05-20-24 Hour 2 of Broncos Country Tonight

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Well do it Broncos Country tonight.But with all Brian Nick Ferguson, Grant
Smith, gonna run right out tothe Kate Wait Commons Spare hotline. We're
got a guy, Cody Rourke.Cody, how you doing this evening?
I'm good, gentlemen. How areyou doing doing? Doing pretty well?
Trying to recover anyway. I've hadthe feather flu for the last couple of
days. Yeah, my voice isalready starting to go. You know,

(00:20):
we're halfway through the show. Thevoice is already starting to go. So
it's gonna be an adventure. Butyou else, maybe I'll come out on
the other side sounding like Adam Schefter, knowing my luck outside like Adam Sandler.
But you know whatever, that's that'slive. Cody. We saw a
little bit earlier today Drew Sanders towardthe Achilles. I don't know how big
the plans were for him per se, but that does put a little thing

(00:42):
in special teams where he made mostof his bread and butter last year.
Yeah, he appeared in seventeen gameslast year, played a majority of repsol
linebacker. And I think the thingthat everyone was wondering this offseason is where's
he going to play? Because wewere told by Sean at the NFL scout
and combine that that they're still gonnawork. They're gonna top with Drew on
figuring out where you know, he'sgonna play this season, and so we

(01:03):
expect it. Is he gonna stayto edge? Is he going to move
back to inside linebacker? Well,I think you know now knowing the information
now, this injury happened before theNFL Draft, and obviously with Denver going
with Jonah Ellis seventy six overall,kind of makes it seem like they had
plans for Drew to be an outsidelinebacker, and maybe because that fell through,
it's all right, hey, we'regoing to get a young guy anyways,
we might as well get this guy. Obviously they had him high on

(01:26):
their board, so obviously a blowthere. But now it's the outside linebacker
rotation is going to be Jonathan Cooper, Baron Brown and more than likely going
to start. And you can seeNick Potito and Jonah Ellis rotating in off
the edge, and you know,one of these guys gonna have to step
up and play some special teams.I'm not sure if it's gonna be alist
or if they're gonna, you know, maybe get a guy that they can,
you know, maybe have five guysthere, you know, kind of

(01:46):
what they did last year, andthat fifth guy play a lot of special
teams this upcoming season. I'm verycurious to see what they decided to do
from here. So with the ideathat Colton Sudden may not be participating in
Team odas, who does this openthe door for as far as some of
the young wide receivers on the team. Oh, I mean there's a handful

(02:07):
of guys. Nick, you knowthis as well as anybody around this time
of the year, when you havea niney man roster, you're gonna have
like fifteen or sixteen wide receivers,fifteen or sixteen corners and safeties. Uh,
you know, I think a receivereveryone's going to be focusing on Marvin
Mims, who has been Sean Paytonhas told us he's gonna have a b
sture role this year. But Ithink fans are excited. They're keeping an
eye on Troy Franklin into bon Veley. Obviously there's two draft picks in this

(02:30):
year's draft, but I think alot of people are overlooking Jalen Virgil a
little bit. Look, there's BrandonJohnson who's still returning to the mixed look.
Jordan Humphrey signed a one year deal. H Philip Rpsett still on this
roster here. But I think JalenVirgil is a guy that who is I
think was on track and the threeman roster last year, had that game
against forty and I are suffered theinjury right before halftime and had the torn

(02:52):
meniscus, had surgery missed all lastyear, he was on track to make
the fifty three man roster. Andwith the new return rules, part of
me has been wondering a Sean Payton, if he's really going to feature Marvin
Ms more on offense. Is hegoing to take him away from kick?
Is you gonna have him that partreturn exclusively? Get him away from kick
return and maybe put a guy likeJalen Virgil back there. That's something I've
been thinking about. But that's whoI'd have my own. I'd have my

(03:14):
Jalen Virgil. Bously, David Stills, the fit obviously is maybe in under
the radar name to watch. SeanPayton I know really likes him. So
it's a loaded room right now.And there's a multitude of guys that are
gonna be getting a lot of repshere. Yeah, looking forward to seeing
how that shakes out. Talking withCody Rourk Myle High Sports. Another area
that has a little bit of alog jam is the running back room.

(03:36):
Gavonte wasn't quite one hundred percent lastyear, but he certainly had serviceable productivity.
He got much a P Ryan returning, although he looks like a casualty
just based on the money you draftedafter Custome. Julia McLoughlin kind of showed
out last year. Blake Watson,he gave a huge chunck of change to
for a Udfa and then Tyler Battyas well. How do you see this
running back room shaken out? Yeah, that's a great question. I mean,

(03:57):
as you mentioned, I think theodd man out when you look at
it financially, is some JP Ryanand look Samaj I think while he was
very, very impactful for Denver inthe passing game last year, didn't do
much for them in terms of therushing department. I mean, Denver's rushing
offense last year struggled anyway. Soregardless of the situation, the circumstances Jilil
mclafflin was really the only guy whohad a lot of flash and a lot
of dazzle to him at the youknow, in the run game there,

(04:18):
but even that kind of you know, shortened a little bit toward the end
of the season. He went throughsome ups and downs himself. I think
the idea here for Sean has toreally build this running game. I think
Gavante is going to have a betteryear this year. I think he's going
to you know, be more comfortable. He's got more time, obviously to
recover the fact that he made itback from his injury he had two years
ago. In the manner in whichhe did to be ready for the start
of training was impressive in and ofitself. So what is the top guy

(04:43):
there? I think? And thenobviously I think you're going to see an
open competition here. I think you'regonna see obviously Oddrick estimate I think is
going to be a guaranteed, youknow, roster guy here. He's going
to compete a little though. Ithink Jalil, I mean, Sean Payton
has hinted at, you know,potential big plans for Jolil dating back toward
the end of last season how theywanted to more obviously knows his workout.
I think he knows the system,so he's got a little bit of an
advantage. And but then that's whereyou have guys like Blake Watson who's gonna

(05:05):
be chomping at the bit to tryto make the roster as well. So
I mean, ideally I see itplaying out, I think it'll be if
they carry three guys. I thinkit's gonna be Givonte. I think he's
gonna Bejerwill, and I think it'sgonna be oddroc estimated with the hope to
getting one of those other guys likea Tyler Bady or Blake Watson on the
practice squad. Last year, wedidn't see a lot of Riley Moss.
So as he looks forward to thisseason, what do you think we can

(05:30):
expect for him? Because I knowright now he's pills some in as being
a guy behind ya Kwan McMillan.But more importantly, I mean, how
can he take his game to thenext level and what can we really expect
for him? You know this season, Well, there's gonna be a lot
of competition for that other cornerback spoton the outside here, But you know,
something I wrote about a mile highSports and I'm to talk about on

(05:51):
tomorrow's lockdown Broncos was you know,you look at the cornerback room, there's
Riley there. Obviously, the expectationswere pretty high for Riley Moss. They
traded up to the third to gethim. Obviously they alongside in the third
round and Drew Sanders in the twentytwenty three NFL Draft. Obviously, the
core muscle surgery threw a lot ofstuff off because there was going to be
that competition between the Heat and Damarymathis his injury force le Broncos really bringing

(06:12):
Fabian Moreau at tomorrow suffered an increator in training gap last year and then
Shabby Moreau ended up, you know, starting at the midway point of the
season after Damori had his struggles andit was benched a little bit there.
So for Riley, I think theexpectation has just come st healthy during training
camp and compete. My knowledge ofwhat I believe with Jim Leonard, especially
with how he has the safety philosophygoing is Hey, it doesn't matter who's
playing the post safety of the boxsafety. Every safety needs to know both

(06:35):
of those roles on the field onthe defensive side of the ball, and
I think him getting the passing gamecoordinator title is going to be a little
bit of a bigger deal than mostpeople are making mention of. And I
also think the same is going toapply at the cornerback spot. If you
play on the outside, you needto know how to play on the inside.
If you play on the inside,you also know you need to know
how to play on the outside.I think Dever's got more competition volume right

(06:56):
now at cornerback. I thin you'regoing to see a lot of guys in
the mixers Levi, Riley Moss,Tomari Mathis, JaJuan McMillan, Art Green,
and undrafted rookie Frazer from last yearI think is going to be a
little under the radar name to watchduring training camp this year. There's Reese
Taylor's just a handful of guys obviously, Chris Abrams, Drain and Sean Payton,
you know, deemed and kind ofgave the designation as a flex inside
outside guy. I think you're gonnasee competition all across the world. I

(07:20):
don't think anything's really set and zoneright now outside a PS two's job and
I think we're going to see himmove around and play a lot more press
man this year, which I hopeis the case and I know he hopes
is the case as well. TotalCody Roarke from my I Sports Locked On
podcast, Cody, were you surprisedat what felt like an utter lack of
attention to the offensive line this offseason? I mean, you signed Matt pert

(07:42):
for whatever that's worth, Sam Mustafor you know, it was a third
string center, but and you draftedNick Corgiulio and glorious mustache and mullet aside
which he has sent shaved. Itjust does not feel like I mean,
you were basically returning your starting vibeoutside the center position. You let Cush
walks, it's gonna be watt Bergforesight, there must further at the center
position. But it felt like therewas just no attention paid to the offensive

(08:05):
line this offseason. Yeah, Ithink it was a little bit of a
risky gamble. I mean, allcircumstances considered, with never having to move
on from Justin, obviously Lloyd goingelsewhere, obviously having to deal with the
contract ramifications of the Russell Wilson youknow release there, I think there's just
so much. But you know,you look at it, I think we're
all worried and we're wondering because Garatbolis going to be a cap casualty because

(08:26):
you know, obviously he's going toaccount for I think twenty million towards the
cap this year in his final year. So I think we are all wonder
of them. Is never going torelease him? Are they going to try
to extend him? Well, theyhaven't extended him, but they haven't released
him. So it seems like,hey, he's going to be going into
twenty twenty four as the starter.But Denver doesn't really have any long term
optics at the tackle position. Imean, obviously there's Demontre Jacobs who they
like, who's been able to developa little bit on the practice squad.

(08:46):
Alex Polchowski who made the fifty threeman last year. They like him.
They have a couple of other onguys. They got the guy Crumb out
of Wyoming who's going to be inthe mix to compete as well. But
I really think that Okay, you'regoing to have Ben powers. You hope
he plays better than he did lastyear. I think that's going to be
where the team is literally a confidence. They think he's going to bounce back.
Right guard Quinn Miners, obviously consideredone of the best guards in normal

(09:07):
football right now, is due fora big time payday. You just paid
Mike mcglinch. You didn't have thegreatest year, needs a bounce back year
himself. Definitely some uneasy at theoffensive line position, but I do think
that I think Alix Forstyth is goingto be the guy. I you know,
all signs point to it in termsof how Sean Payton has talked about
him. He's smart, he's beenable to red shirt this and you know
all of last year. And italso helps that you you have given snaps

(09:30):
to the guy who you think,who everyone thinks is going to be the
starting quarterback week one and bow Nick. So to me, I think it
was a little bit of a gambleand if it pays off, and then
you know, Sean and George aregonna look like geniuses. If the offensive
line struggles and they lose guys dothe injury and the offensive line is a
turnstile like it was a couple ofyears ago, then everybody's going to say,
and how come you didn't address theoffensive line, I mean never when

(09:52):
they addressed their major needs first obviouslythis year, but you know, the
offensive line I think was definitely agamble on their behalf in terms of what
they have hadn't done at that position. Group quotamay Zach Wilson was traded here
to Denver. There was a lotof conversation where some fans really didn't like
this move. I look at itentirely different. But you tell me what
you think. Do you think withZach Wilson's experience in this league, both

(10:16):
up and down, do you thinkthere's anything that he can provide to bow
Knicks that would make him a betterquarterback in than year one? Uh?
You know, I'm not sure.I'm not sure if there's a you know,
anything he could do to make Bobobetter quarterback. I think competition actually
is gonna make everyone better. Imean, obviously, I think the advantage
he has he's got more starts thanJeris Didham and Boenicks in the NFL have

(10:37):
a combined Let's say, you know, a guy like Boix is more overall
experience dating back to when he playedat college. Obviously, between Auburn and
Oregon, he's played in a lotof big games. He's ahead of the
curb, I think mentally and obviouslyfrom a maturity standpoint than most of these
other guys are. But also lookat it from this standpoint too, Zak
is trying to come into a situationwhere he's trying to rebrand his image a

(10:58):
little bit. I think a greatmention, maybe we can look at,
you know, Josh Dobbs for example, last year, what do we see
from him in training camp in thepreseason end up getting traded? He ended
up getting traded at the trade deadlineto the Minnesota Vikings. Maybe Zach Wilson
can find himself in a situation likethat, or Jeris did him for example.
Yeah, I think you can lookat both of those guys dinner.
But Zach's looking to rebrand his imagea little bit. A lot of people

(11:20):
I've seen are saying like, it'sSean Payton, is you know, can
Sean Payton fix him? It's notSean Payton's job to fix him. It's
Zach Wilson's job to fix the issuesthat he's done from a mechanical standpoint,
But it's Sean Payton's job as thecoach to create an environment around his quarterbacks,
including Zach Wilson. That allowed themto thrive in the best way possible.
And you know, at the endof the day, it's going to
be on Zach to be able tomake the right reads, the right decisions.

(11:41):
And obviously we'll see if that pansout here. But I just think
overall, you have the experience factor. If I had to give a bold
perdition today, gentlemen, I think, all who's going to be the starter
of Week one? And I thinkZach Wilson's going to be the backup this
year with jareds Did them going elsewhere? That's interesting and sort of dovetails with
my next questues, and that issaid, if the bow Nicks is not

(12:03):
the starter week one, is thata massive disappointment? I don't think so.
I think so much depends on Okay, do we feel like he's ready
yet? And look, I thinkSewn ultimately is going to know. I
haven't feeling that. Shawn's like,you know, all regardless, like we
took the chance on this guy,He's never done this before, taking a
first round quarterback. I think youare going to see him go with them.
If he doesn't, I don't thinkthat means that both's not going to

(12:26):
play at all this season, Ithink, and so hey, right now,
we're going to see where we're atright now. There's some things that
we need to adjust on and interms of maybe getting you fully ready to
be able to be the starter atsome point, you could see a situation
where it's one of those midseason handleffsor you know, early on in the
season Week one. I mean,he's going to play on the road in
Seattle, hostile territory. He's playedin an atmosphere just like that, though

(12:46):
when they played the Washington and Inever seemed to really bother him. Obviously,
the NFL is a different level ofcompetition. I wouldn't think it's a
disappointment, though. I think thatwhen bow is ready to play, we'll
see him, whether that's right awayor whether that's at some point this season.
We know. So for any rookieplayer at any position, it's always
tough, but it just seems tobe a little more a little more tough
for playing a quarterback position, especiallyplaying here in Denver when you're following so

(13:09):
many great quarterbacks, like for SeanPayton setting up Bonix. If he is
the starter to come Week one againstthe Seattle Seahawks on the row. What
do you think kind of that isthe best way to kind of set him
up for success. You know atthe outset, well, you got to
hope that Courtland Sutton's still involved withthe team at that point. You obviously
we're all monitoring that situation. Ithink Denver's far better with Courtland than they

(13:33):
are without him. And I alsothink they're here healthy going into it.
That's the main thing. Can theBroncos get through preseason? Can they get
through training camp healthy without losing anykey stars? That's obviously something well knocking
on wood for here. But Ithink ideally to help a young guy out
he gets the start Week one,come out and run the football, have
an established run game there with JavonteWilliams and however, you know, whatever
the rotation may be at that point, and then if it, can the

(13:54):
defense play better than they have andthen they did last year. I mean
that's obviously the big, big questionthat we have for if they can do
those things, I think Bo's gonnahave some success early on. But I
think that's how you put him ina position to succeed Cody. We we
appreciate it as always. Cody Rohar, thanks appreciate you guys. Have a
go one yep, Cody rarc myEyed Sports Locked On podcast. It was
good to check in with Cody anduh and get a pulse. What's going

(14:16):
on with the with the Denver broncosI. I you know, one of
the things that has bugged me isSean Payton is a guy who committed an
absurd amount of resources to the offensiveand defensive lines in New Orleans, especially
early, and that doesn't appear tobe the case. I mean, they
spent a bunch of money on BenPowers and Mike mcglishey, but they really

(14:37):
aren't spending a lot of assets onon those two. And it's interesting to
me how that sort of been Idon't want to say ignored, but it
sort of feels that way. Now. They the defensive side of the ball,
they added Malcolm Roach, Uh,they added Rishard Lawrence. They since
released him. I don't know ifthey signed him back. And and you
know, so they've made some excuseme, they made some additions to the

(15:01):
defensive line. Of course, thetrade from John Franklin Myers, Angelo Blackson,
they you know, they they they'vecertainly added bodies there, but on
the offensive line, I mean SamMusta first is is third on the death
chart at center by Wattenberger, Forsythr. Julio was a what sixth seventh
round guy who's who's a backup guard? Matt Pert is a guy who's barely

(15:22):
played and has had injury issues allover the place. Huge, but he's
had injury issues all over the place. They haven't really added anything else.
I mean, Frank Crumb is there'sthe one, you know, major addition,
and that's a that's a UDFA guythat from from just up the road
there at my own at Wyoming.So are you surprised by the lack of
attention to the offensive line and ofa Sean Payton team. No, I'm

(15:43):
not. And here's why I'm not, because but every guy that you just
name, who's to say that theteam didn't identify something unique from a quality
standpoint in those particular players that theyfelt as though we don't have to go
out and reach for offensive line becausewe feel as though we have those guys
in our building. Better coaching fundamentalsand technique. Now you're able to get

(16:06):
the most out of those guys.But here's the other big The big thing
for me is increased competition. Whenyou are a veteran guy and this say,
you didn't play well the year before, and they take a guy,
whether it's a draft guy or aguy who is a free agent or a
May round guy, you're constantly lookingon shoulder because guess what, they chose
that guy, and he's younger,and he's more cost effective. Notice that

(16:26):
and say cheap. He's more costeffective than you are. So that's going
to increase anxiety in that room,and you hope that it builds the right
attitude and the framework built on competition, and that's what the Bracos seem to
be right now. Yeah, Imean, you have significant money there if
you've paid you know, Garretpole's gonnabe a for new contract after this season.

(16:47):
But Ben Powers, you paid MikeMike mcglinchy, and you had to
let Cush go because you couldn't paidhim. So I don't know, I
just found it. Found it interesting. Guy. When we come back,
we talk a little bit about someof the other Denver sports This weekend,
the Nuggets, the Avs, Rockiesfelt like a never meltdown. This Nebroncos
Country Tonight, Kat Wait, howhard is it just to absorb a loss

(17:07):
like this? After going ahead bytwenty? Nice question, man, the
season's over. That's what's hard.Be enough twenty. The season's over.
You don't understand that the season's over. It's hard, stupid ask questions.
Welcome back to it, Broncos CountryTonight, Benjamin Olbriden, Nick Ferguson,

(17:30):
Grant Smith here with you. Whatdid you think of Malone's I don't even
know what to call it? Almostpetulance, I think there in the moment,
But what did you think? LikeI sort of understand his frustration with
that question, saying like, itdoesn't matter if we were up for you
know, twenty forty two, Likethe season's over. That's the frustrating.
I get that part of the answer. But then you can't come back and

(17:53):
say which is you know? Youcan't come back and tack that on there
at the end. In this businessis your job is to ask questions,
right, and sometimes some of thequestions are not formed in phrase in a
way that you feel fits the circumstances, So you try. You have to

(18:15):
respond in the best way that youcan as a coach and a player.
I you to understand Coach Malone's frustration, but I understand the question because it
was going to come from someone atsome point phrase the same or phrase different,
because the thing that kept sticking out, like Krispy Kreme hot sign,
was you were at home and youwere up twenty and then you lose.

(18:38):
Right, It's like, how didthat happen? So someone was going to
ask the question and going there wasgoing to be some form of accountability for
what just took place, and itwas going to be asked of the players,
and it's definitely going to be askedof the coach. So I don't
think that it was apid question becausewe all wanted to know the answer,

(19:03):
like what was said in the lockerroom to your team at halftime? What
did you say to them after thegame? Known as though they surrendered that
lead at home and you had adeflated fan base. I know everyone in
that locker room was deflated, andyou could see it on Coach Malone's face.
And that's the great thing about beingin the media, and we are
told this as players are, orat least I was told when I was

(19:26):
a member of the New York Jetswin to lose, be aware of what
you and how you were responding,and before you say anything out of your
mouth, pause and think. Andit seemed as though coach Malone was pausing,
but his level of frustration with histeam and the outcome just kind of
got the best of him. AndI'm sure if he could do it again,

(19:48):
I'm thinking that he would do itdifferently. Yeah, I think so.
Twenty one points. Twenty one points. That's thenumber of points every Denver
nugget not named Murray or Yokic combinedscored well. Aaron Gordon had as many
points as he had foules. AaronGordon had four points, Michael Porter Junior

(20:12):
had seven points, KCP had fivepoints, Brawn had five points. Nobody
else scored. Holliday and Jackson didn'tscore, you know, and then you
had sixty nine points combined for Murrayand Jokic, with Yokic chipping another nineteen
boards and seven assists. But Imean the concentrated score. The Timberwolves came

(20:34):
in with a game plan that appearedto work a little bit better, and
that was, we're just gonna letthose two get there, so we'll shut
everybody else down. And they didhere's what happened to the Nuggets. I
know, after they won the title, the conversation I merely turned into championship
hangover. And there were moments induring the season that some have thought that,

(20:57):
but the Nuggets came on. Theyneeded to come on. But this
is part and part of what it'slike to be on the top of the
mountain. You went from being thehunters to the hunted, and night in
and night out, you the Nuggetsreceived the best shot of every single time.
I don't care how terrible the teamwas from a record standpoint. Yeah,

(21:18):
eight of thirty three from downtown twentyfour percent. That's that's not going
to get it done any night.Yeah. Man, it's back to being
the Hunters. It's back to beinguh, you know, fighting for something
with a different type of edge,you know. So I think we know
we beat them, Uh we beatthem in the first round. I know
that's stuck. That stuck for thembecause they're such a good team. So

(21:40):
I know last year, you know, being them sucked for them, and
they came in this year with motivationand they showed it. You know,
we've I feel like we've seen alot of rudy and Mike Conley over the
years they hoist. This year hetalked to you and I were talking before

(22:06):
the show a little bit. Youmentioned Michael Porter Junior. But man,
Aaron Gordon was a no show inthat game. Okay, listen, when
the team loses a game like this, the first thing is like, okay,
well let's pick this thing apart it. And there was a game where
Aaron Going had twenty seven points,he was just on one and the first

(22:30):
thing I thought, Okay, well, it's gonna be interesting to see if
he can keep that up right.But the one thing that we know that
aon Aaron Going brings to the game. He brings a lot of energy and
he's known as being like a defensivespecialist. If there is a guy's a
guard on the opposite team, he'sgonna have the assignment of trying to stap
that particular player. Now, isit pertains to MPJ. He's one of

(22:53):
three guys on the Nuggers roster thaton a max deal. And this season,
if I'm not mistaken, MPJ becamethe Nuggets all time three point percentage
shooter, I believe, And thatwas great. But you know, you're
able to extra names in the storybooks what you do in the postseason,

(23:14):
and there were opportunities where I thoughtthat Michael Porter Jr. Could have stepped
up, But this shows for me, It points out that he's not right
there where he needs to be.Because, in all fairness, no disrespect
to Jamal Murray, but Nikola Jokiccarried this team from the beginning to the

(23:36):
end the Lakers series to the seriesagainst the Timberwolves. It was Nicola Jokic
and it had to be tough forhim to be out there in the field
as though he had no support.Because Murray had two games in this series
where one way he scored twenty four, another when he scored thirty five,
and then he scored twenty four pointsto start off Game seven, but only

(24:00):
score eleven points in the second half. Yeah, you can't. You can't
do that. I know. That'sthe frustrating part about this situation because in
that third quarter, that's where theNuggets lost the game. And we watched
the Nuggets in the third quarter againstthe Lakers, take them apart, that

(24:21):
was their quarter, but in thegame that they needed the most and to
close out, the shots didn't fallfor in the four losses, to Minnesota,
Aaron Gordon was in the double digitnegatives and plus minus negative twenty three,
negative thirty three, negative twenty seven, negative fourteen in the three wins.

(24:48):
He only had one game where hewas double digit and the positive.
But I would take even with thatbeing said, I would still take the
defensive effort of Aaron Gordon opposed towhat we saw from men PJ. Because
even though Anthony Edwards did not havea superior game in Game seven, what

(25:08):
he decided to do is though controlthe controllables, I can draw the attention
of the Nuggets defenders and kick itout on the wings. I could still
play great defense against Jamal Murrow orhom wherever I'm guarding. Right, That's
what Aaron Gordon was able to bringto the Nuggets. Right, even when

(25:29):
you're not having a great shooting night. Well, he didn't that many shots
and he only touched five. Itwas a bad shooting knight for Porter,
who had been with three for twelvefrom the field. But Porter had two
blocks and nine boards where Aaron Gordonhad one block and four boards and only
went two of five from the faithand even had temp shots. Once again,
it's it's it's a difficult moment inthe season because now we're talking about

(25:53):
the Nuggets in past tens. ButI still would take what Aaron brings to
the table opposed to the streaky shootingof MPJ. And I don't want this
to sound as though I don't agree. I wholeheartedly tend to agree. I'm
just saying with the benefit of hindsightor the oh whatever, as I'm looking
at this, and I'm like,you know, as much as I agree

(26:15):
with that, and I would builda roster that way this series. I
don't think this series was determined onthat. I think this serious. I
mean, Porter, it was astreaky shooter, but Aaron Gordon just didn't
contribute much this series. I meanit was points early on of the series,
but he had declining production. Imean, you're talking about the over
the last four games, it wastwenty seven points to the eighteen, then
twelve, then four. Here's whatall of this says to me. During

(26:41):
the offseason, Calvin Booth and coachma Long, They're gonna have to look
at this roster. It makes sometough decisions because I don't want to continue
to go back to it, butI have to. When you look at
the energy that Bruce Brown supply.Right, that was the key part of
the Nuggets being able to win theirfirst championship in forty seven years, and

(27:04):
the Nuggets against lesser teams with Iguess lesser depth, they were able to
just take control of games. Butthis is what happens when you run up
against the team who is hungrier thanyou. They want what you have,
so they want to take it atall costs. In Jamal mentioned it in

(27:25):
our audio because this whole back andforth started last year when the Nuggets eliminated
the Timberwolves in the first round,beating them in five. Just so happened
that the Timberwolves and Jamal they endedup at the same kind of night spot
after that game, and obviously therewas some chatter that was exchange, and

(27:45):
Anthony Veras felt as though, youknow, maybe Jamal was being a little
arrogant. So players remember that,and when you say, well, who
got the best revenge, it wouldbe the Timberwolves because they're moving on,
and I felt like they were kindof about it too. I mean,
the responses that I saw out ofthe Tea Wolves side, I don't think
I saw anything that felt like adig or anything at the at the Nuggets

(28:07):
particularly. I mean, there weresome matter of fact comments, but their
responses felt pretty classy relatively speaking.Especially Yeah, well, especially when you
juxtables that with what we've seen outof other teams in the West over the
last couple of years, looking atPhoenix a couple of years ago, all
that kind of stuff. I like, it just it felt like they did
a pretty good job, like,yeah, we had a business, we're
moving on. Yeah, it definitelyseemed that way. But you can tell

(28:30):
that there were at certain moments ofGame seven, there were certain things that
were being discussed first and foremost,and it bringing up a conversation about sportsmanship.
Yeah, right, and how dohow does each professional club handle that?
I I mean, we saw thingswhat happened with Murray and throwing at

(28:52):
the pack and coach Malone coming onthe floor, and then now you get
these comments by you know, coachMalong the postgame. It just kind of
makes you think about the overall gameitself, because back in the nineties,
this was this was part of it. There was trash talk, there was
physical play. Yeah, this wasthe NBA. But now things have changed

(29:14):
where emotions kind of get the bestof both coaches and players. But I
still figure that the Nuggets need todo something with this roster next season.
They definitely need to handle their bench. They didn't really get a lot of
production out of his technology this year. I thought they were going to do
that, and I was surprised thatPeyton Watson, who we saw the finn

(29:37):
well against the Lakers. It's numbers, you know, started to dwindle in
favor of Justin Holliday, and thenall of a sudden there was no plan
time at all, And like,what happened with that? What's going on
behind the scenes there, because thatdidn't seem to make a whole heck of
a lot of sense. The shortbench that Michael Malone plays with in the
playoffs, is that hurting the team? I mean, are you talking about

(30:00):
games in which guys like Yo Kicha, Murray and Gorgon and getting forty plus
minutes you know, your bench,your total bench. I mean not that
they were huge factors. I meanBron was the only one with the score.
Bron was on for about twenty minutes, got five points, Holiday and
Jackson didn't even score. Yeah.Man, the idea is, once you
get into the playoffs. I knowsome coaches have philosophies that they're only going
to go so deep into their bench, but at this particular point, man,

(30:22):
you got to empty the tank.You know, you got to throw
players at the players. But becausemore poorly they got files to give well,
and you're also in a seven gameseries against the team with a lot
of links, there's gotta be somethingyou can do. And I recognize in
game six, the forty point loss, some of the backups got a little
bit more time because you know obvious, but to me, it felt like
you wanted to kind of you're ataltitude, you're you're you're here in Denver.

(30:45):
It's a seven game series. Castthese guys, run them out to
the building, keep it, keepit fresh, keep their rotation going.
Go go ten deep on your benchinstead of just you know, picking five
minutes for Reggie Jackson, nine minutesfor Holiday and then of course Braun who
who was on for nineteen. Seethat sounds great in theory, you could
do that to any other team,but with Minnesota, they didn't care.
They didn't care about the altitude,they didn't care about the crowd because going

(31:08):
into halftime it was like fifty eightthirty four. Yeah, right, and
the Neggas had a twenty point lead, and you would think where the team
being down like that and watching theseteams go back and forth and the Timberwolves
losing three games only to come backand win you know, game six at
six at home. But the nightwas like, look, we've figured before,
we've had these types of trials andtribulations with the Lakers. We know

(31:32):
how to bounce back. And weare defending champs on our home floor.
So you're thinking you're gonna everything isin your favorite and you gotta get the
calls because you have the three timeMVP. But Minnesota was like, we
don't care about That's the thing.When you're facing teams either with their backs
to the wall or young teams,they don't know that they're not supposed to
know. Well, yeah, youdon't know what you don't know at that

(31:53):
point. But I think like forme, I just look at this.
I'm like, well, you gota t Wolves team that only goes eight
deep and barely on their bench,right, you know, they go that
started five and they go three deepon the bench and that's it and barely
do that. Kyle Anderson gets likefive minutes a game whatever, don't they
don't go into their bench, rightand you don't really have a whole lot
of guys there that can score.So for me, I would have kept

(32:15):
trying to come in waves. Youknow, I mean, even with the
twenty point win, leave no doubt. You know, you don't you don't
have to. You know, youdon't have to pour it on with eight
minutes left in the fourth, Butyou also can't let it a lead evaporate
till you get to the point wherethere's five minutes left in the fourth and
all of a sudden you've given upa lead. Yeah, And the guy
that really changed things for the TimberwolvesJade McDaniel's. I mean the level of

(32:38):
production that he has been a nonfactor and then putting twenty three up right
there to to be the tie forthe leading scorer with Karl Anthony town And
that was the thing. Like lastseason when we saw the Nuggets, the
reason they were able to just kindof destroy teams and make those comebacks was
because they played as a team.And this season they had a great regular

(33:01):
season. They don't want to takeaway from that, but it just didn't
seem the same like that that sameteam energy wasn't there, because when you
look at the fact of Minnesota's bench, those bench players played the role Nikola
Jokic I think only came out forone minute. I think you had one
minute of rest. I don't carewho you are as an athlete, how

(33:25):
much a peak condition you might bein. That is tough to play this
many regular season games and then youknow, you play, you play the
Lakers, and now you're in aseven game stretch against the Temple Wolves.
That's a lot you need someone elseto help you out. And DeAndre Jordan
blessed us Hart, he was onthe roster, loved the guy, great,
you know, great inspiration the fiveguys up, but he wasn't in

(33:49):
the position to spell Nikola Jokic atany time. Right, So that's when
it was going to be an eraof concern for the Nuggets moving forward.
Finding a viable backup at the centerposition that can give quality minutes for Nikola
Jokis when he stakes the rest,Well, that's exactly it I mean.
And if you look, I meanJordan played what twelve minutes in the whole
in the whole playoffs over the courseof two games. So it was garbage

(34:10):
time stuff. So yeah, you'vegot to have somebody who can come in
and give you minutes for the KohliJokic. Here's the Broncos country down O Kaaway