Jeff Green and Nikola Jokic are bonding over horses

Notes and observations from Day 3 of Nuggets training camp at the University of California, San Diego.

Jeff Green, the horseman?

Jeff Green talked about his relationship with Nikola Jokic today here in San Diego. That relationship was forged last season when Green, who was in his first season in Denver, and Jokic would go out to dinners. Green said that he has a good understanding of Jokic’s background and where he comes from and Jokic has a good understanding of his.

Green also noted today how he picks Jokic’s brain about his horses. Jokic will often watch horse races in his downtime, and when he does, Green likes to tune in. He’ll ask Jokic about the horses he’s invested in and owns and try to get up to speed on the races that he’s watching. Green’s daughters rides horses too, and he and Jokic texted each other pictures of horses from time to time this summer.

“It’s all just trying to get to know each other,” Green said today.

It’s definitely an interesting bond, but a cool one nonetheless. Green and Jokic are both high IQ players. They’re veterans, and I think both like hanging around other veterans. I don’t think it was a coincidence that Jokic was sitting with Green, DeAndre Jordan and Ish Smith at the Padres game the other night. I think Jokic would much rather chill with the vets if it’s up to him.

It all goes with one of the main storylines throughout this Nuggets training camp: This team has a veteran feel to it. This is an older team than last year’s group, and the veterans that Denver brought in this offseason — Jordan, Smith, Bruce Brown — give this roster a much more mature vibe. I think that’s to Jokic’s (and Michael Malone’s) liking. Malone has been fairly relaxed so far at camp. I think the veteran feel of this team is a reason why.

Nnaji’s stock is up

This is an important training camp for Zeke Nnaji. He’s entering his third NBA season, and while he’s had his moments over the last two years in Denver, he hasn’t been able to lock down a full-time rotation spot. The combination of a knee injury (last season) and a crowded frontcourt rotation (the last two seasons) have prevented that from happening.

This might be Nnaji’s make-or-break year in Denver. If he carves out a rotation spot and makes it through the year fairly healthy, I’d think he’d be in line to sign an extension next offseason. If he doesn’t and Nnaji can’t carve out consistent minutes this year, it could be his last season in Denver. That’s just how the NBA works for a player like Nnaji who’s on the third year of his four-year rookie contract.

For the second day in a row, I heard Nanji had a really good practice. He’s playing both center and power forward for the Nuggets and has been impressive. We know Nnaji’s a very capable jump shooter — he shot 41% from 3 as a rookie and 46% from distance on two 3-point attempts per game last season — but now the chatter around Nnaji is that he’s getting on the offensive glass more and making the hustle plays that are standings out to coaches and front office members in attendance.

I’m not sure if Nnaji has overtaken DeAndre Jordan as the backup center. In fact, I’d wager that he hasn’t. I predict that Michael Malone will open the season with Jordan, the veteran, as his backup five and go from there. That seems like the way these things normally play out. But it feels like Nnaji has made up some ground this week. I think Nnaji will get an opportunity early on this season to log real minutes, especially if he continues to play well here at training camp.

Meet Andre Miller

Andre Miller shared today how he landed the Grand Rapids Gold head coaching gig.

Miller went to Summer League in July, originally for an AAU tournament. Players on his AAU team wanted tickets to Summer League, so he texted a few general managers that he knew including Nuggets GM Calvin Booth, who Miller was teammates with in Philadelphia when he played for the 76ers in 2007-08, for free tickets. While in Las Vegas, Miller bumped into Jason Terry, who coached the Gold last season, and Terry went off about how great it was working for Grand Rapids/the Nuggets last season.

A week later, Miller texted Booth to thank him for the tickets. By then, Terry had taken an assistant coaching job with the Utah Jazz and Booth asked Miller if he was interested in the gig. Soon enough, he began the interview process. Miller had been coaching at the prep level in San Diego and was thinking he’d go the college route to further his coaching career. But the jump to the G League was something he couldn’t pass up.

I think Miller is going to be a great addition for Denver and its G League affiliate. He has a wealth of basketball knowledge that was built up over his 17-year NBA career that he can pass down the younger generation. He should be a great resource and role model for Peyton Watson and whichever young players the Nuggets send to the G League this season.

Miller said on Thursday that he never thought of himself as a coach in the past and more of a people person. He’ll stress fundamentals and the cerebral parts of basketball. You get the feeling he’s going to connect really well with his players too.

“The mental part, and being a pro is probably the most important thing,” Miller said in response to a question about his coaching philosophy.

The 1st unit finds its rhythm

Some of the rumblings around Denver’s training camp practice today also centered around the Nuggets’ starters. For the first time this week, it sounds like they really found their rhythm together during the scrimmage portion of Denver’s practice.

It’s very encouraging news considering this week is the first time Nikola Jokic, Jamal Murray and Michael Porter Jr. have been on the floor together since Murray’s ACL injury in April 2021. It’s vital that those three reestablish the chemistry that they were rapidly building late in the 2020-21 season early this year. The place to break ground on that front is at training camp. No one is stopping the Nuggets’ offense this season if those three get on the same page.

Friday should be the most action-packed day at training camp. Denver’s planning to scrimmage for most of tomorrow’s practice.