Elston Turner played eight seasons in the NBA, three of them in Denver under Doug Moe. He played his first three seasons with the Dallas Mavericks before the Nuggets acquired him on August 23, 1984 in exchange for Howard Carter. After the '85-86 season Turner went to Chicago for two seasons before returning via free agency to play his last season with Denver.

Turner remembers noticing a few differences in how things were ran in Dallas compared with his arrival in Denver:
"Doug Moe was the coach," Turner remembers, "and the first time I came to a shootaround, I didn't know what to think. Some of the guys had their practice gear on, some had raggedy-looking sweats, and some even wore jeans. Doug would sit on the sideline, smoking a cigar and making jokes with everybody, while all the players were doing their own thing. Some were shooting, some were stretching, some were just standing and chatting. 'Hey, coach,' I said to Doug. 'What's supposed to be happening here?' He just shrugged, took another puff on his cigar, and said, 'It's a shootaround. So go ahead and shoot around.'"