Nuggets training camp notebook: Day three

OMAHA — It was practice No. 5 at Nuggets training camp this morning. With the conclusion of today’s session, Denver is more than halfway done with what has so far been a very successful camp. On a roster filled with veterans and young talent, this Nuggets team looks poised and ready to prove people wrong and get back to the playoffs this spring.

Here are some of the highlights from this morning:

Malik Beasley, Jusuf Nurkic, Jamal Murray were held out of practice today by the coaching staff just to give them some time to rest after holding five practices in three days. A long and difficult regular seasons lies on the horizon for this team so coach Michael Malone is opting to ease, rather than sprint, into the grind. It also gives him an opportunity to further evaluate players at the end of the roster who are competing for the 15th and final roster spot.

Malone spoke after practicing about traveling with Nurkic and visiting his hometown in Bosnia this summer and the impact it has had on their relationship. “I know how important it was to him,” Malone said. “Like, ‘hey you know what? Coach cares about me, coach loves me, and he’s taken the time to come all the way over here to spend time with me.”

Malone raved about Nurkic’s physical shape and touched on his desire to keep him in a great place mentally heading into the season. He feels that “Nurk is a physically imposing player that’s very, very skilled and is by far [the Nuggets] best rim protector out there.” Needless to say, big things are expected out of the Bosnian Beast by his head coach this year as the season has just begun.

Forward Darrell Arthur was back in the weight room with trainer Steve Hess today. Arthur said it’s part of the rehab plan for him to alternate between strengthening workouts and conditioning with Sunday pinpointed as the hopeful return date for him to start practicing with the team. He said his “knee feels 100 percent” and that he’s not experiencing any issues with it as he works back in shape.

Arthur feels that everyone on the roster has been playing well midway through training camp. He noted that Malone is working to build chemistry with multiple different groups and has seen “guys catching on pretty fast with the offense and defense, learning the plays and young guys fitting in well.”

“I really like Juancho,” Arthur said when asked if any of the rookies have especially stood out to him. “He’s really good and really skilled. He can play the three or the four and is good at driving bigs off the line. [He] uses his quickness against taller defenders and against small defenders he can post up. We just have to get him more acclimated with the defense but other than that he’s looking good.”

Point guard Nate Wolters is one the six players competing for the final roster spot. Wolters appeared in 70 NBA games with Milwaukee and New Orleans between the 2013 and 2015 seasons. He played with Besiktas Sompo Japan of the Turkish league last year before signing with the Nuggets a few weeks ago.

“After sitting down with my agent and going over the opportunities that I had, both here and overseas, I felt like this was a good opportunity to have a training camp and see if I can make the roster,” Wolters said after practice today.

Wolters described his point guard mentality as “someone who can run the team while trying to make plays for others and being aggressive when I can.” With the decision-making process on roster decisions largely out of his hands, Wolters plans to just “play hard and see what happens from there” throughout training camp and the preseason.

Swingman D.J. Kennedy is another guy in the mix for the 15th roster spot. He has won The Basketball Tournament as a member of Overseas Elite the past two years and was brought to training camp on a partially guaranteed deal.

Kennedy described his games as “versatile” and believes that he play positions one through four. He said that he will do whatever the coaches tell him to do and plans to just fit into whatever his might be on this team heading into the preseason. Kennedy plans to focus on what he can control and go from there as he looks to make this team. “I’ll leave it all out there and see how things play out,” Kennedy said.

Power forward Jarnell Stokes joins Wolters and Kennedy in competing to make the team. I was able to spend time with Stokes after practice today and hear about his journey to the Nuggets. You will be able to read about it on BSN Denver shortly.

If you haven’t already, give us a follow on Twitter and like our page on Facebook. We will continue to post live coverage from Nuggets training camp at Creighton University through the conclusion of camp on Sunday afternoon.