Denver Nuggets Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Pistons Hire Ben Wallace In Advisory Role

October 8th, 2021 at 12:39pm CST by Luke Adams

The Pistons have given Ben Wallace a formal role within the organization, hiring him as a basketball operations and team engagement advisor, according to a press release.

Wallace’s new position will see him assist general manager Troy Weaver and the front office, as well as head coach Dwane Casey and the coaching staff. He’ll be a mentor and a “development asset” for players at both the NBA and G League level, according to the team.

“Ben is a Hall of Famer and a Pistons legend who has continued to come back home and support our team and our organization,” team owner Tom Gores said of Wallace, who won a title with the franchise in 2004. “He embodies everything we are building here and will be a real asset to Dwane, Troy and the rest of our staff. Ben helped set the standard for what it means to be a Piston and will be a tremendous influence for our young players.”

Although Wallace didn’t have an official position in Detroit’s front office until now, he has remained connected to the team in recent years. In 2018, he became a part-owner of the Grand Rapids Drive, a G League franchise that was the Pistons’ affiliate up until last season.

Grand Rapids has since rebranded as the Gold and is now affiliated with the Nuggets, so Wallace has divested himself of his stake in the NBAGL franchise in order to officially join the Pistons, tweets Marc J. Spears of The Undefeated. Detroit has a new G League affiliate, the Motor City Cruise.

Nuggets Notes: Gordon, Rivers, Malone, Three-Point Shooting

October 3rd, 2021 at 11:57am CST by Arthur Hill

Aaron Gordon was thrilled to get an opportunity to make it past the first round of the playoffs after being traded to the Nuggets last season, but he was disappointed in how he performed in the postseason, writes Mike Singer of The Denver Post. His role on the team changed after the injury to Jamal Murray and he wasn’t as productive as he had hoped to be, particularly in the second-round sweep by the Suns.

“I felt disgusting coming out of those playoffs,” said Gordon, who used the experience as motivation to prepare for the new season. “I felt like my touch was gone, I felt like I wasn’t playing to the capability that I know that I can. It was ugly, especially that Phoenix game. And then I was just worn down.”

Part of the problem was a lingering hamstring injury that Gordon suffered after the NBA’s restart in 2020. He was also dealing with a sore ankle that left him feeling less than 100% all season.

“Last offseason, I had popped my hamstring in the bubble, so I couldn’t do anything over the summer,” he said. “I could barely run, I could barely walk. I couldn’t do anything. My mind was out of it, especially coming out of that bubble. Quick turnaround (to the new season). My fire, my passion, my drive just wasn’t there. I’m so (freaking) excited that Denver brought me in and has embraced me because it’s given me new life. It’s really lit my fire being around all these dudes that can play so well, and love the game, and love to win, like true competitors.”

There’s more from Denver:

In a podcast with Singer, Austin Rivers discusses the unexpected instability of his NBA career and the shock of being out of the league when he was traded and waived last March. He signed with the Nuggets in April and got a new contract during the summer, but he’s approaching the new season like he needs to prove he belongs. “I’m not any more comfortable now than I was a year ago,” Rivers said. “I’m still treating this like this is my last shot.”
Reigning MVP Nikola Jokic is away from the team for the birth of a child and won’t play in Monday’s preseason opener. But the contest is still important to coach Michael Malone, who tells Eric Spyropoulos of NBA.com, “Preseason games are never about wins and losses, but every time we go on that floor, it’s an opportunity for us to establish our identity.”
Malone is hoping to expand the use of the three-point shot this season, and that was part of the focus of Saturday’s practice, Spyropoulos adds. The Nuggets were a top 10 team in three-point percentage last season at 37.7%. “We got a lot of threes up, but it’s about making sure we’re generating the right threes off of ball movement and off of the ball touching the paint,” Malone said.

Bol Bol Looking Sharp In Camp

October 2nd, 2021 at 11:59am CST by Dana Gauruder

Bol Bol has only appeared in 39 regular-season games since entering the league in 2019 as a second-round pick. The Nuggets center appears poised for a bigger role in his third season, as Mike Singer of the Denver Post details. The son of Manute Bol has made a strong impression during camp.

“I think Bol Bol’s had a really good camp and a consistent camp,” Nuggets coach Michael Malone said. “When people ask me about Bol, it’s never about is he talented enough. It’s about, is he willing to do the little things and be consistent with his effort … After three, four days, whatever it’s been, I think Bol’s effort has been really good.”

Northwest Notes: Morris, MPJ, Powell, Beverley

October 1st, 2021 at 12:42pm CST by Luke Adams

The Nuggets haven’t made it official yet, but it certainly appears that Monte Morris is on track to claim a spot in the team’s starting lineup while Jamal Murray recovers from ACL surgery. As Mike Singer of The Denver Post writes, head coach Michael Malone said this week that he’s “extremely confident” in Morris’ ability and wants the 26-year-old point guard to get comfortable running the first-team offense.

“It’s just a matter of (Morris) playing with aggression and confidence, playing with that attack mindset and being more vocal on the floor to run his team,” Malone said. “And that’s not easy, especially when you’re playing with the reigning MVP. And I tell him sometimes, ‘Hey, tell Nikola (Jokic) where you want him.’ I say, ‘That’s your job as a point guard,’ and I think he’s embracing that.”

There’s no set timeline for Murray’s return, and it seems unlikely that we’ll see him back on the court until at least the spring, so assuming Morris is named the Nuggets’ starting point guard, it’s a job he could hang onto all season.

Here’s more from around the Northwest:

ESPN’s Bobby Marks (Instagram video) provides some more details on how Nuggets forward Michael Porter Jr. can bump the $12MM partial guarantee on the fifth year of his new contract extension to a full $39.3MM guarantee. Porter could get that full guarantee if he earns two All-Stars berths or a single All-NBA or All-Defense nod before then. He’d also get the full fifth-year amount if Denver wins a title and he meets certain games-played thresholds during that season.
After initially arriving in Portland with less than two months left in the 2021/22 season, Norman Powell said this week that life with the Trail Blazers is “starting to feel natural and normal to me,” per Aaron Fentress of The Oregonian. Like some of his teammates, Powell is excited about how new head coach Chauncey Billups plans to use him. “It’s only the first two days but I’m definitely feeling included on the offensive side of the ball,” Powell said.
New Timberwolves guard Patrick Beverley said on Thursday that when he and the Clippers couldn’t agree on an extension this summer, the team asked him where else he might like to play and he put Minnesota “in my top three, my top two I believe” (link via Chris Hine of The Star Tribune). While it’s a little hard to believe Beverley was so bullish on the idea of joining a small-market team that has made the postseason just once since 2004, he expressed enthusiasm this week about being a mentor to the Wolves’ young guards and bringing some “intensity” to the team.

Ryan Saunders At Nuggets' Training Camp

September 30th, 2021 at 9:02am CST by Luke Adams

Former Timberwolves head coach Ryan Saunders is in attendance at the Nuggets‘ training camp this week, tweets Darren Wolfson of 5 Eyewitness News. As Wolfson explains, Saunders is close with Denver head coach Michael Malone and executives Tim Connelly and Calvin Booth.

Nuggets Notes: Porter Jr., Vaccine, Green, Hyland

September 29th, 2021 at 8:01pm CST by Arthur Hill

After news broke Monday of a max extension for Michael Porter Jr., he thought of the difficult journey it took to reach this point, writes Mike Singer of The Denver Post. There were serious questions about Porter’s long-term health heading into the 2018 draft after he injured his back in college. After being in consideration for the top pick when the season began, Porter slipped all the way to No. 14, where the Nuggets nabbed him as a long-term investment.

“I think it’s a lot more gratifying,” Porter said. “I’m one of those dudes, that even growing up, I didn’t think of it like, ‘Dang, I’m going to be making millions of dollars when I go to the NBA.’ I thought of it as, ‘Dang, I’m going to get to play against LeBron (James), (Kevin Durant).’ It was never about the money for me. … The road that I took made it so much more gratifying.”

After sitting out his first NBA season, Porter showed signs of stardom in 2019/20 and followed that with a breakthrough year, averaging 19.0 points and 7.3 rebounds per game last season. He said that after learning of his extension, he called Jamal Murray and texted Nikola Jokic. They are the core that Nuggets management hopes will bring the franchise its first NBA title.

“We’re good to go,” Porter said. “Us three right there, when you’ve got (Aaron Gordon), you’ve got Will (Barton), Monte (Morris), we’re locked in. We know we’re going to be good. We know we’re going to be nice for years to come. … They didn’t pay us all this money to not win a championship.”

There’s more from Denver:

Porter, one of a handful of high-profile NBA players who haven’t been vaccinated, talked about his decision with Singer in a separate story. “For me, I had COVID twice, I saw how my body reacted, and although the chances are slim, with the vaccine, there’s a chance you could have a bad reaction to it,” Porter said. “For me, I don’t feel comfortable.”
Jeff Green, who signed with Denver in the offseason, is already making an impact at training camp, according to Eric Spyropoulos of NBA.com. The veteran big man brings a new element to the Nuggets’ offense and can guard a variety of players on the other end of the court. “His feel for the game, his versatility, even at his age his athleticism, it really felt like a seamless fit in that regard,” coach Michael Malone said. “So, I’ve been really impressed with Jeff.”
First-round pick Bones Hyland has found there’s quite a bit to learn in his first training camp, Spyropoulos adds in the same story. “It’s a lot (to adjust to), you know, and that’s not lost on me,” Malone said. “It’s not lost on any of the coaches, because here’s a guy that just finished up his sophomore season at VCU, and he’s out here with 17 other NBA players, (learning) terminology, drills, (and a) new system.”

Nuggets Sign Michael Porter Jr. To Five-Year Max Extension

September 29th, 2021 at 1:06pm CST by Luke Adams

SEPTEMBER 29: Porter’s extension is now official, the Nuggets announced today in a press release.

Meanwhile, more details have emerged on Porter’s fifth-year salary. Only $12MM of his $39.3MM salary for that season is guaranteed, sources tell Shams Charania and Sam Amick of The Athletic (Twitter link). It can become fully guaranteed based on All-Star, All-NBA, or All-Defensive honors, or MVP or Defensive Player of the Year awards.

According to Mike Singer of The Denver Post (Twitter link), one All-Star appearance for Porter would increase the fifth-year guarantee by $5MM, while two All-Star nods would fully guarantee that $39MM+ salary. There are several other potential triggers, Singer adds.

SEPTEMBER 27: The Nuggets and forward Michael Porter Jr. have reached an agreement on a five-year contract extension worth the maximum salary, agent Mark Bartelstein tells ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link).

The deal currently projects to be worth $172.5MM, based on the NBA’s projection of a $119MM salary cap for the 2022/23 season. However, the contract will include Rose Rule language, allowing Porter to potentially earn 30% of the cap in the first year of the extension (rather than 25% of the cap) if he makes an All-NBA team in 2021/22. In that scenario, the five-year contract would be worth a projected $207MM.

The fifth year of Porter’s contract will be partially guaranteed, according to Ryan McDonough of Audacy Sports, who reports (via Twitter) that MPJ’s fifth-year salary would become fully guaranteed if he meets certain “lofty” performance benchmarks.

The Nuggets’ investment signals how far the former 14th overall pick has come since missing his entire rookie season in 2018/19 due to a back injury. After playing a modest role in ’19/20, Porter became a key piece for Denver last season, averaging 19.0 PPG and 7.3 RPG with an impressive .542/.445/.791 shooting line in 61 games (31.3 MPG).

Porter still has plenty of room to improve on the defensive side of the ball, but the 23-year-old has displayed the potential to become one of the NBA’s very best scorers, so there was no chance the Nuggets would let him get away.

With extensions for Porter and Aaron Gordon completed this offseason, the Nuggets’ roster is getting very expensive. The newly-extended forwards won’t even be Denver’s highest-paid players — that honor belongs to veteran stars Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray, who are earning a combined $60MM+ in 2021/22.

As Bobby Marks of ESPN tweets, the Nuggets project to carry about $156MM in team salary for the ’22/23 campaign and are on track to be a taxpayer for the first time in over a decade. The team remains below the tax line for the ’21/22 season.

Porter’s deal is the fourth maximum-salary rookie scale extension to be finalized this offseason, with the Nuggets forward joining Luka Doncic, Trae Young, and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. As our tracker shows, Robert Williams is the only player who has received a rookie scale extension below the max so far in 2021.

Nuggets Notes: Bol, Murray, Simmons, MPJ, Vaccinations, Gordon

September 28th, 2021 at 4:04pm CST by Luke Adams

One of the most intriguing players from the 2019 draft class, 7’2″ Nuggets forward Bol Bol has only appeared in 39 games during his first two NBA seasons, but is determined to earn a larger role in 2021/22, as Kyle Fredrickson of The Denver Post writes. The big man said on Monday that he agrees with teammate Michael Porter Jr.‘s assessment that a “mindset change” is necessary in order for Bol to take a major step forward in his third year.

“He’s totally correct,” Bol said. “To add on to that, it’s more so consistency. It’s not just me doing it one day or two days a week. I’ve got to figure out how to put it together for a whole entire year and not just when things are going my way.”

Bol added that he views power forward as his primary position, but is willing to play anywhere the Nuggets ask him to, “one through five.”

Here’s more out of Denver:

Although Jamal Murray is itching to get back on the court following his ACL surgery, he recognizes that he shouldn’t rush the process and made it clear that he doesn’t plan to, as Mike Singer of The Denver Post details. “I want to feel good when I come back,” Murray said. “I don’t want to come back when I’m like 85%, whatever, no matter where the team’s at. I want to come back when it feels like I can play with the same amount of force that I normally play with.” For their part, the Nuggets are on board with that plan. “He’ll come back when he’s ready, not when we tell him, not a date on the calendar,” president of basketball operations Tim Connelly said.
The Nuggets haven’t really been linked to Ben Simmons this offseason, but for what it’s worth, a source with knowledge of the situation tells Singer that there’s no chance Denver would move Murray in a deal for the Sixers star.
Sam Vecenie of The Athletic takes a look at why the Nuggets felt comfortable making such a significant investment in Michael Porter Jr., arguing that it’s a calculated and necessary risk for the franchise. As Vecenie points out, given the weak 2022 free agent class, Porter might’ve ended up being the best player on the open market next year if he hadn’t received an extension now. Denver would’ve been able to match any offer sheet in that scenario, but a rival team could’ve put a player option and a trade kicker into its offer — the Nuggets instead got a partial guarantee on the final year of Porter’s extension.
Nuggets head coach Michael Malone admitted on Monday that his roster isn’t fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to Fredrickson. Malone said that he’d love the team’s vaccination rate to be at 100%, but can only do so much to push players in that direction. “All we can do is try to help educate the players that have chosen to be unvaccinated to this point,” Malone said. “Maybe at some point, they realize what’s at stake and they make that decision to get vaccinated. Until then, we’ll keep on trying for sure.”
In case you missed it, the Nuggets officially completed Aaron Gordon‘s four-year extension on Monday. Keith Smith of Spotrac (Twitter link) provides the financial breakdown of the deal, which looks about like we expected, albeit with a slightly lower fourth-year player option salary and slightly more unlikely incentives.

Nuggets Sign Aaron Gordon To Four-Year Extension

September 28th, 2021 at 1:09pm CST by Luke Adams

SEPTEMBER 28: Nearly two weeks after agreeing to terms, the Nuggets and Gordon officially finalized their extension agreement on Monday, according to NBA.com’s transactions log.

SEPTEMBER 14: The Nuggets and forward Aaron Gordon have reached an agreement on a four-year extension, agent Calvin Andrews of Klutch Sports tells Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link). According to Charania, the deal is worth $92MM and includes a fourth-year player option for 2025/26.

Mike Singer of The Denver Post reported in late August that the Nuggets and Gordon had mutual interest in an extension and would likely reach a deal soon. At that point, Singer anticipated a two- or three-year extension in the range of $20-21MM per year, but it sounds like Denver was willing to go higher to get the former fourth overall pick locked up long-term.

Gordon will earn a base salary of $16,409,091 in 2021/22 – the last year of his current contract – with an extra $1MM available in unlikely incentives. A veteran extension allows for a starting salary 20% higher than the player’s previous salary, and it looks like the Nuggets are going that route with Gordon — his maximum extension would have a base value of about $88.2MM over four years. Adding $1MM in annual unlikely incentives (for All-Star, All-NBA, and All-Defense nods) bumps the total up to the $92MM figure reported by Charania.

After spending the first six years of his career with the Magic, Gordon was part of a midseason trade in his seventh season, having been sent from the Magic to the Nuggets at the 2021 trade deadline. The athletic forward, who will turn 26 on Thursday, helped shore up Denver’s defense down the stretch, though his counting stats (10.2 PPG, 4.7 RPG, 2.2 APG on .500/.266/.705 shooting) in 25 games with the club were modest.

Now that Gordon will have a full offseason and training camp as a Nugget under his belt, the team will likely have higher expectations for him going forward. His new extension will make him an important part of a core that also includes Nikola Jokic, Jamal Murray, and Michael Porter Jr. Jokic is under contract through 2023, Murray is locked up through 2025, and Porter is entering a contract year, though he’s a good bet to sign an extension of his own before opening night.

Gordon’s new deal is the 15th contract extension – and the 10th veteran extension – of the NBA offseason. His contract will rank seventh out of this summer’s 10 veteran extensions in overall value, slotting in between Terry Rozier (four years, $96MM) and Marcus Smart (four years, $77MM).

Nuggets Sign Matt Ryan, Set 20-Man Camp Roster

September 27th, 2021 at 4:58pm CST by Rory Maher

The Nuggets have announced their 20-man training camp roster, and with it the signing of Matt Ryan, per a team press release.

Ryan, a 6’7″ rookie forward, went undrafted in 2020 after spending his final season with Chattanooga. He had his most productive season by far as a senior, averaging 15.4 PPG, 4.9 RPG, and 1.9 APG in 30.6 MPG for the Mocs, with a shooting line of .423/.359/.879 across 33 games. He played for Notre Dame and Vanderbilt earlier in his collegiate career, but struggled to gain traction with either team.

The release doesn’t specify the exact details of Ryan’s contract, but it will likely be a standard Exhibit 10 contract.

The signing of Davon Reed, which our JD Shaw previously reported, is now official, per the release.

Denver’s reported deal with Giorgi Bezhanishvili still isn’t official yet, but it could occur later in the preseason.

The Nuggets have 14 players with guaranteed contracts, and guard PJ Dozier has a partial guarantee of $200K. Both of the team’s two-way spots are filled.