The laughs of J.J. Hickson after missing a shot at practice, Kenneth Faried encouraging his teammates after a good practice, the passion in Melvin Hunt’s voice. These are some of the many things that fans don’t see when watching the Denver Nuggets.

“The countless hours, not just the time at practice but the time you can find to get a little work in. Watching film, just whatever you can do to get the advantage.” Gary Harris, a first-year Nuggets SG, said. This is some of the work outside of practice that often goes unnoticed by fans.

The Nuggets current record is 28-49, with a 4-game losing streak. Fans seem to have given up on the Denver Nuggets season and near future as a basketball team. “There’s only so many ways you can phrase, this team is losing or this team sucks…” Said Chris Dempsey, a sports writer for The Denver Post, in talking about articles on the Nuggets.

The future does, in fact, look quite promising for this struggling basketball team with the recent promotion of Melvin Hunt to head coach. Young players such as Will Barton, Erick Green, Kenneth Faried, Ian Clark, Joffrey Lauvergne, Jusuf Nurkic, and the promising rookie Gary Harris look to lead the Nuggets in the upcoming seasons.

“You know I can’t speak much for other players, but I just want the opportunity to play and keep consistent.” Harris said.

If that future isn’t promising enough for some fans, here is the statistical breakdown:

Hunt has an 8-10 record since becoming head coach, a promising number considering where the Nuggets were before he started. Hunt has already had some big victories against teams like the Pelicans, Warriors, Jazz, Bucks, Knicks, and Timberwolves.

In terms of field goal percentages, Faried leads the young players with 49.7%, Jusuf Nurkic- 45.5%, Will Barton-42.7%, Erick Green-38.3%, Joffrey Lauvergne-35.1%, Ian Clark-34.8%, and Gary Harris-28%. (Stats from rotoworld.com)

The NBA is very different from college for young players like Harris, and adjusting to a professional basketball environment can be a struggle.”Practicing everyday and not being on the road as much, you have so many games but so much free time on your hands.” On the surface he may look to be falling down, with a 28% field goal percentage and averaging just 3.1 points per game. However, there is a lot of potential and Harris has only played in 50 of the 70 games this season.

“I think it’s a lot of hard work, anybody can go shoot free throws at their neighborhood court, you just gotta push yourself. I meant there’s a lot of long nights and hard work but you do it to keep winning.” Harris said.

The tools are all lined up for next season, but how will the Nuggets utilize them? Only time will tell.