Offense was the priority for most of David Adelman’s eight years as an assistant on Michael Malone’s staff, but the Nuggets’ new head coach was able to show more of what the future holds on defense during his 17-game stint as Denver interim coach.

“Defensively, it was easier, because you can put things out there in a walk through,” Adelman said during his introductory press conference Wednesday afternoon at Ball Arena. “You don’t get to practice a lot at the end of the season. The playoff schedule was insane.”

Just how close were the Denver Nuggets to the NBA’s conference finalists? | NBA Insider

The Nuggets played every other day during an important three-game close to the regular season. There were a few days to implement a few tweaks before the playoffs started, but as soon as the Nuggets and Clippers’ first-round series tipped, it was back to the grind. Denver played its 14 playoff games between April 19 and March 18. There was only one day off between the Nuggets’ Game 7 win over the Clippers and Game 1 against the Thunder in Oklahoma City.

“We didn’t get to do as much as we would like to, because on offense, you need repetition and live action,” Adelman explained. “Defensively, you can really talk about small things, depending on what kind of zone you’re running, what we’re trying to take away. You don’t make it complicated. We have our standards defensively in our man defense that’s always been there. I’m excited for the offensive part of it, because you need repetition and rhythm together for that to matter.”

Mark Kiszla: Nikola Jokic needs to give Josh Kroenke and the stagnant Nuggets a serious wake-up call.

Adelman already has an idea of how he wants the offense to look different. The changes include less reliance on transition offense. Last season, the Nuggets led the league with 18.8 fast-break points per game.

“Some of that does not translate to the playoffs. That’s a major goal for us – we have to get back to being an execution-based team. If that takes away some of our pace numbers or whatever the analytics want to say, I think that’s OK, if it wins you a game in May as opposed to playing a game in December. It’s a very different style of basketball. We have to think that way throughout the whole season,” Adelman said.

“A majority of the time, if you want to win big, you’ve got to play slow. You’ve got to be efficient. You’ve got to be clean.”

Denver Nuggets guard Russell Westbrook undergoes hand surgery

Your daily report on everything sports in Colorado – covering the Denver Broncos, Denver Nuggets, Colorado Avalanche, and columns from Woody Paige and Paul Klee.

Success! Thank you for subscribing to our newsletter.

It sounds like the variety of defensive looks Adelman threw at the Clippers, and Thunder will be the norm moving forward. The Nuggets’ new coach views defensive versatility as a tool to help keep players fresh for the bigger moments.

“I think we have to be much more creative throughout the season,” Adelman said. “That’s not just zoning or things like that, but I think it gets guys through the year healthier. You can demand a very aggressive, man defense, but I (also) think you can change things up.”

While Adelman didn’t have much of an opportunity to impress ownership with his tactical changes, he convinced team governor Stan Kroenke and president Josh Kroenke to promote from within for a different reason. 

“With the benefit of hindsight, I can look back and see that very clearly now, and I can also say very clearly this organization does not need a cultural reset,” Josh said Wednesday.

“What I saw and how the players responded, our culture is still there. We just needed to peel off a few things, have a small reset. I think we’re ready to move forward.”

Jamal Murray, Jalen Pickett and Julian Strawther attended Wednesday’s press conference to support their new coach.

Moving forward, Adelman said he’ll spend the summer checking in with players whether they’re training in the Nuggets’ practice gym or elsewhere to make sure the expectations are clearly stated. When the roster gets back together in the fall for preparations for Adelman’s first full season, he wants to hit the court running, at least figuratively, in hopes of expediting the installation process. Even though there’s more time during training camp and the rest of preseason, too.

“Training camp will be really fun for us,” Adelman said.

“I’m hoping to make sure we get to playing quickly when September rolls around, because you don’t have a lot of time.”