After plenty of time to ruminate on the way the playoffs ended back in May, the Denver Nuggets will make their season debut against the Oklahoma City Thunder on Thursday, October 24th.
On Monday, the Nuggets held practice on the Ball Arena main court in preparation for the opening night contest, scrimmaging in front of roughly 30 coaches and team personnel before media arrived. Soon, Ball Arena will be at capacity, and the preseason games and scrimmages will turn into something far more meaningful.
“I don’t think we played the preseason how we were supposed to,” Nikola Jokic shared with local media after Monday’s scrimmage. “The defense was not where it’s supposed to be. We couldn’t make shots, so we played really bad, really poorly, the whole preseason.”
“So, hopefully we can do something a little bit better when the season comes.”
For the Nuggets, the season is now here. There’s very little preparation time left to improve before games get going for real. That’s a blessing and a curse. The Nuggets have never been a team to go all out during preseason play, but it certainly helps to knock the rust off a bit before games start to truly matter.
Back on the floor before the season opener was injured third-year forward Peyton Watson, who made an impact off the bench for the Nuggets last season and is in-line to play on opening night following a hamstring strain.
“I think ahead of the 82-game season, I got a good amount of rest, good recovery, so I’m ready to go,” Watson shared on Monday.
Watson will be an integral piece of Denver’s regular season rotation, providing the defense and energy every team needs to be their best. His growth will be a story to watch this season, as will his ability to step up and take responsibility guarding elite offensive players.
Finally, Michael Malone spoke to local media about Monday’s scrimmage.
“Guys competed. We mixed up a lot of lineups, groupings that we will see throughout the game, and that’s always fun to watch. Who’s playing well together? Who needs some more reps? What can we clean up?”
The pecking order in the Nuggets rotation is reasonably defined. Malone didn’t give away who will start at shooting guard between Christian Braun and Julian Strawther on Thursday, but both will play minutes. Russell Westbrook, Dario Saric, and the aforementioned Watson will join them.
After that? It’s anyone’s guess. Malone will probably play nine guys most of the year.
“We’ll see what’s best to start this season and how we’re playing and what we need. And obviously, we’ll determine all those rotations based upon that. But it makes it difficult when you’re trying to get one of [Murray or Jokic] out to play a full 10-man rotation and give each of those ten players a real chance to play.”
So, are those nine (or ten) guys ready for Opening Night? Let’s find out.
