Las Vegas released their win total odds for the Nuggets this year and it’s not what any hopeful Nuggets fan wants to hear. Vegas has the Nuggets at 34.5 wins this season – just 1.5 wins better than their final total from last year. While the wise guys’ outlook on this young Nuggets season isn’t promising, general manager, Tim Connelly has great things to say about his team.
Last season the Nuggets couldn’t perform on a consistent basis due to their lack of experience within the lineup. Along with some veteran presence returning, Connelly thinks there are some positives to look for this season.
“I think continuity is a very underrated aspect in the NBA,” Connelly told Afternoon Drive on Mile High Sports on Tuesday in advance of the season. “Retrospectively, looking back at the season we had, Gary Harris had an up and down rookie season. Emmanuel Mudiay was thrown to the fire at 19-years-old. This time last year, we were never asked a question about Nikola Jokic and you fast forward to this offseason and he wins a silver medal. He was third in Rookie of the Year voting. We’ve got a healthy Wilson Chandler. We return as the same team in addition to three rookies. We continue to turn up development in terms of self-motivated guys. I’m really proud of the guys we have.”
When free agent Dwyane Wade was on the market this offseason, the Nuggets were one of the finalists for the eight-time All-NBA guard.
“We’ve always told ourselves we really want to be aggressive and opportunistic, but not blindly so,” Connelly said. “We made a pretty good pursuit of Dwyane. We thought it made sense on various levels. We had the financial flexibility. It wasn’t going to cripple us, moving forward. We felt good; we presented ourselves exactly how we were. We had the presentation, the bells and whistles. We get in front of a guy like that and you talk about your vision. Coach Malone is so good and knowledgeable of the game, you kinda felt like we took our best swing. It didn’t work out but I was proud of how the organization handled ourselves.”
After a disappointing season for the Nuggets offensively, Connelly and the organization hope to improve on their shooting and play around the rim.
“Last year we were 27th in the league behind the arc; we struggled at the rim. It’s a bad combination,” Connelly said. “We got good looks, we didn’t make them. On draft night it wasn’t our only focus, but it was a major focus – guys that can shoot the ball from perimeter. We also had a couple of veterans that shot well below their career norms and that was a pretty big blow. It’s a make or miss league, if we don’t make more shots beyond the arc, we won’t be a good team. I’m confident we will.”
Listen to the whole conversation with Tim Connelly, including what he thinks about the signings the Nuggets made this offseason, in the podcast below…
https://soundcloud.com/milehighsports/9-20-16-nuggets-gm-tim-connelly-joins-the-show-to-talk-about-the-upcoming-2016-season
Catch Afternoon Drive with Goodman and Shapiro Monday-Friday from 4p-6p on Mile High Sports AM 1340 | FM 104.7 or stream live any time for the best local coverage of Colorado sports from Denver’s biggest sports talk lineup.
