January 26, 2025 • 20 mins
The Denver Nuggets are experiencing a thrilling resurgence, moving towards championship contender status with standout individual performances and a revamped team chemistry. Highlighting Jamal Murray's improvement, Russell Westbrook's integration, and the emergence of young players, the episode encapsulates the excitement surrounding the team's trajectory as they prepare for playoffs.
• Nuggets show strong recent performance following a rocky December
• Jamal Murray demonstrating reinvigorated play and endurance
• Russell Westbrook's positive impact as a starting player
• Aaron Gordon thriving in a new sixth-man role
• Young players Brown, Watson, and Strother finding their place
• DeAndre Jordan exceeding expectations as a bench contributor
• Nikola Jokic maintaining stellar MVP-worthy performances
• Fun segment discussing Jokic's evolving looks over the years
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
all right, everyone, we are back.
Welcome to fandom from afar.
And are the nuggets back aswell?
Continuing the theme of thisseason, the roller coaster ride
that is the denver nuggets, Iwould say that, uh, nuggets fans
are riding high right now.
The Nuggets have really turnedthings around since we last
(00:27):
recorded and they are playingreally, really well, excluding
the whooping that the T-Wolvesgave us yesterday, which is a
little concerning.
The T-Wolves seem to have ournumber and no matter how well
we're playing, then they kind ofrough us up a little bit and
make us look ordinary.
But overall, the last couple ofweeks the Nuggets have been
(00:50):
playing phenomenal basketball.
We'll go over some of theindividuals that have maybe made
an improvement in their game orchanged some things, or just
overall what has gone well forthe Nuggets today.
And then we're going to finishit off with some of my favorite
Jokic looks, because he issporting the arm sleeve lately
(01:15):
because of a little injury and Ithink it looks cool.
So we're going to go over hislooks over the years.
But let's start with some ofthe positive changes since we
last recorded looks over theyears.
But let's start with some ofthe positive changes since we
last recorded For those of youwho've been listening.
It was not looking good back inDecember and we were wondering
(01:36):
oh, should the Nuggets make atrade?
Are we wasting Jokic's prime?
And over the last couple ofweeks they've really found.
I want to say something, butit's a few things that have
changed for the better and Iwant to kind of go over some of
those things that really havethe Nuggets looking good and
looking like contenders again.
So let's start out with JamalMurray.
(01:56):
We have to start out with Jamal.
I've talked about him everyepisode this season, not in a
positive way for the most part,but lately Jamal seems to be
back in shape.
I don't see him gettingexhausted quickly.
He's really.
Jamal has an interesting styleto his play.
(02:18):
He's very methodical in somesense, but his herky-jerky
dribbling and kind of you neverknow if he's going to drive to
the basket or do a fade away,it's.
It's really effective when it'sworking, and right now it is
working and shots are going inand his effort is high.
Um, everything we were askingfor out of Jamal he is providing
(02:41):
right now and while it is stillfrustrating that every season
he kind of works himself intoshape to get to this point.
Right now we're seeing how goodthe nuggets can be with a
healthy Jamal Murray and Ireally hope this is what we get
for the rest of the season andinto the playoffs and he can
stay healthy and we can actuallysee what this team can do.
(03:03):
But uh, for right now I am veryhappy with Jamal Murray and I
hope he can keep it up.
One of the biggest changesthat's happened in the last
couple of weeks is RussellWestbrook is in the starting
lineup now and originally thisstarted because AG was hurt and
we just wanted to get Russell inthere for some energy, for some
(03:25):
ball handling, and it workedreally well and credit to
Michael Malone.
He has kept Russell Westbrookin the starting lineup and he's
providing everything that therest of the starters need, which
is what we've been talkingabout all season.
His energy kind of boosts guysup.
He has incredible chemistrywith Jokic.
(03:48):
He's actually providing somereally good on-ball defense and
just the fit it just works withall the guys together with
Westbrook.
Now, obviously he has hisnights where he's turning the
ball over or he's not shootingwell, but that's that's really
any player, um.
But overall it's been a hugepositive.
(04:08):
And then the surprising part ofit is AG is back from his injury
.
They're kind of slowly bringinghim back and coach Malone has
kept, uh uh, ag on the bench andkind of been that sixth man and
that is working really well.
So I kind of want to combinethese next two points with AG
(04:29):
and Westbrook.
That switch has somehowprovided just incredible balance
to both the starters and thebench.
And AG provides that toughnesson the bench, some scoring um
veteran presence, because a lotof our bench is younger guys.
And it's gotten to the pointwhere he even acknowledged that
(04:50):
the team overall is playing sowell that AG went up to Coach
Malone and said hey, don't worryabout me starting.
If this is what you need me todo, I'm happy to do it.
And that's why Nuggets fanshave deemed him Mr Nugget.
He does whatever is best forthe team.
He loves Denver, he loves theNuggets, he works so well with
(05:10):
Jokic and Murray and right nowwhat he and Westbrook are
providing is just working sowell and it's what we needed.
The Nuggets last time I checkedI think they had won like 12
out of 15 or 12 out of 16.
Their record is showing whatwe're seeing on the court with
(05:32):
this kind of new look lineup.
Another thing that's gonereally well over the last couple
of weeks is the young guysChristian Brown, peyton Watson
and Julian Strother.
They are all kind of findingtheir role and starring in their
role.
Christian Brown had a phenomenalstart to the season.
He was hitting shots, he wasplaying great defense and then
(05:53):
he kind of slumped down for abit.
But he is definitely back andplaying so well.
He has turned the fast breakinto kind of the ultimate weapon
for him.
He gets out on the break fastand when he gets the ball he
goes straight to the hoop andhe's become a great finisher.
But also he draws a lot offouls, which helps out the team
(06:14):
overall as well, because thenguys later on can get those free
throws.
But Christian Brown has becomean absolute weapon on the fast
break.
I think teams are reallystarting to notice it and having
to worry about it, because heis just so fast and so strong
and gets so many layups on thefast break and obviously with
Jokic he's looking for themoften and it really kind of puts
(06:35):
some pressure on the other teamknowing that Christian Brown
can do that at any time at anytime.
Peyton Watson he is incredibleat defense.
He's surprisingly long, whichhe gets these blocks where you
can almost see the look on theother guy's face Like how did he
get that?
But he'll block three pointers.
He'll block mid range, he'llblock layups.
(06:57):
He had an incredible block onthe Timberwolves yesterday.
Julius Randle was going up fora big old dunk and Watson denied
him just perfectly.
So his defense, I think, issomething that the Nuggets
really needed and he isproviding it.
And then some.
He's been such a great surpriseNot necessarily a surprise we
(07:18):
were expecting it out of Peytonhe should flashes but just the
fact of what he is providing isso important to the bench.
And then, as I mentioned, julianStrother, he last year he had
the reputation of being a greatshooter and he just never seemed
to hit shots unless it was kindof garbage time and there was
no pressure.
(07:38):
But as the season has gonealong this year he is really
starting to hit shots.
You can see he has the greenlight from the team.
Jokic will find him when he'sopen and you know it's expected
of him to shoot it.
That's his role out there andhe's been doing a great job.
His shot looks so pure whenhe's on like he can really catch
(07:58):
fire quickly and I love hislittle thumbs down celebration.
Not sure he said it's not fromGladiator, but that's really the
only thing I can think of thatit would be from.
He says it was just from hisfriends kind of messing around
trying to think of somethingunique that no one else does,
and whatever it is, I like itand it's working.
So I think all three guys arekind of finding their roles.
(08:20):
They're kind of showing theirbasketball IQ in different ways,
which is really a huge reasonwhy they were drafted.
The Nuggets are looking forthose guys at the end of the
first round that can fit aroundall our superstars and the
chemistry right now is just onpoint.
So those three guys have reallybeen a positive over the last
three weeks.
(08:42):
One other positive that I wouldsay is a big surprise is DeAndre
Jordan's actually playing somereally good basketball.
Deandre was brought here asjust kind of a veteran mentor
and we've tried so many otherbackup centers that are supposed
to be the answer to when Jokichas to take a rest and the bench
is in and the other guys justdon't work for some reason, and
(09:06):
DeAndre has found himself backin the lineup even though he's a
million years old.
But he's playing greatbasketball.
He gets rebounds, he's justhuge.
So he has a defensive presence,he's a lob threat and really
the only thing we could ask forafter 10 years of having
terrible backups to Jokic isjust don't be a huge negative.
(09:26):
And DeAndre has been just that.
He's been a great part of thebench and they do not get blown
out like the Nuggets bench usedto.
And I think a part of that isDeAndre Jordan, which, hey, I am
surprised and I am glad to bewrong.
So congrats, deandre Jordan,you are, you're doing great.
And then last, the mostnon-surprising part of all this
(09:51):
success is Jokic.
He is still putting up historicnumbers.
He's making it look easy, hedoes what is right with any game
and it just so happens thathuge numbers come with it.
But he's had a streak lately ofgetting huge numbers, the
Nuggets getting big wins, andthen he doesn't even have to
(10:13):
play in the fourth quarter,which is just so perfect as we
start thinking about.
Okay, we don't want to be tooexhausted for the playoffs.
We want Jokic to have his legsso he can start playing 40, 42,
44 minutes in a tight playoffgame, and part of that is
getting some rest during theregular season.
Now he obviously had some restwith the birth of his child.
(10:36):
He missed a few games becauseof injury and sickness and so
he's actually got these littlerests in the season so far.
And then these past couple ofweeks, with the Nuggets winning
in convincing fashion, so often,he's actually getting some rest
where he's only playing about30 minutes a game, which just
(10:57):
saves that wear and tear on hislegs.
And so Jokic is having aphenomenal season and both he
and Shea Gilgis-Alexander arethe top two candidates for MVP.
That whole conversation is toughto listen to.
Like people are just trying toget clicks and headlines and
everything saying that there'sno doubt that it's SGA.
(11:18):
Some people are saying there'sno doubt it's Jokic.
But like both guys are worthyand having just incredible
seasons and so it'll be fun tosee over the next couple of
months if anyone can pull awaybecause both seasons have been
MVP worthy.
So right now, with all thatsaid, the Nuggets have really
kind of turned their seasonaround.
(11:38):
I think they're fourth in theWest right now, but they are
gaining ground quickly on theRockets and the Grizzlies and I
would not be surprised ifthey're going to be the second
seed very soon.
They are definitely lookinglike championship contenders
again.
I have no problem saying thatthe Oklahoma City Thunder are
the best team in the West rightnow and the Nuggets, hopefully,
(12:00):
can prove that they are in thatclass come the playoffs.
But it's really exciting.
That class come the playoffs,but it's really exciting.
And just the fact that theNuggets have found all these
little changes that have addedto big results really have me
excited for the rest of theseason to kind of see what we
can do and have hope for theplayoffs that they'll be able to
(12:22):
do some damage there as well.
So, with that being said, wewill obviously cover individual
games or the playoff picture asit gets farther into the season.
By the next time we recordthere's going to be the trade
deadline, so we'll see if theNuggets make any moves then.
But I wanted to end this episodejust with a little fun thought
(12:45):
experiment because, as Imentioned, jokic had a, I guess
a slight sprain to his rightelbow and he missed one game
because of it, but since thenhas been wearing a shooting
sleeve on his arm, and a lot ofguys wear these not because of
injury but because they justlook cool or kind of protect the
elbow a little bit.
And so I wanted to go over someof Jokic's unique looks
(13:10):
throughout the year and kind of,we'll go in reverse order of,
uh, my I won't even say leastfavorite, because everything
Jokic does is fun or cool orawesome in some way.
So we'll just start from thebottom and work our way up to
our absolute favorite Jokic lookand uh, yeah, that'd be a fun
way to end this episode.
So let's start at number sevenand we'll call this heavy Jokic.
(13:33):
There was a year or two at thebeginning of his career where
Jokic was not necessarily theworkout fiend that he is now and
staying in phenomenal shape,and he would come into camp a
little heavy.
So we're going to call this oneheavy Jokic.
And, uh, he was still anamazing basketball player and he
did work himself into shapeLike he was always in the shape
(13:57):
that he needed to be uh, rightaround the all-star break and
into the playoffs.
And so it was.
It was a younger Jokic and hejust uh, that's what he thought
was right at the time and andwe'll just call that heavy Jokic
.
The next look is rookie Jokic.
Now, rookie Jokic was actuallyquite skinny.
And you look at videos of himplaying in that first summer
(14:18):
league or doing some of hisfirst interviews and he just
looks so young, like he he was a18, 19 year old boy and uh,
it's just kind of funny lookingback at the uh, at him.
Uh, compared to what he looksnow, and uh, he, just he, he was
a boy and we didn't know whatto expect.
And and uh, man, we are gladthat, uh, that that young kid
(14:40):
came over to the United Statesand was on our team.
Now, number five, I will say, iscalled haircut Jokic.
It used to be a thing wherewhen Jokic likes his hair kind
of high and tight, and it usedto be a thing that the Nuggets
fans would notice is wheneverJokic would get a haircut on
game day, he would have anincredible game that night.
(15:03):
And so haircut Jokic became athing.
Now it might've just beencoincidence or maybe looking at
the numbers, maybe he was justalways great and we just kind of
like, oh, haircut, big game.
Here we go.
But a haircut Jokic was a thingand not so much anymore because
he's just so dominant all thetime, but a haircut Jokic was a
(15:26):
sign of things to come Now.
Number four is pregame Jokic.
Jokic kind of has found styleand I love it.
He loves to kind of wear suits,really nice suits, to come to
the stadium and just kind ofshow that he means business.
(15:47):
I forget who convinced him tokind of change his mindset on
this, but he really takes pridein this and kind of says, like
I'm a professional, I want toshow up to my job as a
professional would, and so hehas some really cool suits.
It works out well that thebasketball season is during the
(16:08):
coldest part of the year for themajority of the season, and so
he wears some really cool suitswith overcoats and hats, and
sometimes he looks like he's acharacter from Peaky Blinders.
Sometimes he kind of looks likehe's a movie villain, whether
like he should be in John Wick,or one time he literally dressed
up like a movie villain when hewas promoting the Despicable Me
(16:29):
movie, and he loves histurtlenecks.
And so we love pregame Jokic.
He has found his style and he'scome a long way from just
wearing those big baggysweatpants and a T-shirt that
says I paused my video game tobe here.
Number three my third favoriteJokic look is MVP Jokic.
(16:51):
There's nothing that reallystands out in the look, I guess,
of him, but this is the Jokic.
He's won three MVPs and he wasjust in phenomenal shape at all
times.
He kind of found the balance ofbeing the strongest guy in the
NBA along with being in justbetter cardio shape than all the
(17:17):
other big guys, so he foundthat balance.
He was an amazing athlete thatdid not have the beach muscles,
but MVP Jokic was in shape anddominant.
Now my second favorite Jokic isthis year Bearded Jokic.
He decided to grow the beardout and I love it, and a lot of
(17:42):
people are saying he kind oflooks like a evil villain again,
and I kind of love that too.
He's come to take over theleague and the beard is giving
him extra superpowers and he'sputting up historic numbers.
So I think that's veryscientific and I don't see any
argument against it.
Now this year he has upgraded,not only from the beard but, as
(18:05):
I mentioned, he has the armsleeve and he came out with his
signature shoe.
So he's wearing the Joker oneswith the arm sleeve and the
beard.
Championship, I think.
So, speaking of Championship,jokic is my favorite look.
Now this has a couple differentcomponents to it.
(18:27):
To start, I think ChampionshipJokic is Jokic.
On opening night, when he hadtears in his eyes and he was
looking as the banner was raisedand they got their championship
rings that's a great look,jokic.
Parade, jokic when he's hangingout on the big old fire trucks
with people throwing drinks andhim just having a good time and
(18:50):
he says he wants to stay onparade that's a good look, jokic
.
And then, of course, paradethat's a good look, jokic.
And then, of course, rightafter the game, when they win
their championship and he isholding his daughter and the
confetti's coming down, that's agood look, jokic.
So championship Jokic is myfavorite look and I'm hoping
(19:11):
we're going to get to see thatagain.
There was a one game look.
That is kind of a I shouldmention it.
It didn't crack the top sevenbut headband Jokic.
Now, if you'll remember headbandJokic, he had a game I think it
was against the Grizzlies andsomeone accidentally headbutted
(19:32):
him and he got this giant cut onhis forehead and it was
bleeding all over the place andso they put a big bandaid on it
and then he had to wear a redheadband to hold it in place,
and while I would not say thathe looked cool wearing it.
He did kind of clinch somehistoric numbers that night
where he was the first playerever to get 2000 points, 1000
(19:52):
rebounds and 500 assists, and hehappened to be doing it while
wearing a goofy red headband, soI had to mention that it didn't
make the top seven.
But we love Jokic, so everybodyis playing so well right now.
As I mentioned, we'll cover thetrade deadline in the next
episode, but it's just so fun todo a positive episode after a
(20:14):
couple of maybe negativeepisodes in a row there in
November, december, and I lovethe way the Nuggets are looking
right now and I'm just veryexcited about where we're
heading and I will be looking soforward to talking to you guys
again in two weeks.
Thanks everyone.
all right, everyone, we are back.
Welcome to fandom from afar.
And are the nuggets back aswell?
Continuing the theme of thisseason, the roller coaster ride
that is the denver nuggets, Iwould say that, uh, nuggets fans
are riding high right now.
The Nuggets have really turnedthings around since we last
(00:27):
recorded and they are playingreally, really well, excluding
the whooping that the T-Wolvesgave us yesterday, which is a
little concerning.
The T-Wolves seem to have ournumber and no matter how well
we're playing, then they kind ofrough us up a little bit and
make us look ordinary.
But overall, the last couple ofweeks the Nuggets have been
(00:50):
playing phenomenal basketball.
We'll go over some of theindividuals that have maybe made
an improvement in their game orchanged some things, or just
overall what has gone well forthe Nuggets today.
And then we're going to finishit off with some of my favorite
Jokic looks, because he issporting the arm sleeve lately
(01:15):
because of a little injury and Ithink it looks cool.
So we're going to go over hislooks over the years.
But let's start with some ofthe positive changes since we
last recorded looks over theyears.
But let's start with some ofthe positive changes since we
last recorded For those of youwho've been listening.
It was not looking good back inDecember and we were wondering
(01:36):
oh, should the Nuggets make atrade?
Are we wasting Jokic's prime?
And over the last couple ofweeks they've really found.
I want to say something, butit's a few things that have
changed for the better and Iwant to kind of go over some of
those things that really havethe Nuggets looking good and
looking like contenders again.
So let's start out with JamalMurray.
(01:56):
We have to start out with Jamal.
I've talked about him everyepisode this season, not in a
positive way for the most part,but lately Jamal seems to be
back in shape.
I don't see him gettingexhausted quickly.
He's really.
Jamal has an interesting styleto his play.
(02:18):
He's very methodical in somesense, but his herky-jerky
dribbling and kind of you neverknow if he's going to drive to
the basket or do a fade away,it's.
It's really effective when it'sworking, and right now it is
working and shots are going inand his effort is high.
Um, everything we were askingfor out of Jamal he is providing
(02:41):
right now and while it is stillfrustrating that every season
he kind of works himself intoshape to get to this point.
Right now we're seeing how goodthe nuggets can be with a
healthy Jamal Murray and Ireally hope this is what we get
for the rest of the season andinto the playoffs and he can
stay healthy and we can actuallysee what this team can do.
(03:03):
But uh, for right now I am veryhappy with Jamal Murray and I
hope he can keep it up.
One of the biggest changesthat's happened in the last
couple of weeks is RussellWestbrook is in the starting
lineup now and originally thisstarted because AG was hurt and
we just wanted to get Russell inthere for some energy, for some
(03:25):
ball handling, and it workedreally well and credit to
Michael Malone.
He has kept Russell Westbrookin the starting lineup and he's
providing everything that therest of the starters need, which
is what we've been talkingabout all season.
His energy kind of boosts guysup.
He has incredible chemistrywith Jokic.
(03:48):
He's actually providing somereally good on-ball defense and
just the fit it just works withall the guys together with
Westbrook.
Now, obviously he has hisnights where he's turning the
ball over or he's not shootingwell, but that's that's really
any player, um.
But overall it's been a hugepositive.
(04:08):
And then the surprising part ofit is AG is back from his injury
.
They're kind of slowly bringinghim back and coach Malone has
kept, uh uh, ag on the bench andkind of been that sixth man and
that is working really well.
So I kind of want to combinethese next two points with AG
(04:29):
and Westbrook.
That switch has somehowprovided just incredible balance
to both the starters and thebench.
And AG provides that toughnesson the bench, some scoring um
veteran presence, because a lotof our bench is younger guys.
And it's gotten to the pointwhere he even acknowledged that
(04:50):
the team overall is playing sowell that AG went up to Coach
Malone and said hey, don't worryabout me starting.
If this is what you need me todo, I'm happy to do it.
And that's why Nuggets fanshave deemed him Mr Nugget.
He does whatever is best forthe team.
He loves Denver, he loves theNuggets, he works so well with
(05:10):
Jokic and Murray and right nowwhat he and Westbrook are
providing is just working sowell and it's what we needed.
The Nuggets last time I checkedI think they had won like 12
out of 15 or 12 out of 16.
Their record is showing whatwe're seeing on the court with
(05:32):
this kind of new look lineup.
Another thing that's gonereally well over the last couple
of weeks is the young guysChristian Brown, peyton Watson
and Julian Strother.
They are all kind of findingtheir role and starring in their
role.
Christian Brown had a phenomenalstart to the season.
He was hitting shots, he wasplaying great defense and then
(05:53):
he kind of slumped down for abit.
But he is definitely back andplaying so well.
He has turned the fast breakinto kind of the ultimate weapon
for him.
He gets out on the break fastand when he gets the ball he
goes straight to the hoop andhe's become a great finisher.
But also he draws a lot offouls, which helps out the team
(06:14):
overall as well, because thenguys later on can get those free
throws.
But Christian Brown has becomean absolute weapon on the fast
break.
I think teams are reallystarting to notice it and having
to worry about it, because heis just so fast and so strong
and gets so many layups on thefast break and obviously with
Jokic he's looking for themoften and it really kind of puts
(06:35):
some pressure on the other teamknowing that Christian Brown
can do that at any time at anytime.
Peyton Watson he is incredibleat defense.
He's surprisingly long, whichhe gets these blocks where you
can almost see the look on theother guy's face Like how did he
get that?
But he'll block three pointers.
He'll block mid range, he'llblock layups.
(06:57):
He had an incredible block onthe Timberwolves yesterday.
Julius Randle was going up fora big old dunk and Watson denied
him just perfectly.
So his defense, I think, issomething that the Nuggets
really needed and he isproviding it.
And then some.
He's been such a great surpriseNot necessarily a surprise we
(07:18):
were expecting it out of Peytonhe should flashes but just the
fact of what he is providing isso important to the bench.
And then, as I mentioned, julianStrother, he last year he had
the reputation of being a greatshooter and he just never seemed
to hit shots unless it was kindof garbage time and there was
no pressure.
(07:38):
But as the season has gonealong this year he is really
starting to hit shots.
You can see he has the greenlight from the team.
Jokic will find him when he'sopen and you know it's expected
of him to shoot it.
That's his role out there andhe's been doing a great job.
His shot looks so pure whenhe's on like he can really catch
(07:58):
fire quickly and I love hislittle thumbs down celebration.
Not sure he said it's not fromGladiator, but that's really the
only thing I can think of thatit would be from.
He says it was just from hisfriends kind of messing around
trying to think of somethingunique that no one else does,
and whatever it is, I like itand it's working.
So I think all three guys arekind of finding their roles.
(08:20):
They're kind of showing theirbasketball IQ in different ways,
which is really a huge reasonwhy they were drafted.
The Nuggets are looking forthose guys at the end of the
first round that can fit aroundall our superstars and the
chemistry right now is just onpoint.
So those three guys have reallybeen a positive over the last
three weeks.
(08:42):
One other positive that I wouldsay is a big surprise is DeAndre
Jordan's actually playing somereally good basketball.
Deandre was brought here asjust kind of a veteran mentor
and we've tried so many otherbackup centers that are supposed
to be the answer to when Jokichas to take a rest and the bench
is in and the other guys justdon't work for some reason, and
(09:06):
DeAndre has found himself backin the lineup even though he's a
million years old.
But he's playing greatbasketball.
He gets rebounds, he's justhuge.
So he has a defensive presence,he's a lob threat and really
the only thing we could ask forafter 10 years of having
terrible backups to Jokic isjust don't be a huge negative.
(09:26):
And DeAndre has been just that.
He's been a great part of thebench and they do not get blown
out like the Nuggets bench usedto.
And I think a part of that isDeAndre Jordan, which, hey, I am
surprised and I am glad to bewrong.
So congrats, deandre Jordan,you are, you're doing great.
And then last, the mostnon-surprising part of all this
(09:51):
success is Jokic.
He is still putting up historicnumbers.
He's making it look easy, hedoes what is right with any game
and it just so happens thathuge numbers come with it.
But he's had a streak lately ofgetting huge numbers, the
Nuggets getting big wins, andthen he doesn't even have to
(10:13):
play in the fourth quarter,which is just so perfect as we
start thinking about.
Okay, we don't want to be tooexhausted for the playoffs.
We want Jokic to have his legsso he can start playing 40, 42,
44 minutes in a tight playoffgame, and part of that is
getting some rest during theregular season.
Now he obviously had some restwith the birth of his child.
(10:36):
He missed a few games becauseof injury and sickness and so
he's actually got these littlerests in the season so far.
And then these past couple ofweeks, with the Nuggets winning
in convincing fashion, so often,he's actually getting some rest
where he's only playing about30 minutes a game, which just
(10:57):
saves that wear and tear on hislegs.
And so Jokic is having aphenomenal season and both he
and Shea Gilgis-Alexander arethe top two candidates for MVP.
That whole conversation is toughto listen to.
Like people are just trying toget clicks and headlines and
everything saying that there'sno doubt that it's SGA.
(11:18):
Some people are saying there'sno doubt it's Jokic.
But like both guys are worthyand having just incredible
seasons and so it'll be fun tosee over the next couple of
months if anyone can pull awaybecause both seasons have been
MVP worthy.
So right now, with all thatsaid, the Nuggets have really
kind of turned their seasonaround.
(11:38):
I think they're fourth in theWest right now, but they are
gaining ground quickly on theRockets and the Grizzlies and I
would not be surprised ifthey're going to be the second
seed very soon.
They are definitely lookinglike championship contenders
again.
I have no problem saying thatthe Oklahoma City Thunder are
the best team in the West rightnow and the Nuggets, hopefully,
(12:00):
can prove that they are in thatclass come the playoffs.
But it's really exciting.
That class come the playoffs,but it's really exciting.
And just the fact that theNuggets have found all these
little changes that have addedto big results really have me
excited for the rest of theseason to kind of see what we
can do and have hope for theplayoffs that they'll be able to
(12:22):
do some damage there as well.
So, with that being said, wewill obviously cover individual
games or the playoff picture asit gets farther into the season.
By the next time we recordthere's going to be the trade
deadline, so we'll see if theNuggets make any moves then.
But I wanted to end this episodejust with a little fun thought
(12:45):
experiment because, as Imentioned, jokic had a, I guess
a slight sprain to his rightelbow and he missed one game
because of it, but since thenhas been wearing a shooting
sleeve on his arm, and a lot ofguys wear these not because of
injury but because they justlook cool or kind of protect the
elbow a little bit.
And so I wanted to go over someof Jokic's unique looks
(13:10):
throughout the year and kind of,we'll go in reverse order of,
uh, my I won't even say leastfavorite, because everything
Jokic does is fun or cool orawesome in some way.
So we'll just start from thebottom and work our way up to
our absolute favorite Jokic lookand uh, yeah, that'd be a fun
way to end this episode.
So let's start at number sevenand we'll call this heavy Jokic.
(13:33):
There was a year or two at thebeginning of his career where
Jokic was not necessarily theworkout fiend that he is now and
staying in phenomenal shape,and he would come into camp a
little heavy.
So we're going to call this oneheavy Jokic.
And, uh, he was still anamazing basketball player and he
did work himself into shapeLike he was always in the shape
(13:57):
that he needed to be uh, rightaround the all-star break and
into the playoffs.
And so it was.
It was a younger Jokic and hejust uh, that's what he thought
was right at the time and andwe'll just call that heavy Jokic
.
The next look is rookie Jokic.
Now, rookie Jokic was actuallyquite skinny.
And you look at videos of himplaying in that first summer
(14:18):
league or doing some of hisfirst interviews and he just
looks so young, like he he was a18, 19 year old boy and uh,
it's just kind of funny lookingback at the uh, at him.
Uh, compared to what he looksnow, and uh, he, just he, he was
a boy and we didn't know whatto expect.
And and uh, man, we are gladthat, uh, that that young kid
(14:40):
came over to the United Statesand was on our team.
Now, number five, I will say, iscalled haircut Jokic.
It used to be a thing wherewhen Jokic likes his hair kind
of high and tight, and it usedto be a thing that the Nuggets
fans would notice is wheneverJokic would get a haircut on
game day, he would have anincredible game that night.
(15:03):
And so haircut Jokic became athing.
Now it might've just beencoincidence or maybe looking at
the numbers, maybe he was justalways great and we just kind of
like, oh, haircut, big game.
Here we go.
But a haircut Jokic was a thingand not so much anymore because
he's just so dominant all thetime, but a haircut Jokic was a
(15:26):
sign of things to come Now.
Number four is pregame Jokic.
Jokic kind of has found styleand I love it.
He loves to kind of wear suits,really nice suits, to come to
the stadium and just kind ofshow that he means business.
(15:47):
I forget who convinced him tokind of change his mindset on
this, but he really takes pridein this and kind of says, like
I'm a professional, I want toshow up to my job as a
professional would, and so hehas some really cool suits.
It works out well that thebasketball season is during the
(16:08):
coldest part of the year for themajority of the season, and so
he wears some really cool suitswith overcoats and hats, and
sometimes he looks like he's acharacter from Peaky Blinders.
Sometimes he kind of looks likehe's a movie villain, whether
like he should be in John Wick,or one time he literally dressed
up like a movie villain when hewas promoting the Despicable Me
(16:29):
movie, and he loves histurtlenecks.
And so we love pregame Jokic.
He has found his style and he'scome a long way from just
wearing those big baggysweatpants and a T-shirt that
says I paused my video game tobe here.
Number three my third favoriteJokic look is MVP Jokic.
(16:51):
There's nothing that reallystands out in the look, I guess,
of him, but this is the Jokic.
He's won three MVPs and he wasjust in phenomenal shape at all
times.
He kind of found the balance ofbeing the strongest guy in the
NBA along with being in justbetter cardio shape than all the
(17:17):
other big guys, so he foundthat balance.
He was an amazing athlete thatdid not have the beach muscles,
but MVP Jokic was in shape anddominant.
Now my second favorite Jokic isthis year Bearded Jokic.
He decided to grow the beardout and I love it, and a lot of
(17:42):
people are saying he kind oflooks like a evil villain again,
and I kind of love that too.
He's come to take over theleague and the beard is giving
him extra superpowers and he'sputting up historic numbers.
So I think that's veryscientific and I don't see any
argument against it.
Now this year he has upgraded,not only from the beard but, as
(18:05):
I mentioned, he has the armsleeve and he came out with his
signature shoe.
So he's wearing the Joker oneswith the arm sleeve and the
beard.
Championship, I think.
So, speaking of Championship,jokic is my favorite look.
Now this has a couple differentcomponents to it.
(18:27):
To start, I think ChampionshipJokic is Jokic.
On opening night, when he hadtears in his eyes and he was
looking as the banner was raisedand they got their championship
rings that's a great look,jokic.
Parade, jokic when he's hangingout on the big old fire trucks
with people throwing drinks andhim just having a good time and
(18:50):
he says he wants to stay onparade that's a good look, jokic
.
And then, of course, paradethat's a good look, jokic.
And then, of course, rightafter the game, when they win
their championship and he isholding his daughter and the
confetti's coming down, that's agood look, jokic.
So championship Jokic is myfavorite look and I'm hoping
(19:11):
we're going to get to see thatagain.
There was a one game look.
That is kind of a I shouldmention it.
It didn't crack the top sevenbut headband Jokic.
Now, if you'll remember headbandJokic, he had a game I think it
was against the Grizzlies andsomeone accidentally headbutted
(19:32):
him and he got this giant cut onhis forehead and it was
bleeding all over the place andso they put a big bandaid on it
and then he had to wear a redheadband to hold it in place,
and while I would not say thathe looked cool wearing it.
He did kind of clinch somehistoric numbers that night
where he was the first playerever to get 2000 points, 1000
(19:52):
rebounds and 500 assists, and hehappened to be doing it while
wearing a goofy red headband, soI had to mention that it didn't
make the top seven.
But we love Jokic, so everybodyis playing so well right now.
As I mentioned, we'll cover thetrade deadline in the next
episode, but it's just so fun todo a positive episode after a
(20:14):
couple of maybe negativeepisodes in a row there in
November, december, and I lovethe way the Nuggets are looking
right now and I'm just veryexcited about where we're
heading and I will be looking soforward to talking to you guys
again in two weeks.
Thanks everyone.
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