Jokic finalist for most improved player
Nikola Jokic’s breakout second season with the Nuggets has put him in line for one of the NBA’s most prominent awards.
Jokic, a 6-foot-10 center, is one of three finalists for the NBA’s most improved player award, which will be presented during the league’s inaugural awards show next Friday on TNT.
Giannis Antetokounmpo of the Milwaukee Bucks and Rudy Gobert of the Utah Jazz are the other finalists for the award.
Jokic averaged 16.7 points, 9.8 rebounds and 4.9 assists per game for the Nuggets this past season, leading them to the league’s best offense after he was made the team’s starting center on Dec. 15.
The standout from Serbia, who recently turned 22, increased his production in every major statistical category from his rookie season. The Nuggets went 3127 after Jokic became their starting center.
Nuggets coach Michael Malone made a case for Jokic’s most improved player candidacy at the end of the season.
“In the first 25 games of the year, that’s not who we were,” Malone said. “Once we made the lineup change on Dec. 15, his numbers from that point on are second to none — for anybody. I think Nikola has firmly entrenched himself as one of the best players in the NBA. He’d be more than deserving to win the most improved player award.”
Jokic also is nominated for the assist of the year award for his behind-thehead pass to a cutting Wilson Chandler against the Indiana Pacers in March.
Report: Denver assistant headed to Pelicans.
The New Orleans Pelicans will hire Nuggets assistant coach Chris Finch in the same role, according to ESPN.
Finch was hired last August by Denver and worked one season as the team’s top offensive assistant, helping the Nuggets orchestrate one of the league’s top attacks. He joined the Nuggets after five seasons with the Houston Rockets.
Finch is well-regarded for his work with big men, and he will have a chance to make his mark with all-star frontcourt players Anthony Davis and DeMarcus Cousins in New Orleans. The Pelicans were 26th in offensive efficiency last season.
Finch, 47, played college basketball at Franklin & Marshall College and then played professionally in England from 1993 to 1997 before beginning his coaching career overseas. He began working in the NBA with the Rockets in 2011.
Predraft workouts begin.
The Nuggets are scheduled to host six players in their first predraft workout Monday morning at the Pepsi Center, including three with area ties.
Colorado 6-6 swingman George King, who is returning to the Buffaloes next season but is going through the draft evaluation process, will be joined by former Colorado State guard Gian Clavell (6-4) and former Colorado State-Pueblo forward Nelson Kahler (6-9).
Yante Maten (6-8, Georgia), Eric Mika (6-10, BYU) and Jacob Wiley (6-7, Eastern Washington) also are scheduled to attend.
The NBA draft is June 22. The Nuggets have the 13th, 49th and 51st picks.