How the Nuggets are staying sharp via Zoom with basketball on hold

Michael Malone dialed into a Zoom call last Friday with assistant coach Jordi Fernandez and four Nuggets players. The goal of the meeting was simple: did his players remember their coach’s play calls after more than a month away from basketball?

“It was a really neat film session,” Malone said Tuesday while speaking with the media via a Zoom meeting. “Because we were showing offensive clips, and we wanted to see how many of our guys after a month off still remember our play calls. ‘Ok, what play is this?’ Are they staying sharp? Because if you just come back in a month and say, ‘Ok, here’s our ramp up,’ and you’re not training your mind and remembering this is who we are, this is what we do, this is when we’re at our best, that’s going to take that ramp up and make it that much longer of a process.”

A brush up on the Nuggets’ terminology would usually be slated for training camp after players have spent the summer months away from the team and one another. But the NBA’s unprecedented hiatus due to COVID-19, which will hit the six-week mark on Wednesday, and uncertain return date means that players have to stay ready in case the season does resume.

Monte Morris admitted last week that while he feels he’s been able to stay in shape during the hiatus by working out at his house and utilizing a private basketball court, he would need to brush up on Denver’s play calls before games would start up again.

“Film sessions like that I think are really impactful,” Malone said. “And this Zoom app that we’re using now has been incredibly helpful in connecting with players and talking with them, but also finding ways to challenge them to continue thinking about the game and not only how they can be better and how they see the game, but how we can collectively as a team.”

Malone and his staff have been in constant communication with their players since the season went on hold on March 11. If there is still basketball left to play this year, Nuggets’ head strength and conditioning coach Felipe Eichenberger and his assistant Claus Antunes de Souza are doing what they can to ensure Denver’s players will be ready. The two speak with players daily and have been putting them through workouts at home using an app that can track how often players are performing each exercise. Some players have Peloton bikes that they’re using for cardio while others are opting for runs or hikes. To keep his sanity, Malone has been going on bike rides, a hobby he picked up when he was an assistant in New Orleans. Growing up, Malone was a distance and cross country runner, but once he felt his knees start to go transitioned to road biking and then mountain biking when he arrived in Denver.

The Nuggets are also doing what they can to ensure their players are keeping a positive mindset through troubled times. Denver has brought in doctors using Zoom to speak with its players about mental health.

On a team Zoom call Tuesday morning, Paul Millsap articulated that all 30 teams are in the same boat and that no one has a real advantage right now as every franchise is abiding by league and government guidelines.

“The hardest part with that is the uncertainty of if or when a season’s going to happen,” Malone said. “How hard do I go? What am I preparing for? Is this going to be another month? Is it going to be another two months?”

The Nuggets are having a Zoom meeting Wednesday with members of their training staff to go over what would comprise a ramp-up period ahead of a potential restart to the season. Malone said he’s hearing that a ramp-up period before games begin could potentially run 25-30 days with the first portion of the return-to-play period, only allowing 1-on-1 workouts between a player and coach. Team facilities could gradually open up for team-wide workouts after that.

But those plans are far from certain. On a conference call with reporters last Friday, commissioner Adam Silver suggested the NBA was no closer to a decision on whether the season may resume or if it would have to be canceled. However, the league is continuing to look at all available possibilities and is reportedly considering playing under a quarantined bubble.

“We’ve never gone through this before. There’s no playbook. So let’s keep an open mind,” Malone said. “People have thrown at Disneyland. They’ve thrown out Las Vegas, the Bahamas, or wherever, and go to one area and kind of figure out how we can finish the season. There’s a lot of questions with that, and no one has all the answers right now, but all that will be answered in due time. Until that time, I think it’s most important that we try to stay safe and, and not rush any rash decisions.”

A period of reflection

The NBA’s hiatus has provided Malone and his staff an opportunity to look back on the first 55 games of the season and where the Nuggets excelled, struggled, and need to improve going forward. To help identify those issues, Malone has assigned various deep-dive projects to his assistants on several topics, some of which focus on why Denver went 38-17 before the All-Star break but just 5-5 over its last ten games.

According to Malone, the Nuggets’ pain points from their last ten games can be grouped into three categories: turnovers, 3-point defense, and defensive rebounding. Denver had the NBA’s seventh-best turnover percentage before the All-Star break but has turned the ball over the fourth-most in the league since. The Nuggets also lead the league in allowing 20.9 points off turnovers per game since the All-Star break. Denver 3-point defense and defensive rebounding slid after the break as well.

Denver’s coaches are also using the hiatus to break down Denver’s approach and determine how the Nuggets were able to create their most efficient offense over the first 55 games. Malone’s encouraging his assistants to think outside of the box offensively and defensively so that if the season does return, they can challenge their players with new and refreshing concepts.

“We had been a very inconsistent team, and the fact that we’re in third place in the Western Conference, the fact that we have one of the best records against teams with .500 or better records is really remarkable because I don’t think we played consistent basketball all season long,” Malone said. “We’ve shown how good we can be, and we’ve mostly shown that we can struggle at times. And a sign of a young team, maybe we struggle with the expectations of the season? But whenever we get out of this, we’re going to have to be a lot more consistent in the ramp-up and whatever season is going to be laid out in front of us.”

Front office movement

Former Nuggets’ General Manager Arturas Karnisovas, was named Chicago Bulls Executive Vice President of Basketball Operations on April 13, ending his seven-year run in Denver as president of basketball operations Tim Connelly’s second in command. The Nuggets hired Karnisovas as their assistant general manager in 2013 and promoted him to GM in 2017.

“This is a well-deserved honor for Arturas to get the job in Chicago with such a legendary franchise in the Chicago Bulls,” Malone said. “I’m happy for Arturas. I’ve worked closely with him, known him for a long time, and know he’ll do a great job. He’ll be sorely missed here in Denver.”

The Nuggets have tapped current assistant general manager Calvin Booth to replace Karnisovas, except the promotion won’t be official until the hiatus ends and league business resumes as normal. Denver hired Booth in 2017 after he had spent the previous four seasons with the Minnesota Timberwolves, where he was the director of player and then pro personnel. Connelly and Booth also worked together in New Orleans, where Denver’s president of basketball operations was the Pelicans’ assistant general manager before he was hired by the Nuggets.

Malone got to know Booth when Denver’s coach was an assistant for the Cavaliers. Booth played in the NBA for ten seasons and spent time with the Wizards, Supersonics, Mavericks, Bucks, 76ers, Timberwolves, and Kings, and at one time lived in Cleveland.

Malone said he “has complete confidence” in Booth based on what he’s seen over the last two seasons.

“I think very highly of Calvin. I know everybody in the organization from ownership, front office, coaches, players, all feel the same way,” Malone said.” “… He works his butt off, very detailed, very organized, and I think having a guy that played the game and is willing to share his thoughts even to our players.

“That that’s one thing I admire about Tim Connelly is the relationship Tim, and I have. There’s no separation of state with us. It’s not coaches versus front office. We’re all together. We’re all basketball operations. Calvin played the game for many years in the NBA, was a hell of a player at Penn State. So if there’s something that he sees and wants to pass on to a Nikola or a young player like Bol Bol, please do it. And he’s done that. He’s been around some great basketball minds, and he’s been a great addition to our staff.”