{"id":63893,"date":"2025-05-29T13:52:13","date_gmt":"2025-05-29T13:52:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/63893\/"},"modified":"2025-05-29T13:52:13","modified_gmt":"2025-05-29T13:52:13","slug":"new-nuggets-coach-david-adelman-wants-his-team-in-tip-top-condition-and-open-to-ideas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/63893\/","title":{"rendered":"New Nuggets coach David Adelman wants his team in tip-top condition and open to ideas"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\"\"Denver Nuggets head coach David Adelman, right, argues for a call with referee James Capers (19) in the first half of Game 3 in the Western Conference semifinals of the NBA basketball playoffs against the Oklahoma City Thunder, Friday, May 9, 2025, in Denver. (AP Photo\/David Zalubowski)\"\"Denver Nuggets interim head coach David Adelman, center, argues for a call with referee Tyler Ford, left, as Nuggets trainer Dan Shimensky, right, comes over to stop him in the first half of Game 4 in the Western Conference semifinals of the NBA basketball playoffs against the Oklahoma City Thunder, Sunday, May 11, 2025, in Denver. (AP Photo\/David Zalubowski)\"\"Denver Nuggets interim head coach David Adelman, left, confers with guard Jamal Murray as he sits on the scorer\u2019s table during a break in play in the first half of Game 6 in the Western Conference semifinals of the NBA basketball playoffs Thursday, May 15, 2025, in Denver. (AP Photo\/David Zalubowski)\"\"Denver Nuggets interim head coach David Adelman directs his team against the Oklahoma City Thunder in the second half of Game 6 in the Western Conference semifinals of the NBA basketball playoffs Thursday, May 15, 2025, in Denver. (AP Photo\/David Zalubowski)<\/p>\n

DENVER | Jamal Murray was located in the back of the room and so he heard the message first-hand from new Denver Nuggets coach David Adelman. Same with Julian Strawther, who took a seat in the front row.<\/p>\n

For the players not in attendance at Adelman\u2019s introductory news conference Wednesday, a quick recap: Adelman wants everyone in even better condition and open to new ideas come training camp.<\/p>\n

Because the Western Conference won\u2019t be getting any easier, Adelman insisted. It\u2019s up to the Nuggets to adjust behind a roster that revolves around three-time NBA MVP Nikola Jokic. Adelman wants his players to have a big voice, too, just like they did after he took over following the firing of coach Michael Malone and general manager Calvin Booth with three games left in the regular season.<\/p>\n

\u201cNew ideas are good ideas,\u201d Adelman said. \u201cI have to give them something to come back to that excites them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Adelman earned the promotion from interim to full-time head coach after a postseason run that saw the Nuggets get to a Game 7 against Oklahoma City in the second round before being knocked out of the playoffs. This with a thin bench and an injury-hampered starting five.<\/p>\n

Now, the work begins to put his own stamp on directing the Nuggets. He\u2019s gathered a wealth of knowledge through an array of NBA coaching mentors such as his father Rick Adelman, Sam Mitchell, Frank Vogel, the late Flip Saunders and, of course, Malone.<\/p>\n

\u201cVery prepared,\u201d Adelman said of his level of readiness. \u201cWhen you\u2019re around those people and you see how they run their business and their process, it\u2019s kind of a cheat code.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fitness, Adelman maintained, will be a key to a fast start \u2014 and health come playoff time.<\/p>\n

\u201cTeams that get off to great starts usually at the end of the year have the best chance of being healthy in these big games,\u201d explained Adelman, who\u2019s working on rounding out his coaching staff. \u201cBut, yeah, that will be the expectation to come back in much better shape.\u201d<\/p>\n

One of the areas the Nuggets aim to address in the offseason is depth. The Nuggets ran out of steam in the Thunder series after beating the Los Angeles Clippers in seven games to advance out of the first round.<\/p>\n

\u201cCan they achieve that (championship goal) as currently constructed? I think the answer, as (Jokic) said after the playoffs, and it was obviously no,\u201d Kroenke Sports & Entertainment vice chairman Josh Kroenke said. \u201cSo we need to take a hard look at how we can raise our ceiling going forward, whether that\u2019s internally or externally.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you look at the teams still playing \u2026 with a little bit of help, maybe a little bit of luck, maybe it could be us. But it\u2019s not. We\u2019re very conscious of that and how we need to go about improving.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kroenke shocked the league last month when he fired Malone, the winningest coach in franchise history, and Booth after they helped bring home the franchise\u2019s first NBA title in 2023. It was Kroenke\u2019s way to rejuvenate the team\u2019s energy heading into the postseason.<\/p>\n

Next up for Kroenke, hiring a new GM. For now, Ben Tenzer is overseeing the role on an interim basis.<\/p>\n

The plan, Kroenke said, is to bring bring Adelman into the GM process at some point.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe input will be relatively minimal,\u201d Kroenke said, \u201cbecause what I\u2019ll be looking for is cohesion between those two.\u201d<\/p>\n

Added Adelman of the GM: \u201cThis business is about cohesion. It\u2019s all about just moving forward and winning. That\u2019s it. It\u2019s not about finding your best friend.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Nuggets don\u2019t have a pick in the upcoming NBA draft. It may prove challenging to add depth without breaking up the core of Jokic, Murray, Aaron Gordon, Michael Porter Jr. and Christian Braun.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s where Denver\u2019s youth factors in and improvement from the likes of Strawther, Peyton Watson, Jalen Pickett and DaRon Holmes II, a first-round selection last year who tore an Achilles tendon in NBA Summer League.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re hungry to get better,\u201d Strawther said. \u201cIt\u2019s all fuel to the fire.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for the style of play, Adelman will add some wrinkles but defense will always be an important principle.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to get back to being an execution-based team,\u201d Adelman said. \u201cIf that takes away some of our pace numbers, or whatever the analytics want to say, I think that\u2019s OK if it wins you a game in May, as opposed to playing a game in December.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe majority of the time, if you want to win big, you\u2019ve got to play slow. You\u2019ve got to be efficient. You\u2019ve got to be clean. So that will be things we\u2019ll talk about throughout the summer, going to training camp.\u201d<\/p>\n

AP NBA: https:\/\/apnews.com\/nba<\/p>\n

\n\tRelated<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Denver Nuggets head coach David Adelman, right, argues for a call with referee James Capers (19) in the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":63894,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3781],"tags":[7,250,301,187,3943,762,3787,763,4231,6,253,302],"class_list":{"0":"post-63893","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-denver-nuggets","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-david-adelman","10":"tag-denver","11":"tag-denver-nuggets","12":"tag-denvernuggets","13":"tag-jamal-murray","14":"tag-josh-kroenke","15":"tag-julian-strawther","16":"tag-michael-malone","17":"tag-nba","18":"tag-nikola-jokic","19":"tag-nuggets"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/114591455349530947","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63893","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=63893"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63893\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/63894"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=63893"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=63893"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=63893"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}