Christian Brown heard criticism of Art Nuggetsoffseason, as well as those who doubted he was being overpaid after ankle problems limited him to 44 games in his fourth NBA season. However, he tells Sean Keeler of The Denver Post that those negative comments will inspire him as he prepares for training camp.
“Honestly, it’s good for you to get punched in the mouth once in a while” – said Brown. “… So it’s good for me personally to be written off. It’s probably good for the team. But like I said, I wouldn’t write off a team (the Nuggets) that won so many games and been there, won a championship, done all that. So we’re excited. And obviously we don’t care what anybody else says.”
Denver’s efforts to keep up with San Antonio and Oklahoma City atop the West suffered with the loss Peyton Watson, Tim Hardaway Jr and Jonas Valanciunas from last year’s list. The Nuggets were able to hold on Spencer Jones after compliance with the proposal from the Thunder, and they added some veteran scoring help reaching an agreement with DeMar DeRozan in free agency.
Brown said he’s “very excited to play another All-Star” in DeRozan and expressed confidence in the front office’s ability to find talent. He added that he’s ready to make people forget about last season now that his ankle is on the mend.
“Yeah, I think we’ll put that in the past and I don’t want to talk about it anymore.” – said Brown. “I’ve worked really hard to get past it and I’m going to keep working on it and (it’s) something that’s going to keep developing, keep getting better. So I’m not too concerned about what other people say about it. I know who I am and the player that I am. I know that I’ll get back to normal and be where I need to be next year.”
There are more from the Northwest Division:
- Nuggets assistant coach Agnen Stayakovich addressed the loss of Watson in an interview Bruno Felix of Basketball Network. “Of course, losing such a person is not easy” – said Stayakovich. “So now we can like it, now we can, I don’t know, we can be sad about it or we can say, OK, it is what it is and we’re going to take the next step and do whatever it takes to rebuild ourselves and find the right path and the right direction to win a championship.”
- There may be mutual interest Kevin Love returning to Art Timberwolveswhere he began his NBA career. John Krawczynski of The Athletic said recently on the Talk North podcast (Link to YouTubehat tip to BasketNews) that Love is “open to returning to Minnesota” and the team could be interested in bringing him back. Love is a free agent after playing for Utah last season.
- In a the full storyKravchinsky is considering a new look Timberwolves and problems that the coach Chris Finch face off after a summer filled with major roster moves.
- After Adam Silver harsh punishments against the Clippers for circumventing the salary cap, Bill Oram of The Oregonian (subscription link) urges the commissioner to participate in the Trail Blazers the owner Tom Dundon’s negotiations on the modernization of the arena. Oram notes that it’s been three weeks since the Portland City Council approved the list of terms and says city officials had hoped to see progress on the agreement by Labor Day. Oram claims that with Dundon not involved, a deal is less likely to be reached before the December deadline, and retains the freedom to eventually explore moving the team.
