Nikola Jokic blunt as Nuggets near season-opener: “We played really bad and poorly the whole preseason”

The Nuggets aren’t overly alarmed by their preseason, but they’re not mincing words about it, either. That includes their three-time MVP center.

Nikola Jokic, asked where Denver still needs to improve in its final days of practice before the season, responded with a simple and blunt “everything.”

“I think we didn’t play the preseason how we’re supposed to be playing,” Jokic said Monday. “The defense was not where it’s supposed to be. We couldn’t make shots. So we played really bad and poorly the whole preseason. So hopefully we can do something a little bit better when the (regular) season comes.”

That’ll be Thursday (8 p.m.), when the Nuggets host Oklahoma City to tip off the 2024-25 campaign. They moved downstairs from their practice gym Monday to scrimmage on the main court at Ball Arena, providing more of a game-like practice setting that they don’t often get.

“I think any days that our main court is down (on top of the ice), getting out here, getting used to the lighting, getting used to the rims, just getting a little more comfortable (is beneficial),” coach Michael Malone said. “After all, this is our home court.”

The Nuggets finished their preseason 1-4, salvaging the record with a win at Minnesota last Thursday. Malone emphasized throughout October that he was not concerned with the wins and losses so much as the team’s overall quality of play, which he found to be lackluster.

“Turnovers. Transition, getting back. Just gotta do some discipline stuff,” Jamal Murray said Sunday. “Being on the same page. Just talking more, each and every possession. Offense and defense. I’d say those are probably the keys right now.”

Denver averaged 20 turnovers, shot 33.7% from 3-point range and allowed 121 points per game in the five exhibitions. The end of the bench in particular struggled during second halves, but the Nuggets also lost a home game with four of their starters playing until the end of the third quarter while Phoenix’s starters had the night off, causing Malone to call out his team’s one-on-one defense and conditioning.

“We all want to get better. I think that’s the most important thing,” Jokic said. “You have that positive energy, let’s say. And we want to be better. So hopefully we’re going in the right direction.”

“I think it’s so much easier to operate from the underdog status, and when teams don’t maybe give you a chance — not that we listen to that,” Malone said. “Last year, obviously we were hunted by 29 other teams, and ultimately Minnesota got us in the second round. So new year, new challenge, new team. And regardless of what people are saying about us, we know we have a good team, and we have a chance to be a special team.”

And as for the progress made during Monday’s scrimmages?

“It was decent, I think,” Jokic said after his bench-heavy team lost the final portion to Murray’s squad. “I mean, hopefully, it was good. I don’t know. We will see in a couple of days.”

Peyton Watson feeling good after return to practice

After participating in his second full practice back from a hamstring injury, Watson said there were moments this preseason when he felt good enough to play immediately but understood the need for precaution. His goal and Denver’s was always to feel healthy for the season-opener.

“I think everybody was kind of, every day, just asking me, ‘When you gonna be back? You back today? You back tomorrow? When you back?’ And I just felt kind of a little bit of responsibility to be back as fast as possible,” Watson said. “But everybody also did a good job of reminding me that this isn’t the end-all, be-all. That we’ve got bigger stuff ahead of us.”

Watson will be playing catch-up this week from a chemistry standpoint with his two new teammates, Russell Westbrook and Dario Saric, who he’ll likely play the majority of his minutes with this season in the second unit. But basketball-wise, Watson is as confident than ever. When he wasn’t able to get shots up in the gym early on in his recovery, he would lie in bed and “shoot” a basketball up at the ceiling. He described himself Monday as a perfect fit in the bench unit. More urgent than that — in Watson’s mind — is feeling like he’s physically game-ready by Thursday.

“I was in incredible shape before I got injured,” he said. “That’s one thing that was really disappointing to me, because I worked really, really hard on my conditioning. And just getting back to that level of condition is not easy, especially out here. So I’m just doing what I can, putting in the extra work to get back on track.”

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