More than an hour after the final buzzer, Zeke Nnaji still had Kool & The Gang queued up. When he’s in charge of the workout playlist, buckle up. A skilled pianist and high school marching band alum, he’ll jump between genres as much as anyone on the Nuggets’ roster.
“I just put on some 70s, 80s funk kind of music. They didn’t like it,” Nnaji said Tuesday as two-way player PJ Hall shook his head disapprovingly from across the locker room. “But sometimes I’ll play some Biggie and Tupac, or older rap. Or sometimes I’ll play some, like, Billy Joel-type older pop songs. Just whatever I’m feeling. It depends on the vibe.”
On a night when the Nuggets fell to 0-4 in the preseason, the vibe called for the R&B band that wrote “Celebration.”
That choice pretty much encapsulates the ethos of Nnaji’s work ethic. Entering his fifth NBA season, now earning the fifth-highest salary on Denver’s roster, he remains a fringe-rotation player whose 3-point efficiency declined dramatically after he changed his shooting form two years into his career. There has been plenty of opportunity for self-doubt during that process, but the 23-year-old feels that his patience and his upbeat approach to workouts are finally being rewarded with results.
On a team that lacks 3-point shooting, he’s a team-best 55% this preseason (6 for 11). The next step is to bring those numbers into the regular season as his four-year, $32 million contract extension goes into effect.
“I actually don’t feel any pressure (associated with the contract),” Nnaji said. “I don’t know if that’s bad or good, but I feel confident in just the work that I put in, and I want to continue to keep working. And I’m enjoying it. I put on some good music when I work, and that just makes it more enjoyable. I’m having fun with it.”
The 6-foot-9 big man has established a goal this season to come into the practice gym every day and commit his form to muscle memory, “whether I’m tired, sore, injured, whatever.” Right now, that often results in evening workouts that overlap with the individual who motivated Nnaji to be there in the first place.
“Honestly, the player on the team that made me really understand how much I need to work is Mike (Porter Jr.),” he said. “MPJ, he comes in every night. And seeing him come in every night, it was inspiring, because I’m like, ‘Dang, he’s on a max (contract), and he’s coming in every night.’ … I think that mindset is good to have. Because to me, I’m a competitive person. So it’s like, even if I come in and I don’t feel like doing anything, just that competitive nature in me is like, as soon as I’m like, ‘OK, I’m just going to do some light shooting,’ before you know it, I’m going to be in a full sweat. Working hard.”
Sometimes Nnaji and Porter work on the same shooting drill together. Occasionally, they’ll play one-on-one. Nnaji admires that Porter …read more
Source:: The Denver Post – Sports
