New Orleans Pelicans coach Alvin Gentry has had a rough start in his first season. (AP Photo/Jonathan Bachman)
NEW ORLEANS — New Orleans is 1-9.
Right. That’s not good.
But are the Pelicans, who have one of the NBA’s best players in rangy 6-10 forward Anthony Davis, as bad as their record suggests?
Not in the least, said Nuggets coach Michael Malone after his team’s shootaround Tuesday morning at the Smoothie King Center.
“They’ve had some injuries, they’ve had a very difficult early season schedule,” Malone said. “When you play Golden State twice, play Dallas twice, play Atlanta — they’ve played some good basketball teams. When you have a new staff, kind of like what we’re going through, and you have all of those injuries, it takes a little while for things to take hold because you don’t know who you have every single night.
“So they’ll get it together, but they are much better than their 1-9 record. If you look at it on paper you can say ‘This is an easy game.’ But we all realize that it’s not an easy game. When you have some of the players that they have, the players with experience, the all stars, it’s going to be a challenge for us. They are fighting for a win. But the 1-9 record is not indicative of the talent that they have and the potential this team has.”
The Nuggets will have forward Kenneth Faried for the game. He left the last game, at Phoenix on Saturday, with back spasms, but has recovered well enough to play. And while Faried participated in shootaround, forward Darrell Arthur did not. He’s dealing with a sinus infection and is questionable for the contest.
Follow Chris Dempsey on Twitter @dempseypost or email him at cdempsey@denverpost.com
