The Denver Nuggets had a special guest speaker before traveling to Orlando for the restart of the NBA season: two-time Super Bowl champion Peyton Manning.
Nuggets big man Mason Plumlee said the former Broncos quarterback spoke to the team about what it is like to go from being a squad on the rise to ultimately reaching the mountaintop and becoming a champion.
Vvia Mike Singer of The Denver Post:
“He talked about kind of the come-up (with the Colts), which I feel like we’ve experienced here as a franchise,” Nuggets veteran and Indiana native Mason Plumlee told The Denver Post. “He’s like, ‘It’s easy to have bulletin board material when you’re taking L’s week after week, but then you establish yourself.’ … He was like, ‘We’re always at the top. What are you doing then to stay motivated, right? Because you can’t just wait around for the playoffs or the Super Bowl. You gotta be good every week.’”
One takeaway, according to one person on the call, was that Manning challenged the Nuggets to find their own voice and leadership style. He said he wasn’t necessarily a leader from the start of his career, but he grew into his voice.
Manning reportedly spoke about the numerous playoff losses he suffered with the Indianapolis Colts prior to winning his first Super Bowl in 2006.
Plumlee added he felt the takeaway was the importance of staying level-headed and focused in the pursuit of the ultimate goal.
The Nuggets have become one of the top teams in the Western Conference in the last couple years, though they have yet to make the next “leap,” so to speak.
Denver earned the No. 2 seed in the playoffs last year, only to lose a seven-game thriller to the Portland Trail Blazers in the conference semifinals.
The Nuggets enter the restart as the No. 3 seed, just 1.5 games back of the Los Angeles Clippers for the No. 2 spot. They will attempt to channel Manning's energy as they pursue an NBA championship.
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