The Ringer NBA Show - Denver Nuggets Predictions and Observations With Adam Mares | Weekends with Wos

Episode Date: October 14, 2022

Wos is back from hiatus and is joined by Adam Mares, VP of creative production at DNVR Sports and host of two Nuggets podcasts, to discuss their thoughts, predictions and all-around observations about this year's Denver Nuggets team. Host: Wosyn Lambre Guest: Adam Mares Producer: Jade Whaley Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hi, I'm Issa Kwanga. And I'm Ryan Hunt. And we co-host Stadio, a football podcast, on the Ring of Podcast Network. Twice a week, Musa and I talk about the goings on in men's and women's football around Europe, and sometimes around the world. We like to zoom in, we like to zoom out, we like to make some silly references. So, if you like soccer or football, make sure you search for Stadio, a football podcast on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. Think we got it?

Yeah, that's good. Gentlemen, to the latest edition of weekends with Woz. I'm Big Was, Waz, a.k.a. Wazing Lamb Ray, and I'm back from a long hiatus. Great summer, great offseason, but we are back at the start of this NBA season. And I'm very honored today to bring on my guy from DNVR. Adam Marez, what's going on, brother? Nothing, man. I'm just excited to be here on weekends with Wise. Talking a little Nuggets.

I love it. Listen, man, a lot of people who will be listening to this will have heard me go on and on and on about how much I love this year's Nuggets team. But, you know, I wanted to have you on the show today because my enthusiasm isn't completely unfounded. There's reasons to be optimistic about this group.

I just, I love their combination of not just talent, but continuity. And the talent is young, if not, you know, sometimes injured, but young. Right. And so there's potential for Jamal Murray to be the best version of himself that we've ever seen for Michael Porter, Jr. to be the best version of himself. For Nicola Yokic, two-time MVP, he could be even better version of himself and then the pieces that they brought in. So I'm excited about the team, but I want to talk to you, Adam, about what did you make of their offseason? Because obviously, we know Jamal Murray and MPJ, two integral parts of the team did not get to play last year.

They lost to the Warriors in, you know, valiant effort that they gave, but the Warriors outmatched them in advance. But what did you think about what they did this off season since so much of what ailed them were just two of their biggest guys being gone. what you think about the pieces they sort of added here? Well, it all starts with Tim Conley's departure. So you mentioned continuity. You know, this is really the Tim Conley or was the Tim Conley era. He was the first guy in in 2013. Michael Malone came later.

Nikoliyokic came later. All these guys came later. So him leaving is, in a weird way, a symbolic departure. I mean, front office, we all know they don't make, you know, once the team's assembled, they don't have quite the same fingerprints on it. But Conley was, and he has said this before, he likes Hoopers. He likes offensive players. He brought in a lot of offensive talent for this team over the years, and they've had a great offense.

The shift going from Calvin Booth and then him going into his first off season, all of the moves that were made were defensive moves. And everything coming out of that he's been saying in press conference since that change has been, we feel we're good enough, if not too good on offensemen. We have a little bit to spare, and we need to replace some of those guys with defensive talent. And that's what you get with Bruce Brown and Catavius Caldwell Pope in particular. So I like the moves. I tend to agree with Calvin Booth's philosophy. They've got some five-man combos.

I think one of the reasons. A couple people are really excited about them. You being one of them, you know, high-profile people that are thinking about picking the nuggets. I think the thing that gives people the most confidence is they have multiple five-man lineups right now. You could roll up that you say, yeah, that makes sense. That's got offense. That's got defense.

That's got versatility. And that's not something they've had every year where they've had a five-man lineup. They say, okay, we'll throw that up with the other team's best five-man lineup. and we think it's at least equal if not better. I want to talk about Contavius Caldwell Pope for a second because I think some people, again, not me, when the deal was made was like, whoa, you're giving up two rotational guys, Will the Thrill and Monty to get one dude in here?

Like, what's that about? And to me, it's obvious. Bone talent can come in and be your backup lead guard and fit-wise, Catavius Carlwell-Polpope both defensively and his ability to knock down an outside shot. He's a better shooter than Will Barton. That's just a fact.

I don't think that's something that can be argued. And the versatility that he has in guarding ones and guarding certain type of wings, like, I can't, you can't overstate how much better the fit is. What did you think about what they gave up to bring Kenny in? That move to me is the perfect encapsulation. of what we're talking about. Like, Will Barton, is KCP a better shooter?

Probably a better catch-and-shoots shooter. But I don't know if he's a better offensive player because Thrill could put the ball on the court. He could pass. He could run point if you had to. He could play three if you had to. And Monta was obviously very steady, good catch-and-shoot three-point shooter. So you're losing two very good offensive talents and you're getting one good

offensive talent back. But the key is just fit. I mean, the defense, Denver has to get into a playoffs. You look at last year, Golden State, Boston, all the teams that go to the final four, they don't just have one guy you could throw on a perimeter player, guard, a pick and roll player. They've got two, three, four guys. And KCP represents a far better defender than Monta Morris, who was just undersized, a far better defender than Will Barton, who I think injuries had really ravished him.

Also, he just was never a great defensive player, but as he got older. Even when he was right, yeah. Yeah, even when he was right. So you get KCP in there, and it's like, okay, offensively, do we need a ball handler with Jamal Murray coming back with Bones Highland on the rise? We probably don't need it. We're covered there. he's a good shooter, he's content, or it seems he appears to be content.

If you have four or five possessions where he doesn't touch the ball, he's used to it. He's played with teams like that. So I think it really just comes down to you lost some aggregate scoring, but you didn't need it, and you pick up a guy that solves the one problem Denver has to solve, in my opinion, to win a championship, which is how can we defend it, just something of a high level, top 10 level, and he gives you promise to do that. And then, of course, they brought in Bruce Brown, another guy who I love, love fit wise because his versatility position wise, like the kinds of guys he's able to guard

is incredible. And my favorite thing, and I can't stop saying this enough is his feel on offense. He's not some lockdown shooter. He's not some wizard with the ball handling or anything. But he just intuit where to be, knows when to cut, knows when to move, can set a hard screen. And I think you pair that with what Yokic does. On the floor, I just think that's a beautiful marriage.

I think he's going to be the guy that pops this year. Once they arrive at, you know, where he's going to play. In the pre-season, I say that because in the preseason, he's mostly just been a bench player. You know, it's preseason. You don't see a lot of minutes. I think Yokic has played like 12 minutes. So we haven't seen Bruce and Yokch together. So I don't know exactly what that'll look like.

But I agree with you. So number one, here's the thing that's interesting about Bruce. You're right that he knows how to read the court. And when you play with Yokic, to me, that's one of the most important things. Just do you know where you're supposed to be? Do you know where you're supposed to cut? Are you reading it? It's not like I'm running the play.

It's, oh, they're guarding it this way. I got to make this reaction then to punish them for it. And he's one of those guys that I think just reads it really, really quick. Like KCP, I think he's a guy that doesn't care if he doesn't touch the ball, two, three, four possessions in a row. He knows what the deal is. Okay, they're cooking. I'll get out the way.

I'll kind of just do the thing I got to do. But the thing that makes him most interesting, you got Michael Porter, Jr., who represents this huge upside for you offensively. I mean, that guy just doesn't miss. He's such a unique player. I'm sure we'll get to him. But he's a little lost on defense. And Denver's already got guys that, just a little.

And Denver's already got a couple guys that are, you know, at least average, if not slightly below that. In Yokic and Murray, Murray coming back from injury, you can't have more than one bad defender, but you definitely can't have two or three, you know, average defenders if you're trying to go to the finals. Bruce Brown, to me, represents if the offense, you've got enough bases covered, and the other team in a playoff series is starting to attack MPJ as they, have done in the Portland series, as they've done in series in years past, you can say in a closing lineup or in your key lineups, all right, let's put Bruce in for Michael Porter. We lose a little offense, but we trust Murray and Yokic can handle that. And now you have KCP, Aaron Gordon,

Bruce Brown, three guys who I think are all very good defenders, switchable defenders, tough defenders, they play hard, that they compete on that end. And now you say, okay, we got three good defenders, two average defenders, and we have a two-man game that really has never been proven to be stopped by anyone. So I think that represents for Denver. Michael Porter represents their upside. If he clicks defensively, great. But if not, Bruce Brown replaces him in a closing lineup that makes sense a la

Gary Payton last year for the Warriors. Okay, so I want to get into Michael Porter and Jamal Murray because obviously the team basically goes as they go. And again, the proof is in the pudding with last year. These guys couldn't play. They just couldn't get to a level. And why I'm so high on Denver is two things. What I've seen Murray and Yokic accomplished together offensively since the bubble.

From the bubble on, remarkable stuff. These guys are a mind meld. They are so instinctual. The way they feed off of each other, you can't scheme against it. Right? Like, defenses like to know what's coming so they could load up on. one thing or they could, you know, make sure to keep this defender here or whatever the case may be, like, you can't do that with these guys. They're going to attack whatever your weak point is, right?

So I'm not really too worried about Jamal Murray coming back and figuring out his form. But I will ask, what, from the last time we saw him hoop, what do you think are some of the things he could have improved upon. And how likely is it that he will do that the first year coming off of an ACL? I love this question. It's really interesting because I love that you pointed out since the bubble. It wasn't just the bubble. Because I think there's a perception in people's mind that Murray had this one good run.

Yeah. He had a 50-point game where he went 21 to 25 with zero free throws, 50 points, zero free throws. That was after the bubble. That was in a regular crowd, regular environment. The guy can get really, really hot. And I think from watching him all this time, you know, all these years, I can almost notice now when he's about to heat up. He has, he's always in good shape. He gets into this moment in great shape, late in seasons, right before the playoffs, like he works his way towards it, where you can just see

he's a little more cut, he's a little more lean. And all of a sudden, his one-on-one moves just get a little tighter, a little cleaner, a little quicker. And so for me, what happened in the bubble, and he'll even tell you this, there was nothing to do. So he'd just work out, eat, sleep, go to the gym, play. And he was in as quick as I've ever seen. He was locked in. You saw him right before he got injured when he had that 50-point game in Cleveland, by the way that I'm talking about.

You saw him. He looked the exact same way. He had lost maybe just a little bit of weight where you could tell he was extra jittery and there's nothing anybody could do about him. He just, you get a switch, a one-five switch, which is part of what makes them so dynamic. It's so hard not to switch against Yokic and then you end up getting a five out there. When he's that quick, he's just making everybody look silly.

And so for me, that's what it is. And I've watched him in the preseason. He looks healthy. He looks good. But he doesn't quite look jittery like he does when he's at his absolute apex just yet. So the conditioning isn't there yet. And we think once he gets his legs sort of under him, his wind under him, he'll be back. And so that brings me to MPJ because he's the biggest wild card.

His injury history is the scariest. Yeah. He is on a max deal with that check. injury pass. And look, and look, you don't got to get too much into it. But like, I've heard things about Michael Porter Jr. and the kind of dude that he is that haven't exactly been flattering. Right. And that's where he's his approach to the team concept.

Let's just say that. That hasn't been the most flowery description. That's like he's fucking young as hell. That's not to say he can't improve upon that. I'm just saying that's what I've heard about, you know, his approach to that kind of thing and his own belief in himself and all that type of stuff. What is he going to do for this team that if Porter Jr. is doing this, that's realistic in his skill set. The nuggets are going to be, you know, cooking with grease here.

Yeah. It's funny, man, because I always say basketball is a spiritual game. I love that phrase, and I love looking at it this way, because it's not always just a, oh, you have to check all these boxes, and now you got all the boxes checked. It's also this thing about sacrifice and other things. And when you talk about Porter, you know, maybe he wants to do things a different way. He's one of the guys who can. This is what makes it so tough. He can make tough shots.

He makes a lot of tough shots every single game, and they're not always within the flow of the offense, but they're shots that he's comfortable with. So how do you get a guy? It almost reminds me in some ways on a smaller scale. Don't get mad at me, Lakers fans. It almost reminds me a little bit of Kobe early on in his career. where it was, yeah, we're winning, but we could win this other way, too, where I get more shots and I can make it work.

And Porter, I think, has a little bit of that of we play so much in the system. Yes, it's working, but we can play my system and it'll work too. And I think the biggest challenge for me on the Nuggets, there are two questions. One, can they defend at that high level? We just talked about Bruce Brown, KCP, how they help there. That's the biggest question. The secondary question is, I don't think they've ever gotten 100% of Murray Yokich and Porter. They've gotten 100% of Murray Yokich.

Those two guys work it out. those three guys haven't always blended. There's always been a little bit of, all right, we haven't called Porter's number in a while. Let's call it. Let's all kind of stand around and see what he's going to do. And he makes it at a high enough clip at the regular season that you can kind of bear it. But to win with him on the court, he's going to have to have that same synergy with Yokish that Jemal does. And he's going to have that same chemistry with Jamal that Yokich does.

And you blend the three of those guys together. Then I really do think it becomes an unstoppable trio because he's a 45% three-point shift. shooter at 6 foot 11, a 50% mid-range shooter at 6 foot 11, and teams have to switch against Denver so much, he has so many opportunities to elevate and rise. He just has never quite figured out where those shots are coming from in a way that sort of agrees with Yokic and Murray. What's Mike Malone's version of an idealized Michael Porter, Jr.? This is what's, and this is part of what's tough. That's a great question, because I think what Michael Malone would like, and I think what Nikoliyokic would like, what are the big points?

of emphasis this year has been get to the corners. And I've talked to other writers that have been listening to this and they're saying, and how does a guy like Michael Porter think about just run to the corner, run to the corner? He's too good just to do that. And I always hear, when I hear him say that I hear get to the corner to start and trust that the offense is going to just keep flowing. That you're going to Marie Yokich get first crack at it, pick and roll. Let's see what happens. How the defense reacts? Then we're going to react to that and find the open guy. But it's curious to me that other writers, and I suspect Michael Porter himself here, get to the corners and out of the way. if you're open, then we'll get you a shot.

So to me, I think that Michael Malone would like him to be the third option, but a third option that is going to not feel necessarily like a third option as this evolves, that he will be getting to eat just as much as the other guys, just as he gets the second crack at the offense. But here's the thing. Yokic is, I know this word gets overused a lot. He is an unselfish superstar. He's not looking for one thing.

He really is looking for, I don't care who it is. If you're open, I'm going to find you, and don't think I'm just, looking to score right away. First five seconds, I'm looking to score. So to me, Michael Malone, I think, wants him to be patient, get to his spots, and trust that the offense is going to find him six, seven seconds into the possession rather than just the first two seconds of a possession. Yeah, because, see, man, I didn't really think of this, but it makes sense, right? It's this idea that if, and the best teams have this faith in one another, meaning it's this idea that like my man cannot leave me when I'm in the corner and I have faith that a spread

court four on four, Nicola Yokic and Jamal Murray are going to slice and dice these defenses in a way that they got to do something else. And that's where stuff starts to open up for me. And I think, yeah, the best teams believe in a system that will reward, you know, patience and faith, right? Patience and faith that not only are they going to dominate teams that, you know, decide that their man has to stick on Michael Porter, when they don't, I'm going to get the rock, you know? There has to be some faith that when defenses change their approaches after Denver inevitably eviscerates them, Michael Porter Jr. will get the rock. And another thing, because if it was just that, I would understand the perspective of, yeah,

but all I get to do is shoot three is when the defense overhelps. Even that is for a role player, not for a guy who sees himself as a star. But to me, part of it, and I mentioned this a couple of times now, what makes Denver so dynamic is teams just prefer to switch everything in today's NBA, especially off ball actions. Denver has guys that punish you for that whenever you switch. When you spread the court properly, you run that Yokich Murray two-man game in transition, first screen. The court starts to get switched.

And now all of a sudden guys are out of place. And one of the things that makes Yokic great is he doesn't go, oh, I've got a small guy, let me go to the post and just get the ball. He goes, okay, floor's unbalanced. I got a little guy on me, big guys out there on the perimeter. I'm just going to run a dribble handoff with Michael Porter. Now I'm going to run pick and roll with him because now the team, they don't know how to guard this either. So to me, if you just told him stand in the corner and either catch threes or space the court,

that would be not a lot. But what really, in my opinion is going to happen is it's going to be more where the defense gets compromised in the first three or four seconds, you play continuity basketball, and you're just going to get a lot of wide open shots because teams are out of their element trying to guard the stuff Denver's doing. Yeah, we spent a lot of time talking about how good Denver can be

and how good we think they will be because of just the talent. And, you know, because we want to be fair on this podcast, I don't want people to say, wow, you're completely in the tank. What do you think are some of the deficiencies in where they get in trouble? What I mean is, like, what are the version of events that happen that don't involve catastrophic injuries that hold this team back in their ultimate pursuit? Well, this defense that we're talking about is purely theoretical at the moment. I mean, we're adding some guys in there, but you saw last year, I mean, they got carved up by the Golden State Warriors and Pick and Roll. The Warriors, by the way, don't run a lot of pick and roll in the regular season.

They do a bunch of offball action. They got to the playoffs and they said, pick and roll. We don't need to do anything else. So it still remains theoretical that Denver can become a top 10 defense. And I think if you go back to last 20 years, the only team to win a championship that wasn't a top 10 defense was, I believe the 2001 Lakers, which we know that regular season was different. Maybe it was 2002 Lakers. I don't remember. But it was one of those Lakers teams with Shaq.

You've got to be a top 10 defense. And I think Bruce helps. I think KCP helps a lot. I think Aaron Gordon can have an Andrew Wiggins-like impact on a team, meaning people view him as a superstar and I think he's actually an elite role player and he finally gets to be that for the first time in his career this year. And so I think I think you can have the right personnel to do it. But until we see it, that's always going to be the big holdup. Can you, I think they're going to outgun a lot of people.

I think they can put 120 on the best defenses in a playoff series. But they have to prove that they can hold other teams to 110, 110, 115 when all the stakes matter still. Now, I don't want to be completely dismissive of the Clippers, but I am. I think Denver would give them the business in a playoff series. I did too. I really truly believe that. And a lot of people on this Clippers thing, but I think the Golden State question is the ultimate question

because Golden State is going to put Yokic in pick and roll, which, you know, I can accept it as somebody who loves Yokic and is a big believer in him. That's his greatest weakness is defending out in space against elite pick and roll. And I think Golden State would present the same issues that they did last year. However, I watched that series. Golden State expert, masterclass level of defensive collective IQ in execution, in understanding scheme, and understanding the other team's personnel. Like, they are at the top of the list of teams that do that well defensively.

And Yolkich was a one-man record crew. They couldn't do a goddamn thing with him, Adam. And they didn't have anybody else. That's the funny part about it. Once you got deeper into that series, you knew Yoke was shooting it. He had no one to pass to. He had nothing to do. They were running these actions to try to get him. It was all these elaborate ruses just to get him the ball in the block where they knew he was going to anyway. So I'm with you. I think Yokic over the last two years. If we think about his two MVP seasons, what changed in him, what made him different? Well, part of this was, I think, just a natural maturation process.

But part of this was when you took Jamal Murray away from him, you took Michael Porter away from him. He looked around and goes, I can't, I got to just be more aggressive. I got to shoot through double teams, sometimes triple teams. And we had games last year was. And it's funny, I almost could tell the people that are in on Yokic and the people that are still skeptical. It's specific games. Did you watch the Pelicans game? Did you watch the Clippers game? Pelicans game, I think, 46 points, 33 of those in the fourth quarter or something like that. That's something ridiculous. And if you watch, I mean, he has like a dozen of these a year where it's fourth quarter, it's tight. And he knows, knows the only option is one on one. I got to just go or one on two. And he has it. And I've just seen it

too many times now to think like, okay, that's the difference. Now you give him his weapons. He's going to spread the ball around. But I just think he's at a level now in the top tier of guys when you say, we just need a bucket. The whole defense's eyes on you. They know you're going to shoot it. Can you do it? And he can do it now. And he couldn't do that two years ago. Yeah, in crunch time where, again, it's of my opinion. You can disagree with me if you want out there. In crunch, Crunch time, he is the most lethal offensive weapon in the game. And to me, it's because he can generate shots at the basket against set defenses in crunch time. Like, there's not a lot of people who can do that.

Like, he's just going to bully a dude and get a shot from three feet away. And if you try to take that away by sending extra help or whatever you want to do, he is going to find that dude. Like, he's carving everything up. And you put that in an offense where Michael Porter is spacing you out to 30. feet and I got Jamal Murray and I got Casey P. Like, what? You're not stopping me. But yeah, the defense is going to remain a question.

I think specifically teams that can carve you up in elite pick and roll, right? I think Phoenix is another one just because they have two guys that can handle. It's different than the way Golden State does it, but it's still you can run you can run Yokic and three pick and rolls in one possession every time down the court if you're Phoenix. Yeah. And I think a team like Brooklyn with Kyrie Irvin where, you know, because you have to guard him, out to 25 feet in any pick and roll action.

Like, that would be hard. Again, not in their conference, so it doesn't matter, realistically. There are teams that can attack that weakness, but it's not a bunch of teams, okay, that can just hurt them for what their deficiencies are. And so, you know, that brings me to my next question, man, because I got to get you on the record, Adam. I know you on the ground.

I'm of the belief that this is the greatest assemblage of talent in my lifetime that the day. nuggets have ever put together. I don't remember another year where the nuggets have a legitimate chance to win it's like, it's legitimate. This ain't Carmelo and Chauncey and all of them. Who that

was a nice team, talented team? This team is legitimately a title contender. I'm on the record, I said it on group chat. To me, they're the number one team power ranking going into the season as far as I'm concerned. I think they're going to win the championship this year.

Adam, I want to know what your prediction are win total wise and what do you what do you think is going to play out this year for these guys well first of all hold up hold up i got to put some respect on the 2009 nuggets man that was a real contender i got to put some respect on chansea billows man okay okay okay i mean okay okay okay i'm not you look that's not an unreasonable thing to say at all but i do agree with you that i think this is the best team that the that the nuggets have ever assembled and put together that has the most promised, the most upside, all of those things. In large part, because you're talking, I mean, this is a no-brainer.

Yoke's the best nugget to ever play. Every time MVP. They've never really had anybody get more than a couple votes for MVP. So no question about it for me. I hate to do this because I know you're high on them. I've talked to a lot of people. I'm very high on them, but I don't think I can make them the favorites. I just don't see them that way.

I think they're very good. The Michael Porter question is still there. One thing I keep looking at, Oz, is Michael Malone has a couple traits. as a coach. The Nuggets play five-man units more than anybody else, meaning if you look at the starters for the Nuggets last year with Jeff Green played more minutes than any other five-man combo, if you look two years back, more minutes than any other combo, he just doesn't like to blend lineups for some reason, hockey lineups, bench, you're in. I think he's going to have to though. I agree. And this is why I'm a little bit, you know, I'm a little bit curious about the

configuration of this team because Michael Porter is obviously going to start. He's going to play a lot of minutes. But to me, Denver's key is going to be with Bruce Brown playing a lot of minutes in that first lineup. And probably Michael Porter played a lot of minutes with that second lineup is this sort of second version of the nuggets that's going to be really tough. Bones and MPJ, those two great one-on-one players. Not a lot of benches are built to kind of defend that kind of talent. So to me, I'm a little hesitant because I think to win, the team's going to have to do a few things I've just never seen them do. And one of those is Michael Malone playing these blended lineups. Nonetheless, I don't think it's a crazy pick to take the nuggets. I think they're going

to get 52, 53 wins. By the way, little note, the nuggets always hit their over. This is the public. The public always undervalues Denver. Trust me, we know this here in Debra, man. But they always put them low. They always beat it. Nobody ever talks about it.

So we're giving y'all free money on this damn opening weekend with Waz podcast, man. There you go. So I think 52, 53 wins seems like the right number to me. I think they can be a top three seed. I just think the regular season's easy for them. And then if they avoid a team, team like Golden State, I don't know what Phoenix looks like at the end of the year, but if they avoid a team that can really pick and roll them with a point guard, a scoring point

guard, then I think that there's no team that scares me. I'm with you about the Clippers. The things the Clippers do well, Denver's equipped to guard, and Clippers we've seen cannot guard Yokkish. Some of the Yokic's best games over the last two years have come against the clippers. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Zub is a balkin boy. He's Yokic's son.

Man, watching Yokicch and Eurobasket, man. And understanding that he's like embraced his leadership role where like everybody understands he's the guy. And he embraces, he takes it seriously. You know, like he puts us all into what it means to lead the squad. I just can't say enough about the guy. And so, yeah, I'm excited about this. But let me say this, though, Watts,

because that's a great point because Yokic, three years ago, four years ago, he was goofy. He's still goofy. He's still the Joker. But you could see, like, I always think back to this, that Anthony Davis shot in the bubble, right? The Lakers are up 1-0. Yokic just hits a shot, actually, with two seconds left to put the nuggets up. He had hit like four straight possessions he had scored, dude.

And you're thinking, okay, Yoke just hit a game winner. It's going to be 1-1. And at the inbound, Yokic is doing like a goofy dance to distract the inbounder. And I remember thinking at the time, like, hey, man, that's not the moment for jokes. Not that it mattered, not that it's his fault that AD ended up hitting a shot. out there, but it was one of those things where you're like, you don't need to do the goofy thing here. Yoke, I think over the last two years, as is normal, he's 20, what, seven now, I just think he's become more mature, more serious.

And to your point, when you watch the guy, this isn't, again, I don't want to overread these things, but I'm just giving you an anecdote. When he comes out for warm-ups, when he goes through all of his shooting routine, everything is just very focused. There's no, like, joking around with him anymore. And I do think that's a sign of a person that's matured, a competitor that's matured, and somebody that knows, like, hey, it takes 100%. of my focus and energy to be the best version of me.

So I agree with your take there about how seriously he takes this. Yeah, man, I just look, and I'm going to say it again, I think the Nuggets unit, offensive unit, is the best in the league. I think there's no unit, there's no defense that exists in the NBA that can stop them from doing what they want to do. And just to compare a contrast, right? Boston Celtics defense last year where it was like, okay, these are world beaters. some of the best defenses that I've ever seen.

Golden State found answers to defeat that defense, right? Like, they found the way to do it. I just think that unit is so unstoppable. And in these close games, they're going to be able to grind out great offensive possessions, game after game after game. And in the postseason, to me, that's what matters. Golden State deserves to be the favorite. You know, they should be the favorite.

They got some weird things going on over there internally. But however, I just think there's something special about the team that Denver's put together. And if they could, if Mike Malone could find it in his heart to every now and again, MPJ, you'll have to sit out. That's tough, man. Your whole turnstile routine where you just straight up don't guard anybody. I want to think he's going to develop the amount of pride, the requisite pride to be a passable defensive player. But like if he's not, we got options, baby. Like, what you do is scoring.

We don't need. That. And so I just love the scheme versatility, lineup versatility that they possess. They have the two-time MVP. If Steph is the best offensive playing in the league, Yokic is right there. It's neck and neck, if not tied or something. I agree. I agree. And so, yeah, I really, really love this team, man. And so that's why I was really excited for you to come on here today. Tell the people where they could find your work. Yeah, man. We got DNVR. The best entry point, if you've never heard of us, is just to check out our YouTube page. We do really cool stuff there.

We do post-game shows, you know, after every Nuggets game. And we just went to Serbia-wise. I'm deep at all of this research, man. I was out there with the World Cup qualifiers watching Yokic versus Janus out in Belgrade. We got a documentary coming out here in a couple weeks on that trip and all the things we learned. So DMVR's YouTube page is the best entry point. That's awesome. I, man.

You heard it here first. Adam Juarez. Thank you again, my brother. We're doing this a little bit different this year. We're going to be dropping on Fridays instead of Sundays. But, yeah, weekends with Wads. every single week on the Ringer NBA podcast feed. We'll see you guys next week.

I want a shout out to Jade Whaley for this maiden voyage with us. She produced the show, she kilted. And so we'll see you guys next week.