Nuggets taking unusual steps to get their "quiet" team to start talking

It didn’t take long for assistant coaches David Adelman and Bob Weiss, who both joined the organization last summer, to remark to Michael Malone at the team’s voluntary minicamp in Atlanta prior to the 2017-18 season that the Nuggets were a quiet bunch.

A year later, with much of the same roster intact, Denver is still trying to shed that label.

“A lot of times if you listen to our practice, the coaches will be the loudest guys in the gym,” Malone said.

In an effort to up the level of communication between his players, Nuggets’ coaches imposed a “quiet policy” among their staff during a defensive drill at a recent practice. The drill required a group of players to defend for 24 seconds, communicating with one another and then working through late-clock situations and coverages as the shot clock timer ran down without the help or guidance of any coaches shouting commands from the sideline. If one group didn’t perform the drill correctly, they were subbed out.

“We’re all basketball players. If we can’t (communicate) there’s a problem,” Jamal Murray said. “It’s a good drill. It just makes us talk, and obviously, you have to run if they score or they get the rebound, so it keeps everyone on their toes.”

The hope is that the Nuggets not only get better at communicating but also aren’t afraid to say what needs to be said to one another. Especially if that means calling out or correcting a teammate’s mistake.

Malone got on Murray at a practice last week for just that.

As the Nuggets’ starting point guard rubbed off a Nikola Jokic screen, the defense switched and Denver’s big man found himself being defended by a much smaller guard. Instead of telling Jokic to get to the block and post his defender up, Murray briefly looked Jokic’s way before turning his attention elsewhere and giving the ball up.

“Tell him to get his big ass in the post,” Malone said rehashing the conversation between him and his point guard. “I said, ‘You have to get comfortable with your voice.'”

“We have to as a team, get comfortable having uncomfortable conversations,” Malone added. “Our guys are so nice, they don’t want to. It’s OK. ‘You guys all care about each other, you all love each other. Well, love him by telling him where the hell he needs to be.'”

As the franchise’s young core of Murray, Jokic, Gary Harris grow together, Denver needs each one of them to find their own voice in a quiet Nuggets’ locker room. More communication will help Denver out on the offensive end of the floor, but more importantly, it will keep them connected at the hip on defense.

“We think defensive talk is really intimidating,” said Malone. “Would you rather play against a team that’s really quiet or a team that talks?”

It’s no coincidence that Malone heard a more vocal team in the Nuggets preseason finale against Chicago, which resulted in Denver’s best defensive effort of the five-game exhibition slate.

The Nuggets held the Bulls to 93 points on 42 percent shooting from the field, under 30 percent shooting from three and forced Chicago into 19 turnovers. Denver scored 20 points off those takeaways, recorded 13 steals and at one point held the Bulls without a score on nine consecutive possessions.

“Quiet group overall, but I see signs of growth in terms of guys getting a little more comfortable and consistent with the communication,” Malone said.

Denver’s coach mentioned Mason Plumlee by name at Sunday’s practice, when rattling off a list of players who he’s seen step up their on-court communication as of late. Paul Millsap, the elder statesman of the Nuggets’ locker room, is quiet by nature but Malone said he’s “really making the effort to be more vocal.” When it comes to Jokic, he’s still learning to communicate effectively on the floor.

“He talks, but he’s got to be able to project his voice and be a little louder with his talking,” said Malone. “We always preach talk early, loud and continuous.”

The Nuggets finished 23rd in defensive efficiency last season, and giving up one basket less per game would have catapulted Denver up into what would have been considered a league-average defense. Better communication throughout training camp has the Nuggets’ coaching staff encouraged that it can surprise some people with its defense this year.

Still, it’s just preseason. Denver won’t know what it has in terms of defense and whether or not the Nuggets have shed the quiet label they’ve carried with them for the last couple of years until the games start to count.

“We’re not writing letters back to Mom and saying ‘Look, Mom, we did it. We’re there.’ We have a lot of work to do,” Malone said. “But I like the commitment. Our guys have bought in.”