It's considered standard operating procedure for NBA teams conduct a shootaround on the morning of game days. The Denver Nuggets, however, are going to experiment with upending that tradition.
Brian Shaw announced the organization's unorthodox decision on Sunday, and stated that the team would require players arrive an hour earlier than usual as a replacement for the abolished shootaround.
"I'm going to experiment with it, I think, for the rest of the season and see how it works," Shaw said, via the Denver Post. "Even if it doesn't translate into wins and losses, just if our energy and our focus and everything is better."
There's a scientific justification for Shaw's decision. Sleep studies indicated that any uninterrupted rest will have a positive impact on the player's alertness and energy levels. But there's a more interesting reason for canceling shootarounds -- apparently Shaw's players are just too hungover.
"When you have a young team, you know, guys like to go out as well," Shaw said. "Am I torturing them by making them get up in the morning when they can be sleeping? And whatever it is they did the night before, maybe they have more time to recover as well."
"When we do stuff in the morning, sometimes it's in one ear and out by the time we come back that night. So the closer we can do everything going into the game, hopefully it will be better for us."
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