How the Denver Nuggets can be BETTER on Defense This Season | DNVR Nuggets Podcast

How the Denver Nuggets can be BETTER on Defense This Season | DNVR Nuggets Podcast

Get out. What is up everybody? Welcome to the DeFi Nuggets podcast. Let’s go. Let’s go live from an undisclosed location country because uh everybody’s off today somehow. Every single person is in a different state except for yours truly, which is seat here. How could it be? I’m not last week. I know, but you’re if we’re all in a different state, then that just means from each other. That is true. That is true. So technically, we are all in a different state from one another. I love Tiff is just going to keep hitting the air horns. Like just keep going all show long. More air horns. I’m not going to lie. I didn’t realize it just kept going. I hit it once and it was like on loop. On loop. That’s my bad. At a certain point. At a at a certain point. Doesn’t that become like a an alarm for danger? Like should we should we notice? That’s true. Actually, this does bring me before we get into all of our topics. You know what I heard maybe for the first time ever? Or maybe I just never noticed. Fog horn on like a big old tanker. Have you guys heard this? Yeah. That’s an incredible sound. It sounds It sounds good. And it’s so loud it like shakes you. Yeah. I mean, I haven’t thought about that in a while, but yeah. I I could see that. I don’t know why that’s not more interesting, too. I thought that was so fascinating when I saw it. Tiff, you need to find a fog horn that we replace our air horn. So, we I think that we all I think we all here would be more nautical. Yeah, we’d prefer to be more nautical. Thank you. We are deep in the offseason. Of course, this is the dog days, but we do have some stuff. ESPN wrote an article where they said the number one concern for your Denver Nuggets. They outlined it and it’s defense. They don’t think it’s going to be any better than it was last year. And it made me think, should we think it’s going to be better? Are are they right that the Nuggets are just going to suck on defense this year, but their offense will be better? We’re also going to talk about, we’ve did this last year. We’re one year more into it, so the picture becomes more clear. Can the Nuggets still be the team of the 20s? Did they lose ground? Is there are they now third? I think last year we said they were second. The Celtics were number one. Are they now third behind Oklahoma City? And then of course, Joic, the player of the decade, and then later on the 2018 season. We’re going to talk about that. Uh Dline is joining us from Phoenix, Arizona. I thought it was supposed to be an undisclosed location. Yes, I’m in Phoenix. I have I’ve been here long enough now that I’ve established a morning routine and then also changed it. I’ve I had an initial morning routine that I It’s That is the most deline thing I’ve ever heard in my life. Well, Harrison, you should appreciate this. I would My initial routine was that I would wake up and walk to the Starbucks. Of course. Great choice. Yeah, great choice. Get a Starbucks, get a loaf, get whatever it is, uh, you know, fill my fancy. And then I realized there’s a doughnut shop closer. And then so now I go to the doughnut shop. Eric, you’re kind of like the guy. Have you ever seen the movie Perfect Days? You’re kind of like this guy. his no alarm, no phone or anything. He just fills the rhythm of his environment, but it’s an ever changing environment. It’s sort of a tragedy. We’ve also got Harrison Wind on the show. Uh I’m out of town as well, visiting some family, but had to uh say goodbye to him for like an hour earlier. Uh then I started pouring over some Kesler Edwards film just, you know, just really diving deep into the Kesler Edwards just whole uh whole uh kind of kind of just everything he’s ever done. You’re going to have to get to the bottom of that. The discoraphy. That’s what I was That’s the word I was looking for. The discoraphy. Well, before you give me the discoraphy, uh is this in-laws or family? Like which which one site is it? In-laws. See, we rescued you. Don’t say you had to. You had like we rescued you an hour is what happened. Well, Kesler Edwards originally rescued me. Now you guys are rescuing me again. Well, we do have some news here and we’re gonna talk about the schedule cuz I actually like talking about the schedule. I’m the one sicko on earth that actually gets into this. But first, there is some news. The Nuggets signed to an exhibit 10, Kesler Edwards. And I’m glad one of us did some research on him. Wind, what do you have for us? He’s a defender. I mean, I would go as far to say, you know, potential lockdown type of guy. Um, 6 foot7, 25 years old. He’s been on a couple teams, spent some time with the Mavs last season. Um, he’s been on the Nets, the Kings, you know, lowminute guy. Not a guy who has a ton of upside, I don’t think, but he’s more your Spencer Jones type, your plugandplay type guy. Plug and play. And um I mean he’s a defender. I I don’t think he’s got much of an offensive game, although he did shoot it pretty well from three last year. I think near 40%. But defense and and kind of rebounding, that’s that’s his game. He’s got good measurables like 68. He’s I mean that 68 two 215 like skinny longbodied guy. I mean it reminds you of your Robersonsons and you know your you know some of those types who you know they’re just known for being great defenders. spot. The question is, can they do the other side of the floor? Yeah, that’s interesting. It’s like uh it feels like the the most overlooked skill set is the lock down, the guy that’s like a extreme defender that has like limited offensive capabilities. It seems like you can find these guys all the time and they always make a difference if you get the right guy, but teams don’t generally speak like everyone is just so enamored with the offensive side of the ball that they only sign players that that fill that side. So that’s cool. I hope this guy actually is able to I mean obviously he’s not just to be clear for myself and for anybody else like he is not occupying the last roster spot that the Nuggets have. This is strictly a deal to come and participate in training camp and then kind of see how it goes. Probably. Probably. I mean, the likeliest path would be that he would join the Grand Rapids Gold. He would be on the Grand Rapids Gold roster. So, you’re kind of come in the system and then from there, Denver’s out of their two-ways. So, you know, they would have Well, I don’t even think he’s eligible for a two-way. He’s been in the league for more than three years, I think. So, Oh, really? So, there you go. I mean, they do have the open spot. So maybe it is a thing where, you know, if you’re him, you come to Denver, maybe you do a deal with the gold, you really stand out there and you take on that 15th roster spot at the deadline. So you, you know, it’s a it’s an avenue for you back into the league potentially. So yeah, that was my read on it because Kesler Edwards, like I know Mavs fans kind of liked him last year. He played 40 games for them. He started 18 games. He’s a guy who I thought would get an actual like end of the bench roster spot with the team, but I wonder if he looks around at, you know, the situations and and is like, Nuggets have an open roster spot if I play well, you know, in training camp and preeason. Maybe I get it or maybe I get it down the line. Yeah. So, I maybe it’s a good bet for him, you know, looking at Denver. They have that spot. They need a defensive player as we’re going to be talking about in the next round. So maybe he just sees that as, okay, the team needs what I provide. Let me go there and see if I can’t stand out. Uh, you’ll be in training camp, you’ll be around, you’ll probably play at least alongside, if not with Jokic, at least in the same gym, and maybe it’s like, hey, this guy kind of works, you know, or something. So, you know, a good bet by him, uh, for him to try to get back into the league. Uh, the other piece of news here is that we have now three total games on the Nugget schedule. The NBA is doing this new thing. Damn. I’m tell I’m telling you, here’s real quick as a preface. We don’t know what we lost when we lost Woge because what we lost was any competition. We need this kid, this new high school kid, Arie. Have you guys seen this guy? Ary reports. Of course. You guys seen the kids? We’ve seen him. We’ve seen He’s high school kid, I’m told, from people in the front office and different a talked to people on all sides of this. He’s just a high school kid calling everyone non-stop like numbers and just calls and just constantly is like, “Tell me this. Tell me that.” He wants to be the new uh Shams. Well, I mean, not long ago, somebody named Shams did exactly that. So, I mean, industrious little kid, man, doing the work here. But a high school kid, I’m told. Why are why are people in the NBA like what is it about them? Why would anybody tell a kid this? So, why were they why are they telling their business to a high school? Like, are they just I know I know at least one of his sources and I will tell you it’s because and he was told to me, he respected the hustle. He’s like, “The kid won’t quit.” And it’s like, “All right, what what have you.” So, which is kind of an interesting, you know, whatever. But to your point, the broader point though, why would anybody tell this? Here’s the thing people don’t know. And and tell me if you agree with this, Harrison, the NBA world, it’s like you have all of these secrets and all of this knowledge and you can’t tell anyone. And it’s a very lonely life. Like, if you think about David Adelman, he can’t talk hoops with anyone except for like a handful of people who he sees all day. except for 15y old. I’m not saying David is talking reports here. That’s not the source. But I’m just saying I in my experience there’s a lot of guys that have a lot of knowledge and not a lot of people that can talk to like it’s like Einstein couldn’t talk math with a lot of people. You know what I mean? He talk physics. So they so they just go, “Oh, look at this guy who works in kind of the same field as me. I’m just going to lob everything at him.” Well, no, but but you are right. You are right. We I mean I know me and Adam have been in this situation where we’re people who executives coach like they’ll call you just to bounce ideas off of and just to to talk shop because right they can’t just do it with everybody. Well, I’ll say this people. I’ll say this. People of the NBA with burning secrets and things that they I don’t want to I like I I don’t want to find out you killed somebody. Like I I don’t want secrets to be that deep, but like if you have a secret about your job in the NBA, my DMs are open. Just let me know. I you know, I’m a I’m a 47y old man. I’ll know what to do with it better than a 15-year-old kid. Like what’s going on here? Yeah, I’m telling you the the the high school kid getting this stuff though because there’s this other part of it which is the hustle to be able to break a story or two and he’s actually broken quite a few or shared a couple little small these stories or whatever that he’s got. But then what you do with that is the tough part. So he has a has a tough road ahead of him, you know, and figure that out. But industrious kid, hat tip to him. Uh but I say that to say there’s no woge and so now the NBA is just going to do what Shams is is like one or two games a day all week long. But we got three games from the Nuggets. We got the Christmas game which we talked about yesterday. The Timber three of 82. Three of 82. Yeah. Tomorrow we’re getting the fourth game. Actually, the Nuggets we now know. How many days is it? Like how many days is it between now and the season? Is are we going to get one every day? I believe now though, Thursday, October 22nd should be the Nuggets’ first game in Golden State. And here’s the thing. So they open the season on the road at Golden State on night three. So opening night Tuesday, everybody almost everybody plays Wednesday. We’re going to have to wait till the third night, I believe, to be able to see the Have you seen confirmation that that’s actually opening night? I think T you typically Tuesday is and we know that Tuesday is that first game. So then there’s a Wednesday game and then if they would put N the reason I think it will be is I don’t think they would give the Nuggets a backtoback when they’re because it’s also on NBC which is the big thing this year. It’s on Peacock. So, the Nuggets are going to get one of the first games to be on the new NBC and it’ll be Nuggets Warriors. Make sure you download and subscribe to Peacock is the only way you’ll be able to watch it. But I’m excited. I think that’s a great game. Nuggets were here because here’s why. The Warriors are the most fun team of the last like 10 years. you know, they’re just I mean, look, we love our Nuggets, but the Warriors are the first. I cannot wait to see the Jonathan Kaminga uh this come to town, dude. Here’s why I like this this matchup. It’s because the NBA and NBC in particular, I’m sure they’re the ones that picked this. It was like, “Hey, we need a big splash for our big Thursday night debut. What’s the most fun game we could think of?” And it was Nuggets Warriors. And I’m like, “Hell yeah.” Yeah. And Nuggets Warriors is so fun, man. Stephic just maybe the top two most exciting and most fun players to watch. At least for me personally, and I gotta think for a lot of people out there, you’ve just got lines with Jimmy Butler, Aaron Gordon. Pretty good matchup. I don’t know. Okay. Uh and uh Steve Kerr, David Adelman, two X’s and nose guys. There you go. Should I keep going? Joe Lake and Stan Crocki, the two of the richest owners in the NBA. There you go. Um, but no, I’m I’m excited. I The Warriors, I mean, a lot of people forget this now. The Warriors last year once they got Jimmy Butler were one of the best teams in the NBA. Agreed. Yep. They got Jimmy Butler and they went into this new gear. I’m higher on the Warriors than I I think a lot of people are. I think they’re going to be really good. Um, and then Steph just got hurt in the playoffs and they were just kind of, you know, blleh again. But I think the Warriors are going to be good and um, it’s a great test for the Nuggets opening night, honestly. Like that’s how I look at it. That was the first thing I thought of. Oh, it’s going to be a great measuring stick game. Yeah, big big time measuring stick game. Nice style fights as well. You got Al Herford there. Uh, I think it’ll be a great one. Denver probably will be an underdog for that game. So, they’ll start on the road probably as underdogs. Um, and and then the NBC part of this is what I just love, Eric. I just love that the Nuggets, like is Michael Jordan’s probably in the building that day. He’s a special analyst or what do they call him? Special contributor. So, we might get Michael Jordan talking about Steph Curry and Nikolic opening. No way he’s in the building. No way. No way. What if he spends the entire game just hating on Jokic, too? Like we What if we end up hating Michael Jordan? By the end, we’re all LeBron guys. He’s like, I hate this survey. You can’t jump over a phone book. All the cliches. He’s like, he if you really need a bucket, who are you giving it to? Jimmy or Nola? Jimmy. Give me Andre Egodala. And by the end, we’re like, Michael Jordan’s a fool. There’s one other game we’re going to talk about that’s on the Nugget schedule, and we’ll get to that on the other side. Uh, all right. Shout out to our friends over at Cake Mortgage. That music sounds loud. Cake Mortgage, guys. Shout out to them. Are you a Denver property investor? Uh do you do you own an investment property? Are you thinking about buying one? Well, that’s where Cake Mortgage comes in. If you don’t have that traditional tax return or that traditional W2, don’t worry about it. Cake Mortgage, they specialize in working with people like you, entrepreneurs that are in your boat. They’ll get you funding. 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Uh so, make sure you’re covered. They’ll, you know, use quality materials. They’ve got decades of experience, the quickest response time. They will give you a free no obligation roof and property inspection as well. Can’t always see how bad the damage to your roof is from the ground. So, let Redhawk Roofing get up there and and see what they’re working with. Support these guys like you support us at DNVR. If you’re looking for a new roof for your home or business, redhawk roofing.com 720771-8921. All righty, we are back here. Segment two of the DMV Nuggets podcast. So, one other game, we’re talking games. One other game to uh that the Nuggets know about will be the following Monday, October 27th at Minnesota. So, two of Denver’s early games will be against Golden State on the road and at Minnesota on the road. Now, what’s interesting about this, Eric, and when Thursday, we don’t know if they play Monday or Wednesday. I would guess we know they don’t play Monday or Tuesday. I doubt they play Wednesday. They play Thursday and they play Monday. So either they play on Saturday. I guess that would mean they would almost certainly play Saturday as well. So they’ll probably have a Thursday, Saturday, Monday, Monday schedule. We’re I love forensically the schedule together. Yeah, this is great. But it it might be Thursday, Saturday, Monday, then probably Wednesday. Well, hold on, hold on, you guys. Should we take you guys? Let’s put this together. Hold on. Hold on. Thank you. I am guessing the season open or the home opener will be Saturday. That’s my point. So my guess is Saturday night the Nuggets will be back home. You’ll go from the Bay to Denver to Minnesota. That’s kind of a line, you know, that’s kind of linear. My guess is if you want plan on Saturday being the night for opening night. I’m with it. You’re right. Linear. I love it. Listen, if they’re not going to give us what we need, we’re going to make it happen for ourselves. I feel like they’re going to listen to this and make opening night Saturday based on the logic you just played out. Like, who would you guys want to play opening night? Who would you hope the opponent is opening night? We can’t We could only play the Timber four times. We already know two of those games. It’s going to be the freaking thunder. It’s going to be the freaking Thunder. I know. No, I hope it’s an easy one cuz that’s two tough games, man. Minnesota Golden State. I hope they get like Utah at home with with Fatner who can’t run. If you if you think back to last year, you know, they had OKC and the Clippers like the first two games and the Nuggets lost both of them and like they that was such a bad vibe to begin the season. Yeah, sucked. I I I kind of want a um I want like uh a middle middle tier Western Conference team. Dallas. Uh, like uh Memphis. Yeah, Dallas. Dallas would be fun. Yeah, Memphis is low. Maybe they’re Memphis would be fun. Phoenix. Oh, Phoenix could be good. Would be fun. Phoenix could be cool. Yeah, I actually kind of want Phoenix, actually. So, so there we have I’ll ask everyone around here if they’re cool with it. I’ll make I’ll get it on the books. They’re down bad, man. They don’t want any part of that. Uh, so we have three games. Two of them are against the Timberwolves and one of them against the Warriors. Uh, and we’ll get to see NBC’s coverage, their debut coverage on Thursday night, which will be great. Uh, also in the news, I don’t know if you guys saw this. Yousef Nerkich out of shape, can barely run according to his Bosnian national coach came out and just lombasted him in the public according to Basket News. Did you see this wind? I did, man. This is just like par for the course when it comes to European hoops. These coaches don’t care, man. They’ll call you out. Like, they’ll make you pass every conditioning test out there. So true. In order to play. And I kind of love it, man. Like you got to think this Bosnian coach has been waiting for this tournament for the last two years, you know? Yeah. And so like everybody’s getting to camp. He’s like, “Oh, got all my guys here. Nerk’s coming.” And then he gets there and he’s out of shape. Like you’d be pissed. I’d be pissed, too. Eric, I know you have to have a take on this. He’s so out of shape. Of course I gonna hate on him because I’m actually gonna soften. You know how it is. I always hate a guy until they’re down and then I feel bad. What’s the point of hating him to get them down and then let him up? The whole point is to get them down in the first place. That’s where they’re more vulnerable. All right, so here’s here’s my thought is that I am with Win. I It is hilarious how the European coaches like these little guys in suits, Pesich, that Italian coach, they really do like view themselves as the center of the universe and they don’t care. It’s kind of like college basketball. It’s kind of like college. The coach is the star in Europe for sure. And it it’s hilarious. They’re just like, “This guy’s a bum.” Like, it’s totally like it would just never happen in the NBA. Uh it’s probably overstated. It’s great nonetheless. Like they have no problem and Europe in general, no problem with calling you fat. No problem with saying you’re out of shape. No pro like to themselves to others. Um so it’s nice to see it permeate their sporting culture as well. I I think it’s great. And I hope that he is fat and can’t run because that’s even better. It is kind of funny. I just man if you think about his arc Dame leaves traded to Phoenix then everybody likes him for a second then hates him like he’s he’s really he he flow too close or flew too close to the sun and has crashed for like five straight years and now even here man yeah it’s absolutely like I’m not going to feel bad for him this is all every single thing that you’ve described in his descent was orchestrated by him so do I feel bad do I feel bad I feel bad he’s an idiot for him. But for me, it’s hilarious. ESPN has a new article out today and it is multiple contributors, meaning everybody, all of their NBA writers kind of wrote one segment of it. The Denver segment was written by our Tip McMahon, uh, Nuggets guy kind of. He’s a he’s a Jokic appreciator, I would say. And the title is the under the radar concerns for each NBA contender. He outlines for Denver. Look at the depth they’ve added. Look at the shooting they’ve added. These things are incredible. But are they actually any better on defense? They were 21st last year in defensive rating. And is there any reason to be believe that they are better? I think it’s a very fair argument. For one, Russell Westbrook was a positive impact defensive player. He’s gone. There’s Bruce Brown maybe replaces him, but there isn’t any added defensive player. So, uh, Dline, I actually look at this and I say I think this is on Denver to prove because I think of all the things on paper they accomplished. I don’t think they made themselves better defensively on paper. I mean, I do think they made themselves better defensively on paper. I think Cam Johnson is an upgrade over Michael Porter Jr. I think Bruce Brown is a is a suitable replacement for Russell Westbrook. I think getting as good as Russ was defensively. I think he he was the difference maker from a defensive point of view. He not only uh like checked DLo, he embarrassed him. He erased him. He like took the morale away from the Lakers via DLo and he absolutely was a differencemaker. Pton Watson should be a better defender. Um you know Tim compare him to himself. He’s comparing you’re comparing Pwatt this year to Pwatt last year. Yes. Yeah. And that that’s a really real thing. Uh you know THJ you don’t look at him as adding anything. Probably actually a liability. But Big Val to me is a defensive upgrade over what they had in the middle previously. like he’s just a big guy that can play traditional center and he’s younger than DeAndre Jordan. Like to me that’s like actually there’s quite a few reasons to look at them and say like okay that could actually be an upgrade. Like we don’t know if Deron Holmes plays he could be an upgrade at that uh spot. Like everybody kind of everyone except for THJ kind of you can see adding a little bit more to the defensive side of the ball. Even though their defense ultimately faltered, it was kind of more their offense at the end of the games against the Thunder that that faltered in my mind. It’s like even just adding the offense actually adds defense in a strange way. Um, so I just think like I I’m not concerned. And also I watched Nicola Joic play for team Serbia a couple days ago. Nikolic has a belly. Nikolic has been enjoying his off season. I love it for him. He’s totally He’s way bigger. If Jamal looked like this, he would be very justifiably crucified. But I watched Nikolic really move his feet and really commit to the defensive side. He was fleet of foot even though he’s bigger and fatter. Like it comes down to like do they want to, you know what I mean? Like it’s crazy. Yeah. Did you see him break up that threeon-one fast break? Yes. Dude, I saw him and I was like, “Oh my god, dude. Jokic is fat.” Like he’s fat. And then he was like fast. I couldn’t square it. It He did get tired like a little bit like he kind of wore out his got a little tired. Yeah. Yeah. But that’s like why you play this tournament. He’s going to get That’s why you do preseason tournament. That’s why you do preseason. Yeah. So, a couple things. Um I think it’s a valid argument from Tim McMahon. Um but I also think it’s really the only argument about a concern you can make. You know, I don’t know what else you can say is a concern for the Nuggets other than injury, and that’s a concern for pretty much every team, maybe other than the Thunder. Um, but defense is it’s Yeah, you look at the the defensive team they were last year, very underwhelming, not good enough in the regular season. I thought they were good enough in the playoffs, but regular season definitely counts. Um, and yeah, it’s not like they brought in anybody that’s like, oh, he’s an absolute all-world defender. Bruce Brown, very good defender. Um, not an allNBA defender, not an alldefensive team type guy. Um, Cam Johnson, I do think is an upgrade over Michael Porter, a significant one on that end of the floor. Um, I think Bruce Brown and Westbrook, it’ll probably be somewhat of a wash, but I think Dline at the end of, you know, what you were saying there, you hit the nail on the head. I just think they’re going to care more this year. And that is the most important thing on defense. You know, the care factor because last year I I just don’t think it I just don’t think it was there. It wasn’t there. you know, the front front office coaching uh stuff bled over into the team. I think everybody felt that and they just didn’t have the spirit. They didn’t have the want to on that end of the floor. I just think there’s a renewed focus this year and just kind of a renewed energy and it will specifically show up on defense. I think that that those parts, so there’s all these variables. That last one you just mentioned, win to me is the biggest one. I mean, I’ve said it before, but it was why I was low on the Nuggets coming into last year. It wasn’t about talent, although that played into it. It was I just didn’t know if the Nuggets were feeling it. I didn’t know if the Nuggets were coming into the year ready to dive on the floor and work through 82 games to become their best selves. And that obviously played out. I I mean, I haven’t been around the guys. They’ve been gone, you know, this or that. But I expect them to come back with that this year. I think they’re going to be motivated and that alone is like okay so now you go from 21st to 17th 16th 15th and then you talk about okay where else can things go well you are bringing in a new coaching staff this could be good or bad by the way we talked about who’s the defensive coordinator it was Ryan Saunders he’s gone so now is it Dudley is it Berea is it something someone else you know but is it a different scheme the depth I think will help just fewer minutes part of why Joic looks so good defensively in Euro basket is he only plays 27 minutes. Yep. So if Joic instead of playing 37 38, oh my god, tonight we need you 40, if he’s just consistently in the 30 to 33 range, do we get a little bit more out of him, a little more out of Jamal? So I do expect the Nuggets to be a little bit better. But I also don’t know if I would pick Denver to be a top 10 defense this year. I’m just not sure. I want to get through a preseason and see. I don’t know. I think that’s the one legitimate complaint is you could look at them and say, I don’t know if that’s a top 10 defense. And we know you typically you need a top 10 defense to win a championship. Yeah. I don’t know if I’d be willing to put them as a top 10 defense right now. Like I’m pretty confident they’ll be definitely better than they were last year, which again isn’t saying much. They were 22nd, I think, last year in defense, which is just terrible. I mean, the teams down there in the bottom 10 pretty much aren’t even trying to win games in the NBA. And the Nuggets were in that group on defense. Um, but yeah, I I can’t put them top 10 yet. I definitely have to see it first. I need to see that refreshed mindset. Yeah. So, we’ll have to see. Let us know. Is that a legitimate concern? I will say they listed him number two. I think they were just going off of straight odds, but they listed him number two in terms of championship odds behind Oklahoma City. I think a lot of people are high on Denver, even if they think they’re going to suck on defense. This offense is going to be fun this year. That’s exciting. Uh, coming up, updated look at the team of the 20 of the 20s, as well as an updated look on Joic’s strangle hold on player of the 20s. Is this already over or is there somebody that could come in and try to steal it from him? We’ll talk about that on the other side. Shout out to American Financing. American Financing is here. If you’re thinking about buying a home in Colorado, you’re not the only one. Now, you might. Now might be your best shot. We’re officially in a buyer market, which means you’ve got the upper hand. More homes are on the market. Competition is down. Serious deals are out there just waiting to be found. So, hit up American Financing. Especially if you’re a firsttime buyer. If you’re looking to upgrade, maybe or maybe you’re looking to downsize. Now’s the time to get preapproved. 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All right, we’re back here. Segment three. And let’s now talk about the 2020s because I just love looking at this by decade. I mean, we all know if we said the player of the 80s, you would say Magic and Bird. It was it was shared between Magic and Bird. They were the players of the 80s. If you said the player of the 90s, it’s Michael Jordan. There’s no question about it. We know it. If you said the player of the 2000s, there might be a little bit of a debate there. I think Kobe might probably probably was Kobe Bryant, but you could argue maybe a little LeBron, Tim Duncan maybe. I don’t know. Uh 2010s, I would say LeBron and Steph a little bit. Steph came in late, but LeBron, the 2020s to me are so clearly Nikolic right now. Three MVPs and a championship and we’re halfway through the decade now going into the back half of the decade. I think that he almost has this locked up and I almost wonder what it would take for someone to get it because he’s not going to be bad over the next five years. He’s almost certainly not he’s going to be MVP quality over the next three. So, I think that Jokic will be almost unanimously considered the player of the 2020s probably. Well, it he’s certainly on track. The the only thing is that like if somehow the Thunder pull off an actual dynasty, um he could be he could be erased from it. I mean, could if the Thunder win the next three or four and Sheay is leading that, then he would probably supplant Joic. like Jokic probably needs to make sure that that does not become a a Warriors like dynasty where it’s just that or the Bulls or whatever like where you don’t that the team success is such that you cannot look away from them being the epicenter and we’re not you know we we are to the point where they could win the entire second half of the of the decade and that would that would count. Yeah, but the uh you know the Spurs won three in the 2000s, but there like we not say Tim Duncan necessarily, although maybe that’s maybe they we should and this is more the other way. Like Tim Duncan should be the player of the 2000s, but he’s just not thought of because he wasn’t that popular. Yeah, it’s entirely possible. This is kind of also one of those things where you just have to take a step back for a second and really dive into what Nicole Yokic has done since 2000. I mean, the three MVPs in four years and then the championship, but then just the numbers, too, you know, just the numbers and nobody’s done this since Wilt Chamberlain, nobody’s done this since ever. Like, how many of those games and moments and seasons has he had? Um it’s it’s tough to see even somebody like SGA getting to that level individually even if you know he’s captaining a team that wins a couple more championships over the you know rest of this decade. It’s it it feels nearly impossible for somebody to stack what four seasons that come anywhere close to what Nicole Joic just did you know? But you could see it. Well, hold on. Well, there is one player, Eric, that I think has numbers that are similar to that and it’s Luca Donuch and he does play for the Lakers. Now, I think that he’s a bit of a long shot, but if he has success with the Lakers and then puts up these numbers for the next four or five years, he’s another guy to me that could come in and take it. I mean, he he’s got to do it starting this year and then have a clean sweep through 2030, though, cuz he hasn’t done anything so far. He doesn’t have any MVPs. He’s made one finals, you know. Yeah, that’s Yeah, he would have to he would have to get championships, multiple championships in this time in this window. That’s like the Yeah, the only the only person that could do it I believe at this stage would be Shay and not because he’s a better player by any stretch of the imagination, but if the team success is such that you cannot you have to look at that. I mean that’s I don’t think that will happen but that’s that’s how that would happen. That’s the only way that can happen. The only other guy I thought of that maybe could have a uh have a case is Giannis, although he did win one of his MVPs before 2020. That’s true. So, that kind of screws up that. But, he does have a championship banked in this decade. He does have an MVP banked in this decade. Now, it’s tough to see the Bucks really being competitive right now, but he at least has a couple things that he’s already done and accomplished. And I think for him, if he ends up going to a Lakers or a Warriors or something like that and gets the second bounce basically to his career, which is why I’m putting Luca in this conversation, Shay, I get it. I just don’t know if I like this year it was so clear. Nobody said Sheay was better than Jokic. And that’s wonder like, you know what I mean? And so I don’t know even if the team wins if he’s just thought of as but if they win three or four it’s like then he’s like I know but it’s he becomes the represent I’m just saying like that’s how that would happen. He’s not a better player but like that’s how that would happen. It’s the only way. Well the team of the decade I still think Joic is likely just because the numbers are so great. I think he’s going to be up there. I another MVP very possible. Um, for me though, team of the decade is the fun one because nobody has repeated yet. Famously, this might be the first decade nobody ever repeats, but it is up for grabs. And last year it was Boston slightly pulled ahead of Denver because it looked like maybe they had staying power. They’re in the East. Um, Oklahoma City though winning now, if we had to handicap this, they’re probably best odds of team of the decade at this very moment. Yeah. I mean, a different team’s won the championship every season. And so yeah, I mean Oklahoma City probably has the best chance of a second one in the next four a second one and then Denver clearly or Boston. I mean Boston they have to take a year off but Boston feels Boston feels like they’ve been well first off they’re not going to have next year is going to be a disaster for for Boston. We don’t know like when they’re going to be back in contention. It feels like their theorem got busted. Um, so I don’t I don’t I don’t really see another path for them back to they even ax their governor today. I don’t know if you saw Wick Geek. Yeah. What? Really got the axe. So yeah, I have a hard time imagining Boston gets back to that place where we’re looking at them as like the prevailent force in the NBA. But it is funny like at the be I guarantee every person every prognosticator that you encounter you know talking about the season going in will predict somehow magically that the Oklahoma City Thunder will be in the the finals this year. That’s what like everybody the year that the team wins this immediately pencil them right back into the finals every single time. It doesn’t happen hardly ever but we’ll see. Um but I don’t know man like I like Denver’s chances if Denver wins again. I mean, that’s just it. It’s like whoever whoever gets two is in pole position. It might only race to two. The race to two. Yeah. Um and then maybe somebody else catches them. I think that if you were handicapping this, you’d put OKC at like minus 110. You’d probably put Denver at plus 300, Boston at plus 400. And then I think I would put the Lakers right there as well only because they have like they’re so far away from contention. You don’t really see it, but they do have Luca and so maybe what if this whole time we did like never what if this whole time we never realized we were in the Knicks era. This whole time it was the whole Denver was winning but really the the Knicks win the whole last last half and we thought we were doing I mean the other you got to at least think about the Warriors a little bit. Um they have a championship. They still have two decades. Oh, but if they luck into what what if they luck into Giannis? I mean that would change everything. What if they look into Giannis next summer? I mean, it’s Steph has what, a couple more years being maybe he might honestly Steph Curry to me is like at any moment he could have the injury. You know, he’s what? He’s Yeah, he’s not going to make it through this season. No, no chance. No chance. There’s no chance. Uh what about the Spurs? Is there any chance the Spurs build a contender? I mean, we don’t see it this year, but maybe as early as next year and then they get three shots. They have to get They have to get a a big impact player. If they get a if they get Giannis, then yes. They need like they need amp Impact. Am I a little crazy for thinking the Spurs might be messing this whole Webby thing up? No. What do you mean? Yes. Why’ they sign Darren Fox to a max contract? Oh, I know. I know. Cuz they like maybe promised it or said they were going to when they traded for him. Like why are they why they just drafted a a number two overall pick who yeah is pretty good but he’s going to have to play a lot and probably not going to be that good the next couple years. Like what are they doing? The NBA really is hilarious in that you kind of have to sign two guys to a max. You can get away with only one guy and then spending a lot of money elsewhere. But it’s almost just the nature of how contracts work in free agency and when guys are available. You almost always have to give a max to that second guy and half the time they’re not worth it. Like Darren Fox is just if you have to give and I saw somebody had done this on on the timeline the other day where they were taking out like De’Aran Fox is the 60th best player if you know if you did this the equivalent in football you know it’s it’s it would be insane and it is true it’s like yeah it is weird that you just it’s it’s not a controversy that De’Arren Fox got a max but we also all know that screws you I do I do love that I there’s nothing better too because then now the uh way that most people evaluate players through the lens of their contract is going to hit De’Aran Fox so hard. He’s going to get the uh the Jamal Murray and the MPJ treatment where even if they play reasonably well, they’ll be like, “Well, that’s not a $30 million player.” Right. Right. By the way, this is coming for this is coming for Christian Brown, I think, in a very interesting way because he is beloved and the moment he signs a deal where it’s like$25 million and he can’t do whatever and you’re like that’s not a $25 million player. Yeah, it’ll and then all of a sudden the shine is off. It’s so weird how that works. God. Um, all right. We’ve been doing this series. I’m going to return to it now to get us out of today’s show. But we’re looking back and just trying to relive old glories. And we are up to the 2018 season 201718 and this one. So I’ve been researching these, you know, getting ready for this and try and kind of going back. Let me refresh your memories here a little bit. This was the Tyler Light and draft year. Oh my god. So this year started weird. Like the Nuggets were on this two-year in the yogic era. This was year three and this was the first wrench in the system cuz that night you were like what? Tyler Lighten. So, this draft, I mean, this draft was an alltime mess up from the Nuggets all time. They originally held the Wait, are you 2017? It’s 2018 is the year. So, 17 into 18. The 2017 draft we’re talking about, though. Were they uh were they in name drafted Donovan Mitchell? They they originally had the 13th pick. Yeah, I traded it. Yes. Traded back to number 24 and OG and drafted Tyler 23. Yeah. God damn it. OG Anobi went 23. We were sure we were getting OG Anobi. Sure of it. I know. Yes, we were sure of it. And then he was stolen one pick ahead of us by Messiah Jiri, right? Yeah, I believe so. Yep. Yep. Disgusting. Absolutely disgusting. Do you remember covering that draft? Adam, of course, because it’s the night that Tim Connley and our tourist came out separately and it’s because they were so pissed. So, it was originally originally there was a table with two microphones and then right before the press conference, somebody from the PR team came out and removed one of the microphones. They came out separately. They each did their own press conference that year. Yep. It was very, very bizarre. You knew it was a mess up at the time. Uh, they also though, and this is Dline’s point, they did get Tory Craig and Monte Morris that year. So, it’s like it’s one of those things where if you drafted Monte at 24 and Tyler Leen at 51, it would be like, “Oh, okay. That’s a good draft. They did a good job, right?” Um, but the the the issue the issue with that draft was that was where Tim Connelly got like super duper cute because he’d had success with trading back turning in one pick into two. Obviously, we got uh Nerk and Gary Harris in that way and he was uh lauded appropriately as a genius for doing so. Then they got not Nicolic late so he was like, “Bro, that’s all I’m doing now.” And that’s that was his favorite move was having a high pick that he traded back for two pretty good picks. Um but like I remember the world in everyone knew we were going to take um OG OG anobi everybody knew it. Everyone knew it. And because because if you remember we kept taking guys that were hurt or out a year and OG had tore his ACL and it’s like perfect the Michael Porter. We’re drafting a guy who’s gonna have to sit out a year and then he’s ready the next year. Yeah. And then they took that and like I felt the terror and the scramble from my home when OG got drafted. It was like oh god no. What are they going to do? And then like do you have any idea like any inclination who the rest of the room wanted to draft that Tim went old Tim uh Leroy Jenkins on and drafted Tyler Leiden? Like do we have any understanding? See if I Yeah, let me see if I can recall in that draft who was the popular guy. Koozma was there, but I don’t think Oh, probably Derek White to be honest with you. Colorado guy. Oh, god damn it. Probably. That’s even worse. So, it was probably him. I don’t know if there was anything. And you know that well then that draft set off a an avalanche of arguments online for the next five years about whether or not we should have Donovan Mitchell over Jamal Murray and if we had Jamal Murray and Donovan Mitchell that one wouldn’t been able to be uh you know brought up and they would have wasted blah blah blah. What a nightmare. Uh do you remember on that team that year Richard Jefferson his lone year here he hated it. He thought it was very boring. He came over to be the wy vet and he thought the team was like just too boring for his taste. And then also Devin Harris was traded at the deadline. The Nuggets were like, “Let’s get a veteran presence in here.” He didn’t get a veteran presence. He they traded Emanuel Moodier for one half season of Devin Harris because Moodier was so helpless at that point that they just got rid of him for absolutely nothing. Devin Harris didn’t even resign with the Nuggets. They literally traded Moodier for a rental of a half season for Deon Harris, who was not even good with the Nuggets. He just kind of showed up. We didn’t really know what his vi his vibe was. It didn’t it didn’t work out at all. It was a total disaster of u mismanagement uh for the season. Um I remember all of it very deep, very clearly. It was a nightmare. Poor one out for Moody. Made it two and a half seasons. He was our cornerstone rebuilding block and he made it two and a half seasons before he got traded for Devin uh Harris. Um also also joining that year though wind and this is where the Nuggets this is such a chapter. This is when Paul Milsap arrived. It was year three. It was 2017 18 and that was like that signaled a new a new era you know um Danilo Gallinari was gone. He was the old guy and so the new guy was in. The number one thing I remember though before we get to him was Kenneth Fared’s media day availability. He did not show up for media day on time. He came out an hour late. He sat down and I went and watched this because this was up on the Denver Stiff’s YouTube channel. I I found it and I went and watched it this morning as I was prepping for this. He comes out and first of all he somebody said, “You’re the longest tenur nugget. How does it feel?” And he goes, “It’s an honor, I guess.” And then he was asked about something like, you know, what’s it like you bring in player like Paul Mousap and he’s like, listen, I am not a bench player in this league. He said, I am not a bench player. I like it when you they call your name at the intro, Kenneth Fared, and everybody screams. That’s what he said. Um, it obviously didn’t. I appreciate that. I kind of appreciate the honesty, but it was like the ultimate lack of self realization because Manal got Manal got traded that year. This was his seventh season. Sixth season. He had it was his seventh. So, he had six seasons in him. He’s should be in his prime. How many games did he play in his career after getting traded? Eric, take a guess. Oh, but let’s see. He went to Houston, right? He was deeply undersized. He sat the bench. I’ll bet he played like games he got into or games he started. Games he played at any point? He was 28 years old at this time. Yeah, I bet he played 27 games, huh? Like six, seven games. 37 games. 37 total games. And this is the height of his prime. So he awkwardly almost demanded a trade and he was gone. Paul Milsap was in. Here’s something you don’t remember. win. Joic had seven points through two games to open the year. He had seven on opening night, zero in the second game. He played 30 minutes in both games. I remember this assist makes two people happy, man. No, no. This was uh Nikolai Joic did not know how to bring Paul Milsap onto the team and because he was a veteran, he just deferred to him so heavily that that became a talking point was that Nicola Joic had to learn to not just simply defer to Bahal Milsap all the time because we didn’t even know what to do. It didn’t make the team better. It was confusing. Uh, and Jokic himself like came out and he was like, I don’t I like I don’t know how to be like I don’t know who I’m supposed to what I’m supposed to do. But if you remember, I mean, maybe I’m skipping ahead a little bit, but I’m not sure exactly when it was in the season, but one of the big turning points of that year was when Paul Milsap had a conversation with Joic and said, “This is your team. Stop worrying about me. You’re our franchise. This is your team. Let’s effing go. So, here’s So, this Jokic had four games with in single figures. Single figures in the first 10. He actually, this year was very clunky. People don’t remember it very well. It was kind of a bad year because you had Joic’s rookie year. Then you had the sophomore year, December 15th, they’re on a run. This was the year you’re like, they can make the playoffs this year. They can be good. And it started really bad. They made the trade for Paul Milsap and it started really bad. And it was like, damn it, another year where they’re not going anywhere. And this was the first year Joic led the team in points, 18.5. Gary Harris was 17.5. And it was the first year that he led the team in assists. The prior year it was Jamir Nelson. So this was the first time he led him both points and assists. And so I disagree with the read that he didn’t know how to integrate Paul Milsap. To me, Joic’s arc was that the year before they determined he was the guy to play through it. Everything was new. There was no pressure. This was the year where it’s like, “It’s your team.” And he did not accept it. He did not pick up the crown. And it wasn’t just because of Paul Milsap. I think it was because Jokic was like, “Ah, no, no, no, no. I don’t I know I’m good, but I’m not the leader of this team.” It’s like, you are whether you want to. He didn’t know he was that guy yet. Like, he did not know he was gonna become anything close to, you know, the player he is. Nobody did, but especially him. He did not know it. I don’t even know if he really wanted it. But this was the first year he pushed back. Like, I don’t want it. That’s the point. That’s the point is that like he didn’t know how to be because there was a guy he could just be like, well, he’s the leader. He’s the vet. He’s an all-star. Yeah. Like that. Yeah. It was It was very awkward. It was very strange to start. I just remember that. Exactly. Paul Milsap said as he’s like I told him like to take all this is your team, man. like take over. It took all the way until January 8th for him to have his first triple double of the year. Remember we talked about on the 2017 when he had all of those triple doubles to end the year. Clearly he could do it. He didn’t have one for the first three months of the season this year. Very strange. Then he ended up having a bunch because it was like he woke up finally and realized what he was. Then he had the fastest triple double of all time on January 8th. And then here’s what people don’t really remember. The Nuggets were actually struggling. They were out of the playoffs with seven with seven games to go. They won six games in a row leading up to game 82. This wasn’t like, oh, it just they happened to be there. Denver was dead in the water like two and a half games back, three games back and they won six in a row and Joic went crazy in that stretch. It was his best stretch of the whole year. Joic just turned it on. They won all the way setting up the famous game 82 at Minnesota. Jimmy Butler is on the team. God damn it. Joic had what might have been the best game of his career that night up to that point. Was awesome, but it wasn’t enough as they came up short in overtime. Yeah, I’ll never forget that game. I was there in Minnesota for that game. It was it was an all-timer. Absolutely. I know. Jimmy Butler went crazy. He went absolutely crazy. And then they went on, they didn’t do anything in the playoffs. And then Jimmy Butler outwardly like tore down the idea of uh Carl Anthony Town’s manhood like immediately afterwards. Like just absolutely defamed him publicly. Like made a absolute mockery of him and tore that team apart immediately afterwards. Good stuff. But I don’t think people that came to the Nuggets later. And I think a lot of the fan base, you know, arrived after this, like around 2020, maybe the bubble. People don’t remember that Joic’s rookie season, no expectations. The next year, they could have made the playoffs. It was Nerkish that knocked him out in Portland. And then, so this year felt like the year that they were going to get there and it didn’t happen again. So at this point, this was a bit of a low point because we were having fun and we were like, Joic is the truth. But then he did this weird emotional funk thing all year where he didn’t accept being the guy and we’re like he is good, he just doesn’t care, guys. And it’s like that was a hard argument to make. And then he finally takes up the mantle and does it and he makes this run and they miss the playoffs again. And it felt like you know the Kizlas of the world and the Marilats, the guys that just love when your team’s down so they could pick at you. That was the Nuggets fans keep saying that this guy’s special, but here we are not making the playoffs again. And we had to sit in it for a whole off season of like, ah, nobody gets it. Yeah, but I mean that that that was definitely the story of that season. But people, you know, that that have just started following this team in the last couple years definitely don’t remember the impact that Paul Milsap had here. Yeah. Because Paul Milsap kind of I think taught Nicole Joic and the Nuggets how to win a little bit. They were just the Nuggets before Paul Milsap got here. You could see the potential. You could see the vision, but they were this young, fun team, a bunch of kids just playing. They they were just playing out there. And Paul Milsap really came here and they never played defense before Paul Milsap got here. Yeah. And I mean, I don’t know if you remember the first year Paul Milsap was here, he hurt his wrist and actually, I don’t even think played in half the games that regular season. But then the next season, and of course we’ll get to this when we do the next year, the next season they came back and had a top 10 defense. So like Paul Millsap, I really feel like taught a lot of the core of that team, you know, the Jokices, the Gary Harris’s, the Will Bartons, how to win and what you needed to do on both ends of the floor to win. And I mean, he was just really instrumental, I think, in those early Jokic years, like teaching just some foundational lessons of basketball to these guys. 100%, man. And and uh they they they stumbled, they didn’t make it to the playoffs, but the previous the following year where they did make it to the playoffs, they went further than they should have. So, it ended up not actually being a skipped step. It was like you just think about that first that game 82 was their flame out in the playoffs in a sense. And then the next year they make it to the second round and it’s just you’re you’re right back on track. Oh man, this year real quick, this year was also the Jamal Garry intersection year. This is where Jamal started to catch and pass. I mean it might have been Gary Harris’s best year, but Murray was sort of on the ascent. Murray had seven 30-point games. Barton was actually pretty phenomenal this season as well. Uh he was right there. He actually had I think the second highest box plus minus. Um and then I’ll always remember the game against Boston. I don’t know if you guys remember this one. Boston was really good. Denver was not. Gary Harris 36, Jamal Murray 28. They both were awesome. Denver actually lost, but it was the first time they were like good together. And you’re like, you know what though, man? Jokic, Gary, Jamal, that’s a big three. Yeah. I mean, G that was the I think the year Gary Harris really just leveled up and um you know, if it wasn’t for injuries, like who knows what his career could have really been. Yeah, it was a special one, man. 2018, I liked it. Although I will say 2017 was my favorite. 2018 was the one where we were a little frustrated with emotional funk yolk, but you know, he came around eventually. Um, any super chats? It doesn’t look like it. I don’t think there’s a single super chat today. What the hell, people? The first time we’ve ever not had a super chat. No, we had one on an earlier offseason show and I was I was a little spooked by it. All right. Well, I guess we’ll just see everybody tomorrow. Man, what an ending. Hit that like button on the way out. We’ll see you. We all sitting like the mayor.

Nikola Jokic got reinforcements in the form of shooting and depth this offseason. Cam Johnson, Jonas Valanciunas, Bruce Brown, and Tim Hardaway Jr. will provide scoring and spacing. But did this Nuggets get better on defense? And do they need to get better defensively in order to contend for an NBA championship? What will they lose with Russell Westbrook’s departure? The DNVR Nuggets podcast team discusses on today’s live show. Plus, a look back at the 2018 season, a look ahead to opening night, and a look far into the future to predict who will be the team and player of the 2020s

Intro – 0:00
Welcome in – 1:00
Kessler Edwards to the Nugs! – 4:40
Releasing the schedule one game at a time – 9:00
Nurk is out of shape – 20:32
Defensive Concerns? – 22:55
Teams and Players of the 2020s – 33:10
Looking back at the 2018 Nuggets – 44:00

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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.

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

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