NBA's Youngest Rosters

October 16th, 2018 at 3:15pm CST by Luke Adams
  • Bobby Marks of ESPN.com passes along some interesting data on the NBA’s opening-night rosters, tweeting that the Nuggets, Knicks, and Trail Blazers have the youngest rosters, while the Rockets, Heat, and Mavericks are on the other end of the spectrum. Meanwhile, the NBA announces that the opening-night rosters feature a total of 108 international players from 42 different countries and territories.
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2018/19 Over/Unders: Northwest Division

October 16th, 2018 at 11:42am CST by Luke Adams

The 2018/19 NBA regular season gets underway tonight, which means it’s time to get serious about predictions for the upcoming campaign. With the help of the lines from Bovada and the Westgate Las Vegas SuperBook, we’re running through the predicted win totals for each of the NBA’s 30 teams, by division, to have you weigh in on whether you think those forecasts are too optimistic or too pessimistic.

Having already looked at the other five divisions, we’re moving onto the Northwest today…

Utah Jazz

(Trade Rumors app users, click here for Jazz poll)

Oklahoma City Thunder

(Trade Rumors app users, click here for Thunder poll)

Denver Nuggets

(Trade Rumors app users, click here for Nuggets poll)

Portland Trail Blazers

(Trade Rumors app users, click here for Trail Blazers poll)

Minnesota Timberwolves

(Trade Rumors app users, click here for Timberwolves poll)

Previous voting results:

Atlantic:

  • Boston Celtics (59.5 wins): Over (53.63%)
  • Toronto Raptors (55.5 wins): Over (56.95%)
  • Philadelphia 76ers (54.5 wins): Under (51.19%)
  • Brooklyn Nets (31.5 wins): Under (56.04%)
  • New York Knicks (28.5 wins): Under (54.13%)

Southwest:

  • Houston Rockets (56.5 wins): Over (69.33%)
  • New Orleans Pelicans (45.5 wins): Under (53.4%)
  • San Antonio Spurs (44.5 wins): Under (60%)
  • Dallas Mavericks (34.5 wins): Over (55.16%)
  • Memphis Grizzlies (34.5 wins): Under (60.87%)

Central:

  • Indiana Pacers (47.5 wins): Over (62.04%)
  • Milwaukee Bucks (47.5 wins): Over (73.7%)
  • Detroit Pistons (38.5 wins): Over (56.36%)
  • Cleveland Cavaliers (30.5 wins): Over (55.42%)
  • Chicago Bulls (29.5 wins): Over (61.8%)

Pacific:

  • Golden State Warriors (62.5 wins): Over (53.45%)
  • Los Angeles Lakers (48.5 wins): Over (55.2%)
  • Los Angeles Clippers (36.5 wins): Under (55.7%)
  • Phoenix Suns (29.5 wins): Under (53.4%)
  • Sacramento Kings (25.5 wins): Under (63.87%)

Southeast:

  • Washington Wizards (45.5 wins): Over (56.28%)
  • Miami Heat (43.5 wins): Under (57.42%)
  • Charlotte Hornets (35.5 wins): Over (56.73%)
  • Orlando Magic (30.5 wins): Under (68.41%)
  • Atlanta Hawks (23.5 wins): Under (58.38%
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Richard Jefferson Announces Retirement

October 13th, 2018 at 5:55pm CST by Arthur Hill

Richard Jefferson has retired after 17 NBA seasons and appears headed for a job in television, tweets Marc Stein of The New York Times. Jefferson published a post on Instagram in which he announced his decision.

Jefferson, 38, played with eight teams during his 17-year NBA career after breaking in with the Nets in 2001. He reached the NBA Finals twice in New Jersey, then won a title in 2016 with the Cavaliers. After winning that championship two years ago, Jefferson announced during Cleveland’s locker room celebration that he was planning to retire, but changed his mind and returned for two more years.

In 1,181 career regular season games, Jefferson recorded averages of 12.6 PPG, 4.0 RPG, and 2.0 APG. His most productive seasons came with the Nets, including an impressive 2007/08 showing in which he put up 22.6 PPG, 4.2 RPG, and 3.1 APG with a .466/.362/.798 shooting line. The former University of Arizona standout also appeared in 140 total postseason contests.

Jefferson wrapped up his his NBA career with the Nuggets last season, but was barely used, appearing in just 20 games and averaging 8.2 minutes per night. The veteran forward wasn’t in training camp with anyone this fall and decided to move on to his next job.

Jefferson’s next job may see him heading back to New York to cover his old team, the Nets. A September report suggested that he was leaning toward joining the YES Network team for Nets broadcasts unless he received an NBA contract offer. According to a separate report, Jefferson – who co-hosts a podcast with Channing Frye – also received TV interest from ESPN and for Clippers game broadcasts.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

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Nuggets Waive Donald Sloan, Xavier Silas

October 12th, 2018 at 11:17pm CST by Dana Gauruder

11:17pm: The Nuggets have confirmed Sloan’s release and also announced that they’ve waived Xavier Silas too (Twitter link). The moves reduce Denver’s roster to 15 players on standard contracts and a pair on two-way deals, so the club is at the regular season roster limit.

8:51pm: The Nuggets have waived guard Donald Sloan, Hoops Rumors’ JD Shaw tweets.

The move reduces Denver’s camp roster to 18 players. It waived forward Emanuel Terry earlier this week.

Sloan, 30, has played more than 200 regular season games over the course of his career, but hasn’t appeared in an NBA regular-season contest since 2015/16, when he saw action in 61 games for the Nets.

Last season, he averaged 18.8 PPG, 5.5 APG, and 4.2 RPG in 24 games (34.6 MPG) for the Texas Legends, Dallas’ G League affiliate, before heading to China for a third stint with the Guangdong Southern Tigers.

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Nuggets Waive Forward Emanuel Terry

October 8th, 2018 at 8:30pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Nuggets have waived forward Emanuel Terry, according to NBA.com’s transactions log.

Terry signed a training camp deal in early August. With 15 players on guaranteed contracts in Denver, he had little hope of making the team’s opening night roster. The Nuggets could retain Terry’s G League rights if he clears waivers.

The 6’9” Terry made a good impression during summer league action with Denver, posting averages of 7.4 PPG and 5.0 RPG while shooting 61% from the field in 17.6 MPG over five games.

Terry, 22, defied the odds by landing an NBA contract after going undrafted out of a Division II program. He played four seasons at Lincoln Memorial, averaging 16.9 PPG, 10.3 RPG and 2.2 BPG in his senior year.

 

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