Coach Michael Malone appeared on the Hastings and Helmer show on Altitude 950 this morning and offered up a bit of new information. The trips to scenic Nebraska for training camp are a thing of the past. When asked about developing the relationships with the local colleges Coach stated “definitely, I think so, I’ll give you a great example of that, next year we’re gonna hold our training camp at CU boulder…it’s (nice) to stay home, or closer to home and train in the altitude at a great town and a great facility at CU Boulder.” CU will be the third different venue in coach Malone’s third season with the team as last season the team went to Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska for training camp and the year prior the Denver Nuggets were in Colorado Springs at the Olympic Training Center.
While staying fairly local by utilizing the CU facilities is nice, and something that us in the media appreciate, the fact that the training camp is not held in house highlights an issue that’s been prevalent for a while now which is the Nuggets practice facility is simply too small. Coach has commented in the past that with the added bodies in training camp there isn’t sufficient space to get in a good body of work on the Nuggets practice court. Add in the fact that the Nuggets will be able to carry two additional players on their roster with the new CBA and the practice court issue gets compounded even further, though the easy answer to that problem is to keep those two extra roster spots in the D-league.
On the other hand, there’s a benefit to not doing the training camp at the Pepsi Center as well. By taking the team away from the facility, even just to Boulder, there’s a bonding experience to gain from guys having to be roommates in the dorms and getting away from their everyday lives. There’s also the added benefit of a place like Omaha, or again even Boulder, where there is less to do as far as night life and social activities in comparison to Denver so the players can keep focused on the task at hand. Coach did not say whether or not the players will stay in the dorms while at training camp in Boulder or if they will be allowed to go home. If you’d like to listen to the entire interview, just hit the play button below.
