Colorado University Athletics
Nuggets, Bulls To Face Off At Coors Events Center
BOULDER GÇö Two NBA teams entering new eras will clash Thursday night when the Denver Nuggets match up against the Chicago Bulls in a 7 p.m. preseason game at the Coors Events Center.
ItGÇÖs the second year in a row the Nuggets have hosted a preseason game at CU, but the team that takes the court Thursday night will look almost nothing like the one that lost to the Portland Trail Blazers in the CEC a season ago.
The Nuggets come to Boulder with a new coach, a new point guard and a new identity. The Bulls also changed coaches in the offseason, and have likewise undergone a culture shift. But while Chicago is trying to break through to the NBA Finals, Denver is beginning a full retooling.
Many believe the rebuild was unnecessary when the Nuggets initiated it. They fired coach George Karl in 2013 after he won NBA Coach of the Year and led Denver to a team-record 57 wins. Karl was replaced by Brian Shaw, who oversaw a year and a half of steep decline before he was fired midway through last season.
Karl now coaches the Sacramento Kings. The man he replaced there, Mike Malone, is the NuggetsGÇÖ new head man. MaloneGÇÖs tenure in Sacramento ended abruptly last season when the Kings fired him after an 11-13 start. His dismissal was widely seen as unfair; it came while SacramentoGÇÖs best player, DeMarcus Cousins, sat out 10 games with viral meningitis.
Malone has Denver pointed in the right direction. The speed of their turnaround hinges on the development of rookie point guard Emmanuel Mudiay, the seventh overall pick in the draft.
Mudiay is big GÇö 6-foot-5, 190 pounds GÇö for a point guard, he is extremely athletic and he already makes the next-level passes that separate the good NBA point guards from the great ones. Before Mudiay becomes a star, though, he has to rebuild his jump shot GÇö he shot just 14 percent from deep in Summer League. Experts also say his mechanics must be greatly improved: he shoots with a flat trajectory, has a slow release, and often releases shots on the way down, which makes him miss short.
Still, Denver wonGÇÖt rely on Mudiay for much scoring yet. That will fall on forward Danilo Gallinari. He averaged 19 points and five rebounds per game and shot 40 percent from 3-point range over the final two months of last season. He appears to have recovered from the torn ACL that ended his 2012-13 season and kept him out for the entire 2013-14 campaign, and the Nuggets rewarded him with a two-year, $34 million extension.
Denver will also try to build around second-year shooting guard Gary Harris and his fellow sophomore, center Jusuf Nurkic. Harris is athletic and has the potential to develop into a good three-and-D wing. Nurkic has shown flashes of strength in the post, with his midrange jumper, and protecting the rim. He could be a special player if he puts it together consistently.
ItGÇÖs still unclear what the Nuggets have in those players, but under MaloneGÇÖs leadership theyGÇÖll be on the way to finding out.
On the other hand, the Bulls mostly know what they have in their team, which came closer than anyone to defeating the Cleveland Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference playoffs.
New head coach Fred Hoiberg is trying to unlock another level of ChicagoGÇÖs offensive potential and foster a more laid-back culture after former coach Tom ThibodeauGÇÖs hard style wore down his players.
The Bulls fired Thibodeau in the offseason after he flaunted the minutes restrictions that their front office tried to put on players. ThibodeauGÇÖs teams were often beset by injuries late in the season and in the playoffs, and his heavy minutes and intense practices were seen as a cause. That was a symptom of the real disconnect GÇö ThibodeauGÇÖs fanatical focus on winning in the present against managementGÇÖs dedication to building for the future.
Hoiberg comes from Iowa State, where he ran an efficient, NBA-style offense predicated on ball and player movement, and his teams shot a lot of threes. Chicago has the players to develop a good offense, but that hinges on the health of point guard Derrick Rose.
Rose has played only 100 total games since his MVP season in 2011 because of a cavalcade of injuries GÇö a torn ACL, two meniscus tears, and an orbital bone fracture. He suffered the last of those in training camp last week, but is expected to rejoin the team Wednesday. ItGÇÖs unclear if heGÇÖll play Thursday.
Hoiberg has embraced the minutes restrictions that Thibodeau disdained. Rose will probably play even fewer than the 30 minutes per game he logged last season. The Bulls want him to be as whole as possible for the stretch run. Shooting guard Jimmy Butler will also play less; the NBAGÇÖs Most Improved Player averaged an insane 38 minutes per game the last two years.
ChicagoGÇÖs frontcourt will also have its minutes restricted; it has four starter-level players, but three of them are on the wrong side of 30. Forward Pau Gasol is still a post-up threat, even at age 35. HeGÇÖs also an excellent passer, and Hoiberg should leverage that by letting Gasol facilitate from the high post. Fellow forward Taj Gibson, 30, is athletic, protects the rim, and can switch onto opposing wing players in pick-and-rolls.
Center Joakim Noah, also 30, concerns the Bulls the most. Two seasons ago, he finished fourth in MVP voting and played like the best center in the league. Last year, his production declined precipitously. He averaged only 7.6 points per game, shot just 45 percent from the field, and had the worst free-throw percentage and Player Efficiency Rating of his career. Chicago needs him to regain his old form GÇö and hopes that years of playing 30-minutes-plus per game under Thibodeau didnGÇÖt completely wear him out.
Second-year forward Nikola Mirotic rounds out the BullsGÇÖ regular frontcourt rotation. He has a versatile offensive game, inside and out, and he excelled coming off the bench late last year but slumped in the playoffs. He should be more productive after a year of getting used to NBA speed.
There should also be a role for combo forward Doug McDermott in HoibergGÇÖs offense. McDermott led college basketball in scoring two years ago at Creighton but barely played as a rookie. Ace shooter Mike Dunleavy Jr. and swingman Tony Snell will get time as well.
It wonGÇÖt all be together for Chicago on Thursday. Their offense might not flourish until well into the season, but the Bulls could still easily finish second in the weak Eastern Conference.
The Nuggets need their young players to develop quickly if they are to harbor any playoff hopes, and to hit on a few more draft picks in the future.
Still, the Nuggets are trending upward for the first time in two years. You can see part of the beginning, Thursday at 7 p.m. in the Coors Events Center.