October 17, 2025 • 29 mins
We set expectations for a loaded Denver season, explain why the offense could be historic, and map out which teams truly threaten a title run. Fresh rotations, a steadier bench, and a sharper defensive plan change the floor and raise the ceiling.
• lineup flexibility under Coach Adelman
• Big Val organizing the bench offense
• defensive tweaks with Jared Dudley
• shooters creating spacing and flow
• Christian Braun’s leap as a fifth starter
• Aaron Gordon’s confidence and health
• Jokic shifting to rebounds and assists
• Jamal Murray’s year-long star potential
• West threats: Thunder, Rockets, Wolves, Clippers
• East context and the Magic’s rise
• win total, seed, MVP, and playoff path predictions
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Brian (00:04):
All right everyone, welcome back to Fandom from
Afar.
We are almost there.
The season starts next week.
And if you're anything like me,you say, Yes, I can't believe
the season starts next week.
And if you're anything like mywife, you might say something
more along the lines of, what?
Didn't the last season justend?
(00:25):
But everybody celebrates intheir own way, I guess.
But I was excited about thenuggets going into the
preseason.
And now I have to admit I'mscared.
I'm scared about how good Ithink the nuggets are going to
be.
I think they could behistorically good.
Everything has looked pretty,pretty nice.
(00:47):
And so we'll go over kind ofwhat we've seen so far in the
preseason, and hopefully thatwill carry over into the regular
season.
And then after we do that, itis actually one of my favorite
episodes to do every year.
And we will go over all other29 teams and discuss how they
(01:08):
relate to the Nuggets going intothis year.
So let's cover the preseasonand why I am so excited about
the Nuggets.
Coach Adelman was true to hisword, and he has been trying
different lineups.
He's been trying differentrotations, and really it just
seems like an overall philosophychange, which I think is
(01:31):
excellent.
The Nugg did get kind of staleunder Coach Michael Malone, and
it's just been fun to watch theNuggets try something new.
They they really never triedanything new under Coach Malone.
Now, Coach Adleman, he's tryingdifferent lineups with the
bench.
Obviously, he has a lot moreflexibility because we are a lot
(01:52):
deeper this year.
He tried a lineup that had bothJokic and Valentunis in there
together as the two big boys.
He's trying things like 10thman, Spencer Jones at center.
He's just trying whatever hecan to see what works.
Apparently, they're trying anew defensive strategy.
Jared Dudley is our newdefensive coach, and the players
(02:15):
seem to really like not onlythe strategy, but to him as a
coach as well.
And everything just seems to beworking.
The guys seem to love eachother.
Obviously, you can't takeanything away from wins or
losses in the preseason, buteverything seems to be going
well.
And I think the existing guysare energized by the new
changes.
They're energized by the newplayers, and then the new
(02:37):
players seem to just be lovingbeing a Denver nugget so far.
So all thumbs up as far as uhCoach Adleman and everything
he's been trying.
Now, I mentioned that weobviously have a lot more depth
than we did last year.
It's hard to be flexible forCoach Malone when you really
only have six NBA players onyour team.
We, I think, are going to be agood 11 guys deep this year, and
(03:03):
that's not even counting ifDaron Holmes can give us some
quality minutes or even JulianStrather.
And so this is the deepest I'veI remember the nuggets being in
a long, long time.
And all the new faces are kindof showing why they were brought
to Denver.
I mentioned Valenciunas, or asI will probably call him for the
(03:25):
rest of this podcast and manymore episodes in the future.
I'm gonna call him Big Val.
It's just easier to say.
And we also get to use thenickname that uh DNVR has given
him and the rest of the benchunit, Val's pals.
So we like Big Val.
He has been kind of running thebench unit for a while when
they were trying to see if theycould stagger and not have Jamal
(03:49):
Murray playing with the benchunit.
Val was really getting the ballquite a bit, the ball was
running through him, and itreally didn't look that bad.
There, there was some roughkind of stumbling out of the
gates, but uh overall I think itworks really well because he
can pass, he can score, and he'sjust so big that you have to
pay attention to him.
And so big Val, definitely athumbs up so far.
(04:13):
And while the stagger withoutJamal did not look great, they
did end up staggering him in thelast couple games.
And Jamal Murray, of course, islooking awesome right now.
We will go over that more injust a little bit.
But he with Valentunas doesespecially look really nice,
especially when you have acouple other shooters out there
(04:33):
on the floor with them.
And so I'm just very excited tosee what Big Val and all of
Val's pals can do this yearcoming off the bench.
Bruce Brown, he seems to bemore defensively focused this
year so far.
I love it.
If he can be kind of a tear andmake sure that the other team's
not scoring, that would be ahuge plus.
And then as just a secondaryball handler or just kind of
(04:57):
creating havoc on the offensiveend, I think that'd be the
perfect role for him.
So he's looking good.
Tim Hardaway Jr., he's gettingwide open shots, whether he's
playing with the starters orwith the bench.
And he's not hitting a ton ofthem now, but just the fact that
they're this wide open already,and once he starts hitting
them, the bench is really gonnastart to become unstoppable
(05:20):
because he's too good of ashooter to keep missing like
this.
Speaking of Cam Johnson, he isalso getting wide open shots,
like wide, wide open, and he isnot making any of them.
So hopefully he's just kind ofgetting that all out of the way.
Once the season starts, he'llgo back to being Cam Johnson and
just knocking these down.
But it's been really fun kindof watching him.
(05:43):
He brings like a flow to theoffense.
He's always moving, he'scutting, he's not necessarily
rebounding, which I kind ofdiscussed a little bit once that
trade went down.
That's that's really the onlything that MPJ does noticeably
different than Cam.
But even that I think will comewith time.
Now, Cam Johnson, he's he'sreally just seeming like the
(06:06):
missing piece because when thestarters are all together, they
all look locked in and they lookunstoppable.
Like, I really think theNuggets might end up having one
of the best offenses in NBAhistory this year just because
they all fit so well together.
All the guys are kind ofpeaking at the right time in
their career, and it's justreally exciting.
(06:27):
Like, like I said, I really amscared that my expectations are
so high because there's only oneway to go, but you never know,
it could happen.
So, just some other guys,really quick points to see the
starters and and some of themain guys have not played as
much, but it's nice to seePeyton Watson out there.
You can tell he's been workingon some new skills.
(06:48):
He seems like he's much betterat dribbling and kind of
playmaking this year, so that'sexciting.
Spencer Jones, like I said,he's been getting out there a
little bit with with both thebench and even some of the
starters, and he he is defensiveonly.
Like, if you expect him toscore right now, you're gonna be
very disappointed.
But he is built like a house,like he is a big boy and strong
(07:14):
and quick and can play defense,and we need that.
And so I love what I've seenfrom Spencer Jones.
Christian Brown, he has gone toanother level.
I don't think I've seen himmiss this preseason.
His shot looks so perfect andjust splashes the net every time
he shoots.
And his his dribbling, like hisfootwork, everything just looks
(07:37):
so nice on Christian now.
And I know he's playing for anew contract, but it really
seems like Christian is leveledup.
And if if our fifth starter canbe that good, it again, it it's
scary how good the Nuggetscould possibly be this year.
AG, what what can you say?
I think this will be AaronGordon's best year of his
(07:59):
career.
He just seems like he is soconfident right now, not only in
his skills, but it looks likehe's healthy again.
He again, his shot just looksso perfect right now.
He he he looks like he's one ofour best shooters, and you
definitely could not say that acouple years ago.
So AG is looking so good, andlike I said, we have so many
(08:22):
guys kind of peaking in theirmid to late 20s right now, and
they all fit so well togetherthat it's exciting.
Jokic, what can you say?
He looks happy, he looks likehe is happy not to have to carry
the load for the entire teamlike he's have to do the last
couple years.
A big part of that is Jamal,who we will talk about next.
(08:42):
But I think Jokic loves thisteam, I think he loves how they
play basketball, which I thinkis very important to Jokic.
He wants to play basketball theright way or what he views as
the right way.
And so Jokic, I think, hasmaybe put forth 25% effort this
preseason, and even still, helooks dominant.
(09:03):
He is the best player in theworld.
All the media outlets haveranked him as the best player in
the world.
He is about to have a veryinteresting year, and by that I
mean I think he's good enoughright now where he could
dominate and put up historicnumbers, but I think he knows
the team is good enough where hedoesn't have to do that.
(09:24):
And so I think he's going toscore a lot less this year.
He'll rebound more and he'llhave more assists.
So I would not be shocked tosee him well below the 30 points
that he averaged last year, butsee his rebounds increase.
And then I would love to seehim get a lot more assists just
with all these wide openshooters.
(09:45):
Like I said, we have to talkabout Jamal.
We have spent so much time onthis podcast just wishing Jamal
would get in shape and wishingJamal would put forth the
effort.
And even in the preseason sofar, this has been the Jamal
that we have always wanted tosee.
Now, obviously, we saw PeakJamal in the 2023 playoffs on
(10:09):
that championship run, and itlooks like Jamal is ready to do
that for an entire year thisyear.
I really just I hope he canstay healthy and just show us
and have one amazing career, acareer year, and hopefully it
will last multiple years.
But if he can just give us oneyear because we know the talent
(10:29):
is there, and this is theperfect team for him to show
what he can do, whether he'swith the starters or with Big
Val on the bench, it would beamazing if the Jamal that we've
seen in the preseason so farshows up for the regular season,
and he is the main reason why Ithink there there is no ceiling
for this team.
(10:49):
They they could easily end upas the number one seed.
Now, like I said, I can't waitfor the season to start.
Obviously, this will be my lastshow before the season
officially starts.
So after we go through the 29other teams and how they relate
to the Nuggets, we will do somepredictions.
As always, they are guaranteedto be wrong, but they are fun.
(11:13):
And I'm thinking you might beable to guess how positive I'm
going to be on the Nuggets afterthis last uh 10 minutes of
going on and on about how goodthey look.
So let's get into whateverybody came here for.
How do all the teams in the NBArelate to our beloved Denver
Nuggets?
Let's start with the Spurs.
(11:34):
The Spurs were gifted DylanHarper in the offseason.
They had no business being thenumber two overall pick, and yet
somehow the wonderful NBAlottery happened to give Victor
Wembenyama the perfect runningmate so he and Wemby can be so
happy and so dominant for thenext 15 years.
(11:56):
Thanks, MBA.
Speaking of thanks MBA, theMavericks.
They were gifted Cooper Flagthis offseason.
Oh, the NBA is so fun.
Why would they ever send a goodplayer to the Eastern
Conference?
Anytime the Eastern Conferencehas the number one pick, it's
players like Zachary Ricochet,Anthony Bennett, or Alex Sarr.
(12:22):
Whereas the West gets everygenerational prospect.
Yay.
The Memphis Grizzlies, theyreceived KCP as part of the
Desmond Bain trade.
You know we love KCP on thispodcast, and I hope he has a
comeback year.
I wouldn't even mind if theGrizzlies are terrible and
(12:44):
they're looking to trade him orcut him at the end of or around
the trade deadline, and he justhappens to end up on the Denver
Nuggets again.
The Indiana Pacers.
They are one of a few teamsthat are gonna wonder why all of
a sudden Bruce Brown is good atbasketball again.
You may remember that Bruceleft us after the championship
(13:07):
year, signed a giant contractwith Indiana, and did absolutely
nothing.
But he did collect thosechecks.
And I heard he has built a nicebig ranch outside of Denver.
So thanks, Pacers.
The Washington Wizards.
This was tough.
(13:27):
And by that I mean last yearwhen I did the how does every
team relate to the DenverNuggets, I had such a hard time
with the Brooklyn Nets.
So I decided to say that theBrooklyn Nets had Nets on their
(13:49):
basketball goals, and so did theNuggets.
It was a stretch, and theWizards are this year's Nets.
How do I relate the Wizards tothe Denver Nuggets?
Well, my son and daughter areNuggets fans.
They have both read the HarryPotter series, and Harry Potter
(14:09):
is full of Wizards.
There we go.
Thanks, Wizards.
The Celtics.
The Celtics discovered what theNuggets discovered after the
2023 season.
It is very hard to defend yourchampionship and go back to
back.
Celtics, obviously dealing withthe Tatum injury, not expecting
much this year either.
(14:30):
But in today's NBA, it isincredibly difficult to keep a
team together and to go back toback, and the Celtics discovered
just that.
The Sacramento Kings.
They signed Russell Westbrook.
I may be in the minority onthis, but I loved having Russell
Westbrook on the Nuggest lastyear.
(14:51):
I think he brought a lot ofqualities that the Nuggets
needed.
I wish he could have been on ateam like we have this year,
where it was a more talented, adeeper team.
So we wouldn't have asked somuch of Russell Westbrook.
So I was really hoping theNuggets could have been the team
to bring him his championshipand kind of be the crown jewel
(15:14):
in a Hall of Fame career.
It didn't work out.
I wish him nothing but thebest.
I wish he didn't sign up theKings because they're kind of a
disaster.
But we love you, Westbrook.
The Jazz.
So the Jazz have Lori Markinen,and he was on the team Finland
that eliminated Jokic and Serbiafrom the Euro Cup this summer.
(15:36):
I have a feeling anytime Jokicplays Lori Markinen this season,
it will be revenge time.
Not that the Jazz are good andthat Jokic needs to try any
harder than normal to get thatrevenge, but that's how the Jazz
are related to our belovedDenver Nuggets.
How about the Houston Rockets?
(15:57):
I'm just categorizing them as athreat.
Obviously, they just lost theirpoint guard, Fred Van Vliet,
but they still have so muchtalent and they have assets to
trade for another point guard.
I will be very interested tosee what they do during the
season and how they kind of gelaround Kevin Durant.
They they are a threat to theNuggets.
(16:19):
Obviously, the Thunder aregoing to be our biggest threat,
but the the Rockets areextremely talented.
The Bulls.
For the Bulls.
I have been asking nicely, evenminding my manners and saying
please the last couple years.
So I will ask one more time.
(16:39):
Please just give us AODesumo.
We need another ball handlerthat can guard other point
guards.
So please give them to us.
How about the Cavs?
So for the Cavs, every time Ithink of the Cavs, I am reminded
of Jamal Murray's 50-point gamewhere he didn't even shoot a
(17:01):
single free throw.
As I was speaking aboutearlier, I am imagining Jamal
doing that against every teamthis year.
Why not?
The year of Jamal.
Pistons.
The Pistons will miss TimHardaway Jr.
Tim Hardaway, he will loveDenver.
(17:22):
He's not going to miss thePistons.
The Milwaukee Bucks.
Giannis is an absolutefantastic basketball player.
But he is torturing theMilwaukee fans.
In kind of the opposite ofJokic, where when Jokic was
asked during the preseason if heis going to sign his contract
(17:45):
and if he's going to be goinganywhere, he said, I want to be
a Denver nugget forever.
Whereas Giannis keeps puttingout oh tweets and social media
posts and just really anythinghe can, kind of saying, I don't
want to leave, but if I did, Iwould go here.
(18:05):
Or if the Bucs do this, I mightstay.
And so that's the reason whythe Bucks signed both of his
brothers, and they are eatingall of Damian Lillard's salary
and doing whatever they canbecause they are worried that
Giannis is going to leave.
Meanwhile, Jokic, a Nuggetforever.
(18:25):
Let's talk about the Hornets.
My prediction is the Hornetswill be this year's Washington
Wizards.
What I mean by that is theNuggets are way better than that
team, yet they will struggle ineach of the two games that they
match up this season.
If you remember last year, theNuggets couldn't even beat the
(18:47):
Wizards with one of the greatestsingle performances by Jokic in
his career.
And it was just kind of adisaster both times we played.
So my prediction, as much as Idon't want to say it, is the
Hornets will be that team thisyear where the Nuggets just will
not be focused.
It'll be a ride on the strugglebus, and hopefully we can eke
(19:08):
out a win.
Let's talk about the AtlantaHawks.
Jokic is going to challengeTrey Young for the assists per
game title this year.
I think Trey has won it each ofthe last couple years, and Trey
is an amazing passer.
But I think Jokic is coming forthe title this year, and I hope
(19:31):
he can take it from Mr.
Trey Young.
The Miami Heat.
So the Magic, I have friendsdown here in Jacksonville, and
(19:55):
they are Magic fans.
And I've been telling them foryears that the Magic remind me
so much of the Nuggets from acouple years ago.
And by that I mean that theyare developing an awesome young
core.
They are not skipping steps.
And I think they are ready tokind of take the leap this year
with the development of theirtwo-star players, Franz and
(20:19):
Paolo.
And then they traded forDesmond Bain.
I love Desmond Bain.
He's a great shooter.
The Magic needed shooting.
They also have some other youngguys on the way up.
They signed veteran guys likeTyus Jones that I think will be
valuable.
So I think the Magic are whatthe Nuggets were a few years
ago, which is good news forMagic fans.
(20:40):
Because if I haven't mentionedit, what, 27 times already?
The Nuggets won thechampionship in 2023.
Let's talk about the 76ers.
Such a big rivalry for a littlewhile.
Jokic vs.
Embiid.
Embiid kind of fell off themap.
But he's skinny Embiid now.
(21:02):
Will he actually play inDenver?
I would not bet on it.
How about the Toronto Raptors?
The Toronto Raptors are thesecond team in the category of
hey, how come Bruce Brown is allof a sudden good at basketball
again?
If you'll remember, after doingnothing in Indiana, Bruce got
traded to the Raptors, where healso did nothing.
(21:24):
But it's gonna be amazing.
He's gonna be good atbasketball again.
The New Jersey Nets.
Oh, I'm sorry.
That's a Freudian slip.
They are no longer the NewJersey Nets, they are the
Brooklyn Nets.
That's how much I think aboutthem.
But this year, we traded themMPJ.
And MPJ has been saying somewild stuff off the court, and
(21:48):
that's even before the stress ofa big losing season is
happening.
So it will be interesting towatch MPJ both on and off the
court this year.
And I actually do love MPJ, andI hope that he does amazing out
there, but I kind of hope thathe does just good enough where a
contender will trade for him sothat he gets to play real
basketball again.
The New York Knicks.
(22:10):
Really, the only I think Ithink the Knicks are going to be
good this year.
My buddy Mason's a big Knicksfan.
Like I hope they do well.
Really, the only relation Icould think of is I thought for
sure they were going to signMichael Malone as their coach.
They fired Tibbs, and I thinkMalone would have been such a
great fit, but I understand whythe Knicks didn't want to go
(22:32):
that direction because MichaelMalone is so similar to Tibbs,
and I'm sure the players wereready for somebody new.
So we'll never know, but in analternate universe, I could see
him on the sidelines of MadisonSquare Garden, and I think he
would have done really well.
The Los Angeles Lakers.
Fun fact about the Lakers, weown them.
(22:55):
Some people think it's the Busfamily, but no, it's the Denver
Nuggets.
The Suns.
How quickly the Suns went tobeating up on an injured Nuggets
team and chanting Suns in fourto becoming kind of a joke of a
team.
It makes me smile.
(23:16):
The Clippers.
The Clippers and the Nuggetshad a great playoff series this
past spring, and I think we'rein their heads a little bit
because they showed up totraining camp with t-shirts they
had made about the Nuggets.
So that's cool.
But I don't think it's going tohelp.
I think they have a talentedteam, but you can never depend
(23:40):
on a team right now that hasJames Harden and Kawhi Leonard
as your two best players.
The Golden State Warriors.
So this offseason, I was reallyhoping the Nuggets would get Al
Horford as our backup center.
And he ended up going to theWarriors, but the Nuggets had
already got Big Val as ourbackup center, which was an
(24:02):
awesome surprise.
And truthfully, I'd rather haveBig Val.
Horford is an amazing player.
He is incredibly old.
So he's going to fit in withthe Warriors really well.
Their best players could begrandpas.
They are talented, but old.
If they survive the regularseason and make the playoffs
(24:23):
healthy, they are going to bedangerous.
But did I mention that they'reold?
The Trailblazers.
This was another tough one.
I'm just going to repeat what Isaid last year.
Their head coach Chauncey Billsis from Denver.
Chauncey is the man.
He will always be the man.
And the Thunder.
(24:43):
I mentioned that the Rocketsare a threat.
Well, the Thunder are ourbiggest threat.
They are bringing back prettymuch their entire championship
team.
They are young, they areextremely talented, and they
have a ton of assets to make atrade if they feel like they
need anything.
It is going to be fascinatingto see how they stack up with
(25:05):
the Nuggets this year, or Icould even say how the Nuggets
stack up with them.
They are the defending champs.
Now, as we spoke about withBoston, something seems to be
happening the last couple yearswhere the champs just can't
repeat.
So was last year's playoff rundifficult enough where they
(25:26):
don't have the same energy?
Now that they've won onechampionship, will they still
have the same drive they didlast year?
I think it's going to befascinating to see.
They they seem to have builtthemselves to go and become a
dynasty.
And I'm hoping the Nuggets canruin that dynasty.
The T-Wolves.
You might have guessed.
(26:12):
But they're the finalparticipant in the hey, wait a
minute.
When did Bruce Brown becomegood at basketball again?
After he didn't do anything inIndiana and then didn't do
anything in Toronto.
Bruce was traded to NewOrleans, where you guessed it.
He didn't do anything.
So the Pelicans fans can sit athome and be like, that's weird.
(26:36):
That's not the same guy thatwas on our team.
How is Bruce Bound good atbasketball again?
And I have two words.
Nikola Jokic.
So that's all 29 teams and howthey relate to the Nuggets going
into the season.
I know the whole basketballuniverse does revolve around the
Nuggets, and it's just fun tothink about.
(26:56):
So let's knock out somepredictions and we will get this
season started.
As you might have guessed, I amvery high in the Nuggets.
I think they are going to set afranchise record for wins in a
season.
My guess right now is 65, butyou never know.
Could go higher.
I think they will get thenumber one seed.
(27:17):
I don't think the Thunder aregoing to have the same drive as
last year.
I think the Thunder will stillbe amazing, maybe 61, 62 wins,
but not good enough.
I think they will be the twoseed behind the Nuggets.
And I think Jokic is going towin his fourth MVP.
It's going to be a wonderfulregular season, but make no
(27:40):
doubt about it, I know that theThunder, the T-Wolves, the
Clippers, even the Lakers aregoing to be waiting in the
playoffs, and it's going to betough.
The West is brutal.
So, my prediction.
First round, Nuggets will winover the Spurs.
Second round, we will barelyget by the Minnesota
(28:00):
Timberwolves.
Third round, the WesternConference Finals.
The Nuggets will beat theOklahoma City Thunder in a hard
fought, one of the mostwell-played series that
basketball will ever see.
And then in the finals, it willbe Nuggets over the Magic.
(28:24):
I think the Magic are talented.
I think they're ready to takethe leap, and they play in a
terrible, terrible Easternconference.
Truthfully, I don't think theseries will be close.
The Nuggets will be championsonce again, and the discussion
can start.
Where in the top 10 of all timedoes Jokic rank?
(28:45):
He is an all-time great.
Alright, thanks everybody.
I can't wait for the season tostart.
I appreciate you listening.
If you can, you if you know anybasketball fans and you think
they would enjoy this show,please tell them.
That's the best way for thispodcast to grow.
I love basketball.
I love the nuggets, and Ireally appreciate you listening.
(29:07):
Bye everyone.
All right everyone, welcome back to Fandom from
Afar.
We are almost there.
The season starts next week.
And if you're anything like me,you say, Yes, I can't believe
the season starts next week.
And if you're anything like mywife, you might say something
more along the lines of, what?
Didn't the last season justend?
(00:25):
But everybody celebrates intheir own way, I guess.
But I was excited about thenuggets going into the
preseason.
And now I have to admit I'mscared.
I'm scared about how good Ithink the nuggets are going to
be.
I think they could behistorically good.
Everything has looked pretty,pretty nice.
(00:47):
And so we'll go over kind ofwhat we've seen so far in the
preseason, and hopefully thatwill carry over into the regular
season.
And then after we do that, itis actually one of my favorite
episodes to do every year.
And we will go over all other29 teams and discuss how they
(01:08):
relate to the Nuggets going intothis year.
So let's cover the preseasonand why I am so excited about
the Nuggets.
Coach Adelman was true to hisword, and he has been trying
different lineups.
He's been trying differentrotations, and really it just
seems like an overall philosophychange, which I think is
(01:31):
excellent.
The Nugg did get kind of staleunder Coach Michael Malone, and
it's just been fun to watch theNuggets try something new.
They they really never triedanything new under Coach Malone.
Now, Coach Adleman, he's tryingdifferent lineups with the
bench.
Obviously, he has a lot moreflexibility because we are a lot
(01:52):
deeper this year.
He tried a lineup that had bothJokic and Valentunis in there
together as the two big boys.
He's trying things like 10thman, Spencer Jones at center.
He's just trying whatever hecan to see what works.
Apparently, they're trying anew defensive strategy.
Jared Dudley is our newdefensive coach, and the players
(02:15):
seem to really like not onlythe strategy, but to him as a
coach as well.
And everything just seems to beworking.
The guys seem to love eachother.
Obviously, you can't takeanything away from wins or
losses in the preseason, buteverything seems to be going
well.
And I think the existing guysare energized by the new
changes.
They're energized by the newplayers, and then the new
(02:37):
players seem to just be lovingbeing a Denver nugget so far.
So all thumbs up as far as uhCoach Adleman and everything
he's been trying.
Now, I mentioned that weobviously have a lot more depth
than we did last year.
It's hard to be flexible forCoach Malone when you really
only have six NBA players onyour team.
We, I think, are going to be agood 11 guys deep this year, and
(03:03):
that's not even counting ifDaron Holmes can give us some
quality minutes or even JulianStrather.
And so this is the deepest I'veI remember the nuggets being in
a long, long time.
And all the new faces are kindof showing why they were brought
to Denver.
I mentioned Valenciunas, or asI will probably call him for the
(03:25):
rest of this podcast and manymore episodes in the future.
I'm gonna call him Big Val.
It's just easier to say.
And we also get to use thenickname that uh DNVR has given
him and the rest of the benchunit, Val's pals.
So we like Big Val.
He has been kind of running thebench unit for a while when
they were trying to see if theycould stagger and not have Jamal
(03:49):
Murray playing with the benchunit.
Val was really getting the ballquite a bit, the ball was
running through him, and itreally didn't look that bad.
There, there was some roughkind of stumbling out of the
gates, but uh overall I think itworks really well because he
can pass, he can score, and he'sjust so big that you have to
pay attention to him.
And so big Val, definitely athumbs up so far.
(04:13):
And while the stagger withoutJamal did not look great, they
did end up staggering him in thelast couple games.
And Jamal Murray, of course, islooking awesome right now.
We will go over that more injust a little bit.
But he with Valentunas doesespecially look really nice,
especially when you have acouple other shooters out there
(04:33):
on the floor with them.
And so I'm just very excited tosee what Big Val and all of
Val's pals can do this yearcoming off the bench.
Bruce Brown, he seems to bemore defensively focused this
year so far.
I love it.
If he can be kind of a tear andmake sure that the other team's
not scoring, that would be ahuge plus.
And then as just a secondaryball handler or just kind of
(04:57):
creating havoc on the offensiveend, I think that'd be the
perfect role for him.
So he's looking good.
Tim Hardaway Jr., he's gettingwide open shots, whether he's
playing with the starters orwith the bench.
And he's not hitting a ton ofthem now, but just the fact that
they're this wide open already,and once he starts hitting
them, the bench is really gonnastart to become unstoppable
(05:20):
because he's too good of ashooter to keep missing like
this.
Speaking of Cam Johnson, he isalso getting wide open shots,
like wide, wide open, and he isnot making any of them.
So hopefully he's just kind ofgetting that all out of the way.
Once the season starts, he'llgo back to being Cam Johnson and
just knocking these down.
But it's been really fun kindof watching him.
(05:43):
He brings like a flow to theoffense.
He's always moving, he'scutting, he's not necessarily
rebounding, which I kind ofdiscussed a little bit once that
trade went down.
That's that's really the onlything that MPJ does noticeably
different than Cam.
But even that I think will comewith time.
Now, Cam Johnson, he's he'sreally just seeming like the
(06:06):
missing piece because when thestarters are all together, they
all look locked in and they lookunstoppable.
Like, I really think theNuggets might end up having one
of the best offenses in NBAhistory this year just because
they all fit so well together.
All the guys are kind ofpeaking at the right time in
their career, and it's justreally exciting.
(06:27):
Like, like I said, I really amscared that my expectations are
so high because there's only oneway to go, but you never know,
it could happen.
So, just some other guys,really quick points to see the
starters and and some of themain guys have not played as
much, but it's nice to seePeyton Watson out there.
You can tell he's been workingon some new skills.
(06:48):
He seems like he's much betterat dribbling and kind of
playmaking this year, so that'sexciting.
Spencer Jones, like I said,he's been getting out there a
little bit with with both thebench and even some of the
starters, and he he is defensiveonly.
Like, if you expect him toscore right now, you're gonna be
very disappointed.
But he is built like a house,like he is a big boy and strong
(07:14):
and quick and can play defense,and we need that.
And so I love what I've seenfrom Spencer Jones.
Christian Brown, he has gone toanother level.
I don't think I've seen himmiss this preseason.
His shot looks so perfect andjust splashes the net every time
he shoots.
And his his dribbling, like hisfootwork, everything just looks
(07:37):
so nice on Christian now.
And I know he's playing for anew contract, but it really
seems like Christian is leveledup.
And if if our fifth starter canbe that good, it again, it it's
scary how good the Nuggetscould possibly be this year.
AG, what what can you say?
I think this will be AaronGordon's best year of his
(07:59):
career.
He just seems like he is soconfident right now, not only in
his skills, but it looks likehe's healthy again.
He again, his shot just looksso perfect right now.
He he he looks like he's one ofour best shooters, and you
definitely could not say that acouple years ago.
So AG is looking so good, andlike I said, we have so many
(08:22):
guys kind of peaking in theirmid to late 20s right now, and
they all fit so well togetherthat it's exciting.
Jokic, what can you say?
He looks happy, he looks likehe is happy not to have to carry
the load for the entire teamlike he's have to do the last
couple years.
A big part of that is Jamal,who we will talk about next.
(08:42):
But I think Jokic loves thisteam, I think he loves how they
play basketball, which I thinkis very important to Jokic.
He wants to play basketball theright way or what he views as
the right way.
And so Jokic, I think, hasmaybe put forth 25% effort this
preseason, and even still, helooks dominant.
(09:03):
He is the best player in theworld.
All the media outlets haveranked him as the best player in
the world.
He is about to have a veryinteresting year, and by that I
mean I think he's good enoughright now where he could
dominate and put up historicnumbers, but I think he knows
the team is good enough where hedoesn't have to do that.
(09:24):
And so I think he's going toscore a lot less this year.
He'll rebound more and he'llhave more assists.
So I would not be shocked tosee him well below the 30 points
that he averaged last year, butsee his rebounds increase.
And then I would love to seehim get a lot more assists just
with all these wide openshooters.
(09:45):
Like I said, we have to talkabout Jamal.
We have spent so much time onthis podcast just wishing Jamal
would get in shape and wishingJamal would put forth the
effort.
And even in the preseason sofar, this has been the Jamal
that we have always wanted tosee.
Now, obviously, we saw PeakJamal in the 2023 playoffs on
(10:09):
that championship run, and itlooks like Jamal is ready to do
that for an entire year thisyear.
I really just I hope he canstay healthy and just show us
and have one amazing career, acareer year, and hopefully it
will last multiple years.
But if he can just give us oneyear because we know the talent
(10:29):
is there, and this is theperfect team for him to show
what he can do, whether he'swith the starters or with Big
Val on the bench, it would beamazing if the Jamal that we've
seen in the preseason so farshows up for the regular season,
and he is the main reason why Ithink there there is no ceiling
for this team.
(10:49):
They they could easily end upas the number one seed.
Now, like I said, I can't waitfor the season to start.
Obviously, this will be my lastshow before the season
officially starts.
So after we go through the 29other teams and how they relate
to the Nuggets, we will do somepredictions.
As always, they are guaranteedto be wrong, but they are fun.
(11:13):
And I'm thinking you might beable to guess how positive I'm
going to be on the Nuggets afterthis last uh 10 minutes of
going on and on about how goodthey look.
So let's get into whateverybody came here for.
How do all the teams in the NBArelate to our beloved Denver
Nuggets?
Let's start with the Spurs.
(11:34):
The Spurs were gifted DylanHarper in the offseason.
They had no business being thenumber two overall pick, and yet
somehow the wonderful NBAlottery happened to give Victor
Wembenyama the perfect runningmate so he and Wemby can be so
happy and so dominant for thenext 15 years.
(11:56):
Thanks, MBA.
Speaking of thanks MBA, theMavericks.
They were gifted Cooper Flagthis offseason.
Oh, the NBA is so fun.
Why would they ever send a goodplayer to the Eastern
Conference?
Anytime the Eastern Conferencehas the number one pick, it's
players like Zachary Ricochet,Anthony Bennett, or Alex Sarr.
(12:22):
Whereas the West gets everygenerational prospect.
Yay.
The Memphis Grizzlies, theyreceived KCP as part of the
Desmond Bain trade.
You know we love KCP on thispodcast, and I hope he has a
comeback year.
I wouldn't even mind if theGrizzlies are terrible and
(12:44):
they're looking to trade him orcut him at the end of or around
the trade deadline, and he justhappens to end up on the Denver
Nuggets again.
The Indiana Pacers.
They are one of a few teamsthat are gonna wonder why all of
a sudden Bruce Brown is good atbasketball again.
You may remember that Bruceleft us after the championship
(13:07):
year, signed a giant contractwith Indiana, and did absolutely
nothing.
But he did collect thosechecks.
And I heard he has built a nicebig ranch outside of Denver.
So thanks, Pacers.
The Washington Wizards.
This was tough.
(13:27):
And by that I mean last yearwhen I did the how does every
team relate to the DenverNuggets, I had such a hard time
with the Brooklyn Nets.
So I decided to say that theBrooklyn Nets had Nets on their
(13:49):
basketball goals, and so did theNuggets.
It was a stretch, and theWizards are this year's Nets.
How do I relate the Wizards tothe Denver Nuggets?
Well, my son and daughter areNuggets fans.
They have both read the HarryPotter series, and Harry Potter
(14:09):
is full of Wizards.
There we go.
Thanks, Wizards.
The Celtics.
The Celtics discovered what theNuggets discovered after the
2023 season.
It is very hard to defend yourchampionship and go back to
back.
Celtics, obviously dealing withthe Tatum injury, not expecting
much this year either.
(14:30):
But in today's NBA, it isincredibly difficult to keep a
team together and to go back toback, and the Celtics discovered
just that.
The Sacramento Kings.
They signed Russell Westbrook.
I may be in the minority onthis, but I loved having Russell
Westbrook on the Nuggest lastyear.
(14:51):
I think he brought a lot ofqualities that the Nuggets
needed.
I wish he could have been on ateam like we have this year,
where it was a more talented, adeeper team.
So we wouldn't have asked somuch of Russell Westbrook.
So I was really hoping theNuggets could have been the team
to bring him his championshipand kind of be the crown jewel
(15:14):
in a Hall of Fame career.
It didn't work out.
I wish him nothing but thebest.
I wish he didn't sign up theKings because they're kind of a
disaster.
But we love you, Westbrook.
The Jazz.
So the Jazz have Lori Markinen,and he was on the team Finland
that eliminated Jokic and Serbiafrom the Euro Cup this summer.
(15:36):
I have a feeling anytime Jokicplays Lori Markinen this season,
it will be revenge time.
Not that the Jazz are good andthat Jokic needs to try any
harder than normal to get thatrevenge, but that's how the Jazz
are related to our belovedDenver Nuggets.
How about the Houston Rockets?
(15:57):
I'm just categorizing them as athreat.
Obviously, they just lost theirpoint guard, Fred Van Vliet,
but they still have so muchtalent and they have assets to
trade for another point guard.
I will be very interested tosee what they do during the
season and how they kind of gelaround Kevin Durant.
They they are a threat to theNuggets.
(16:19):
Obviously, the Thunder aregoing to be our biggest threat,
but the the Rockets areextremely talented.
The Bulls.
For the Bulls.
I have been asking nicely, evenminding my manners and saying
please the last couple years.
So I will ask one more time.
(16:39):
Please just give us AODesumo.
We need another ball handlerthat can guard other point
guards.
So please give them to us.
How about the Cavs?
So for the Cavs, every time Ithink of the Cavs, I am reminded
of Jamal Murray's 50-point gamewhere he didn't even shoot a
(17:01):
single free throw.
As I was speaking aboutearlier, I am imagining Jamal
doing that against every teamthis year.
Why not?
The year of Jamal.
Pistons.
The Pistons will miss TimHardaway Jr.
Tim Hardaway, he will loveDenver.
(17:22):
He's not going to miss thePistons.
The Milwaukee Bucks.
Giannis is an absolutefantastic basketball player.
But he is torturing theMilwaukee fans.
In kind of the opposite ofJokic, where when Jokic was
asked during the preseason if heis going to sign his contract
(17:45):
and if he's going to be goinganywhere, he said, I want to be
a Denver nugget forever.
Whereas Giannis keeps puttingout oh tweets and social media
posts and just really anythinghe can, kind of saying, I don't
want to leave, but if I did, Iwould go here.
(18:05):
Or if the Bucs do this, I mightstay.
And so that's the reason whythe Bucks signed both of his
brothers, and they are eatingall of Damian Lillard's salary
and doing whatever they canbecause they are worried that
Giannis is going to leave.
Meanwhile, Jokic, a Nuggetforever.
(18:25):
Let's talk about the Hornets.
My prediction is the Hornetswill be this year's Washington
Wizards.
What I mean by that is theNuggets are way better than that
team, yet they will struggle ineach of the two games that they
match up this season.
If you remember last year, theNuggets couldn't even beat the
(18:47):
Wizards with one of the greatestsingle performances by Jokic in
his career.
And it was just kind of adisaster both times we played.
So my prediction, as much as Idon't want to say it, is the
Hornets will be that team thisyear where the Nuggets just will
not be focused.
It'll be a ride on the strugglebus, and hopefully we can eke
(19:08):
out a win.
Let's talk about the AtlantaHawks.
Jokic is going to challengeTrey Young for the assists per
game title this year.
I think Trey has won it each ofthe last couple years, and Trey
is an amazing passer.
But I think Jokic is coming forthe title this year, and I hope
(19:31):
he can take it from Mr.
Trey Young.
The Miami Heat.
So the Magic, I have friendsdown here in Jacksonville, and
(19:55):
they are Magic fans.
And I've been telling them foryears that the Magic remind me
so much of the Nuggets from acouple years ago.
And by that I mean that theyare developing an awesome young
core.
They are not skipping steps.
And I think they are ready tokind of take the leap this year
with the development of theirtwo-star players, Franz and
(20:19):
Paolo.
And then they traded forDesmond Bain.
I love Desmond Bain.
He's a great shooter.
The Magic needed shooting.
They also have some other youngguys on the way up.
They signed veteran guys likeTyus Jones that I think will be
valuable.
So I think the Magic are whatthe Nuggets were a few years
ago, which is good news forMagic fans.
(20:40):
Because if I haven't mentionedit, what, 27 times already?
The Nuggets won thechampionship in 2023.
Let's talk about the 76ers.
Such a big rivalry for a littlewhile.
Jokic vs.
Embiid.
Embiid kind of fell off themap.
But he's skinny Embiid now.
(21:02):
Will he actually play inDenver?
I would not bet on it.
How about the Toronto Raptors?
The Toronto Raptors are thesecond team in the category of
hey, how come Bruce Brown is allof a sudden good at basketball
again?
If you'll remember, after doingnothing in Indiana, Bruce got
traded to the Raptors, where healso did nothing.
(21:24):
But it's gonna be amazing.
He's gonna be good atbasketball again.
The New Jersey Nets.
Oh, I'm sorry.
That's a Freudian slip.
They are no longer the NewJersey Nets, they are the
Brooklyn Nets.
That's how much I think aboutthem.
But this year, we traded themMPJ.
And MPJ has been saying somewild stuff off the court, and
(21:48):
that's even before the stress ofa big losing season is
happening.
So it will be interesting towatch MPJ both on and off the
court this year.
And I actually do love MPJ, andI hope that he does amazing out
there, but I kind of hope thathe does just good enough where a
contender will trade for him sothat he gets to play real
basketball again.
The New York Knicks.
(22:10):
Really, the only I think Ithink the Knicks are going to be
good this year.
My buddy Mason's a big Knicksfan.
Like I hope they do well.
Really, the only relation Icould think of is I thought for
sure they were going to signMichael Malone as their coach.
They fired Tibbs, and I thinkMalone would have been such a
great fit, but I understand whythe Knicks didn't want to go
(22:32):
that direction because MichaelMalone is so similar to Tibbs,
and I'm sure the players wereready for somebody new.
So we'll never know, but in analternate universe, I could see
him on the sidelines of MadisonSquare Garden, and I think he
would have done really well.
The Los Angeles Lakers.
Fun fact about the Lakers, weown them.
(22:55):
Some people think it's the Busfamily, but no, it's the Denver
Nuggets.
The Suns.
How quickly the Suns went tobeating up on an injured Nuggets
team and chanting Suns in fourto becoming kind of a joke of a
team.
It makes me smile.
(23:16):
The Clippers.
The Clippers and the Nuggetshad a great playoff series this
past spring, and I think we'rein their heads a little bit
because they showed up totraining camp with t-shirts they
had made about the Nuggets.
So that's cool.
But I don't think it's going tohelp.
I think they have a talentedteam, but you can never depend
(23:40):
on a team right now that hasJames Harden and Kawhi Leonard
as your two best players.
The Golden State Warriors.
So this offseason, I was reallyhoping the Nuggets would get Al
Horford as our backup center.
And he ended up going to theWarriors, but the Nuggets had
already got Big Val as ourbackup center, which was an
(24:02):
awesome surprise.
And truthfully, I'd rather haveBig Val.
Horford is an amazing player.
He is incredibly old.
So he's going to fit in withthe Warriors really well.
Their best players could begrandpas.
They are talented, but old.
If they survive the regularseason and make the playoffs
(24:23):
healthy, they are going to bedangerous.
But did I mention that they'reold?
The Trailblazers.
This was another tough one.
I'm just going to repeat what Isaid last year.
Their head coach Chauncey Billsis from Denver.
Chauncey is the man.
He will always be the man.
And the Thunder.
(24:43):
I mentioned that the Rocketsare a threat.
Well, the Thunder are ourbiggest threat.
They are bringing back prettymuch their entire championship
team.
They are young, they areextremely talented, and they
have a ton of assets to make atrade if they feel like they
need anything.
It is going to be fascinatingto see how they stack up with
(25:05):
the Nuggets this year, or Icould even say how the Nuggets
stack up with them.
They are the defending champs.
Now, as we spoke about withBoston, something seems to be
happening the last couple yearswhere the champs just can't
repeat.
So was last year's playoff rundifficult enough where they
(25:26):
don't have the same energy?
Now that they've won onechampionship, will they still
have the same drive they didlast year?
I think it's going to befascinating to see.
They they seem to have builtthemselves to go and become a
dynasty.
And I'm hoping the Nuggets canruin that dynasty.
The T-Wolves.
You might have guessed.
(26:12):
But they're the finalparticipant in the hey, wait a
minute.
When did Bruce Brown becomegood at basketball again?
After he didn't do anything inIndiana and then didn't do
anything in Toronto.
Bruce was traded to NewOrleans, where you guessed it.
He didn't do anything.
So the Pelicans fans can sit athome and be like, that's weird.
(26:36):
That's not the same guy thatwas on our team.
How is Bruce Bound good atbasketball again?
And I have two words.
Nikola Jokic.
So that's all 29 teams and howthey relate to the Nuggets going
into the season.
I know the whole basketballuniverse does revolve around the
Nuggets, and it's just fun tothink about.
(26:56):
So let's knock out somepredictions and we will get this
season started.
As you might have guessed, I amvery high in the Nuggets.
I think they are going to set afranchise record for wins in a
season.
My guess right now is 65, butyou never know.
Could go higher.
I think they will get thenumber one seed.
(27:17):
I don't think the Thunder aregoing to have the same drive as
last year.
I think the Thunder will stillbe amazing, maybe 61, 62 wins,
but not good enough.
I think they will be the twoseed behind the Nuggets.
And I think Jokic is going towin his fourth MVP.
It's going to be a wonderfulregular season, but make no
(27:40):
doubt about it, I know that theThunder, the T-Wolves, the
Clippers, even the Lakers aregoing to be waiting in the
playoffs, and it's going to betough.
The West is brutal.
So, my prediction.
First round, Nuggets will winover the Spurs.
Second round, we will barelyget by the Minnesota
(28:00):
Timberwolves.
Third round, the WesternConference Finals.
The Nuggets will beat theOklahoma City Thunder in a hard
fought, one of the mostwell-played series that
basketball will ever see.
And then in the finals, it willbe Nuggets over the Magic.
(28:24):
I think the Magic are talented.
I think they're ready to takethe leap, and they play in a
terrible, terrible Easternconference.
Truthfully, I don't think theseries will be close.
The Nuggets will be championsonce again, and the discussion
can start.
Where in the top 10 of all timedoes Jokic rank?
(28:45):
He is an all-time great.
Alright, thanks everybody.
I can't wait for the season tostart.
I appreciate you listening.
If you can, you if you know anybasketball fans and you think
they would enjoy this show,please tell them.
That's the best way for thispodcast to grow.
I love basketball.
I love the nuggets, and Ireally appreciate you listening.
(29:07):
Bye everyone.
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