Nuggets Hangover Pre/In-Season Press Conference

[TheSyndicate]

7 weeks ago at the Four Seasons Denver Hotel
An alarm clock blares. It seems like it's been going off for days, if not weeks. Despite multiple attempts to stab at the snooze button to keep slumbering, Jeffrey Duren misses the button more times than Josh Jackson missed the basket during the Magic's four-game SLOE finals last season. In the room next door, Boris Hailey and Thomas Robinson start to pack their things politely excusing themselves from their company/future child support recipients they've shared this villa with for the past several weeks. Ever since the Nuggets were crowned champs, the entire team has partied like, well, it was 2008 (the last time Denver reached the promised land). But today was the beginning of training camp, and the dawn of a new season. One player who didn't need that reminder was Jerry West, second fiddle to Duren during the season and playoffs, but determined to be second-fiddle no more.

Back to today:
Thank you all for attending this morning's press conference. We apologize for the lack of availability of our players to join us as they are currently all attending their twice-daily IV infusions after traumatising their livers this offseason. As GM and head coach, I'll take you on a little journey to catch you up on where we are today.

Coming off a 62-win season, we sought to keep our core together, add some defensive intensity, and stay under the luxury tax penalty line. You can call it a turkey, because we hit three strikes in a row on those goals while also bringing the first championship back to Denver in 17 long years. After a scare against Houston that forced us to play in a decisive game 7, our battle-tested lineup dominated the Magic in the finals. Our playoff run included playing the last month of the regular season and the first three playoff series' without our dominant forward, Otto Porter Jr who was out with an injury. Making it past the Mavericks, Spurs, and Rockets without Otto is the thing I'm most proud of last season. After a season like that, we knew we had to get the band back together.

Our fiscal responsibility last year allowed us to go deep into the tax to reward a couple of our players from last year for bringing us to the promised land. We re-signed our front-court Boris Hailey and Thomas Robinson to large one-year deals to prevent them from testing the market, traded for Russel Arciniega to shore up our rotation, and then added Andre Drummond late in Free Agency on a $4m deal after he decided he valued winning over getting PAID.

As you may have read about, our players came into training camp a little hungover, and will definitely take some time to get rolling, with the one exception being Shooting Guard Jerry West who looks poised to take over the team leadership from Duren. Despite some major regression during camp, we added depth and expect this Nuggets team to even exceed the incredible high standards set by last year's squad.

Ideally, this will be a one-year dip into the tax to make another run at a championship, and anything less than a repeat would be a disappointment this season. Next year, we'll re-evaluate our team and determine the way forward.

With all that being said, we'll now take your questions.

[garbageman]

Sham Smith, Bulls.com: As defending champs, what three teams league-wide do you think pose the most threat to your repeat hopes?

[false9]

Do you feel disrespected that the New York Knicks are still recognized as the champs on the PBSL dot com website?

[TheSyndicate]

Do you feel disrespected that the New York Knicks are still recognized as the champs on the PBSL dot com website?

It said Denver Nuggets for awhile, must have changed back. Either way, nope - you can navigate to pbsl.ijbl.net and click on 'Past Champs' - that's the only respect I need.

[TheSyndicate]

Sham Smith, Bulls.com: As defending champs, what three teams league-wide do you think pose the most threat to your repeat hopes?

I think there are a ton of threats, I'll do 3 from each conference to make it fair.

I think the Spurs out west have put together a very strong team with lots of depth and interchangable pieces. The Rockets pushed me to 7 games last season, and have brought back a similar team, so they are in the hunt as well. The Kings are always scary, have one of the best GMs in the league as far as all-time records go.

In the East, the Magic have gotten better since their finals run last year, the Raptors look very scary with an improved Bjorn Ironside, and you can never look past AD and the Pistons in any series. Overall, I still think I field a competitive team against any team in the league, but there are plenty of squads that could win this year.

[drkavarga]

Do you feel disrespected that the New York Knicks are still recognized as the champs on the PBSL dot com website?

It said Denver Nuggets for awhile, must have changed back. Either way, nope - you can navigate to pbsl.ijbl.net and click on 'Past Champs' - that's the only respect I need.

How does it feel to be disrespected by the league in this way? As a related question does this motivate you to dominate the league again?

[TheSyndicate]

Do you feel disrespected that the New York Knicks are still recognized as the champs on the PBSL dot com website?

It said Denver Nuggets for awhile, must have changed back. Either way, nope - you can navigate to pbsl.ijbl.net and click on 'Past Champs' - that's the only respect I need.

How does it feel to be disrespected by the league in this way? As a related question does this motivate you to dominate the league again?

I just said it didn’t feel like I was disrespected. I don’t walk around with a giant chip on my shoulder like some other GMs. Go troll somewhere else.