The Denver Nuggets are shooting for the playoffs this season. In an interview with The Vertical’s Adrian Wojnarowski, Nuggets head coach Mike Malone made it clear that his team is trying to finish among the Western Conference’s top eight teams.
“We feel we can really make a run to get to the postseason this year,” Malone told Wojnarowski. … “When I met with each player at the end of the season, everybody said he is willing to do whatever it takes to be a team that can compete in the postseason. We’ll see how the season unfolds.”
Denver hasn’t been to the playoffs since it went 57-25 and got the No. 3 seed in 2013. The Nuggets lost to the upstart Golden State Warriors in the first round that year in six games.
Not long after, there was massive turnover in the front office and on the court. General manager Masai Ujiri left, head coach George Karl was fired and star wing Andre Iguodala signed with Golden State.
In came new general manager Tim Connelly and eventually coach Mike Malone. The Nuggets have steadily rebuilt and seem to have a nice core of young players. Point guard Emmanuel Mudiay, shooting guard Gary Harris, big men Nikola Jokic and Jusuf Nurkic and the trio of first-round picks this year could help the Nuggets finally earn a postseason berth again.
Check out the full interview, which is linked above, for Malone’s thoughts on Jokic’s improvement, Harris retaining the starting shooting guard spot and a possible changing of the guard in the Western Conference. It’s worth your time.
