These days, if it fits in Doug Moe’s fantasy world, he’s all in.
Fantasy football. Fantasy baseball.
“I’m totally involved in it,” he said. “I like baseball because every day, once April 2 starts, in some larger leagues you’re doing four or five hours a day on this fantasy stuff.”
He grinned.
“It keeps you busy.”
Busy is good. Moe always liked a fast pace. He coached the Nuggets that way back in the day, and, on Thursday he was in the house at the AT&T Center in San Antonio to see what the fuss in this new era of high-scoring, fast-paced Nuggets basketball was all about.
He’d heard about Nikola Jokic, the team’s burgeoning star center, but had never seen him or met him. He’d heard the scoring was going through roof. He’d seen the scores. But as much as anything, he wanted to see a team he still loves. The Nuggets are close to his heart. Always will be. That the Nuggets are playing this way is also close to his heart.
Moe sat courtside just a few chairs away from the head coach’s seat, prior to the game, to talk about it.
“It depends on who you’ve got, your talent and different things like that,” Moe said. “If you’ve got some people who can push it, some people who can run I think itap a good style. But nowadays you’ve got to be able to do everything, because you’re going to get slowed down at times.”
He glanced down the court.
“Thatap why San Antonio has been so good,” he said. “They can run; they can slow it down.”
Moe lives in San Antonio with his wife, Jane. Getting to basketball games isn’t on their radar screen anymore. They’d been to so many over the years that they usually watch on television. But this night, to see the Nuggets, to reconnect with so many friends he still has in the organization, was worth the drive through dense San Antonio traffic.
One by one, Nuggets staffers hugged him and joked with him and it all felt as if it never missed a beat. It was all as familiar as a Moe team sprinting up court in a rush to get to the rim. Current coach Michael Malone’s Nuggets are hitting those same notes, fast-breaking their way into being one of the NBA’s most potent offenses.
The effort to get a team to dedicate itself to a breakneck pace isn’t lost on Moe.
“Itap hard. Itap hard,” he said. “You’ve got to have guys that want to do it. They’ve got to believe in it. You’ve got to believe in it enough to get them to believe in it. Itap hard to keep the pace. Itap a long season, games are long. So that part is pretty tough. But once you establish it, guys get used to it and if they are into it they’ll be good at it.”
These Nuggets are into it. And they’re proving to be good at it. They lost to the Spurs but Jokic didn’t disappoint, scoring a career-high 35 points. More and more he’s becoming the face of the franchise.
These Nuggets have caught the eye of the coach whose accomplishments hang in the Pepsi Center rafters. Putting a smile on Moe’s face? Itap no fantasy. More like a satisfying reality.
Spotlight on The Process
Whatap up: The tanktastic Philadelphia 76ers are suddenly winning games, going 7-2 in their last nine games headed into a back-to-back weekend set.
Background: Every NBA fan knows it by name now – The Process. It was started by former general manager Sam Hinkie, whose legacy is carried on by the team’s star rookie, Joel Embiid, who branded himself with that nickname and has been laughing, dancing, smiling, and playing great basketball ever since. Losing at an epic level, for years, was Hinkie’s aim, in order to give the Sixers the best chances to secure top draft picks. Tanking now to win in the future.
Hinkie was eventually fired but he’s quietly getting the last laugh as his plan is starting to show signs that it will pay off. Embiid is the runaway choice for Rookie of the Year at this point, and coach Brett Brown, who had to willingly sacrifice winning is finally getting to taste some victories. And that has made a coach Brown formerly worked for, San Antonio’s Gregg Popovich, happy.
“Itap one of my joys in life, to watch them win basketball games,” Popovich said. “If there’s any team that deserves it, itap those guys. They’ve had it really tough, for all of the obvious reasons. And there’s nobody in our business that is more positive and day-to-day upbeat and ready to teach and love than Brett Brown. He’s a unique, unique guy.”
Dempsey’s take: Wouldn’t you know it, this streak of winning began with a victory over the Nuggets on Dec. 30. Philadelphia surpassed its win total of last season – 10 games – on Jan. 11. If the Sixers were in the Western Conference, they’d be in striking distance for the eighth playoff spot, which is crazy to think about. Their steady improvement has been a feel-good story this season. Itap up to them to ensure it has a good ending.
