Kenneth Faried: ‘No pressure’ living up to new deal
By Evan Massey
Kenneth Faried doesn’t feel the pressure to live up to his new deal with the Denver Nuggets
The Denver Nuggets and power forward Kenneth Faried agreed to a new deal worth $52 million over four years, but Faried isn’t worried about any sort of pressure resulting from the new contract. Some players feel added pressure after getting a major payday, but Faried is ready to get rolling for the Nuggets and just focus on playing basketball. Denver desperately needs him to come out strong this year and be the leader and improved player that he was for Team USA during the summer.
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“No, I really don’t care,” Faried spoke to the Denver Post. “There’s no pressure. It’s just money. It’s not a big deal. I love the game, so I’m going to continue to play the game like I’ve been playing.”
During the summer with Team USA, Faried looked like a much improved player on the offensive end of the court. He still got a lot of his points off of cleanup offensive rebounds around the rim, but his post game looked better as well. The Nuggets believe that they are going to be a playoff team in the tough Western Conference this season and they need Faried to come through both on the court and as a leader.
Last season with the Nuggets, Faried ended up playing in 80 regular season games and started in 77 of those appearances. He averaged 13.7 points and 8.6 rebounds per game, and also was a key piece on the defensive end of the court. The Nuggets expect to see those numbers rise this season, and for him to take over a much more vocal leadership role.
It’s going to be very intriguing to see what Faried is able to do this season and what the Nuggets do in the West. They do have quite a bit of talent on the roster, but Faried is going to need to step up in a big way. If his offensive game is as potent as it was for Team USA, the Nuggets have a very good chance to reach their goal of the postseason.
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