Nuggets’ Michael Malone praises team for bonding activities

The Denver Nuggets head coach described some of the activities the team has been doing together such as eating breakfast and playing games.

The Orlando bubble where the NBA is scheduled to restart the 2019-20 season has had its highs and lows thus far. In its 19 days of operation (and 12 days of players stationed there), most of the news leaking out has been negative: lack of food quality, noise complaints, the hotline being constantly busy, players breaking quarantine, testing positive for the coronavirus or leaving the bubble entirely.

Furthermore, players have been swept up in small controversies over political matters as well. Some were in the spotlight over choosing not to imprint a message on the back of their jerseys. Then the James Harden fiasco occurred Thurs. night.

With this abundance of negative headlines, it was a plus to see positive news from the Denver Nuggets. Head coach Michael Malone praised his team for their bonding activities in the bubble.

“Michael Malone said Jamal Murray took the entire team out for breakfast this morning,” Denver Post beat writer Mike Singer said in a Tweet, Sunday afternoon. “He said last night, he, some coaches and Nikola Jokic killed some time playing cornhole. Malone said silverlining has been that team has done all kinds of activities together.”

That last sentence from Malone is extremely important. Even before the coronavirus pandemic and protests swept across the world, it was rare to hear of an entire professional sports team participating in events together, especially on the road. Usually, this is only the case for championship contenders who are aware that personal bonding is essential to winning as well.

Although the Nuggets are considered a “championship contender,” this should still be the type of news you want to hear as a fan. Team bonding always brings the best out of players and should be a priority now that they’re stuck in one place for potentially the next three months.

The Nuggets will partake in the first day of scrimmages on Wed. July 22nd against the Washington Wizards. Their first of eight seeding games is slated for Aug. 1 against the Miami Heat.