Denver Gazette beat writer Vinny Benedetto takes you around the NBA and inside the Nuggets locker room:
NBA Insider
Kim Hughes, who had one stint with the Nuggets as a player and another as an assistant coach, died Saturday.
He was 73.
Hughes, born in Freeport, Ill., was a standout at the University of Wisconsin alongside his twin brother, Kerry. The 6-foot-11 center was originally drafted by the Buffalo Braves in the third round of the 1974 NBA Draft, but he spent his first professional season in Italy with Olimpia Milano. He returned stateside to spend a few seasons with the Nets before signing with the Nuggets in 1978. He appeared in 159 games with the Nuggets from 1978 to 1980. He averaged 2.9 points and 4.5 rebounds in two-plus seasons with Denver. Eight games into the 1980-81 season, Denver traded Hughes and a couple of draft picks to the Cavaliers for Dave Robisch.
Cleveland was Hughes’s last stop in the NBA, but he returned to Italy to conclude his playing career with a few different clubs before calling it a career in 1989.
After retiring, he worked as an NBA scout in Denver and Milwaukee. Hughes got his first professional coaching gig with the Nuggets. He served under Mike D’Antoni, Dan Issel, Mike Evans and Jeff Bzdelik in Denver before joining Mike Dunleavy Sr.’s Clippers staff. He served as the interim coach after Dunleavy’s dismissal and also worked with the Trail Blazers before concluding his coaching career back in Italy with Viola Reggio Calabria.
Hughes won an ABA championship and earned All-Rookie honors with the Nets in 1976. Former Trail Blazers center Meyers Leonard remembered his former assistant on Instagram.
“You were like a father,” Leonard captioned of photo of the two of them. “You were my coach. You loved me unconditionally. You pushed me, but always followed up with an arm around me. You taught me about basketball but more importantly about life. You were a great father and husband, and that’s what I admired most about you. I’ve never seen someone deal with so much heartache and pain, yet you never complained and always found a way through. You were a straight shooter and as truthful as it gets, yet you knew how to love and protect me. It’s hard to believe you’re gone, and I love you so much Kim Hughes.”
What I’m Thinking
Nuggets fans might be hesitant to put too much stock in international appearances after last summer, but Jonas Valanciunas’s performance at EuroBasket feels different than what Dario Saric did last year.
Saric led Croatia to the verge of the Olympics by averaging 16.5 points on 51.1% shooting from the field, 8.8 rebounds and 5.5 assists in four qualifying games. He had a triple-double against Luka Doncic, Vlatko Cancar and Slovenia and had 14 points, 12 rebounds and four assists against Greece with a spot in the Olympics on the line. But Croatia lost, 80-69. Croatia’s other games came against weaker squads from New Zealand and the Dominican Republic, but Saric’s performance provided optimism he would be a contributor in Denver. Instead, Saric played in just 14 games in his lone season with the Nuggets.
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Valanciunas is providing Lithuania with a steady presence inside through four games at EuroBasket. It started with 18 points and nine rebounds in a big win over an overmatched Great Britain squad and 19 points and 5 rebounds in another blowout against Montenegro when he went 3 for 4 from 3-point range. His numbers dropped against in a big loss to Germany (14 points, 4 rebounds) and a win over Finland (8 points, 5 rebounds). The 3-1 start should be enough to get Lithuania into the knockout stage.
The summer showings might favor Saric, but the NBA numbers show Valanciunas is more of a sure thing. The last time Saric averaged more than 10 points in the NBA was the 2019-20 season. That was also the last time he started more than 12 games in an NBA season. Valanciunas averaged 10.4 points between stints with the Wizards and Kings last season, and he started all 82 games for the Pelicans the season before.
The fact he’s a true center while Saric is more of a forward should make Nuggets fans even more confident this season’s new back-up big will fare better than the last.
What I’m Following
– Serbia road to a EuroBasket championship got a little more complicated last week. Guard Bogdan Bogdanovic suffered a hamstring injury that will hold him out of the remainder of the tournament. He’s reportedly returned to Los Angeles to rehab at the Clippers’ facility ahead of next season. Serbia didn’t need him Monday, beating the Czech Republic 82-60. Nikola Jokic made both of his shots from the field, finishing with six points, seven rebounds and four assists in 18 minutes of playing time, as Serbia improved to 4-0 in group play.
– It’s looking increasingly unlikely Giannis Antetokounmpo is leaving Milwaukee anytime soon. The Bucks brought back older brother Thanasis on a one-year contract after he missed all of last season with a torn Achilles. The brothers are playing together at EuroBasket where Greece is off to a 3-0 start.
– Luka Doncic became the fourth player since 1995 to record a triple-double at EuroBasket. The Lakers star dropped 26 points, 11 assists and 10 rebounds in a convincing win over Belgium on Sunday. Slovenia needed that performance to pick up its first win of the tournament after losing to France and Poland.
– Jeremy Lin called it a career recently. The man whose “Linsanity” run took the NBA by storm in 2012 concluded his career with a couple of championship seasons in Taiwan. He played for the Knicks, Warriors, Rockets, Lakers, Hornets, Nets, Hawks and Raptors in his nine-year NBA career. He was part of Toronto’s championship team in 2019.
What They’re Saying
South Carolina women’s basketball coach Dawn Staley revealed that she spoke to the New York Knicks about their vacant coaching position this offseason in a recent podcast appearance.
“I would have had to do it, not just for me for women. To break (that) open,” Staley said on the “Post Moves” podcast with Aliyah Boston and Candace Parker. “I would have had to. It’s the New York Knicks. I’m from Philly, but it’s the freaking New York Knicks.”