After working out yesterday morning and again last night, the Denver Nuggets held their 3rd pre summer league practice this morning at Pepsi Center. The team will be practicing every day this week before leaving for Las Vegas on Thursday afternoon where they will pay on Friday, Monday, and Tuesday.
After practice today, combo guard Nikola Radicevic and coach Micah Nori spoke with the media. Both had a lot of interesting things to say. The full audio is below but I’ll bullet point a few of the highlights.
Nikola Radicevic
This was my first chance getting to talk with Radicevic and I really enjoyed him. He is a long shot to pay for Denver next season or even in years down the road but he sure seemed like playing for the Nuggets was very much a goal of his.
He said that the biggest difference between training with the Nuggets and training in Europe is that it is a lot more physical and a lot more about building up your body.
“I could not stay up late because of my season and the practices but I watched the highlights….I think I can fit there because they play a really fast basketball, transition basketball, and I like that type of basketball. I think I am strong at that.”
“This group, it’s a great group. A bunch of the young players, we know each other so well for like two days and we already have great chemistry. And it’s really fun to play with these guys. They are competitive. They love to win, and I think we can make good results.”
“This is they type of city that I like. Not too big, not too small. Perfect. Lot of nature, lot of mountains that you can go and see. I think I could live here.”
Coach Nori
Said today was a bit longer than practices yesterday but there won’t be an evening practice.
On who has stood out so far. He said Malik Beasley looks really confident and assertive.
“Malik’s been really good. And Juancho has been great. Juancho hasn’t stopped looking since the season ended…you can just see the work that he’s put in has paid off. Same as Malik.”
Coach Nori also hinted that Jamal Murray might play at summer league? Not sure if that’s even legal but listen to the audio for a somewhat mysterious quote about it.
Nori reiterated what I’ve heard from others with the team that Radicevic is really smart and can do everything but his upside comes down to whether he makes shots.
Nori also said that they’ve put a few sets in the playbook specifically for Beasley and Juancho to be the go-to scorer.
Lastly, Nori says that the identity of this summer league group is that they are all high-energy guys that will be more aggressive on defense than in years past.
