December 21, 2023 • 14 mins
Ever wondered how a professional sports team can pivot through a season's highs and lows while maintaining an electric atmosphere? Buckle up, Nuggets fans, as I take you through a riveting journey of our favorite Denver team's season—exploring the heady 9-1 start, injury battles, lineup shuffles, and the resurgence led by a healthy Jamal. Celebrate Jokmas with our giveaway winners, Brad and Colin, and get ready to understand the intricate tapestry of teamwork and determination that marks this year's campaign.
This episode is a slam dunk for anyone invested in the Nuggets' narrative or looking to appreciate the nuances of NBA team dynamics. We're spotlighting Nikola Jokic's foray into advertising with a hotels.com commercial that showcases his off-court charisma, and we'll explore how the young guns on the team are carving out their roles with vigor. Join us for a session where basketball analysis meets the heart and soul of fandom—no timeouts needed.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
All right, everyone, welcome back to Fandom from afar
.
Hope everybody had a great week.
I want to start today's podcastoff with announcing the winners
of our Yoke-Miss giveaway.
If you listened to the lastepisode, we explained the
basketball holiday for all of usDenver Nuggets fans of
Yoke-Miss, and I explained howto enter the drawing, and I
(00:25):
appreciate everyone who did, andI'd like to announce that our
two winners are Brad and Colin.
So, brad and Colin, I will bereaching out to you after this
episode, post tomorrow, and wewill get you your Amazon gift
cards.
So happy Yoke-Miss to you guys.
(00:46):
So it's been a while since I'verecorded an actual episode.
I wasn't feeling well for oneweek and then I went on an
awesome vacation with my familyfor the following two weeks just
the way it happened to work out.
So it was awesome.
I felt re-energized and readyto go, and then last week we
(01:08):
were celebrating Yoke-Miss.
So this will be the first realepisode in a while.
I'm definitely glad to be backand hopefully you guys will
enjoy what we have for you today.
So I'm not going to do the gameby game breakdown that I
normally do on the weekly podsjust because, like I said, it
has been so long so I don't wantto have you guys listen to 45
(01:28):
minutes of each game breakdown.
So I just kind of wanted to goover the idea that it really
seems like the Nugget season hasbeen broken down into sections
so far.
The first section started outwith opening night.
You could tell the team wasmotivated, everybody was healthy
and I think they got off to a9-in-1 start.
So that was kind of the firstsection and it was really fun to
(01:50):
see that they still got it.
They can turn on the switch anddominate, like they just did in
the playoffs as well.
So that was section 1 and itwas great.
But the season's long, I didn'texpect it to last forever.
And the second sectiondefinitely was different.
Jamal got hurt.
He's constantly having legissues but as long as he's
(02:15):
healthy for the playoffs, that'sreally all that matters.
But Jamal was hurt.
The bench who had done so wellin the first section, they
started struggling and I don'tknow it.
Just everything was different.
The guys didn't seem asmotivated.
Maybe kind of the newness ofthe season had worn off and they
(02:35):
were just kind of easing into along season, making sure that
they didn't get hurt, makingsure that they're just going to
be ready to go for the playoffsand so I was also hoping that
section didn't last forever andit seems like we've kind of
turned a corner into a thirdsection now where Jamal is back
(02:56):
and after missing some more timewith more leg injuries after he
came back the first time, butit seems like he's healthy now.
I think they've at the time ofthis recording, they've won four
out of five.
They played Toronto later onthis evening and they're playing
well.
The bench is back to what theywere doing in that first section
and I think a lot of that iswith Jamal back.
(03:18):
It kind of resets everybody'sresponsibilities in the sense
that Reggie Jackson can now runthat bench unit and he's been
playing amazing.
Like, if you remember my seasonpreview, as wrong as I was
about DeAndre Jordan last year,I am just as wrong about Reggie
Jackson this year.
He has been amazing.
(03:39):
I'm so happy he's our backuppoint guard and he's been
playing so well.
But what he does is he givesthe bench kind of a scoring
option and that takes some ofthe pressure off of Christian
Brown, peyton Watson, julianStrother.
Like those guys are great atwhat they do.
They're never going to be thenumber one scoring option, and
(03:59):
so it's nice for them to be kindof like the next guys in line
doing the dirty work and justkind of being super athletes,
which which they are.
So this section three has beenfun.
Hopefully this one keeps goingfor a while and we'll have to
see what the what the nextsection is down the line.
We'll get into our categoriesnow.
(04:20):
Our favorite yokism of the week,what was our favorite thing
that Nikola Yokic did this pastweek?
Well, this one's a surprisingone, because all of a sudden,
yokic had a commercial come outyesterday and he never does
anything like that.
But it's a hotelscom commercial.
(04:41):
It's him and Peyton Watson anda little pony.
So if you haven't seen that,please go watch it.
There's two different versions.
There's one inside and one outby the pool.
It's Yokic being Yokic.
He's just goofy and funny andthey're playing off his love for
horses.
I guess it's surprisingly funny, just because I never thought I
(05:04):
would see Yokic in a nationalTV commercial.
He seems like he was neverinterested in that kind of thing
, and so I think the bigquestion is A how did hotelscom
convince him to do it?
And B, was it Peyton Watsonthat convinced him to do it.
It doesn't really make sensethat he's in the commercial with
(05:25):
Yokic.
You would think it would beeither Jamal Murray or Aaron
Gordon or somebody.
But I love it.
It's great.
It was a nice surprise andhopefully there's many more to
come.
So next category is what I'mlooking forward to, and this
week it's easy.
It's Christmas, not only forthe time with the family, and
(05:48):
just the whole holiday season.
My family and I, we love it.
We love watching all theChristmas movies.
My wife does an amazing job atputting up Christmas lights and
decorations and just all sortsof goodies around the house as
far as cookies and stuff likethat.
So just the whole holidayseason is great.
But Christmas has turned intosomewhat of a basketball holiday
(06:13):
.
They kind of have taken thatholiday for themselves, although
there are a few Christmas NFLgames this year.
When I think of sports onChristmas, it's basketball, so
I'm excited for some of thematchups.
This year it starts out withBucks, knicks, then Nuggets,
warriors, celtics, lakers, theSixers in the Heat and then the
Mavs in the Sun.
(06:34):
So if you wanted to, you canjust have basketball on all day
long, and it's obviously fun tosee some of the big stars If you
all aren't watching League Passor just don't sit down to watch
mini games at all.
Bucks versus Knicks, rightthere, you can watch Yanis, you
can watch Jalen Brunson, who'sbeen amazing this year.
(06:54):
Nuggets Warriors that'sself-explanatory, of course.
I love that one.
And then Celtics Lakers thestar power in that one is crazy.
So it'll be really fun.
It's a great day to spend withfamily, but if you happen to
have some basketball on in thebackground, then even better.
So my recommendation for thisweek it's actually a brand new
(07:16):
recommendation that I actuallyjust discovered two days ago,
and it's a newsletter called theBounce.
And I don't know if y'all likegetting those weekly newsletters
, monthly newsletters, anythinglike that.
I kind of like them just fordifferent topics and just quick
read.
But this one obviously isBasketball and it's written by
Zach Harper and Shams Aranya.
(07:36):
So Shams is obviously one ofthe big insiders for NBA, and
Zach Harper I've been followinghim on X for quite a long time.
Just I like the way he looks atthe game, I think he's really
funny, and so I'm excited thatthey have a newsletter together
and I think if you likebasketball, you'll enjoy it too.
(07:57):
And the last section for todayis oh, there's other teams where
I force myself to talk aboutsome other team besides the
nuggets because there are otherteams out there and so, as I
mentioned, with it being theweek of Christmas, we will try
and go with a Christmas themehere as we talk about some of
(08:17):
the other teams.
So I'm going to say a moviequote from some of my favorite
Christmas movies and attribute abasketball team to them.
So my first quote is she's abute Clark, said by the amazing
cousin Eddie in nationalampoules Christmas vacation.
And while he's talking about ajunkie RV, I'm going to take it
(08:41):
literally and just say howimpressed I am with the
Minnesota Timberwolves.
I guess I just thought thatthey were going to be more of an
average team just because ofthe pairing of Kat and Rudy.
Go bear just didn't look thatgreat last year, but they've
definitely figured something outand, as I mentioned in a
(09:02):
previous pod, they they beatdown the nuggets when they
played earlier this year, butthey've been doing that to
everybody.
They just keep winning.
They look great.
Anthony Edwards is amazing.
Their defense is legit, likethey got long athletes
everywhere with go bear kind ofjust Roman the paint back there.
They're they're a scary teamand and and I am more than
(09:25):
willing to say that they are atrue contender and and I'm
impressed.
So, as Cuddy cousin Eddie wouldsay, t wolves your bute.
Next quote is you're going toshoot your eye out.
And that's said by multiplepeople in the Christmas classic,
a Christmas story when Ralphiewants his BB gun and everyone
(09:48):
tells him he's going to shoothis eye out.
So I'm taking that as in.
Maybe it's not always the bestthing to get what you want, and
to me that applies to the Lakers.
They tried really hard and didan awesome job.
They won the NZs in tournamentand they looked very impressive
doing it.
They, I think, won all theirgroup play games and then,
(10:11):
obviously, they won all theirtournament games, so undefeated.
Lebron looked awesome, anthonyDavis even looked pretty great
in the championship game andsince then I think they've gone
one in three.
So maybe, maybe they put a lotof their energy into the in
season tournament and and maybetheir I won't say old, but maybe
(10:33):
, maybe their experienced legsare tired now.
So I will say I've seen a lotof people making fun of Lakers
for hanging in that in seasontournament banner and I will not
join on that bandwagon becausea I know it's the league that's
making them, because the leaguewants to make that very
important, but B I like the NZsin tournament and if you win it,
(10:55):
hang a banner Next.
Quote buddy the elf.
What's your favorite color?
And again I'm going to takethis on literally favorite
colors of these teams red, whiteand blue, the team colors of
the Los Angeles Clippers andthese 76ers.
Now both teams.
(11:17):
In my season preview I mentionedhow I thought that drama was
going to be the main storylineof their season and that it was
going to implode.
And I was wrong.
The Clippers have played reallywell lately.
They've kind of figured out agood rotation between having all
(11:38):
the superstars with RussellWestbrook coming off the bench,
and Kawai is kind of back tobeing what Kawai was five years
ago, and so they're playingreally well right now.
That the key for them willobviously be in healthy come
playoff time, because they'vehad stretches and moments where
they have looked good in thepast and it just seems like they
can never stay healthy.
(12:00):
So if they can keep doing whatthey're doing, then good for
them, but I've been impressed.
And then the 76ers again, Ithought the hardened situation
was going to just derail theirseason.
And I thought Embiid was goingto maybe try and prove people
wrong after he didn't do so wellin the playoffs last year, and
(12:24):
it looks like it was addition bysubtraction for them, getting
rid of hardened even though theydidn't get too much.
He's been amazing.
And then even Embiid he'splaying out of his mind right
now and he's putting up hugenumbers and it seems like he's
passing more and I have to admitthey're they're looking good
(12:46):
and so we'll see.
The joke around a lot of socialmedia for basketball Twitter and
stuff like that is that theSuns have been doing this
against the worst teams in theEast and and for some reason,
their schedules been super easy.
So as a as a resident 76ershater, I'm kind of hoping to see
(13:07):
them play some tough teams andand maybe come back down to
earth a little bit.
But I got it.
I got to give it to him.
Now they're.
They're playing well.
Next quote Seeing isn'tbelieving, believing is
believing.
And that's what the ghost toldthe little boy on top of the
train on polar express Becausehe wasn't sure about Santa.
(13:29):
Now I'm gonna take it as in.
I Will believe it when I see it.
For the Suns.
Their big three was healthy andtogether for a whole day, and
then Bradley Beale got hurtagain.
So while Booker and KevinDurant are playing extremely
well, bradley Beale is just afigment of our imagination until
(13:53):
we actually see him out on thecourt for more than a day.
And last quote you guys give upor you're thirsty for more?
Said by the amazing KevinMcAllister protecting his home
against the robbers in homealone.
And this one I'm gonna give tothe Pistons.
(14:13):
They are on a unbelievable 24game losing streak right now and
I just kind of picture them asMarvin Harry getting just
pummeled by a little kid withrandom booby traps and just
laying there in pain.
And that's pretty much that thePistons are right now as they
try and go against real NBAteams.
(14:34):
Poor Pistons.
All right, y'all.
That's gonna do it for today.
I really appreciate youlistening and have a Merry
Christmas.
All right, everyone, welcome back to Fandom from afar
.
Hope everybody had a great week.
I want to start today's podcastoff with announcing the winners
of our Yoke-Miss giveaway.
If you listened to the lastepisode, we explained the
basketball holiday for all of usDenver Nuggets fans of
Yoke-Miss, and I explained howto enter the drawing, and I
(00:25):
appreciate everyone who did, andI'd like to announce that our
two winners are Brad and Colin.
So, brad and Colin, I will bereaching out to you after this
episode, post tomorrow, and wewill get you your Amazon gift
cards.
So happy Yoke-Miss to you guys.
(00:46):
So it's been a while since I'verecorded an actual episode.
I wasn't feeling well for oneweek and then I went on an
awesome vacation with my familyfor the following two weeks just
the way it happened to work out.
So it was awesome.
I felt re-energized and readyto go, and then last week we
(01:08):
were celebrating Yoke-Miss.
So this will be the first realepisode in a while.
I'm definitely glad to be backand hopefully you guys will
enjoy what we have for you today.
So I'm not going to do the gameby game breakdown that I
normally do on the weekly podsjust because, like I said, it
has been so long so I don't wantto have you guys listen to 45
(01:28):
minutes of each game breakdown.
So I just kind of wanted to goover the idea that it really
seems like the Nugget season hasbeen broken down into sections
so far.
The first section started outwith opening night.
You could tell the team wasmotivated, everybody was healthy
and I think they got off to a9-in-1 start.
So that was kind of the firstsection and it was really fun to
(01:50):
see that they still got it.
They can turn on the switch anddominate, like they just did in
the playoffs as well.
So that was section 1 and itwas great.
But the season's long, I didn'texpect it to last forever.
And the second sectiondefinitely was different.
Jamal got hurt.
He's constantly having legissues but as long as he's
(02:15):
healthy for the playoffs, that'sreally all that matters.
But Jamal was hurt.
The bench who had done so wellin the first section, they
started struggling and I don'tknow it.
Just everything was different.
The guys didn't seem asmotivated.
Maybe kind of the newness ofthe season had worn off and they
(02:35):
were just kind of easing into along season, making sure that
they didn't get hurt, makingsure that they're just going to
be ready to go for the playoffsand so I was also hoping that
section didn't last forever andit seems like we've kind of
turned a corner into a thirdsection now where Jamal is back
(02:56):
and after missing some more timewith more leg injuries after he
came back the first time, butit seems like he's healthy now.
I think they've at the time ofthis recording, they've won four
out of five.
They played Toronto later onthis evening and they're playing
well.
The bench is back to what theywere doing in that first section
and I think a lot of that iswith Jamal back.
(03:18):
It kind of resets everybody'sresponsibilities in the sense
that Reggie Jackson can now runthat bench unit and he's been
playing amazing.
Like, if you remember my seasonpreview, as wrong as I was
about DeAndre Jordan last year,I am just as wrong about Reggie
Jackson this year.
He has been amazing.
(03:39):
I'm so happy he's our backuppoint guard and he's been
playing so well.
But what he does is he givesthe bench kind of a scoring
option and that takes some ofthe pressure off of Christian
Brown, peyton Watson, julianStrother.
Like those guys are great atwhat they do.
They're never going to be thenumber one scoring option, and
(03:59):
so it's nice for them to be kindof like the next guys in line
doing the dirty work and justkind of being super athletes,
which which they are.
So this section three has beenfun.
Hopefully this one keeps goingfor a while and we'll have to
see what the what the nextsection is down the line.
We'll get into our categoriesnow.
(04:20):
Our favorite yokism of the week,what was our favorite thing
that Nikola Yokic did this pastweek?
Well, this one's a surprisingone, because all of a sudden,
yokic had a commercial come outyesterday and he never does
anything like that.
But it's a hotelscom commercial.
(04:41):
It's him and Peyton Watson anda little pony.
So if you haven't seen that,please go watch it.
There's two different versions.
There's one inside and one outby the pool.
It's Yokic being Yokic.
He's just goofy and funny andthey're playing off his love for
horses.
I guess it's surprisingly funny, just because I never thought I
(05:04):
would see Yokic in a nationalTV commercial.
He seems like he was neverinterested in that kind of thing
, and so I think the bigquestion is A how did hotelscom
convince him to do it?
And B, was it Peyton Watsonthat convinced him to do it.
It doesn't really make sensethat he's in the commercial with
(05:25):
Yokic.
You would think it would beeither Jamal Murray or Aaron
Gordon or somebody.
But I love it.
It's great.
It was a nice surprise andhopefully there's many more to
come.
So next category is what I'mlooking forward to, and this
week it's easy.
It's Christmas, not only forthe time with the family, and
(05:48):
just the whole holiday season.
My family and I, we love it.
We love watching all theChristmas movies.
My wife does an amazing job atputting up Christmas lights and
decorations and just all sortsof goodies around the house as
far as cookies and stuff likethat.
So just the whole holidayseason is great.
But Christmas has turned intosomewhat of a basketball holiday
(06:13):
.
They kind of have taken thatholiday for themselves, although
there are a few Christmas NFLgames this year.
When I think of sports onChristmas, it's basketball, so
I'm excited for some of thematchups.
This year it starts out withBucks, knicks, then Nuggets,
warriors, celtics, lakers, theSixers in the Heat and then the
Mavs in the Sun.
(06:34):
So if you wanted to, you canjust have basketball on all day
long, and it's obviously fun tosee some of the big stars If you
all aren't watching League Passor just don't sit down to watch
mini games at all.
Bucks versus Knicks, rightthere, you can watch Yanis, you
can watch Jalen Brunson, who'sbeen amazing this year.
(06:54):
Nuggets Warriors that'sself-explanatory, of course.
I love that one.
And then Celtics Lakers thestar power in that one is crazy.
So it'll be really fun.
It's a great day to spend withfamily, but if you happen to
have some basketball on in thebackground, then even better.
So my recommendation for thisweek it's actually a brand new
(07:16):
recommendation that I actuallyjust discovered two days ago,
and it's a newsletter called theBounce.
And I don't know if y'all likegetting those weekly newsletters
, monthly newsletters, anythinglike that.
I kind of like them just fordifferent topics and just quick
read.
But this one obviously isBasketball and it's written by
Zach Harper and Shams Aranya.
(07:36):
So Shams is obviously one ofthe big insiders for NBA, and
Zach Harper I've been followinghim on X for quite a long time.
Just I like the way he looks atthe game, I think he's really
funny, and so I'm excited thatthey have a newsletter together
and I think if you likebasketball, you'll enjoy it too.
(07:57):
And the last section for todayis oh, there's other teams where
I force myself to talk aboutsome other team besides the
nuggets because there are otherteams out there and so, as I
mentioned, with it being theweek of Christmas, we will try
and go with a Christmas themehere as we talk about some of
(08:17):
the other teams.
So I'm going to say a moviequote from some of my favorite
Christmas movies and attribute abasketball team to them.
So my first quote is she's abute Clark, said by the amazing
cousin Eddie in nationalampoules Christmas vacation.
And while he's talking about ajunkie RV, I'm going to take it
(08:41):
literally and just say howimpressed I am with the
Minnesota Timberwolves.
I guess I just thought thatthey were going to be more of an
average team just because ofthe pairing of Kat and Rudy.
Go bear just didn't look thatgreat last year, but they've
definitely figured something outand, as I mentioned in a
(09:02):
previous pod, they they beatdown the nuggets when they
played earlier this year, butthey've been doing that to
everybody.
They just keep winning.
They look great.
Anthony Edwards is amazing.
Their defense is legit, likethey got long athletes
everywhere with go bear kind ofjust Roman the paint back there.
They're they're a scary teamand and and I am more than
(09:25):
willing to say that they are atrue contender and and I'm
impressed.
So, as Cuddy cousin Eddie wouldsay, t wolves your bute.
Next quote is you're going toshoot your eye out.
And that's said by multiplepeople in the Christmas classic,
a Christmas story when Ralphiewants his BB gun and everyone
(09:48):
tells him he's going to shoothis eye out.
So I'm taking that as in.
Maybe it's not always the bestthing to get what you want, and
to me that applies to the Lakers.
They tried really hard and didan awesome job.
They won the NZs in tournamentand they looked very impressive
doing it.
They, I think, won all theirgroup play games and then,
(10:11):
obviously, they won all theirtournament games, so undefeated.
Lebron looked awesome, anthonyDavis even looked pretty great
in the championship game andsince then I think they've gone
one in three.
So maybe, maybe they put a lotof their energy into the in
season tournament and and maybetheir I won't say old, but maybe
(10:33):
, maybe their experienced legsare tired now.
So I will say I've seen a lotof people making fun of Lakers
for hanging in that in seasontournament banner and I will not
join on that bandwagon becausea I know it's the league that's
making them, because the leaguewants to make that very
important, but B I like the NZsin tournament and if you win it,
(10:55):
hang a banner Next.
Quote buddy the elf.
What's your favorite color?
And again I'm going to takethis on literally favorite
colors of these teams red, whiteand blue, the team colors of
the Los Angeles Clippers andthese 76ers.
Now both teams.
(11:17):
In my season preview I mentionedhow I thought that drama was
going to be the main storylineof their season and that it was
going to implode.
And I was wrong.
The Clippers have played reallywell lately.
They've kind of figured out agood rotation between having all
(11:38):
the superstars with RussellWestbrook coming off the bench,
and Kawai is kind of back tobeing what Kawai was five years
ago, and so they're playingreally well right now.
That the key for them willobviously be in healthy come
playoff time, because they'vehad stretches and moments where
they have looked good in thepast and it just seems like they
can never stay healthy.
(12:00):
So if they can keep doing whatthey're doing, then good for
them, but I've been impressed.
And then the 76ers again, Ithought the hardened situation
was going to just derail theirseason.
And I thought Embiid was goingto maybe try and prove people
wrong after he didn't do so wellin the playoffs last year, and
(12:24):
it looks like it was addition bysubtraction for them, getting
rid of hardened even though theydidn't get too much.
He's been amazing.
And then even Embiid he'splaying out of his mind right
now and he's putting up hugenumbers and it seems like he's
passing more and I have to admitthey're they're looking good
(12:46):
and so we'll see.
The joke around a lot of socialmedia for basketball Twitter and
stuff like that is that theSuns have been doing this
against the worst teams in theEast and and for some reason,
their schedules been super easy.
So as a as a resident 76ershater, I'm kind of hoping to see
(13:07):
them play some tough teams andand maybe come back down to
earth a little bit.
But I got it.
I got to give it to him.
Now they're.
They're playing well.
Next quote Seeing isn'tbelieving, believing is
believing.
And that's what the ghost toldthe little boy on top of the
train on polar express Becausehe wasn't sure about Santa.
(13:29):
Now I'm gonna take it as in.
I Will believe it when I see it.
For the Suns.
Their big three was healthy andtogether for a whole day, and
then Bradley Beale got hurtagain.
So while Booker and KevinDurant are playing extremely
well, bradley Beale is just afigment of our imagination until
(13:53):
we actually see him out on thecourt for more than a day.
And last quote you guys give upor you're thirsty for more?
Said by the amazing KevinMcAllister protecting his home
against the robbers in homealone.
And this one I'm gonna give tothe Pistons.
(14:13):
They are on a unbelievable 24game losing streak right now and
I just kind of picture them asMarvin Harry getting just
pummeled by a little kid withrandom booby traps and just
laying there in pain.
And that's pretty much that thePistons are right now as they
try and go against real NBAteams.
(14:34):
Poor Pistons.
All right, y'all.
That's gonna do it for today.
I really appreciate youlistening and have a Merry
Christmas.
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