It was our day, so they say. The media’s. Eighteen Nuggets players, one coach and one general manager were paraded out to a table Thursday at Ball Arena for the annual interview extravaganza to christen the new NBA season.
Media day takes a little more than three hours. Too many words are uttered to count or transcribe every single one of them. It’s a lot to parse through. The most important stuff? A looming contract extension, a star player’s health, a splashy free agent’s introduction? Already covered.
And still, there were other important tidbits we, The Media, learned about the 2024-25 Denver Nuggets on media day. Let’s get into a few of the remaining takeaways.
Nuggets open to adding 3-point shooter at trade deadline
Denver’s 3-point arsenal has been a leading cause of offseason anxiety, with the losses of Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Reggie Jackson and Justin Holiday subtracting shooters from a roster that was already last in the NBA in 3-point attempts last season (31.2). In his Thursday news conference, coach Michael Malone suggested he’d like for the team to attempt 35 or 36 per game in 2024-25. How do the Nuggets plan to generate that much of an increase?
“The reality is if Jamal Murray takes one more 3-pointer per game, Michael Porter takes one more 3 per game, Nikola takes one more 3 per game, we go from 30th to 15th (in attempts),” Malone pointed out. “So I know a lot is made of that. … But we have good shooting. We have really good shooters.”
And if that isn’t working, general manager Calvin Booth will be watching closely to determine whether reinforcements are needed. His comments, when asked how he’s evaluating the state of the perimeter, added a particularly fascinating glimpse into the thinking behind his offseason moves.
“I think there’s two aspects to that question,” Booth said. “One’s more philosophical in nature. … The other is: We are riding a fine line with our shooting when you have Russell Westbrook, Aaron Gordon and Peyton Watson all in your rotation. And I think Christian (Braun) should be left out of that conversation when he shoots 42.9% above the break last year. But it is gonna be a fine line. It’s something we have to monitor. If we need to address our shooting at the trade deadline, we’ll do it.”
Noted. As for the philosophical aspect?
“If you’re better than somebody — right? Like, Nikola Jokic is better than everybody in the world — why do the same thing they can do and make it random? If we shoot the same number of 3s as the worst team in the league, and they make more than us that night, they might beat us. Nikola Jokic should not lose games like that. So I think part of that equation is the fact that we have the best player in the world, and the way he plays the game or manages the game is in a way where we don’t get a lot of 3-point shots. …read more
Source:: The Denver Post – Sports
