After most everyone had left the court, Mike Miller and Emmanuel Mudiay stayed.
Extra shooting was the aim.
Mudiay is looking to brush up his form. And, as luck would have it, the Nuggets have one of the best 3-point shooters of all time to show him how. Miller, who is 19th on the career 3-point percentage list (40.7) and 18th in career 3-pointers made (1,574), was doing the coaching.
“Him being a shooter, it’s definitely going to be helpful,” Mudiay said.
Mudiay is shooting 31 percent from the field and 25 percent from the 3-point line, so some pointers are a good thing. But a lot of what has happened has been a slow fade over the course of the Nuggets’ first 21 games.
Mudiay started the season hitting nine of his first 20 shots from the 3-point line (45 percent). The dip has come since the fifth game of the season. Mudiay has made just 9-of-50 (18 percent) shots from behind the arc since then, leading to a re-evaluation of what needs to change.
“I went up to Mike and said, ‘I think it would be invaluable if you could spend some time working with Emmanuel, just on the basic fundamentals of his shot,’ ” Nuggets coach Michael Malone said.
Monday was session No. 1.
“The thing is not to think about it and just shoot it,” Mudiay said. “Sometimes I hold it and shoot on the way down. So those little things make a difference.”
While Mudiay says he ultimately isn’t worried about the struggles and that he’ll emerge from them soon, he still isn’t leaving anything to chance. Not anymore. He said he has been the kind of player to stay after practices and work on things like shooting when it’s warranted, and now it is.
“I come in at 9 a.m. and get work in, in the morning before practice starts,” Mudiay said. “After, I’ll do (training) with (Nuggets strength coach) Steve Hess, and I definitely want to keep shooting.”
Malone was asked if he thought confidence has any role to play in Mudiay’s shooting struggles.
“Confidence, or a lack thereof,” Malone said. The thing I always talk about Emmanuel and his shot is taking good shots. Shot selection, I think, is a big part of it as well. He’s done a better job of late in terms of understanding good shot, bad shot. The bad shots, not just for Emmanuel, but for anybody, are the off-balance, contested, early clock shots. Emmanuel is getting better with that understanding.
“So, the confidence, he just has to see the ball go through the net, and if he has an open look not to turn it down; step into it, shoot it with confidence. But you get that confidence from repetition.”
Mudiay has scored in double figures 13 times this season, but just three of those have come in the past seven games.
“He’s looking at Mike Miller, and, I think, Mike Miller’s words and his teaching will help Emmanuel,” Malone said. “So I think it’s great to see that and is something I think we’ll see a lot more of going forward.”
No one is panicking.
“It’s just a matter of just committing, working on your shot,” Malone said. “It’s not a practice makes perfect; it’s perfect practice makes perfect. So Mike is teaching him some of the finer points of his shooting technique and then carrying that over and getting the proper reps.”
Christopher Dempsey: cdempsey@denverpost.com or @dempseypost
ORLANDO AT DENVER 7 p.m. Tuesday, ALT; 950 AM
Spotlight on Evan Fournier:
The former Nugget has blossomed into an everyday starter and a reliable scorer in Orlando over the last two seasons. The Nuggets selected Fournier with the 20th overall pick in the 2012 draft, but after two seasons he was traded to Orlando in 2014 for Arron Afflalo. Now, Fournier leads Orlando in scoring (16.3 points per game) while shooting 45.2 percent from the field and 39.1 percent from the 3-point line. He adds 1.3 steals per game.
NOTEBOOK
Nuggets:
Starting shooting guard Gary Harris is closing in on a return to action after missing five games because of a concussion. He has slowly worked his way back into basketball activities, was able to go through some of Monday morning’s practice and is expected to take part in Tuesday’s shootaround. If he feels good, he may be available for the game. If he is unable to play, Nuggets coach Michael Malone said he is very optimistic that Harris would play Friday.
Magic:
Orlando very quietly has crept up into the outer edges of the Eastern Conference playoff race. The Magic won five consecutive games to improve from 6-8 to 11-8 before a 103-101 loss to the Los Angeles Clippers on Saturday. This is the fourth of a five-game Western Conference road trip for the Magic, which is 4-6 on the road this season.
Christopher Dempsey, The Denver Post
