Nuggets training camp notebook: Day One

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OMAHA — Basketball season has officially begun as the Denver Nuggets opened training camp at Creighton University’s Championship Center in Omaha, Nebraska this morning. The most notable observations were positive energy and a sense of optimism surrounding the upcoming season.

Here are some of the highlights from the opening morning in Omaha:

Power forward Darrell Arthur exited the gym about thirty minutes into practice and spent the next hour or so working out in the weight room with Nuggets trainer Steve Hess. Arthur underwent a knee scope earlier this month and will be rehabbing his injury for the next few days. He is expected to start practicing later this week.

Nuggets General Manager Tim Connelly mentioned the facilities at Creighton University were “very nice and well done” on his way into practice. The Championship Center opened in 2014 and certainly provides the wow factor upon walking in. The Bluejays have a first-class facility.

Head Coach Michael Malone was also impressed by the facilities and even joked after practice that he’d love to take it back to Denver. He went on to say that being in Omaha at Creighton will allow the Nuggets to have a great training camp thanks to the two courts, which he called “a perfect fit” for the teams needs as they open the season.

When asked about Emmanuel Mudiay, Malone responded by saying that: “[Mudiay] is in great shape. He’s much more confident in himself as a player. My message to him coming into camp is to be a leader, be our floor leader. Ball is in your hands, run your team, be vocal and be comfortable in doing so. Just seeing the growth he made last year in that aspect alone was very encouraging. You can see coming into the camp this year he feels very comfortable as the leader of this team, and that’s great to see.”

At the end of practice, Mudiay was seen working on free-throws. I asked him about it afterward and he said that his goal is to improve every day. It’s clear that Mudiay has matured and is coming into his own heading into the regular season. He also mentioned that he thought Jamal Murray looked great on the opening day of camp. Those two, along with Gary Harris, present the opportunity for a dynamic Nuggets backcourt moving forward.

Rookie shooting guard Malik Beasley is no stranger to Omaha. He is the grandson of Omaha-based actor John Beasley and son of Michael Beasley, who earned all-city honors at Omaha Central High School in 1986. After practice, I was able to chat with Malik about what it meant to start his professional career in a place with deep, family ties. He told me that it was pretty special to him and he looked forward to being able to catch up with the family that he hasn’t seen in awhile. I asked him what his goal for training camp and the preseason was and he said “to get better every day” – which seems to be a common theme with this team.

It was great to see Wilson Chandler back on the floor this morning. He was deeply missed last season by the Nuggets. I would imagine that Malone will ease him back into action during the preseason. He will certainly have an important role on this team that will look to make the playoffs in a very competitive Northwest Division and Western Conference.

Let’s wrap things up with a final quote from Malone after practice on who stuck out to him during the first day of training camp:

“I thought everybody had a great practice. You’d be hard pressed to say there was someone that didn’t have a good practice. I thought had everybody had different points in practice where they stood out, they made plays. The thing that was really encouraging today from a team standpoint is, you know we always preach ‘play the right way.’ It’s a beautiful game when it is played the right way, being unselfish. That’s part of our culture as well. We want to be a selfless team where no one cares who gets the credit, get over yourself and just play the game the right way. We had some great example of that today, which is really encouraging and exciting because it’s fun to play like that when everybody is involved. Everybody, really everybody, had a good practice and I was very happy to see that.”

The Nuggets will have a closed practice tonight before getting back to the gym tomorrow morning. Be sure to follow along on our Twitter and Facebook pages for the latest from Omaha.