If you’re going to change the scenery, there may be no better place to do it than in San Diego.
After four days of training camp at the Pepsi Center, Nuggets coach Brian Shaw is ready for some San Diego sunshine. His team is too. So, he decided to take his team to Southern California a couple of days early in advance of Denver’s preseason opener Monday against the Los Angeles Lakers at the Valley View Casino Center.
“I think it will be good for us,” Shaw said. “We’ve got a couple of team-bonding kind of things planned for the guys while we’re there. And then, Monday night to be able to lace it up and go against a different opponent, we’re looking forward to it.”
Monday’s game is the first of eight on the Nuggets’ preseason schedule. It will be followed by the first of the Nuggets’ two exhibition games played in Colorado, Wednesday against the Oklahoma City Thunder.
No final decisions have been made about the availability of players coming off a major surgery — Danilo Gallinari, JaVale McGee, Nate Robinson and J.J. Hickson. Gallinari and Robinson went through light contact in 5-on-5 scrimmaging during the second of a two-a-days practice Thursday, but their first forays back into contact work aren’t expected to be enough to green light their participation in Monday’s game.
Shaw hasn’t settled on a rotation plan.
“I have no idea yet,” the coach said. “We have 18 guys on the roster. I still don’t know from our medical staff how much, if at all, any of our injured guys will be able to play.”
Asked what he is looking for, Shaw said: “I want to see where we stand in what we’re trying to do. Mainly defensively, if we’re starting to get it. Communication between teammates; who has good chemistry with who in terms of the different groups that will be playing together.”
Shaw has been pleased with his team’s work during the first few days of camp, in everything from the players’ energy to the competitive nature of the practices.
Given an opportunity to contrast this year so far with last year, Shaw grinned. “It’s like night and day,” he said.
Christopher Dempsey: cdempsey@denverpost.com or
