Nuggets' Chandler misses playing for Knicks

Wilson Chandler has been a member of the Denver Nuggets since 2011, but sometimes he still thinks about his former team.

The small forward was drafted out of DePaul in 2007 by the New York Knicks, and enjoyed playing under the bright lights of MSG for the better part of four seasons.

"I miss playing there," Chandler recently told SLAM's Rafael Canton of the Big Apple.

"Madison Square Garden alone is the greatest arena in the world. Being in New York, there's energy in the people and the fans. They know a lot about basketball and how they react to the game is like on a whole 'nother level. So I definitely have respect for it and I miss it sometimes."

The 29-year-old also has fond memories of playing in Mike D'Antoni's fast-paced, high-scoring system.

"It was kind of perfect for the players that we had," Chandler said. "Amar'e (Stoudemire) had played in it before and guys like (Danilo Gallinari) and me flourished in (the system). It was tough; it was my first time being traded from a situation that was working for me."

Plenty has changed since then. For starters, D'Antoni is the head coach of the Houston Rockets, while STAT has retired. Chandler and Gallo, then young assets who were traded together in a package to Denver, are now veterans on the 3-4 Nuggets.

This season, Chandler is optimistic about his squad's chances of playing past mid-April for the first time in four years.

"I think we can be a really good team and competitive," he said. "I think we can make the playoffs. It's just a situation where we gotta get the guys comfortable playing with each other, coach (Mike Malone) figuring out which lineups he"s going to go with, which lineups work best together."

Chandler, who missed the 2015-16 campaign after undergoing hip surgery, is averaging a career-high 15.7 points on 48 percent shooting to go along with 6.2 rebounds in six games this season.