Rockets forward Corey Brewer spent two seasons in Denver when Nuggets interim coach Melvin Hunt was an assistant and believes he will succeed as a head coach, according to Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle. “I’m not saying for sure it’s going to be [with the Nuggets], but I’m certain he’s going to be a good head coach,” Brewer said. “He just has to get a chance. He knows his players. He knows how to coach. And he has a system. It’s a great system, kind of like George (Karl’s) system. You can watch them play fast, get up and down, and guys play hard.“
There’s more from the Northwest Division:
- It’s not always sexy to go with the guy who’s holding down the fort, but that doesn’t mean that Hunt might not be the right guy for the job, Christopher Dempsey of The Denver Post writes. Hunt is running a system similar to Karl’s and that’s a game plan that has been proven to work.
- The loss of Wesley Matthews is unfortunate, but fortunately, Blazers GM Neil Olshey traded for shooting guard Arron Afflalo right before last month’s trade deadline, Jesse Blancarte of Basketball Insiders writes. He’ll be counted on to replace much of Matthews’ production, but what isn’t clear is how much he’ll adopt Matthews’ role, or if he’ll continue to play his usual game.
- Jazz rookie Dante Exum said his biggest adjustment to the NBA has been the constant schedule of games and travel, according to Jessica Camerato of Basketball Insiders. The Australian said there were more breaks between games in his homeland. “We had a game Tuesday in Memphis and didn’t arrive at the hotel until 3 a.m. (Wednesday in Boston),” Exum said. ” Just trying to deal with that and having to step back out on the court and play another NBA game, it’s just one of the challenges in the NBA. I learned that I can sleep a lot. Here, that’s the biggest thing. I have to get rest when I can.”
Arthur Hill contributed to this post.