Nuggets’ “never say die” mentality will serve them well
“The young Nuggets are building confidence. By taking teams like the Rockets to the wire and by showing faith in their own talents the Nuggets are building a foundation for the future. They’re also learning to trust Brian Shaw. A full-blown tank job might have caused them to implode, leaving them to “rebuild” again next season.”
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Your Denver Nuggets have just five games left on their schedule before they can knock off for a few months, watch the playoffs unfold and prepare to participate in them next season. Even if they sweep their remaining match-ups they’ll finish well below .500 with only 38 wins of the year – about twenty less than they had under George Karl in 2013.
To say that the Brian Shaw led rendition of the blue and yellow has fallen short of expectations is a wild understatement. Even though the team mixed things up dramatically before the season began by replacing everybody from the head coach to the front office it was assumed that they still had the talent to compete for a low playoff seeding. Alas injuries plagued the Nuggets in ways that nobody could have anticipated and the adjustment period in getting accustomed to Shaw proved to be longer than folks expected it to be.
The work seemingly turned once Shaw prevailed in his famous stare-down with reserve point guard Andre Miller. Since then the Nuggets have been at least competitive in most of their losses. They’ve shown some pride. Meanwhile some unlikely stars have emerged – most notably Kenneth Faried who has proven since March first that he should at least be given consideration for a contract extension.
The Nuggets have proven themselves gritty enough to compete with the best in the NBA west. They swept the Clippers at home this year and gave San Antonio, Houston and Memphis all they could handle in spring games even though Denver was depleted in the personnel department.
The toughness and resiliency the Nuggets have shown to close out the season will serve them well in the future.
Despite all the chatter about “tanking” late in the season in the hope of landing a lottery pick, and the pressure that certain pundits have placed on the team to do so, Brian Shaw has emphasized effort in preparing his banged-up squad for next year. This will ultimately be a more effective strategy that allowing the team to take losses on purpose.
The young Nuggets are building confidence. By taking teams like the Rockets to the wire and by showing faith in their own talents the Nuggets are building a foundation for the future. They’re also learning to trust Brian Shaw. A full-blown tank job might have caused them to implode, leaving them to “rebuild” again next season.
Because they are closing the year with a “never say die” mentality the Nuggets will go into camp with swagger. Knowing that they’ll have so many missing pieces back in the fold for the 2014 / 2015 season will give them the boost that they need to take their game to the next level. The future looks bright for the Denver Nuggets – even if they don’t get a top five draft pick.
