The Nuggets’ were represented in print and through the airwaves yesterday as Masai Ujiri, JaVale McGee and George Karl all took turns talking up the new team. See what they had to say after the jump.
The Denver Nuggets are very very good at public relations. I’d argue that of the four major professional sports franchises in the state Colorado they are by leaps and bounds the best. When communication is needed, they actually communicate. As opposed to a certain major league baseball team which seems to turn to jelly when faced with criticism or the microscope … the Nuggets (at least under General Manager Masai Ujiri) have been more than pro-active with their media relations and public relations.
In that spirit, the Nuggets were all over the airwaves yesterday. Here is the sampler of the Nuggets PR:
Masai Ujiri spoke with Drew Goodman and Scott Hastings on their show yesterday. Obviously he provided his thoughts on the freshly signed JaVale McGee. He also talked about Anthony Randolph, the Summer League, and his hopes for the roster heading in to next season. He also hinted at what he intends to do with Quincy Miller this off season.
JaVale McGee joined Charles Johnson and Nate Kreckman on 102.3 ESPN yesterday as well. In it JaVale talks about his role going forward, and his happiness with the organization, as a whole. To be forewarned, JaVale takes a little time to warm up in the interview. Once you get into the interview he starts becoming less awkward just a bit. JaVale also talked to Aaron Lopez (A-Lo) of the Nuggets' NBA.com site about his lofty goals for this season and beyond. Worth a read. (Note from Nate: It has been discussed that McGee has a bit of distrust about the media – he has his share of low-lights and has a bit of a wall up that people are trying to exploit him.)
In a question and answer type interview with George Karl, Benjamin Hochman and the coach delve into the Nuggets roster “moves” this off season as well as Karl’s rather semi-conflicting opinion on the roster depth, conflicting with Ujiri’s vision perhaps. Interesting stuff from the coach as he talks about Jordan Hamilton and Evan Fournier, particularly for a coach that is notoriously finicky about playing young players and rookies.
Our friend Charlie Yao (runningdonut) from Roundball Mining Company had a nice video interview with Coby Karl at the Summer League games. Check it out right here.
It’s interesting to see all the activity the Nuggets have been surrounded by in less than a month. From drafting Fournier and Quincy Miller, to re-signing their free agents Andre Miller and McGee. To the Amnesty of Chris Andersen to the signing of Anthony Randolph. The Nuggets have done quite a bit without actually doing anything.
It will be intriguing to see how the Nuggets deal with the relative paucity of point guards as a opposed to the overabundance of wing players and big men. The assumption is that Ujiri has stockpiled players to move in case a big player becomes available. It remains to be seen if this particular strategy can work. Your assets only count as such if they are wanted by other teams and the Nuggets need several players to step up both for the team and for future trade value (should that arise).
