Our Favorite Denver Nuggets Storylines This Season | DNVR Nuggets Podcast LIVE

Our Favorite Denver Nuggets Storylines This Season | DNVR Nuggets Podcast LIVE

Get down. Merry Christmas everybody. Merry Christmas. Merry Christmas. Sounds like does it? It really does. What is everybody? Welcome to the podcast live from a very noisy studio. We haven’t had this for like weeks. Yeah, it’s not too bad right now. We’ll see. We’ll see if it comes back up. Yeah, we’ll see if it is. What are these presents doing on our desk? Well, fans have sent us some surprises. We’re going to open them up today. We’re going to find out if they’re fans or if they’re It might be enemies. Might hate the show. Did this Did any of these come from Montana? From a sha little shack in Montana. That was so dark. But stay tuned cuz uh that could be interesting. We also I love what we’re talking about today. Some story lines, interesting story lines, concerning story lines, and then our own personal little niche story lines, you know. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Like just for us. Just for the fellas. And then we have some news and notes at the top of the show. Dline Co. is here. That’s right, guys. I’m having a uh professionally frustrating day, but I’m here to take it out on you, the listener, and my so-called friends. I can’t wait for that. By the way, very true. Very true. And then over there, looking dapper, Brennan vote. It’s my Tony cuz you can only see the top half of him. That’s my Tony Soprano shirt. It does look just like a shirt you would wear. It does, man. You’re right. That is I love that. That was the motivation for it. That’s phenomenal. Uh, let’s get into some news and notes. Our top story today. Yes. Our top story, the Black Skylines are back. Let’s go. This is great news. I think I agree. They have now we’re going to have the regular blues and whites. Not such a big fan. Black Skylines, of which we have many great memories, and the Mile High City blue and golds. I love them. That’s two phenomenal alternate jerseys. It feels right for this season for them to be in those jerseys, doesn’t it? weirdly feel right. Is it too much of a Babe Ruth call to just do the championship alternates again? What do you Oh, just to call your own shot to wear the championship rewear those and then not win the title. But if you really like the way this team looks, you could go with those. I I So, somebody asked me about that. You’re talking about the Denver blue coids we call them with the blue light thing. Yeah. I kind of They won a title in those so they always will be special. They did grow on me over time. I kind of like that that’ll be contained to that year. You know, that’s like, yeah, that’s the one we won the first championship. We don’t need to bring That’s probably for the best. I’m just saying it’d be sick if they waited, brought it back, and then won again. Unless they win in these and then they we can forget those. Yeah, we just forget those ever happened. Those weird blue gradients on the side. The front of them look fine again. It’s the sides are the issue. Um, dude, would you have hated them less if it wasn’t like, you know, at the tail end of CO? It was really the co It wasn’t the CO side. It’s just like that’s what I equated it to, but it was also the storyline that it was made to Doesn’t remind you of Union Station. It doesn’t. Well, no, it’s the the the side specifically. I mean, the front is fine. It does look good. I think I grew up. It’s simple. It’s fine. And simple and fine is is go can go a long way with a jersey, but it’s when they try and get all cute and clever. And they said it was supposed to represent bricks on the side of it. It was a gradated blue thing. And it was like, what are you doing? What are you doing? Anyway, black rainbows. I got to know what the rules are. What are these rules of when you can have something, when you can’t have something? So, this year, every team had to pick one of their city jerseys to come back. That was the That’s what’s happening. So, you’ll notice there’s a bunch of these teams now bringing back something from the past. The Nuggets obviously went with the black skyline, which I think was a good choice cuz the city edition, not the statement or, you know, these all have different icon or whatever it is, but there were city editions, so you really had the three different rainbow skylines. I think the Bones Highland rib cage ones. There’s only so many you can pick from. I think this is the best one easily. And I think they look really nice and I’m excited. Make almost half of our games will get the blacks or the blues. I like those are two of my all-time favorites. They’re great. I mean, really, it’s uh Yeah, having both of those in the road. It’s like such a strange thing that it’s you. It’s such a rare thing to get what you want from your team. This is the year of us getting what we want. Truly. No, I mean I said on Twitter like this is the perfect cap to a perfect offseason. This is a like this is just it’s just all like as though Nuggets Twitter was given the opportunity to run the team for one off season and they were and they did it. It’s so true. Even down to the Jersey choice. Totally. It’s like everything that everyone was pray they’re like sign Bruce Brown. Like all right fine. Like we got to get off one of these big contracts. No problem. We It’s like everything was just like every and it’s it’s crazy because for the most part like now obviously we still have to fight about Jamal because we have to have some kind of uh constant battle waging but generally speaking like people don’t know what to be mad about right now. It’s pretty weird. Hopefully we can direct our anger at other people. That’s that’s what I hope. What I’m hoping is that we can all be mad at uh Jaylen Williams again. Yeah, let’s do that. Uh favorite games in the Black Skyline. I went back this morning. This is what I was doing uh to go look at it. Game one against the Utah Jazz in the bubble. Jamal Murray had uh 36 in that game. Donovan Mitchell had 50. It was an awesome game. It was the first game of the playoffs in the bubble. Nuggets win it. They also wore him in game five of that series, which was of course they’re down three games to one. You have to come back. Murray had 42 in that game and was unbelievable. By the way, I watched these highlights just to prepare to think of what iconic moments Murray was so freaking good in the in that dude. I mean really like that uh that gif gif whatever it’s a gif. I agree. I’m just trying to appeal to all the morons as well. But like when of him being like come on and it’s slow motion. He’s cut. He really is cut. He’s skinny. He’s really skinny, man. He really I’m back to saying he’s fat. Even though I’ve admonished everyone for that. I made a whole thing about it. But like he really was like in excellent shape back then. And then of course vote game seven vers Utah an ugly game but they were also in the black skylines for that. Say I remember that one off the top of my head. Yeah. What happened? Need a little refresher. Game six versus the Clippers also that and that one man it’s funny cuz the Nuggets in that one. Oh no. That game they had to come back from being way, you know, down quite a bit. They come back in that one. That was an awesome one. And then game three, the one they won against the Lakers in the bubble. Murray cooked. He had 288 and 12 in that game. I remember I remember there was a point in the series where it felt as if maybe Murray ran out of gas like the magic was still there but he was kind of running out of gas and it was like oh man because at this moment maybe one of the last gasps of as if he looks like this they can do anything. Yeah. Turns out they could. They could. They just were a little early and also you know that was a fake championship. Do you guys you guys hear everybody’s talking about this? Daryl my brought it up. He had an interview on record saying, “I talked to everyone around the league. Nobody thinks that championship.” I’m paraphrasing. Did you actually hear in con like how did this come up? Is it on a podcast? I don’t know. I’m just asking like I need to know how it like in what like he came in he’s like oh I got something to get off my chest or if it was just like oh man lots of crazy stuff and he’s like yeah you know that one didn’t really count you. I think he was asked about it. Yeah, I think he was asked about it. It is funny though, like it’s it is I do obviously love, as I think we all do, that you can cut into the LeBron Lakers mystique in any way, shape, or form. You can completely uh you know, nullify any of their accomplishments and then label the entire um era as a failure. So, I’m with that. Yeah, same with me. But I also don’t know why we’re I don’t know why we’re talking about it. Also, why would Daryl my bring this up? This is what I’m saying. Of all people, Daryl my does is not the guy for this as opposed to you very real ring. Was he with the Who was he with then? Was he with the the Houston? He would have maybe might have been Houston time. Yeah, did his team make any noise at all? Was that was Daryl Morgan Tony? I’m not He might have still been in Houston. I think he was with Houston when he he said he stated many times that his job was to make sure James Harden got a ring. Um he still mission failed. Mission failed and then James Harden trashed him. Absolutely trash. Never stick up for an NBA player. November of 2020 takes on the 76ers job. There. There you go. So, this was still he’s still with Houston at that time. So, uh anyway, back to these jerseys. I think uh I think it’s actually really cool that we’re going to get more of these. You know who never wore this jersey is Aaron Gordon. That’s cool, actually. He arrived later. So, now we’re going to get an Aaron Gordon in the Black Skylines, which I think is pretty freaking awesome. Is is it still up for debate who’s like now that it’s being re-released, do we have to ree evaluate? Because I think we said these are the Murray’s question. I think Murray has a couple to be honest, but these are the Murray. These are the Murray. You get the the iconic uh shot of him kneeling down after the game. Obviously, those were in the mile high cities. Oh, is that true? Yeah, I know. Cuz see, this is what’s weird. This is what they call the Mandela. This is the Mandela effect cuz I too for a long time thought that was it cuz it all runs together. But he did have the spinning layup. Yeah. I mean, he had like he had a lot of iconic Come on. Yeah. Um Okay. Well, could this be the year of Jamal? Let’s Let Stay tuned. I’m I’m actually It’s kind of crazy to say, but I’m genuinely excited that these are the jerseys, man. Totally. It’s not crazy to say at all. Like, that’s whole the whole part of this thing. They look great on the court. They feel great that like everyone wants to buy the stuff. You know, we had the we we’ve made it through the much malign 5280 era of Denver. I hope. We’ll see. We’ll find out. Um, but yeah, dude, it’s cool when you like the jersey. Well, here’s one little subtle difference. The old one said Western Union. New ones say Ibata. Well, that’s huge, right? Yeah, that that’s I’m not saying it’s huge, but I am saying it’s a differentiator. What do you think the creative choice What was What do you think the creative choice there was? Can’t argue. You don’t think that was a noteworthy thing? They were like all just completely like creatively think speaking. I’d love to make one alteration creatively. I’m just saying if you see somebody walking around in the Western Union like, “Oh, hell yeah, bro. Hell yeah.” That’s the old one, man. That’s not the new one. Yeah. Yeah. That’s That’s old stuff that you got compounding interests on that one. Uh let’s hop into our main topic here. We have about five minutes in this first segment. We’re going to go through different story lines throughout the season. And I broke these up into three different categories. Optimistic storyline. So, this is one you’re like, I’m so excited. I think this one’s going to go great. Political story lines. Yeah. Political story line. niche story line which is like yeah this one’s for me like I’m really into this but I wouldn’t expect everyone to be and then a concerning story line like you know but this is a story line yeah there you go I’ll start with mine guys just to kind of show you how this is going to go optimistic storyline Kale for me the chemistry of the entire rotation oh yeah dude I honestly there’s a lot of things that I’m excited about I just think that the this will I’m very optimistic that this is the year the ball gets popping more so than ever before and I’m very optimistic that this is the year the game the ball stays popping. It’s not like pops for 9 10 minutes, bench comes in, kind of struggles, starters come in, pops. I’m I’m hopeful that this is one of those ones where the Nuggets get 35, 40 assists, you know, it’s not crazy because you’re like, “Yeah, man. This whole team has a rhythm and chemistry to it.” So, the the chemistry of the entire rotation to me is one of my most optimistic storylines. Very optimistic. And I don’t think it’s uh reaching at all. I think you know again we’re in on paper the on paper portion of the season which is on paper balls popping we were free this is the optimistic paper portion of the season you before it was like the negative on paper portion of the season you they can never make a trade like that they got no so true so but now we’re in the looking forward optim like the new paper has been delivered um and you know like Cam Johnson feels like he’s the kind of guy that wants to get that ball popping Maybe. Yeah. I mean, for this one vote, I’m excited about chemistry, but it is a bunch of new guys. It could get off to a slow start. I’m just so optimistic. Do you think that I’m overly optimistic about the chemistry? Um, well, just to play devil’s advocate for a second, since since you just mentioned some of that new starter, although admittedly, I think he’ll slide in fine. Bunch of new faces on the bench and again some new faces on the coaching staff and a full season for David Adelman. So maybe chemistry is earned, especially if it’s a new system like Michael Malone. It really things haven’t really changed over the last five, six years. There might be new wrinkles that even for Jokic require a little bit of like, all right, how’s this work? Right? So maybe it’s not a 10-0 start or maybe it’s just not chemistry is the headline of that start. You know, there’s a there’s a chance it takes a bit. I do think the collective IQ of this team is higher. Yeah. on both units. And so I think I think ultimately we should see more smart basketball and hopefully man these are famous last words, but hopefully less contingent upon one guy’s presence on the court. Here’s what I think. I do think there’ll be a learning curve to this season and it’ll be clunky, but I think the floor for the team is actually going to be so high that early on, like the first 20 games, we’ll be like, “Oh, I thought they were going to have better chemistry.” not even realizing that that was their leadup. You know, like they have really good chemistry, but we’re like, I thought it was going to be great. And then halfway through the season, it’ll be like, oh, there it is. Y it they So, the bad won’t be bad where it’s like turnovers and the offense kind of sucks. It’ll just be like, oh, it’s the same as last year. Okay. Yeah. And it’s like, no, that was their catching their footing. Yeah, I could see it, man. I It’s very optimistic, but I think it’s also realistic in many ways. We should call it the realistic story line. The most realistic story line. All right, we’re going to take a break here before we get to the other ones. Dline and vote both have their own optimistic storylines, but let us know in the chat while we go to break. I’m going to read these. Let me know what your optimistic storyline is of the year. Denver’s best roofers are on DNBR’s team. Go with the pros at Red. Get your roof checked once a year. It’s preventative medicine for your home, the home you pour your life into. And you don’t want anything else pouring into your home because you did not. Take your preventative medicine when it comes to that roofing game. Make sure you’re covered with the pros. long-lasting relationship no matter what uh that matter to them with their customers. Could start as a small job, could end as a big job. As long as you feel like they did the job right, that’s what’s important to them. Quality materials, decades of experience, quick response time, the state’s best estimators and contractors. Supporting your local teams means also supporting local businesses like Redhawk Roofing. If you are looking for a new roof over your home or business, be sure to check out Redhawk Roofing at redhawkroofing.com or call 720-771-8921. Tell them DNVR sent you. Tell them Brendan Vote sent you. So you’re I was listening to the DMV show and Brendan Vote said, “You guys are awesome.” And they’re like, “Oh, that what? We got you covered from the roof to the floor here at DNVR. How about Empire today?” You know about Empire. You’ve seen Empire advertising your whole life. You’ve heard the jingles. You’ve listened to our ads. You probably have walked on an Empire floor before in your life. We bet. Yeah. We’ve all been to those big box stores where it’s just one of the things they do, not the only thing they do. And that’s why you got to go to Empire today where they eat, breathe, and sleep flooring. They understand that you get clear, upfront, non-inclusive pricing. Plus, you can schedule installation as soon as the next day. Why are you smiling? Vote. Is it let out silly noises time in the yoga studio? I think that’s exactly what’s happening. Schedule a free and home estimate today because some things are just better at home. DMV listeners can receive a $350 discount when using promo code DNVR. Yes, you heard that right. A $350 discount with code DMVR. Restrictions apply. Visit Empire Today/DMVR for full details. I like it. Nobody really shared optimistic takes. One one guy here Celestros Celestios says the team plays greater than the sum of their parts more so than ever. I agree. This is part of the chemistry, you know, better chemistry than ever. I think that’s a real realistic take, a realistic optimism. Don Dripping says Don and Pwatt solidify their rotational spots by showing growth. Don I mean so people are so optimistic about him which I find kind of interesting given how little we’ve seen. That’s why though that’s why yeah new so some people just fill the void of information with pure like it’s going to be the best. Well he he played well in summer league um and that’s exciting and he I mean he did the la yeah at the end that’s part of summer league. Um, and you know, like you can just I think there’s just a lot of like you just kind of hope it’s going to work out because we’ve been waiting for this guy for a while. Um, but it’s on paper season, baby. What’s the problem? Uh, I forgot, by the way, that it is Colorado today. Happy Colorado Day. Oh, thank you. What’d you get me? Nothing. Okay. But it is pretty cool. You know, little Colorado day. I don’t We got to make this a holiday. So, you can’t hear. It’s so hard to focus right now cuz there’s a man down when you’re in class and they go, “And now just let out let it all out.” and they’re like a Yeah, basically what Yeah, there’s a there’s some sort of tantric thing happening downstairs apparently, but it it feels like when you walk into a dorm room and somebody’s listening to something they don’t want you to hear and they quickly close the uh their laptop. Yeah, it it’s taking on a different kind of It’s really bad if you know any better. Yeah, dude. Quickly close my laptop. Bo, why don’t we have you go next? What’s your optimistic storyline for this season? My optimistic storyline for this season absolutely has to be the chance for the bench to be a positive group together. Yeah, dude. Absolutely. Um there’s no graphic for mine cuz I’m the worst, but I have mine. It has to be the bench. Uh the chance that you could stagger one starter and it could work. The chance that you could play a 10-man rotation should you feel so inclined, which I don’t necessarily, but the options are there. A real center. what that can do for Jamal Murray. And I won’t stress Ken. I’m not I’m not going year of Jamal Murray here, but there’s a chance like when you look think of a guy Jamal this stage in his career and his age, you go, how are how are you supposed to see like a big jump? Don’t we know everything about who he is as a player? Well, one chance here could be the non Jokic Minutes just being productive for once. So, it’s it’s the bench playing well without Joic. It’s the bench possibly turning Jamal Murray and Jamal Murray turning himself into an all-star, but that’s intertwined with this newfound depth or at least potential depth. At least on paper depth. That last one was on paper depth. Do you think like what are the chances that the bench is just the same? Like it’s not like we’re all excited and it’s just like we’re uh and then and it turns out it’s just an NBA bench unit like just largely disappointed. I don’t know that it’s like the not even an NBA bench because the Nuggets have always had a bad bench. It’s like the Nuggets somehow have this disease. Well, I think that I I just think that most benches suck it like in general. Like you get a good one, it’s like holy. But I like I really like I my hope is that we get like we call them the bench mob or we have like some Yeah, we have a name. They’re like not benchmob. That’s everybody. Whatever. I’m But point being again like I hope that we’ve transitioned past non-kitch minutes. It’s not like, oh, it’s the non yo and now we’re like, yeah, now we’re like, yeah, like it’s now it’s it’s the it’s Valley, it’s the Valley Boys or whatever it is. So that’s my hope is that they’re not just like your average NBA bench unit, which is like generally speaking largely disappointing. I I don’t know, man. It would be it to me it would be wild. It’s all new people, including the coaching staff. It sucks again. I was like, what is it? And if it is, if it does suck again, then I’m just going to be like that every bench sucks and I can’t get I can’t get wrapped up in this. I think it’s going to be great though, too. I think it’s pals. Val the val pals, dude. Dude, that’s what I’m saying. That’s We’re like, oh pal time. That’s how it goes down in history. Pow. He’s like, I should have gone to Greece, man. This sucks. Yeah, I’m telling you, opening night is like Nuggets get like home opener night or something and Nuggets say starters come out play their, you know, Joic plays 10 minutes and Nuggets are up seven. Bench comes in and by the time Yok comes back in they’re up 20 like that arena would be the happiest like it would be such a momentum to be like we did it. Well, see this the most Okay, so here’s the craziest thing that could happen is that Dev could lose every one of his bets next year because Jokic doesn’t have to play the end of fourth quarters. Oh yeah. Like I’m praying for I’m praying for Dev’s downfall in that way and that way alone is that the bench actually does not put Nikolai Joic and Co in a hole that they have to dig out of every single time and where like you’re you’re like oh god bring him back in. Bring him back in. Bring him back in. I I just don’t want to repeat that phrase anymore. I want to just be like let him rest. Give us I also want win streaks. Like we talk about of all the great things this era has given us, including a championship win streaks and even like the Warriors. I know you can’t compare yourself to that great team, the Warriors, when they had Kevin Durant, but even before that, deep, too. Before that, they were so deep. Yeah. But the the preKD one, what was cool about them was there were so many games where to start the third quarter, they’d be up 30 and they just were a sledgehammer team where you would be like, “Dang, man.” Even if you were competitive for a half, they would go on some run. And the Nuggets bench provides that where it’s like, “Okay, Joic was able to rest seven consecutive minutes, the team is still up nine. The other team’s exhausted. So, here comes the 140 run.” And it’s like, oh man. And they’re just broken. They go into half, they’re like, we’re down 25. This is dumb. I mean, there’s there’s you’ve gota I think you could find if you just went through the schedule right now, you could probably pick five to seven games where you go. They lost this game specifically because the bench was so bad. When like literally the starters did everything they could to win. I know. And I I do think between that and not having a second all-star as in just the regular season consistency of it like Joic is doing enough for 10 15 game win streaks, man. You know, but there’s these lapses in, you know, like maybe the game plan there’s a regular season game plan that looks like a playoff game plan and Murray wasn’t ready to go or the starters were ready to go and the bench just could not keep their heads above water. We’ve seen it so many times like game seven where the bench just got absolutely rolled and then the game was over. Yeah. Uh, the Val Pals, baby. We’re like, it’s Val Pal. What happened, dude? The Val Pals are up. We’re plus six. It’s incredible. All right, Dline, you’re optimistic. My This is my most optimistic. It’s the year Jamal Murray. That’s optimistic. We’re talking optimism. That would be the most optimistic outcome for the Denver Navigates. It’s been said ad nauseium. What could be more the greatest story line? What could be more optimistic than our guy figuring it out in year eight or nine? I’m not sure which which one it is. It’s funny because this I meant like you were optimistic it was going to happen. You’re saying you’re being optimistic that it will happen. Well, kind of both. Kind of both. I I You actually think it will happen. I actually think it will happen, but again, I’ve been burned a million times. I don’t really care. Like my thing about And I’ll say it again. I’ve said it a million times. Jamal Murray’s numbers at year end look like they could be a cursory all-star just at the what he always finishes with. Yeah. Just come on, man. Yeah. Come on, man. Come on, man. Just start off. Start off. Like, don’t get to the point where you can score 55 point games, but we have to wait till the last third of the season to see that. Like, let’s let’s get a 55point game on like game seven. And it just sets the tone. Everybody’s locked in. And like, you want to impress all these new guys that are showing up. Like, there are guys. Yeah, you’re right. Like, let them know like this is my team. There’s, you know, outside of I mean it’s obviously Nikolic’s team, but I don’t think he actually wants it to be his team. I think he just wants to be the best player on the team. But like Jamal Murray can seize the respect that he seemingly craves. Yeah. Um but very rarely does enough to earn. Must be seized. He has to seize it. And you know, listen, I saw him throwing a football. So you tell me it’s not the year Jamal Murray. You tell me it’s not the year of Jamal Marie. I saw it with my own very eyes. Um, but I don’t I think I mean I’m just going to keep saying it until I until I have to recant, but I really do think it’s going to be uh a story and a very optimistic one if that happens. I actually think it’s the best of all like possibilities. Honestly, Jamal Murray actually having an All-Star caliber year to me. I’m like then the Nuggets are winning a tie for sure. All these other details are like whatever. And then we’re all wearing Jamal Murray black unis and then the Val pals come in and it’s like oh my what is this? If Murray actually has that and the two years are the bubble year and then this year we have to bring him we have to make him full time. We either have to trade him to the Net so he can play black in black all the time or if if Murray makes an Allstar team this year, can you just make a black shirt with white letters that says Brandon and I have to wear it on the podcast just I’m in. Yeah, I’m in too. All right, let’s go let’s go to our niche uh story lines here or niche. I say niche, but everybody else says niche. Uh mine’s Payton Watson’s Growth. This is the one for me. I’ve already told you guys, I’m buying all of your I see the haters out there. I’m buying all of the Payton Watson stock because I think he’s necessary. A young player like that. It’s so weird to me when people are out so quickly because even though he’s young, he’s been in the league three years and I and then there’s like the Calvin Booth uh residue, like all this different thing. Yeah, he represents things that’s unfair to him in my opinion. But to me, I just am buying it. And I talked about this the other day, but he has I think Pton Watson was as burned as anyone, including Zeke Naji and Jaylen Picket by that that schism between Booth and Malone. Doesn’t mean that he always handled it well or couldn’t overcome an obstacle that he should never been thrown or whatever, but I think that there’s already been a rejuvenation of sorts with him, you know, in terms of like, okay, he has been back. You know, the team is on getaway weeks these last two weeks basically after summer league and until this week. It’s like, “All right, everybody, the gym. You can come in if you want, but this is like everybody can go get away.” Not Peyton Watson, right? He’s been in the gym still working out with his guy Derel Wright on his shot, being around the coaching staff, and just trying to be like, “Hey, what is it that’s needed from me? Let me commit to it.” I just think that he has had a rejuvenation of belief. And the big thing is the shot. And we’re going to play a clip here. Here’s the thing with his shot that I will tell you to kind of focus on. Number one, he brings the ball as a dip. Like we all know his shot kind of goes down before it goes up. He’s buying He’s creating the dip for you to buy. Do you guys know what I’m talking about with his shot though? Like it’s like I mean if you compare that to uh Nicholas Batum who catches it just go bam. Yeah. So he’s been eliminating that. I know that his footwork has been inconsistent. If you think about Pwatt shooting threes, there’s a lot of stepping forward like he does this weird little quarter step forward into his shot. Christian Brown does that too. It’s annoying. I agree. They don’t have great. So, it’s been like, hey, consistent footwork the entire time. And then the follow through. I know one of the things that it was described to me is trying to keep the left hand as part of the followrough cuz I think there was a little bit of a like bringing the hand as soon as you go, you’re bringing the hand off the ball or bringing it down. It’s much more like deliberate about where your hands are. So, here’s a a video of him uh working out this summer. Let’s see if we can play it. Four. Five. Six. Seven. Eight. According to this video, he has not missed a shot all year. Well, what I I’ll tell you what I don’t like about that is he stepped out of bounds and on every shot. every single one that might I wouldn’t worry about that part of it. Uh I think the two things that stand out to me are the consistent footwork and then the no dip. I mean those are the two the hand the follow through. You can’t really see but it looks like it looks definitely more streamlined is a way I would describe it. A little quicker and I am told that and working out the Nuggets have the little tracker. They track everything you do. He’s been taking 2503s uh every single day. Yeah. And he’s making on average 180 to 190 somewhere somewhere in that range on every single day. again, NBA players shooting in an open gym. I saw Chuck Hayes make a bunch of threes one time, so it is what it is. Oh, have you seen that shot of uh Kevin Durant playing in that gym? Yeah, you love that one. Uh but to me, I at least look at this and say I don’t I think this is different from last year. Like I think he knows that this is one of his huge skills and at least has put thought into who he works out with and how he gets it done. Definitely. And like you know there’s one thing about working on technique um when it’s in a controlled environment, you know exactly when the ball’s going to come to you. going to be delivered perfectly. All things being perfect, like that’s one thing and it obviously that’s very important, but there’s another thing when the it speeds up, you got a defender in your face, there’s a lot of like uh stuff that you can’t really account for and like does your brain just revert back to where it it you know like the the brain path that has been or the neural path that has been forged your entire life leading up to that. And sometimes people do completely change their shots and other times it’s like you know, it’s like you get you revert back. So, you can’t say that this isn’t encouraging, though. He looks and I think the most encouraging thing is how dedicated he is. I I just love how much Payton Watson is committed to the idea of improving and he’s not resting on laurels. He’s not there’s no pouting. There’s no like this is what I deserve blah blah blah. even if you know it it can come off certain way um in the the the conversations that happen around him like you know what he deserves this that or the other but like he’s putting in work and he cares about his game and so like to me that’s the most impressive important thing though it’s cool that he made 10 you know like I’m probably not going to see the video where he misses six out of out of 10 or whatever you know like you’re going to get what you get but I think that the shooting form is different is why I buy this you know if it’s like he was shooting the same shot and you’re like Hey, everybody can make 10 in a row, you know, this or that. But it’s like, no, there’s a deliberate difference in his release. Yeah, that that I mean I I again until it manifests, that’s all. But I I I agree that it’s good to see that he’s aware of something that’s a swing skill in a swing season for him. There’s no way around it. Yeah. You just hope like you hope cuz there are, you know, obviously horror stories of guys trying to rework their shots and then turning into Zeke Naji or somebody where it’s like your your brain is fighting itself all the time. Like you can do that on the golf course where you’re like moving. Yeah. All right, let’s take a break on the other side. We’ll get to their niche story lines. One of my niche story lines is drinking a bunch of Miller Light. Dude, that’s not niche. What? That’s as mainstream as it gets. Oh. Oh, yeah. You’re right. Everyone does this. You probably seen tons of Miller Light cans in your life because it’s the go-to light beer. It has been since 1975. It’s also the go-to beer to fill up a cooler when it’s a good day to grill. Hot. I’ll throw some meat on the grill. Here’s here’s the thing that with the sides though with the mac and cheese, the potato salad gets really It gets really filling really quick. So, you can’t fill yourself up right on the beer. But you still want beer. That’s where Miller Time comes in. It’s the light beer. It’s the perfect beer for a barbecue. It’s got great taste. It’s 96 calories. Go to millerite.com/dmvr to find delivery options near you. Or you can pick up some Miller Light pretty much anywhere that they sell beer. Cheers to 50 years on Miller time. Celebrate responsibly. Miller Brewing Company, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. 96 calories and 3.2 carbs per 12 oz. Kale, get me a Miller life. And chip chop. Play. Let’s also talk to you about our friends at Toyota. Okay, I’ll go get me a Toyota chip chop. Chip chop. Chip chop. Can I have like a Rav 4, please? Yeah. Chip chop. The interns like, “Is there anything I can do for you?” And you’re like, “Do you have the allnew 2024 Tacoma?” Okay. Trucks have always made part of Toyota’s DNA. You know that they do trucks. They do lots of vehicles with all-wheel drive or four-wheel drive. They do SUVs. They’re all over the SUV game. They also do hybrid vehicles. There are 16 different hybrid vehicles to choose from like the Tundra I Force Max hybrid truck to give you the customer more choices when it comes to producing reducing your carbon footprint. What no matter what kind of car you’re looking for, do yourself a favor. Visit your Front Rage Toyota stores at a location near you. Auto Nation Toyota Arapjo in Centennial, Corwin Toyota in Boulder, Groove Toyota in Littleton, Mountain States Toyota in Denver, Stevenson Toyota East in Aurora, and Stevenson Toyota West in Lakewood. It really is a tongue twister this one. Toyota proud part of the Denver Nuggets and the official vehicle of DNVR. Let’s go places. Let’s go places. I think uh if Payton Watson is making corner threes, eightball corner pocket. Corner three. Eight ball corner pocket would be a cool like little thing for him to have going. Yeah, you got to deliver it to his shooting pocket like eightball corner pocket. Bam. Has Marlo done that yet? Chris, if you’re out there. Uh all right, let’s go. Uh Dan, you go first to start. Why? Cuz I have a graphic. Okay. My niche story line. The rise of Julian Strawberry. The rise. The rise. Um, I think I’ve said it before. I mean, a lot of these are just me rehashing my takes, but I just I like what Julian Strather showed me in big moments, and I think that he’s going to be a guy that we can look to as a scorer on the bench. Is that guy in the chat today? The guy that hates when he does this. You keep going. I’m just going to walk. I’m just so um Oh, because he hates Strawler. That guy. Yeah. Yep. Uh, and I’ll think also hates me. Just I don’t know if the two are related. I can’t imagine they’re they’re that dissimilar. Um, I think they’re related, but I don’t know, man. Like, I just like I just like, man, I like I like Julian Stler. I just think he’s got something. I can just see I just like when guys can um shoot from distance. He just has real talent that I think has been um sort of kept under wraps through uh circumstances that were his fault and also not his fault. He took he’s gotten injured pretty that in two ways that took him out for a long period of time. Um, he had a knee and then also I I can’t remember what the what the other thing was, but I just I think that we’re going to see like he just looks more and more poised to me, which is to me uh to me to me to me the main hurdle to get over is just having the game slow down and be able to hit shots that way. Is it possible that we keep looking at this as Tim Hardaway Jr. versus Julian Strather for minutes, but is it possible Payton’s also in that? You just throw all three of them and say two of them are going likely to play. It’s poss that the crazy thing is is that we are now we went from looking to like oh my god who can we who can you even play on this stupid bench to like blow who who are we going to play on this bench like there’s so many good options I’ll be surpris like I I kind of think um I actually don’t know what I think about this like Tim Hardaway Jr. and Julian Straw. They’re like that. Those two h being head-to-head, I think might be a thing, but I also think it might be a situation where they just surround Big Val with shooters, you know, like to spread the court a little bit. So, I don’t just punt on defense. Well, cuz both of them have have not proven to be Yeah. those guys in Big Val, you’re not exactly a stout defensive unit, but that’s they’ve also tried defensive units that don’t can’t score a lot of scoring to them. So, yeah. I I don’t know. I just I just like I like the player and I hope he gets the opportunity to to show that he’s been he he can play in this league. Uh even if it turns into like they trade him or something. And it is, you know, the year where I think he makes a leap because last year was the year he got real minutes. Yep. And so it’s like that year is under your belt now. You kind of know what to expect. You you know, you make a rise here. So I could see it. It would be great, man, because honestly the future obviously of the Nuggets. He if you could have your own guys kind of come through the system that that gives you a an extended runway. Huge. Um, all right. Vote. Mine’s kind of Payton might pop, Julian might pop. What if neither of them pop? The Nuggets still have a trade up their sleeve. I think this is a good one. I like it. I don’t know exactly what fellas, right? And I don’t, you know, maybe it’s a a point a point a ball handler that need kind of rears its ugly head throughout the first half of the year and one becomes available at the trade market. Maybe an opportunity to pick up a handful of like a late first round or or multiple second round picks to sort of restock the cupboard and those are eventually used cuz we know that in in the last two to three years those have sort of been the ultimate sweeteners, right? Like multiple seconds kind of get someone to take on maybe like a Zagi. um especially as you near the end of that contract over time. So, I don’t know what it is yet, right? I would love it if one of these guys cuz there’s probably not room for both. If one of them had a great year, I that’s sort of my preference, but maybe the Nuggets have a trade up their sleeves still. And and and sort of taking a reddraft on these guys is different, I think, like from another organization’s perspective than trying to win your second title with them as young players. I kind of like this one because we have seen a a front office that has been very interesting in their early go. Yeah, we’re we’re fixing to find out the way that these guys do biz. And if we’re talking about the Nuggets having all these guys, I think that’s exciting, but it is also perhaps there is a consolidation trade or just an adjacent trade that says we don’t know what we’re going to do next year. Let’s recoup something, right? I think that’s a really good one because we talk about it a lot. Oh, the trade deadline could be this or that. But this year, I really do think the Nuggets, they’re leaving a roster spot open. there really is an opportunity for them to make something and if they surprise us all again Cam Johnson came out of nowhere you know Tim Hardway Jr. came out of nowhere. It would be cool if we got to the deadline, we liked our team, and all of a sudden it was like, “Oh my god, they turned Zeke Naji and this into also my gosh.” Yeah, they turned What do you mean they turned Daario Sar into Big Val? That’s impossible. That’s the thing. Like that’s what it right now. If you have audible options, which might just be late second round picks or prospects that are reddraft, you know, available. Yeah. It’s it’s resets or kind of interesting swings feel available again. Like I I don’t know what it is right now. Maybe it is the new CBA and the un unsure unsuredness of how to like put one foot in front of the other, but some of these teams that aren’t completely clear in vision seem down for anything, including some very strange decisions. So for Oh, dude. We’re we’re definitely approaching panic time for uh front offices that have structured their team in a way that no longer is uh working with the the right or or they’re just not sure what rebuilding under it looks like. Like what salary do we take and when it just seems like you want you want optionality right in the trades and and the Nuggets don’t have a ton right now but maybe they could by the trade deadline. One thing on my niche my niche take here. You I saw somebody in the chat said or comments or something yesterday said like you can tell Adam has moved off of Picket. I don’t think that’s true. I still love Picket when we get talk about and maybe this will come up in concerning maybe I’ll save it for Yeah. I Here’s my thing. I think Picket’s going to play this year just in he’s not needed and I don’t think he’s going to play a lot. I don’t think he’ll be a major storyline this year. But one of the reasons I don’t think the Nuggets needed a point guard is one they can make an adjustment if they do need it at the deadline. They’ll go after that. But two, I think Picket will play well when he’s out there. It’s just that role is so small that it’s like, okay, we need a guy in there. And I think he’ll be really good as needed in that role. So, he was he was very good at the at the end of the season. He really was. He for like for like 20 games or something. It was like a long It wasn’t a week. He was good. He was really good. Um, so all right, now we go on to concerning storylines. Oh, same as it’s always Naji’s contract/minut because I don’t know if I don’t see it. Well, here’s this is why it’s concerning because I don’t see it either. And here’s why it’s concerning. He’s under contract this year and next year and the year after that. Well, you you’re assuming he’s going to pick up that player option. I am assuming he picks up his player option. The Nuggets are between a rock and a hard place with Zeke Naji and that it would be great if he played, but we already are seeing other guys like Julian Straw. Where do they fit in the rotation? I don’t see where he plays. I part of me hopes I’m wrong on this because I think the Nuggets kind of need him to play so they can get off that contract. You don’t want to have to adjust around his contract for the next two years. Yeah. So, it’s a concerning storyline of how much do the Nuggets force that? Do they not play him at all and then January rolls around a month before the trade deadline and they’re like, “All right, we’re just playing him and hoping somebody’s like, “Okay, I mean, I said earlier I kind of think he’s going to have a decent year. I think he’s going to prove to be like actually a functional member of this team. But it is, you know, when you start to reason it out, you’re like what? But if he plays then then he can’t. Um I just know there’s a lot of games though, you know, that then things happen and uh the war of attrition rears its ugly head and you know, somebody’s out for a while or this that or the other and he just gets a chance to kind of restart uh his NBA career in in a strange way. Uh, but I mean, my god, it’s, you know, we’re gonna be talking about this contract forever more. And if nothing else, you can kind of think about it. It’s like the ro the Nuggets have two empty roster spots, you know, one that’s actually not something and then it’s another guy that doesn’t play, which you can always, you know, whatever. It’s they they’ve not been hampered um going into this season with that that contract. But it would be nice to have some a play. And I I also wonder if the Nuggets I mean, they have to know this, right? that okay, we can buy him out and stretch him. That would suck. That’s still not a perfect thing. We could trade him as a negative asset, you know, and maybe have to attach something else to him to get rid of him. That also sucks. Or we could bite the bullet and try to get his value up a little bit. And I just I think that might be a little bit of a storyline this year, especially around the trade deadline where maybe they say, “Hey, it’s three weeks. Let’s just play him and see if we can’t get some team to be like, you know what, he’s not that bad.” Yeah, that’s a concerning storyline. All right. Uh, vote the graphicless vote. No, no natural fit for Payton Watson. Oh, so you know, as we’ve sort of done this exercise, you might slot him in the second unit with the four at the four doesn’t feel like a natural like if you could if you could build a Payton Watson has a great season. He should small forward is his better spot. Tons of minutes with Jokic. Are either of those guaranteed? I would like I don’t know how much with Jokic. Um so he might be the guy that plays the least with him. I mean outside of Val and you know I wrote this in the round table whether you are viewing Payton Watson as like a prospect slash player or an asset kind of not sure what to do with him slash he sits on the bench a lot feels like worst case scenario or feels like a a con concern. Um, I don’t know if it’s one that necessarily tanks the season, but everyone would like to see his defense be a part of the postseason equation and finding a natural fit so that he can he can play well in Denver and feel like this is where I should be. Yeah, I expect the Nuggets to sign him to an extension this year. So, your point about prospect or asset is an interesting one because one, if they do sign him to this extension, I think it gives him the poison pill or then it becomes really hard to trade him this year. You’d have to wait till next year. And my hunch is that he winds up somewhere between 3 years 36 million like to we’ll say three years 50 million like somewhere in that range would be my hunch. It could be lower than that. It could be higher than that. I just expect it to be somewhere there. And to your point, it’s not about him tanking the season because I think the Nuggets are really good. But if he doesn’t fit, if he doesn’t get any of the Oakic minutes and this shot doesn’t work out or whatever, if it goes that way, which I’m betting against, it does create this, okay, well, now what? You know, like, well, where what happens if he doesn’t fit in this year? What does the future hold for him and all those different things? So, I’m betting you kind of like I think are leaning that way because it’s you always bring up Payton as your concern. So, it’s it’s just I think a wrench in the equation. It’s not I’m not saying which what is your where where are you leaning on it? If you if I told you you had to bet uh probably that it’s he doesn’t flourish. Okay. I think he’s going to be very good this year, but I’m not putting all of that on him, right? Like that’s part of what we’re talking about here is that’s what I mean. Like that’s why I’ve said not Payton Watson doesn’t play well. Just like Pton Watson is there’s no linear path to flourishing. Part of why I think it’s going to work out for him this year is I I think I disagree with that. There’s a lot of shooters who can’t defend on the roster all of a sudden and he can. So I almost feel like he’s the curveball now where it’s like well Payton’s in because we just need defense. Tim Hardway, is it Strawler? Is it and maybe so that would be awesome that that that so it’s it’s you know it’s a just a potential like where does Peyton Watson fit into it? Not that he can’t. Yeah, just on paper. On paper. All right. What’s your uh Well, let’s bring up the graphic and find out what it is. Dude, I’m concerned about the backup one. You’re not on the picket line. I’m not not on the picket line. I just don’t know that we have clarity. Uh I don’t know. I mean, I know we don’t have clarity. I think it’s going to be Bruce. I think it is most assuredly going to be Bruce to start for sure. Um, but I just that that’s the one spot that I look on uh or that I look at for the Nuggets and I’m like, what I don’t I don’t know if I’m super comfortable with where this sits right now. Um, not that it can’t work out, but it it’s obviously you don’t have a guy in there that would be running the second unit. Like there’s no obvious leader of the second unit. Like previously it was Russell Westbrook for better or for worse. Even Reggie Jackson for better or worse. But Reggie Jackson was the leader of the bench unit. And that’s not a role that uh Bruce Brown took on previously even though he played backup one quite a bit um to varying levels of su success. But I just I don’t know. I feel like there’s going to be a lot of like uh could we have this guy kind of run it? Should we stagger Jamal bec and then move Bruce over to the tube? Which is what I think happens. But yeah, but it’s like but at a certain point like it can’t be Jamal. Like at a certain point somebody has to be, you know, and it’s like then is Jokic the de facto blah blah blah. There’s just like I’m nervous about the way that it works out in a a natural sort of um standard traditional sense. Yeah, they could cobble it together in the aggregate, but I like the way you frame that. just the sort of standard traditional understanding of yeah like it it’s not not that it’s not gonna work but I just I’m not like man I feel great about where we are with the backup one I think my my expectation is that it’s more about Murray or Joic are on the court at all times and if Y’s on the court I just don’t worry about the backup point guard like Bruce with Jokic I like and so then it’s Murray and the other minutes it’s a true point guard but there is still the okay well if Murray’s out a game and he’s going to miss some we hope he does we hope he rests a few games and this or that well now you’re talking okay so Bruce starts and then pick it plays and it’s and then here’s the other thing about picket is as much as I love him if he plays you’re not going to bench Bruce he’s going to play too now it’s picket Bruce so does that squeeze out who else does that squeeze out exactly Tim Hardaway Jr. draw. But your question is why I keep viewing the lens on paper through a a Murray Stagger lens, the rotation. Um because yeah, like it works out that way if Murray’s just on the floor when Joic isn’t and he’s your point guard except for it never has in the cuz he always he always slides over and then hangs out in the corner. It never I agree. So under our major under our major on paper premise that in theory it could be the op the on paper premise man with OP. You know what I mean? That it could be better this year. If he’s like Julian you got this cool I’m going to go in the corner. Take this one off. He’s like you know who likes to shoot? Tim Hardway. Yeah. He’s like he’s like bro I’m tired from taking all those shots with the exclusive twoman game. Now it’s it’s corner time baby. You know what’s funny though? And again I don’t think pick’s part of the plans. I do think Val actually suits him pretty well. If you think about Picket, one of the things he does really well is enter the ball into the post because it’s like he’s so deliberate with it, you know, and he was really good at this with the yolks. I’d be curious if uh if he does play I think he would get Val the ball. I do too. And I I really do think that they’ll use Val as a very traditional vibe. Like they’ll have him in down in deep. He’ll be on the post. they’ll be on the block like and it makes a lot of sense that you guys have you have a guy that can, you know, successfully uh execute an entry pass which would be a beautiful thing for the Denver Nuggets. Yeah. Uh all right, let us know what you guys think in the comments below. We’re always curious. Optimistic story line, niche story line, and concerning story line. Let us know. But it’s time for us to turn our attention to Ding ding ding ding ding fellas. Merry fellas, I hate Eric so much with the little fingers. I just realized we didn’t get a knife. Well, I’ve got keys. Oh, that’s perfect for the internet. Be a a simple clean swipe with nail. Okay, so the first uh thing that we’ve gotten from uh for Mary Felismas is I believe from David. Let me find that here. Does it have the name on there? No, it doesn’t because he uh from news from where? This is from Okay, so the story here is that let me just make sure really quick. Get the name right. I think it’s David Meyers if I’m not mistaken. Yeah, David Meyers. Yes. Uh went to great effort to get this package sent to the fellas so that we could enjoy it. Somehow it went it. No one was here to give a signature. So it got rerouted to Walgreens. We sent vote over. He had no he was unable to find it out of a package for DNVR and they were like who are you? And then they and then it got sent back. Oh jeez. To FedEx and then it got the same thing happened again and then I went over and then I made asked all the right questions. We wouldn’t release it to me because I’m not Adam and for some reason David addressed it to Adam even though it’s clearly to the fellas. Might be for just me. Let’s see if it’s good. I don’t know if you could just put the fellas on there. The fellas on a mailing address. You say that we got a package that literally said exactly that. Did it. Did it. All right. What did we get from New Zealand? Corrected. No, this is not from New Zealand. This is from This is from These are Belgian ales that I believe he got from uh Cleveland if he tells me correctly. Is your alarm going off there, buddy? This is my uh tile that I accidentally hit opening the package. Uh so we’ve been gifted some Belgian some fine Belgian als. Oh, look at that. Oh, wow. Dust. Can we drink these now? They’re cold. I think they’re all the same demi. Oh my god. Do I know how to open this? Uh, yeah. Just scale. Little dusty. Oh, yeah. It’s like a one shot. It’s like the Doing it in the studio is a terrible idea. Also, come grab one, K. We got enough. Yeah, take mine. Can we open these? Yeah, dude. It’s Friday. Yeah, it’s got a It’s got a cork on it. You open it like champagne. So, did he make these or he just No, no, no. He ordered He ordered them from a place uh that Dude, this is going to go crazy. Just keep it away from your Yeah, if it’s a champagne thing, this is the worst place in the world. It’s not like a champ. It’s only champagne only sprays if you shake it. Lean it towards the cameras. Boom. Yeah. I’m going to pop I’m going to pop it too, dude. Smells fantastic. Let’s try it out. The fella, dude. Merry fellas, I hope we don’t die on camera. Cheers, fellas. Belgian ale. Cheers. Thanks. Here’s to you, David Myers. Thanks for getting the fellas the Belgian beers. Oh, it’s delicious. It’s this bottle, too, man. It looks so good. I’m not going to lie. I would Oh, interesting. That’s a very interesting flavor. I know. I think it’s fantastic. It kind of tastes like it’s not quite as sour, but it kind of tastes like there’s a lemony quality to it. It also has kind of a nutty meaty thing going on. Oh, yeah. It does taste like Can you take one one sip or No, you’re off the jump. Are you good, bro? Delicious. Thank you for the beer. David Myers, you’re our homie. Thank you so much. He and I went back and forth. uh on this at least 70 times. I let him down 69 times, but the last time we got it and here it is. Beautiful. You’re the man. Okay. Mary Merry Felismus. Mary Felismas. Okay. The next Do you want to open this one? It’s already open. Let’s do it. Uh this was uh we got this a while ago. Man, this is delicious. This is from Brian and Casey. Came with a a picture and a signature. What a treat. Uh they say they never miss an episode. Hell yeah. We turned them from casual Nooks fans into dieards. And uh Oh, looks like this is maybe puzzlebased kind of treat here. It’s Is this their company? Is that what this is? Is that what Can you You want to take a look at that one? It’s like two paragraphs. We own a small puzzle company based here in Denver and it’s called Goodfit. These are the these are the good folks at Good Fit. Let me see that one. Goodfit us. wwwdub. Um and so we’ve got that’s a puzzle, but that’s a postcard. Yeah, this is an actual puzzle that has 28 pieces. Oh, hell yeah. This is great. It’s like for kids. Yeah, dude. Or for we got a a whole a whole mess of puzzles. This is awesome. They’re a local I’m going to buy a puzzle from you guys. Yeah. More. Do you have They have like a website. I’m going to buy a puzzle from them. What does it What does it say? They make any kind of puzzle. It says I love puzzles and I’m going on vacation. I go, “Oh, we got even more of these.” Thank you, Brian and Casey. This is such a cool gift, man. I like this is thoughtful. Can I see that one, too? Yeah, of course. Good fit. Goodfit us. Hit them up. Let them know that their gift to 500 piece puzzle. What if I take this on my vacation? What if, dude? What if? Let your mind wander with the possibilities. Take this one. Okay, so we’ll we’ll obviously spend the rest of time. 500 500 pieces. I like this one. You’re the You’re the MVP. There’s a bunch more in here, too. Are there really? Yeah. There’s a lot of packs, so I don’t want to This is a gift for me personally. I feel I love it. All right, Adam. Here’s the last one. Why don’t you do the honors? I don’t know how to open. Adam doesn’t know how to open. Okay. Well, I guess I’ll do the honors on the internet. This one did arrive from New Zealand. We literally don’t know what it is. Dude, beer and puzzles. This is the best. It says it arrived from Kiwi Corner Dairy, which makes me nervous that there’s some sort of dairy product in here that took a long time to arrive. We’ve just been having on our on our shelf. Let’s Let’s go. Some sort of sheep’s milk. Oh man, some sheep’s milk. Have you guys been to New Zealand? I never have. Have you, Kale? You ever been everywhere? Just casually bit. I have not been the girlfriend and I are currently doing a Lord of the Rings rewatch, so I want to go real bad. I love that you had a girl in there. Congrats. All right. Enjoy your parcel. Lord of the Rings. Enjoy your parcel. They shot it in New Zealand corner. It is one of the New Zealand things. Kiwi corner dairy. Enjoy your parcel. DNVR Nuggets crew. Please find treats from Ataro uh New Zealand as promised on X. Thank you for all you do. Your coverage of the Nuggets is the best. 2023 is the great year to be a Nuggets fan when we won the NBA championship. I remember that. I do remember that. That was a great year. I love that year. Uh unfortunately for me and my wife Louise, we were going through the toughest period of our lives. Our baby boy oh passed away in 2023. Thank you so much. We’re sorry. So, so, so throughout that period of being in and out of the hospital, there weren’t many things that put a smile on my face, but the coverage of the know did it. This is this is meaningful to me. You know, we’ve received this o this message a lot over the years. I mean this sincerely for a second before you open it up. We’ve received this one a lot that tells people like this was a tough year, was going through cancer treatments, lost a close relative or this or that. And it’s it’s wild to me, but also meaningful that people would say, “But that’s what got me through. I had to do chemo for all of this. And every time I did it, I was listening to your guys show and it was my favorite part. So, I mean, I we appreciate you sharing that personal story. I know it’s painful and I know that was a tough thing, but it it honestly means and I know this from talking to the fellas, too. It means a lot to us that we get to be that. Absolutely. Cuz we do what we are being ourselves and it means something when you get to be ourselves and it like helps someone else. But not only that, like I uh live kind of a tortured existence and the Nuggets community is something that I like being a part of because we go through trouble together and we’re all kind of in this and we get to things get to be good. They get to be bad. That’s from Matt Walker that sign. Yeah, I was just about to say we’re sorry for your loss, Matt. Yeah. So, he hopes to come to Denver in the future. This is from Matt Walker. We appreciate you very much. You get out here, man. We’re going to have a great time. Yeah, definitely let us know. Number one, we got some pineapple lumps. Oh, let’s do this. Have we had this before? No, we haven’t. We got Whitaker’s creamy milk. Hold on. I’m going to do this one. Creamy like powdered milk. Yo, the texture of this is tough. I’m eating this right now. That’s just That’s just chocolate. Uh, this is called Honey Pokey Crunch. Dude, this tastes a little bit like a Peeps, but but also like gum. Not the strongest salad. I’m not going to lie. Dude, the texture is so interesting. It’s just chocolate. Yeah, it’s awesome. We got Let’s keep going. I want to try Pascal Jet Planes, dude. Jet planes towers. Oh, yeah. How is this for some ASMR to end the show? Starting Gibson and chewing on them into the mic, dude. Creamy. Is this what you had already? Yeah, it’s amazing. We’ve got This one takes a long time to chew. L&P Minias lemon and paroa. Good lemony stuff. Okay, let’s see what that’s all about. Go ahead and uh rip that open. And then we got one last thing. Dude, this is so great. It is great. And then we’ve got cookie time. Original chocolate chunk cookies. Wow. This is great stuff. Unbelievable, dude. Oh, it’s just straight chocolate from Matt, right? What an ab Yeah, dude. What an absolute uh banger of a first fellas. You know what I Thank you so much everyone who sent gifts. Everyone who sent super chats over the years. Can we just eat this on screen right now and give reviews? Let’s give reviews of it. Oh, I really like the pineapple lumps. Yeah, but they have a weird texture, right? Yeah, they’re pineapple. Give me one of these over here. What’s this? Real quick over time, boys. Hey, don’t watch us eat on overtime. Yeah, just listen to us eat chocolate. Dude, look at the size of this cookie on the internet. That’s a big cookie. Wo, these come in a box and it’s a giant cookie. Like we should maybe share the cookie. One cookie between us all. I feel like we we each uh deserve a cookie. Dude, this tastes like Keebler elves. Keebler elves or tastes like the cookies the Keebler elves make. Make sure. Dude, this cookie is actually bomb for being Make sure production knows we’re eating in the studio. They’re going to love that. Um kale. This cookie is bomb for coming in a package. They are bomb. Just don’t spill, please. These are cookies, buddy. They are everywhere. All right. So far, favorite is the cookie. Chocolate’s good. This one I liked, but it was weird. I’m into the lumps, dude. I’m a lump man from this point. What’s in there over there? I don’t like when you say stuff like that. I’m a lumper. The honey crunch. I want to get DNVR big enough so that we just get to go everywhere just for no reason. We’re like, we’re going to New Zealand. Somebody sent us some cookies one time and everyone’s like, “Okay, cool.” Yeah. Like, all right. We’ll just look at the budget. That’s what I thought was going to happen after the first four years working here. Yeah. Jokes. We just Hokeie Pokei Crunch. Has anyone tried this one yet? No, it’s all you, buddy. All right, I’m going to give you the first taste of Hokeie Pokey Crunch. I bet it’s like a honeycomb. It’s like crunch. Yeah. M. Okay. But it does have like a honeyiness to it. Well, I got to say I’m overwhelmed with pineapple lump and love from from the the people um from David from I can’t wait to drink whatever that is, man. lemony stuff. That’s incredible. It’s interesting that it’s brown from Goodfit Brian and uh Casey. Um the nice thing about Fellas, it doesn’t come around once a year. It comes around whenever we get packages. That’s true. And we also got a package earlier from Josh from Down Under that we ripped through. Remember we got all that all those We got Tim Tams and uh Wait, when I wasn’t here either. You were here. We weren’t here and you guys opened up the gifts. You guys were in Vegas. Yeah. Oh, remember how you were Tim? Hold on a second. They did. They did this two separate times. They ate our spec Oh, no. You were there, too. They ate our specific sausages. I was here. Remember how you waited a week and a half for Harrison to come back so we could open the package? Harrison came back when you were gone. First thing he did first thing is so thank you to you as well. Uh yeah, we did it on a watch along. Yeah. Yeah. It was it was a bush league move, but we we’ll allow it because he’s not here today. It was watch along fodder. I will say that. Dude, this is incredible. What we got? Do you think Portland would trade Camaro? Camaro? Is it Kamar? Mara or is he untouchable? Pwatt is a vibe, but someone who could slow down a superstar would be beneficial. They’re also the exact same mold of player. So if you think Kamar is better, they would not trade him for a PWA. But I’m telling you right now, I I like PW. I’m telling you guys. Telling you. I’m going to come over to my side. I’m telling you. Tammani is quite the player, though. Mr. Exquisite Nugget, vote for you. Who will run offense off the bench, Bruce Brown or Cam? Um, but those are my two options. I think you think it might be Jamal Murray. What? You don’t think it’ll be the starter versus the guy on the bench? All right. Uh, wow. What a what a day. What a what a what a celebration. What a treat, as they say. What a bunch of treats. You guys are flying solo without me next week. See you suckers. Dude, I’m I’m out Wednesday through Wednesday. See you, suckers. Oh, I see you. Wait, it’s just votes. No, I’m out on Thursday. Well, we’ll figure this out. Hit that like button on the way out. We’ll see you all like Many

The Denver Nuggets have a lot of storylines heading into the 2026 season. Nikola Jokic will be coming off of Eurobasket, where he is likely to improve as a leader. Jamal Murray gets a full offseason to workout. Big Valanciunas, Tim Hardaway Jr., and Bruce Brown bolster the bench. Peyton Watson is working on his shot. There are also some concerning storylines. Like David Adelman’s rookie season, Zeke Nnaji’s contract, and a shallow point guard rotation.

The DNVR Nuggets podcast team discusses all of them. Plus, opening gifts from our listeners!

Adam Mares, Brendan Vogt, and Eric Wedum (D-Line Co.) come to you LIVE from DNVR HQ to break down everything you need to know in this edition of the DNVR Nuggets Podcast!

Start – 0:00
Black skylines are back! – 2:00
Optimistic storylines – 10:20
Niche storylines – 25:20
Concerning storylines – 40:15
Merry Fellasmas – 49:30
Superchats – 1:02:00

📬 Denver sports in your inbox: https://thednvr.com/newsletter

An ALLCITY Network Production

PARTY WITH US: https://thednvr.com/events

ALL THINGS DNVR: https://linktr.ee/dnvrsports

BALL-KNOWER BONUS/Merch: https://promotion.allcitynetwork.com/promotions/store.allcitynetwork/7d48d294-4260-4bac-aca1-9a18eef8ca78

SUBSCRIBE: https://www.youtube.com/c/DNVR_Sports

BUY GOLDEN ERA: https://www.triumphbooks.com/golden-era-products-9781637273692.php?page_id=21

WWE at the DNVR Bar: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/wwe-summerslamwatch-party-tickets-1517484851039?aff=oddtdtcreator

Cake Mortgage: Get started on your Cake Mortgage home loan today at https://start-nonqm-dnvr-sports.cakehome.com/

Toyota: Visit Your Front Range Toyota Stores at a location near you – Toyota is the official vehicle of DNVR. Toyota – Let’s Go Places!

First Bank: So, if you’re ready for better banking and the chance to earn a little extra, head to efirstbank.com/bonus. Certain restrictions and requirements apply. Member FDIC.

Raising Cane’s Rooftop Fridays: https://thednvr.com/event/friday-rooftop-club-at-coors-field-presented-by-raising-canes/

Monarch Money: Use Monarch Money to get control of your overall finances with 50% off your first year at https://www.monarchmoney.com/dnvr

bet365: Go to https://www.bet365.com/hub/en-us/app-hero-banner-1?utm_source=affiliate&utm_campaign=usapp&utm_medium=affiliate&affiliate=365_03485318 or use code DNVR365 when you sign up. Must be 21+ and physically located in CO. Please gamble responsibly. If you or someone you know has a gambling problem and wants help call or TEXT 1-800-GAMBLER

Go to https://millerlite.com/dnvr to find delivery options near you. Or you can pick up some Miller Lite pretty much anywhere they sell beer. Tastes like Miller Time. Celebrate Responsibly. Miller Brewing Company, Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Gametime: Download the app, create an account, and use code DNVR for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply.

Shady Rays: Head to https://shadyrays.com and use code: DNVR for 35% off polarized sunglasses. Try for yourself the shades rated 5 stars by over 300,000 people.

Get 10 FREE meals at https://hellofresh.com/freenuggets. Applied across 7 boxes, new subscribers only, varies by plan.

When you shop through links in the description, we may earn affiliate commissions.

Copyright Disclaimer under section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, education and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing.

#Nuglife