How many other players can we say that about on the Nuggets’ roster? Four? Five? The list begins with Jamal Murray, includes Christian Braun, maybe a few others, and finishes with Gordon.

It felt like each question on Friday circled back to Mr. Nugget.

President Josh Kroenke insisted “everything is on the table” this offseason, but his answers suggested moving on from Gordon is not one of them.

Nuggets Nation, rejoice at your own risk. Everybody loves Gordon. He has endeared himself to teammates and fans alike because of his unselfishness and toughness.

He plays well. He plays hurt. But he no longer plays enough.

And that is why the leadership press conference came off as underwhelming.

Injuries and complacency were cited for the disappointing first-round exit. Sure, coach David Adelman — he is not going anywhere as Kroenke has “full faith” in him — went into the weeds about needing more ball handlers against pressure and better defensive rebounding.

But much of the talk centered on health and motivation. Those are reasons for the Nuggets’ postseason flop. They are easy to identify. What was not offered were solutions, just a lot of word salad and crossed fingers.

Kroenke mentioned “running it back” as a potential best option so many times that it was like he saw the Broncos’ offseason and said, “Hold my drink.”

As plans go, static would be a mistake.

There is no way Kroenke can digest the postseason, remove emotion and decide to stand pat. Hope is not a strategy unless you are the 2019-2025 Rockies.

The Nuggets are too smart to do something so basic. Nuggets Nation deserves better.

The Nuggets are not a title contender. I was hoping Kroenke would look to his left (Adelman) and right (co-general managers Ben Tenzer and Jon Wallace) and break the news.

Instead, they ran out the tired trope that any team with Jokic remains in a championship window. He is responsible for much of their success. And he is also their crutch. We have Jokic. We are fine.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

The Nuggets need more athleticism, more length, more anger, more hunger.

Kroenke acknowledged that he was frustrated by the Nuggets’ response in Games 3 and 4, but stopped short of admitting it revealed a locker-room fissure. His team got curb stomped, and reading between the lines on Friday, you would have thought it was because the Nuggets waited too long to give Tyus Jones minutes to initiate the offense and were too dependent on Jokic’s 3-pointers.

There are annual lessons in sports about the dangers of standing pat. Especially about players. Don’t love them. Like them. Be real. Be transparent. And if you cannot do either of those? Be willing to change.

If another ring is the goal, it must go beyond trading Cam Johnson and signing Peyton Watson.

Instead, the Nuggets talked about Gordon as if there were only one path forward: helping him heal, physically and emotionally.

This is admirable. It just doesn’t seem logical.

Gordon has missed 77 games the past two seasons because of a battery of calf and hamstring injuries. He turns 31 in September as he enters his 13th season.

What we have watched is a former Superman fighting his body and his mind in a public setting that we wished were private.

His older brother, Drew Gordon, died in a car accident on May 30, 2024. Gordon has said that he has struggled to process his grief, and he believes it has contributed to the endless leg issues.

Everyone deals with loss differently. There is no blueprint.

The Nuggets aim to assist Gordon.

“Aaron is one of my favorite human beings I have come across in all of our wide world of sports. What he has been through since we won a championship is simply tragic and would be difficult for anybody to deal with,” Kroenke said. “To have to go through it (in public) and knowing what he does for his family behind the scenes, it is very demanding on the human body. We have to help him get better at it. That����ap absolutely something we have to talk about. We have to look in the mirror and say, ‘AG how can we help you?’^”

When he is right, so are the Nuggets. But are they confusing loyalty with reality?

No one can convince me that there is not a market for Gordon’s contract, even with $103.5 million remaining if he exercises a 2028-29 player option.

Calling the Celtics to see if they would consider swapping Derrick White for Gordon is a must. All they can say is no.

I don’t sense any motivation for a deal. Gordon is not only their guy but also a favorite of Jokic. And the idea of upsetting Jokic before he signs a four-year extension is unnerving.

That leaves a narrow road for improvement. Heal Gordon. And perform some nips and tucks. If shipping out Gordon remains a non-starter, then the Nuggets must get honest about Jokic.

He needs a rim protector. There are too many nights when he is uninterested in defense; his focus is on quickly grabbing the ball as it goes through the net to throw an outlet pass. Gordon is a terrific defender, and there should be discussions with him about focusing on that side of the ball and letting others — like Watson — pick up the scoring.

Regardless, Denver has to add a deterrent in the paint. Someone who can elevate and intimidate. The latter was so lacking against the Timberwolves that it was embarrassing.

The easy thing to do is keep the roster similar, believing that with an overhauled training staff, the team’s injury report won’t look like an episode of “The Pitt.” And to be clear, there must be changes behind the scenes.

It leaves a trade of Johnson as the move to clear the runway for Watson.

That is a little thing. The heavy lifting is navigating the weighty stuff surrounding Gordon.

You know Jokic wants him to stay. The Nuggets’ brass loves him. And fans constantly ask: How can the Nuggets win without him?

The better question: Can the Nuggets still win with him?

Denver capitulated to the Minnesota Timberwolves in six games, a championship bid ending in vacant stares and shaking heads. Braun accepted responsibility. Then he elaborated. 

“I just think I’m the leader of this team,” Braun said. “I’m the vocal leader of this team. And when we don’t play well as a whole, you can blame whatever you want … You can blame anything. But I didn’t play well enough as an individual, and I didn’t have this team ready enough to play in a tough series. So we’ll be better. I’ll be better. I’m looking forward to next year, when we can respond.”

Braun deserves criticism for his awful playoff performance and his lost regular season due to an ankle injury. His quote, on the surface, was absurd. More concerning is that it set off no alarms among his teammates.

How could it? Minutes earlier, Jamal Murray admitted that the Timberwolves wanted it more, and took “it kind of personal.”

Braun meant what he said because he has grown into an outsized role over the past three years in a locker room with a three-time MVP, a player whose number will hang from the rafters and a veteran known affectionately by fans as Mr. Nugget.

This is why the Nuggets are doomed without adding their own version of Gabe Landeskog.

The Avs are 51-7-8 with Landeskog in the lineup this season. But his real value lies in his leadership.

He is the captain, and leads by example, both physical and verbal. Teammates can go to him with concerns, and he is able to communicate points to the coaching staff. Avs players will do what he tells them out of respect, out of love, not fear (that is reserved for Nathan MacKinnon’s glare).

And he takes up for them on the ice.

The importance of this cannot be overstated. You want to mouth off, Landeskog will talk with his fists. You want to take a run at MacKinnon or Cale Makar, a hard check into the boards will be postmarked with vengeance.

Landeskog takes his role seriously.

No doubt Braun does, too. But the loss to the Timberwolves revealed that he is miscast.

Want to be the leader of the team? After Jaden McDaniels called out Nikola Jokic, Murray, Aaron Gordon, Cam Johnson and Tim Hardaway Jr. as “bad defenders,” Braun should have been waiting, mouth frothing.

The first time McDaniels took the ball to the basket in Game 3, Braun should have fouled him in a way that conjured images of  The second time McDaniels exploded to the hoop, Braun should have fouled him in ways that brought back memories of .

Hard. Clean. Enough is enough. Instill toughness.

Braun did none of it.

Yet blaming him is misguided.

The fact that he felt comfortable talking the way he did tells you everything that is wrong with the Nuggets’ current roster and coaching staff.

Why would he not think he is the leader? His play reflected his team. He was timid, passed up open shots, and was not a lock-down defender. Like his teammates, he accepted accountability and, by virtue of his actions on the court, took nothing personally.

As the Nuggets enter an offseason of uncertainty, it is clear the roster no longer works, especially since all indications are that David Adelman is safe. An argument can be made for letting Adelman learn on the job, but he fueled concerns that he is a better offensive coordinator than head coach with the playoff collapse.

This is not second-guessing.  I wrote six weeks ago that the Nuggets needed a player to provide bad cop energy, to give the team an edge and keep everything in line when the defense slipped because they ran off the last coach who urged them to guard people.

Something has to give.

Maybe it starts with trying to move Gordon to the Celtics in exchange for Colorado legend Derrick White. And obviously, trading Johnson must be discussed as a way to bring back Peyton Watson. He must be a top priority.

The Nuggets are over the luxury tax and both aprons. And if history is a guide, it is hard to see ownership absorbing any financial penalties next season.

Compliance starts with moving on from backup center Jonas Valanciunas, spreading $2 million over three seasons rather than paying him a $10 million salary. And it is unlikely Hardaway comes back unless he signs a team-friendly deal, his situation not dissimilar from Bruce Brown’s after the Nuggets won their championship.

The Nuggets must treat failure as a curriculum.

Looking at the Thunder, the Spurs, and the Timberwolves, there is no way to see the Nuggets as a championship contender. They do not match up well against elite teams. Their scoring was a problem against Minnesota, but not as much as the lack of physicality and protection against drives to the rim.

It has shown up on the road where flaws are typically exposed. In their last 10 postseason games away from Ball Arena, the Nuggets are 2-8, including six losses by double digits.

The Nuggets’ front office of Jon Wallace and Ben Tenzer received high marks for building a new bench last offseason. That is exactly what was needed on the spreadsheet. It accounted for strategy, not chemistry.

Now, they are faced with solving a problem they inadvertently created with an inexperienced coach and a roster absent a mean streak.

The Nuggets boast too many good vibes guys. They don’t have a Landeskog. Or a MacKinnon.

There are players with these traits, but they are not displayed with the consistency that, in hockey parlance, would demand a C or an A on their chest.

This is how Braun found himself in front of a microphone after Game 6. He is a veteran with a high basketball IQ. A proven winner.

But he cannot be this team’s leader.

Two years from now if he has lived up to his contract extension? Sure.

When he is averaging 18 points per game and stifling top scorers in the fourth quarter? Yep.

But until then, he needs to become a face in the crowd with a louder, more proven player’s voice filling the room. A player like Landeskog.

MVP (and First Team All-NBA)

• 1. Shai Gilgeous Alexander, Thunder
• 2. Nikola Jokic, Nuggets
• 3. Victor Wembanyama, Spurs
• 4. Luka Doncic, Lakers
• 5. Cade Cunningham, Pistons

This is a safe space, Nuggets fans. You can let it all out. I’ll be your punching bag if it makes you feel better. But I’ll just remind you I was part of the minority when I voted for Jokic over SGA last year. () And I’ll direct you to Jokic’s own assessment of his 2025-26 season, when I asked him recently how it compares to the previous year, when he said he was “playing the best basketball of my life.”

“I think for me, it was a little bit inconsistent,” he said this time. “Just because injury, and then it was the first time I was coming back from (an) injury. … I think before injury, I played really, really high-level basketball. And since injury, it’s so-so.”

That was on March 25, with three weeks remaining in the regular season. You can argue he had turned a corner by then — though you might have to ignore his 10 turnovers in a loss to the tanking Grizzlies a week earlier — but the point is that for at least two and a half months of the season, Jokic simply wasn’t a relevant enough part of the MVP conversation. A hyperextended left knee sidelined him in January. His first few weeks back on the court hindered him in February, not to mention a flare-up of discomfort in his right wrist that he was determined to play through. He was a pedestrian 3-point shooter for the last 33 games after his return from the knee injury. He had a tendency to play loose with the ball, finishing with a turnover rate 2.5% higher than last season and a worse assist-to-turnover ratio. I would not describe this as his most active defensive season either, in part due to his coaching staff’s inclination to save his energy for the playoffs (a worthwhile trade-off).

If it sounds like I’m just a hater ragging on a Denver sports icon, please keep in mind that my ballot still reflects the stance that Jokic was the second-best player in the NBA this season �����辱�ٱ���those months. That’s how automatically impactful his presence on the court is, even when he “struggles.” But the margins narrowed this season as Gilgeous-Alexander continued to improve as both a scorer and playmaker. Averaging 31.1 points on 55.3% shooting from the field and 66.5% true shooting (within 0.5% of Jokic) on a guard’s shot diet is ridiculous. That’s the efficiency of a 7-footer whose only shot attempts are pick-and-roll lobs and other easy chances around the rim. Consider also that SGA’s burden as a shot creator was heightened this year by wingman Jalen Williams missing 50 games, and that OKC still had a 121.5 offensive rating with him on the floor (11.1 points per 100 better than without him).

I maintain that Jokic is the best basketball player on the planet because his versatility at the center position is revolutionary and his highs are higher than anybody else’s (at least for now, until Victor Wembanyama catches up). But Gilgeous-Alexander’s metronomic consistency made him the best and most valuable player to his team this regular season.

Second Team All-NBA

• Kawhi Leonard, Clippers
• Jaylen Brown, Celtics
• Donovan Mitchell, Cavaliers
• Jamal Murray, Nuggets
• Tyrese Maxey, 76ers

I’ll make a few very brief notes on the rest of my ballot as I go. Leonard was originally penciled in as my fifth-place MVP vote and last First-Team All-NBA selection, until an arbitrator unexpectedly ruled in favor of Cunningham being eligible for awards despite not playing 65 games. Leonard barely crossed the threshold himself (and Cunningham actually played more minutes), so it’s not like there was some chasm between them in availability. I almost talked myself into keeping Leonard fifth anyway, but Cunningham’s season was unimpeachable. He had an absolutely profound winning impact on a top-seeded team that doesn’t exactly have awesome spacing or secondary shot creation around him.

Props to Murray, who would have been my unofficial seventh-place MVP vote if Doncic and Cunningham had both been deemed ineligible. Even with those two guys allowed on the ballot, the Nuggets guard was comfortably on my Second Team.

Third Team All-NBA

• Chet Holmgren, Thunder
• Jalen Brunson, Knicks
• Kevin Durant, Rockets
• Jalen Johnson, Hawks
• Jalen Duren, Pistons

Coach of the Year

• 1. Joe Mazzulla, Celtics
• 2. JB Bickerstaff, Pistons
• 3. Tiago Splitter, Trail Blazers

This was one of the most difficult awards on the ballot for me this year. There are a ton of coaches around the league right now deserving of recognition. Also strongly considered: San Antonio’s Mitch Johnson, Phoenix’s Jordan Ott, Toronto’s Darko Rajakovic, Charlotte’s Charles Lee, Oklahoma City’s Mark Daigneault and Denver’s David Adelman (54 wins despite all those injuries?). Ultimately leaned Splitter, who had perhaps the most unfavorable situation in the NBA this year, taking over for Chauncey Billups on opening day, and coached the Blazers to the playoffs in a tough Western Conference. Will Portland’s cost-cutting new owner pay him a wage commensurate to his accomplishments?

Most Improved Player

• 1. Nickeil Alexander-Walker, Hawks
• 2. Jalen Duren, Pistons
• 3. Collin Gillespie, Suns

Gillespie didn’t make the cut as a finalist, but would you have ever guessed when he was on a two-way contract in Denver that he would someday break a franchise’s single-season record for most 3-pointers? He’s a point guard by nature, but he also was 47.4% on catch-and-shoot 3s this season. In general, he handled his increased responsibility in Phoenix with incredible poise, starting 58 games for a surprise playoff team after having played only 57 in his NBA career before 2025-26.

Sixth Man of the Year

• 1. Keldon Johnson, Spurs
• 2. Jaime Jaquez, Heat
• 3. Tim Hardaway Jr., Nuggets

Three worthy candidates in a year without an obvious winner. Johnson’s energy is inextricable from his team’s identity in addition to his statistical contributions off the bench, so he gets the nod from me in a squeaker. Also strongly considered: Minnesota’s Ayo Dosunmu, OKC’s Ajay Mitchell and New York’s Mitchell Robinson, until I realized he didn’t meet the 65-game rule.

Clutch Player of the Year

• 1. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Thunder
• 2. Anthony Edwards, Timberwolves
• 3. Jamal Murray, Nuggets

SGA’s likely win in this category will reinforce his MVP candidacy. He was fantastic in the biggest moments all season.

Defensive Player of the Year (and First Team All-Defense)

• 1. Victor Wembanyama, Spurs
• 2. Chet Holmgren, Thunder
• 3. Rudy Gobert, Timberwolves
• Ausar Thompson, Pistons
• Scottie Barnes, Raptors

Second Team All-Defense

• Cason Wallace, Thunder
• Derrick White, Celtics
• OG Anunoby, Knicks
• Stephon Castle, Spurs
• Amen Thompson, Rockets

Rookie of the Year (and First Team All-Rookie)

• 1. Kon Knueppel, Hornets
• 2. Cooper Flagg, Mavericks
• 3. VJ Edgecombe, 76ers
• Dylan Harper, Spurs
• Ace Bailey, Jazz

I’ve seen the school of thought that Flagg should be bestowed this honor because he’s likely to have the better overall career than Knueppel. That may well be true, but Rookie of the Year is about this year, not the next 10 to 20. This was deservedly a tight race nonetheless, and I have no qualms with Flagg winning if that indeed comes to pass. But for a rookie to lead the NBA in 3s is truly remarkable, and Knueppel’s sharpshooting ability had ripple effects across the overall execution of Charlotte’s offense en route to the Play-In Tournament. His poor performance in the Play-In is not supposed to be counted against him, and it certainly was not on my ballot.

Second Team All-Rookie

• Cedric Coward, Grizzlies
• Maxime Raynaud, Kings
• Derik Queen, Pelicans
• Ryan Kalkbrenner, Hornets
• Jeremiah Fears, Pelicans

If his knee allows it, the Nuggets center is pretty much a lock to be sent to Los Angeles for an eighth consecutive All-Star Game on Feb. 15, when he will definitely be thrilled to be part of the festivities.

The voting window for the 2025-26 NBA All-Stars ended Wednesday, and the results will be of particular interest in Denver this year — even with Jokic’s inclusion being anticlimactic. Nuggets guard Jamal Murray, long regarded as one of the best players in the league without All-Star recognition, has made a strong case to finally get over the hump with his best statistical start to a season.

Has he done enough in an unfairly competitive Western Conference? Despite the format of the “game” itself undergoing another sweeping overhaul — the 24 All-Stars will be divided into two eight-man U.S. teams and a world team to compete in a round-robin tournament — the league still wants to adhere to tradition in the selection process. Twelve All-Stars from each conference. Five from each recognized as “starters” in name only.

Voting on those starters is position-less and broken down into three factions. Fan submissions count for 50% of the vote, a media panel counts for 25% and players count for 25%. The seven “reserves” from each conference are then chosen by head coaches. Starters are announced Monday; reserves on Feb. 1.

Here is my official starters ballot, as well as my informal picks on who I think should earn the reserve spots.

Western Conference All-Star picks

Starters: Luka Doncic (LAL), Anthony Edwards (MIN), Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (OKC), Nikola Jokic (DEN), Victor Wembanyama (SAS).

I found myself choosing between six players for five spots in both conferences. The difficult exclusion in the West pretty clearly came down to Edwards and Steph Curry. They’re about as deadlocked as it gets, but I ultimately used Ant Man’s efficiency in the clutch as my tiebreaker. His timely shot-making has elevated Minnesota a tier above Golden State in the conference hierarchy: When I submitted my ballot, he was shooting 70.7% from the field in “clutch time” (to Curry’s 43.8%) and 57.1% from the 3-point line, helping the Wolves to a 9-5 record and 9.4 net rating in those situations. (The Nuggets experienced it even in a game they eventually won on Christmas.) The Warriors were 6-9 with a minus-11.4 net rating in clutch games with Curry playing.

The other four starters were no-brainers. Remember, there’s no minimum on games played for All-Star qualification, allowing voter discretion on superstars who’ve been hurt like Jokic and Wembanyama — the league’s best offensive and defensive players, respectively.

Reserves: Deni Avdija (POR), Steph Curry (GSW), Kevin Durant (HOU), Chet Holmgren (OKC), Kawhi Leonard (LAC), Jamal Murray (DEN), Julius Randle (MIN).

This is truly a cutthroat race. Yet I found Murray to be a no-doubter as I went through my list of candidates. Of the 64 players who’ve taken 200 or more 3s this season, he leads the NBA with a 44.6% clip on 285 attempts. His decision-making has been crisp. His passing placement has continued to be an underrated aspect of his game. And aside from the career-high numbers across the board, Murray has cemented his status as a deserving All-Star by leading the Nuggets through this stretch without Jokic.

There’s no way to justify selecting only one player from Oklahoma City, and I think Holmgren is a worthy second choice from the Thunder’s repository of talent. He’s one of the most valuable defenders in the league, and his offensive game has steadily expanded this season with a bit more off-the-dribble work and a 6.7% improvement in true shooting. (He now ranks eighth in the NBA in that category.)

Minnesota is the other team with two players listed here. I had Houston’s Alperen Sengun penciled in at first, but Randle stole the spot from him at the last minute. Their numbers are pretty comparable, but I just think Randle has been a little more essential to the offense of a team that I think is a little better than Houston. The Wolves actually have an 11.6 net rating when Randle is on the floor and Edwards isn’t. He stretches the floor a bit more reliably than Sengun. And assist-to-turnover ratio has to matter eventually if you’re the play-making hub of an offense. Sengun’s is 1.97. (Side note: Rudy Gobert has been excellent for Minnesota and also crossed my mind as an option.)

If All-Star selection didn’t support the facade of conference equality, then Sengun would absolutely be one of my 24 players. In general, my ballot would skew pretty heavily in favor of the West. I hated having to choose between players on lesser teams (Leonard, Avdija) and one particular guy on a more successful squad — I’ll get to him later. Ultimately, I decided Leonard and Avdija have simply been too good to leave out, elevating the Clippers and Blazers into much more competitive territory.

Eastern Conference All-Star picks

���ٲ����ٱ����:��Giannis Antetokounmpo (MIL), Jaylen Brown (BOS), Cade Cunningham (DET), Tyrese Maxey (PHL), Donovan Mitchell (CLE).

I’m sure the exclusion of Brunson will put me in the minority of voters. I took no pleasure in it, but I just had a hard time making a case for him over any of these candidates as I went one by one. Mitchell might be the most popular choice on the chopping block, largely because of Cleveland’s underwhelming first half of the season as a team. But the patron statistic of Nuggets fans defending Jokic’s honor over the years has been on/off net rating differential, and Mitchell’s is the second-highest in the league right now (behind Jokic) at 14.8.

That’s far from an ironclad measurement of individual impact, but I do think it’s revealing that Cleveland’s 8.4 net with “Spida” on the floor would be second-best in the NBA. He has also attempted the most valuable shot in the sport (the three) more times than anyone else in the league at a 39% clip.

The player I was closest to swapping out for Brunson was Brown, but I couldn’t get myself there. The scoring responsibility he shouldered to get the Celtics to second in the East without Jayson Tatum is one of the defining stories of this NBA season, not to mention his efficiency and his on-ball defense.

Reserves: Scottie Barnes (TOR), Jalen Brunson (NYK), Jalen Duren (DET), Jalen Johnson (ATL), Michael Porter Jr. (BKN), Norman Powell (MIA), Karl-Anthony Towns (NYK).

Look, this isn’t the most inspiring list you’ll ever see. The standards are just different in the East right now. I found myself choosing between a few guys performing below their preseason expectations toward the end — Towns, Evan Mobley, Desmond Bane. I also flirted with a couple of elite role players, including OG Anunoby and Derrick White, before settling on what’s probably a somewhat chalky set of picks.

Props to MPJ for what’s likely to be his first career All-Star nod, coinciding with Murray’s. The Nets are the worst team on this entire list, but his shot-making talent has ascended to a new level with higher volume.

World Team: Giannis Antetokounmpo (MIL), Deni Avdija (POR), Luka Doncic (LAL), Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (OKC), Nikola Jokic (DEN), Donovan Mitchell (CLE), Jamal Murray (DEN), Karl-Anthony Towns (NYK), Victor Wembanyama (SAS).

I’m going to finish by cheating a little. Towns and Mitchell were both born in the U.S., but they’ve said publicly they want to play for the world team because of their family roots (Dominican Republic for Towns, Panama for Mitchell). The new format requires a minimum of 16 U.S. players and eight international players, in order to field three teams for the tournament. If one or the other is short on players, then commissioner Adam Silver will pick extras to ensure both teams have enough.

Who am I to deny KAT and Mitchell? Categorizing them on the world team enables me to reward one more player with a spot: Devin Booker. The Suns guard is the frontman of one of the most surprising teams of the season, but he’s inhibited just by playing in the West. I couldn’t find a place for him in my initial 12 — would like to see more efficient shooting splits — but his overall impact on winning makes him deserving of a 25th spot.

“Zeke Nnaji. That’s what happened,” he said after a 114-110 win over the Celtics.

“He was playing amazing defense.”

Against the second-best offense in the NBA (behind Denver), for that matter. Against Jaylen Brown, who was fresh off a 50-point game amid a sneaky MVP candidacy. Against “everybody,” as Nuggets coach David Adelman pointed out.

And notably, while operating as a center, the position that has vexed Nnaji in recent years. Adelman was making a point to use him almost entirely as a power forward this season, until injuries to Nikola Jokic and Jonas Valanciunas left him no other choice. Minutes are minutes. This week, Nnaji is making the most of his. DaRon Holmes II has been starting games at the five; Nnaji has been closing them.

“I don’t remember him moving this well. …He guarded everybody in this game, because we were switching,” Adelman said Wednesday. “Just cool to see him have some success. Obviously, he hasn’t been in the rotation.”

Nnaji helped cement wins at Philadelphia while down seven rotation players and Boston while down three — a pair of season-affirming wins for the Nuggets (25-12) as they try to prove something to themselves and others without Jokic. Nnaji anchored the lineup that took over the game with a 14-0 run on Wednesday, holding the Celtics scoreless for more than four minutes.

“We needed him to do a lot, honestly,” Murray said. “Rebound, switch, box out, run the floor, set screens hard, roll hard. Offensive rebound. Like, he’s in every single action, offense and defense. He felt like the key to our win today. ”

Lineups with Nnaji next to a more traditional center were noticeably more effective than lineups using Nnaji as the five last season. And it wasn’t just a side-effect of sharing the floor with Jokic. When Nnaji and DeAndre Jordan played together, Denver’s net rating was 13.4 in 122 minutes, . With Nnaji and Jokic, it was 14.9 in 244 minutes. When Nnaji was on his own, without either? The Nuggets were minus 21.7 in 243 minutes.

“To be honest, I really haven’t thought about that at all. I’m just kind of out there playing,” Nnaji told The Denver Post. “I feel like just my rhythm, my flow within the team has been great. Whether I’m playing the four or playing the five, it’s like, we’re just playing together.”

Nnaji turned in a career game in Philly. He filled up the box score with 21 points and eight rebounds, splashing 3-pointers and pounding the rock against subsequent close-outs to the perimeter. His dribble-drive game was one of the levers that opened up Denver’s scoring.

With Murray, Tim Hardaway Jr., Aaron Gordon and Christian Braun all back in the lineup on Wednesday, Nnaji was never going to have the ball in his hands as frequently. But the confidence carried over nonetheless.

“It manifests in different ways,” he said. “Maybe last game, I had more shots. This game, I didn’t have as many shots, but I’m still trying to have that same activity level, that same impact on the floor, no matter what my role is.”

Confidence has always been an essential ingredient for him. The physical gifts have been evident throughout Nnaji’s six-year career in Denver. His ability to apply them has wavered.

“Everybody played like they’ve been in the rotation, starting the whole year (in the Philadelphia win). There was a confidence to their games,” Adelman said. “I’d rather have guys fail going extremely hard and playing with extreme confidence than just trying not to screw up. And I think that’s the biggest thing for Zeke. Just be who you are.”

Nnaji scored eight of his 12 points in the fourth quarter and blocked two shots as Denver pulled away Wednesday. He was credited with contesting six shots inside the arc. He provided three screen assists resulting in seven points. He even played as an initiator from the elbow a few times at Adelman’s behest, “to get Jamal off action to his left hand.” Most importantly, he managed to cut off Brown from getting to the rim in multiple pick-and-roll coverages, hedging and switching.

Denver won Nnaji’s minutes by six points — another source of confidence for him to draw from as January goes on. The Nuggets are still early in their war of injury attrition. They’ll have to keep leaning on Nnaji for center minutes while Jokic and Valanciunas are out.

For now, he’s excelling by not focusing on the position.

“You don’t have to think about it so much,” Nnaji said. “… I’m not really thinking.”

So, so, so, sooooo much Derrick White.

“I’ve watched highlights on him and just tried to study it a little bit, of just how solid he is defensively,” Clifford, the gifted and genial former CSU Rams wing, told me by phone earlier this week.

“He’s not somebody that’s gambling. He just guards really well and is super disciplined. So that’s something I’ve tried to watch and pick up from his game. And then getting to go to pick-up (games) and play with him, you just see how high-level a shot-maker he is. So that was kind of one of the first people, one of the first pro dudes that I was able to be around.”

And to measure himself against. On Wednesday, Clifford’s expected to officially join White, the ex-CU and Legend High great, in the NBA ranks. Projections say the 6-foot-6 Clifford, who attended The Vanguard School in Colorado Springs,  . And only the fourth since 2010, following Dalton Knecht (2024), Reggie Jackson (2011) and White (2017).

“(That) motivational story that he has, that just pushes you to want to be better,” Clifford said of White. “Because my path wasn’t smooth sailing either. And so just to see a guy that went through what he went through and to get where he’s at now, it definitely is inspiration and more motivation.”

At 23 years old, with 154 college games and six NCAA Tournament appearances at CU (two) and CSU (four) under his belt, Clifford might be the Class of ’25 rookie most ready, mentally and physically, to plug and play, to use right out of the box.

The only mysteries are where — and how much. with pick No. 23. USA Today projected him in Utah at pick No. 21, as did Yahoo Sports. As of Monday, Clifford had visited 15 teams for in-person interviews and workouts.

“If I’m on a higher-level team, like the Thunder, a playoff-contention team, I probably would be more of a stand-in-the-corner, catch-and-shoot (guy),” Clifford mused. “Be a defender, rebounder, and just having more simplicity to my game, just because they’ve got their stars.

“Maybe with a team that’s still growing, you might get more opportunity to be a playmaker or have the ball a little more. I’m not saying you’re going to — you’ll probably still be in the same role, but you might have a little more freedom. It ultimately comes down to what the team needs based on personnel, and then just the opportunity they give you based on what you get to showcase to them once training camp comes and what they see from you in Summer League, (and) how they want to implement you within their system.

“Yeah, I don’t have a clue what I’m going to be at the next level. Or where I’m going to be, either.”

But if you ask it, he’ll try it. The eye test says Clifford’s cut from a prototype 3-and-D mold, given a 6-8 reach and, as a collegian, having guarded positions 1-4 on the floor like the guy in the other jersey just keyed his car.

“It’s a huge thing,” Clifford noted. “If you can make that three, it just spaces the floor so much more, especially in the NBA. It allows the star players to have more space to go 1-on-1 and do certain things. It’s been an essential part of my training and pre-draft process of just trying to become more consistent as a three-point shooter — especially with the line moving back even farther now, I’ve even had to adjust.”

Clifford’s 3-point shot was a pet project of Ali Farokhmanesh, then a Rams assistant and now the men’s basketball coach at CSU. Farokhmanesh took everything from Nique’s feet to his elbows to his release point, pulled it apart as if it were a LEGO set and put everything back together again, brick by brick.

Sure enough, the bricks from distance stopped. Clifford connected on 38% of his treys as a Ram, up from a 29% clip over his final season at CU. Scouts noticed. Heck, so did White, who still works out here over the summer.

The pair even hooked up a pregame tailgate just before the CU-CSU football game in FoCo last September to catch up and swap notes.

“And he was just saying kind of how proud he was of the growth and development and the spot I’m in,” Clifford recalled, “and just definitely saying that I’m ready for the next level.

“And it was just cool to hear from a guy that caliber, somebody from the same place I’m from. Because I’ve got a lot of respect and love for his game as well.”

Talent borrows. Genius steals.

As the NCAA Tournament is underway with Nique Clifford dancing and with Tad Boyle frozen out for the third March in four years, some on Buffs Xwitter are once again looking to turn the page on their longtime men’s basketball coach.

Hey, it’s your money. It’s a free country. But before you pass the hat, keep two things in mind.

First, as Boyle reiterated on Tuesday at the Champions Center, he’s not planning on going anywhere.

“I don’t know why, I just feel the fire in the belly still,” the veteran Buffs hoops coach, who turned 62 at the start of the year, said during a news conference after his first-ever 20-loss (14-20) season at CU. “And as long as that’s burning, I’m going to try to fight and scratch and claw and give everything I have to this university and this program.”

Second, I’ve heard the loudest arguments for ending The Tad Era all before. Heck, I’ve even seen the revolutionaries get their wish. It didn’t end well for anybody.

A long time ago, in a galaxy not so far away, there was a men’s hoops coach at Iowa by the name of Tom Davis. After 13 seasons, ones that usually ended with 20-ish victories and a lot of second-round exits in the NCAA Tournament, the natives got restless. They wanted more. A faction of boosters and bigwigs were certain a refresh would make things better. Dr. Tom had turned 60, after all, and it was time. The Hawkeyes had gone a decade without a Sweet 16 berth, and good was no longer good enough.

Then-athletic director Bob Bowlsby — Steve Alford, a Big Ten legend with Big Ten roots. What could possibly go wrong?

Bowlsby posted a pretty good batting average at Iowa, as he later did at Stanford, and with Big 12 after that. But Stevie Wonder turned into a gigantic swing-and-miss. Alford never got the Hawks in the Sweet 16. He did, however, recruit kids He also clashed with local reporters and, .

It’s not a perfect analogy, granted. But for those banging the drum to get Tad out to pasture, remember: The grass isn’t always greener.

“And the ship has sailed as far as me going somewhere else or trying a new start (somewhere else),” Boyle said. “So, I don’t even think about that anymore.”

He has, though, contemplated retirement. Boyle was reared on Big Eight hoops with , but that conference, and that strike zone, feel like quaint throwbacks now. Peers such as Villanova’s Jay Wright and Virginia’s Tony Bennett recently walked away at ages 60 and 55, respectively, and neither seemed thrilled with a world of transfer portals and Name/Image/Likeness contracts. Nor were they particularly enamored with a paradigm in which agents, boosters, lawyers and television executives had more pull than coaches.

“I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t thought about (retirement),” Boyle noted.

“But I don’t want to let this game chase me out. I’d like to go out on my own terms. I’d like to go out strong, not limp out. But the fire is still there. And I wish I could tell you why. I don’t know why, but I’m glad it is. I want to play some golf this spring and summer, but I don’t want to play every day yet.”

Rather than fight the system, Boyle says he’s willing to adapt. He’s willing to adjust, to evolve, in order to fit the kids and parents who are now funneling through it.

“I think that’s really important … that we have a program that you want to coach, you want to be around,” Boyle said. “And as long as I can do that and I’ve got the energy and the health and everything that it takes to do it, I’m going to do it.”

Tad has been rolled into something of an awkward position at CU — on several fronts. He wears old-school principles on his sleeve in a collegiate game that’s running away from most of them. Boyle more or less represents what big-time NCAA sports was, and what many fans and administrators still think it should be. Meanwhile, Buffs football coach Deion Sanders represents where big-time NCAA sports are — and, until either national or interleague reforms roll in, where it’s headed.

Because now that the horse is out of the barn, good luck getting it back. Tell a talented 17-year-old they can get paid now or get paid later, 99.1% of them are going to take the former, and will chase that bag from coast to coast.

Look, watching Clifford soar in FoCo hurts. You might contend that Tad doesn’t have the spunk or the cool factor to roll in the mud with the new-money operatives who are slinging it. KJ Simpson, Cody Williams and Tristan da Silva, three Buffs NBA draft picks last year, would probably disagree, though. As would Derrick White and Spencer Dinwiddie, to name but a few pros who’ve thanked Boyle at every turn.

Still, CU newbies on social media look at Tad and wonder why, say, Chauncey Billups isn’t coaching this team. If Sanders could work for football, why not run the same playbook to bring some zip back to the Events Center?

And Billups, to cite that hypothetical, might do a great job. But that premise has problems. For one, if you find that coach and it isn’t a legacy hire such as Billups, there’s a decent chance they won’t stay. The Big 12 is too brutal unless you’re ridiculously compensated, and you’re never going to be ridiculously compensated at CU while Sanders and football take up most of the oxygen in the room.

For another, you’re comparing apples to oranges. Buffs football was irretrievably broken three years ago. Buffs hoops has been anything but.

Let’s put it this way: CU has posted 14 20-win seasons in its entire men’s hoops history. Boyle’s been at the helm for 10 of those 14.

It’s OK to be skeptical. Give it a year. Anybody can have a stinker in a league as deep as this Big 12 turned out to be. If it’s two stinkers in a row, then some harder questions will need to be asked next winter — by everybody.

“You have to change. You have to adapt,” Boyle said. “If you’re not willing to adapt and change, this business will eat you up.”

And those who don’t learn from the history of this business are usually doomed to repeat it.

They had just cut their deficit to three. They had gotten the ensuing stop. But Jaylen Brown’s missed shot was tapped into no man’s land, in the middle of the paint. Derrick White came swooping in from the perimeter and buried a second-chance floater. It gave the Celtics a five-point lead with 53.7 seconds remaining, driving a nail in Denver’s coffin Sunday in a 110-103 loss.

“You’re never looking for moral victories,” coach Michael Malone said, “but when I walk out of this arena today, I feel really good about our group.”

On a day when Jayson Tatum struggled to score against Christian Braun and company, Brown picked up the slack with 22 points for Boston, often hunting Jamal Murray on isolations and post-ups. White, the Denver-area native and CU alum, added 17 points including the game-sealing bucket.

Murray overcame early foul trouble and four first-half shot attempts to finish with 26 points and seven assists. But after White’s floater, he turned it over on the next possession while the Nuggets (39-22) trailed by five, leading to a run-out layup.

“Down the stretch, I thought we just had some costly turnovers where we didn’t get a shot off,” Malone said. “That could have maybe changed the outcome.”

“Those ones against good teams hurt,” Murray said. “Especially when we’ve been clawing back all game, down all game.”

Braun added 24 points. Nikola Jokic went for 20 points, 14 rebounds and nine assists after starting the game with a mysterious limp. “I’ve limped basically the last 14 years,” he said, deflecting questions about the cause but claiming it didn’t occur during the opening jump ball. “It was just a little injury that I had.”

Denver mixed up its auxiliary starting lineup with Aaron Gordon missing his second consecutive game to recover from a left ankle sprain. On Friday in Detroit, Malone started Zeke Nnaji at power forward but mentioned the possibility of going small with Michael Porter Jr. at the four as well. That’s the look he went to in Boston — Russell Westbrook filling in as the fifth starter, joining a backcourt with Murray and Braun.

“Just their matchups,” Malone said when asked about his thinking behind the rotations. “You had Tobias Harris in Detroit, and you had Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum tonight. Just matchups.”

Nnaji played eight minutes off the bench, getting called for four fouls. Meanwhile, Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla started Luke Kornet for the first time since Feb. 8, trying a double-big lineup against Jokic even without Kristaps Porzingis available. Al Horford was a major factor, contributing 19 points on 7 of 12 shooting.

Boston steadily assembled a 20-point lead in the first half, spraying 10 threes and taking away the paint from Denver. Westbrook and Braun were invited to shoot. Both struggled to convert from the perimeter. But Braun started chipping into the deficit late in the half, creating his own shot off the dribble to lead a 9-0 Nuggets run. He led all scorers at the break with 16.

“Teams game plan it. They’re gonna let guys like Christian and Russ and whoever shoot the ball, to stay home and crowd the paint,” Malone said. “… So the delicate balance is in the fact that hey, you’re open, you’re wide open, we want you to step in and shoot it with confidence. But there also comes a point in time when, hey, we only shot 13 free throw attempts. We also have to find a way to play with an attack mindset. Attack the rim.”

The Celtics answered Denver with their own 9-0 run. Malone took a timeout early in the second half. Before the game, he had highlighted the need to “make sure your players are awake, ready to go” ahead of the rare matinee because “this team can jump all over you. … Do you have the poise and the mental toughness to stay with it?”

The Nuggets stuck with it. They tightened up defensively, allowing them to hang around just long enough for Murray to get into a rhythm. He led a 13-3 push to end the third. Denver was within six, but facing a crucial stretch without Jokic that ended with a 6-0 Celtics burst. Sam Hauser hit a transition 3-pointer to bring the house down with 8:11 to go.

Julian Strawther wasn’t able to play with Denver’s bench unit after going down with a leg injury in the third. Jalen Pickett played the first stint of the fourth quarter instead.

“I was just happy that it wasn’t anything serious,” Malone said. “That was my first fear, was that it was going to be one of those scary injuries. But I think it was more his knee, but I haven’t really gotten much clarification on that. I don’t think it’s anything that we have to worry about moving forward.”

He also returned with some catching up to do on cardio.

“It was relaxing. Probably too relaxing, honestly,” Porter said Monday night, laughing. “For having an injury, I think I probably was a little bit too relaxed and probably should have tried to do some more running over the break.”

Porter’s bid for an Iron Man season ended after 52 games when a strained left hamstring caused him to miss the Nuggets’ last three games before All-Star weekend. Before the injury, he had played in 165 of the previous 166 games, dating back to the start of Denver’s 2023 playoff run.

He has played in all three games since the break, too, slowly regaining rhythm and stamina. After scoring 19 combined points on 28% shooting against the Hornets and Lakers, he looked more like himself in Denver’s 125-116 win over the Pacers. Porter amassed 19 points, 11 rebounds and three assists, even throwing down a dunk over Myles Turner and Tyrese Haliburton to put an exclamation point on the win.

“It doesn’t surprise me. I think that obviously, I’ve been through a lot (with past injuries), but I still can do that,” Porter said. “I need to try, especially when the jumper’s not falling, to get downhill.”

The defining aspect of Porter’s game is still lagging after 14 days between games. He’s now shooting 1 for 10 from the 3-point line since the break. Last season, he went 44% beyond the arc in Denver’s first 15 contests after All-Star.

One of his 3s in Indiana was even blocked by Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton, according to Porter, though Haliburton didn’t get credited in the box score. Porter has a nearly impenetrable release point at 6-foot-10, so any time someone gets a hand on his jumper, it almost inevitably gets stowed in his memory. When asked who the last player was to block him on a 3-pointer, his recall was instant.

“Probably JaMychal Green,” Porter said. “I remember he blocked one of my 3s a long time ago. I was surprised. Yeah. But Tyrese got lucky because it was from the side. Oh, and Derrick White had one a couple of years ago in Boston, trailing behind me and blocked it. But they got lucky.”

Injuries to Porter can be particularly worrying for the Nuggets due to his history of back surgeries, not to mention the leg brace he wears as a result of those procedures. But this one was no big deal, as he described it. Nor was it a wear-and-tear situation before the break.

“I did over-stretch my hamstring. I did get a little strain. So that’s why I took those couple of games off. I think if it was a playoff-type of thing, I may have tried to push through,” he said. “But the couple of games off definitely took me out of rhythm. It was hard to get back in shape. Especially after the break. I hadn’t ran at all for those three games I missed before the break, and then over the break, I didn’t run, so the first time I really ran was that first game back against (Charlotte).

“Now I’m just kind of getting my wind back and getting my groove back. It’s still not ‘a hundred a hundred’ percent, but it’ll be back in probably the next couple of games.”

Porter’s season has been good enough that even taking into account his current blip, he’s one of six players in the NBA shooting 41% or better from three on 300 or more attempts. He’s averaging 6.3 per game.

His customary post-break bump has simply been delayed for now — the result of an injury that was more irksome than unsettling.

“Every game, it’s gonna keep on improving,” he said. “I think I was a little hesitant the first couple games back from break just because it was my first couple of games back on it, but every game I’m feeling more comfortable. It’s healing and getting better.”

As for the break itself? Porter made it back to Denver unscathed by the sun this time.

The destination? “It’s a secret location,” he said, grinning.

Different, yet still the same.

Against Arizona State last week, the Buffaloes opened slowly and never truly warmed up during an uninspired showing. Against Central Florida on Wednesday, the Buffs put up impressive numbers pretty much across the board with one glaring exception.

Still, CU returned home without wins each time.

It����ap a trend the Buffs will be challenged to reverse as they return to the CU Events Center for a date against No. 21 West Virginia on Sunday (1 p.m. MT, ESPN+). After sloughing through a sluggish loss at Arizona State, CU actually played well at both ends of the floor at UCF, but the effort was undone by 22 turnovers.

The Knights turned those giveaways into 24 extra points. It was CU’s highest turnover total since committing 22 and 23 at USC and UCLA, respectively, two years ago.

“I think each individual player on the team has to become more prideful of that part of the stat sheet,” CU head coach Tad Boyle said. “Whether it����ap completing passes, footwork and traveling, not leaving your feet to pass the ball — which you can’t do in this league, especially if you’re a guard. It����ap just being strong with the ball.

“The thing about the teams in this league — Iowa State, Arizona State, Central Florida, 3-for-3 now — they are very active with their hands in terms of reaching, poking at the ball. And sometimes they’ll hit a wrist, they’ll hit a hand, they’ll hit a forearm. And we’ve got to be strong enough to deal with that. And right now, we’re not. So that����ap where we have to get better.”

It wasn’t CU’s first high-turnover game of the season. Those nights typically have been team efforts, and the same can be said about Wednesday’s performance. Yet the loss at UCF was the first time the primary turnover culprit was CU’s starting backcourt of Julian Hammond III (five turnovers) and RJ Smith (six).

During a critical stretch midway through the second half, the Buffs committed seven turnovers while watching UCF wipe out a 10-point CU lead with a 12-0 run. Those seven turnovers occurred in a span of 4 minutes, 41 seconds, and Smith, who entered the game with a solid assist-to-turnover rate of 1.83, was charged with four of them.

The defeat left the Buffs with an 0-3 start in the rugged Big 12. It����ap only the second time in 15 seasons under Boyle the Buffs have begun a league slate with three consecutive losses. CU still has a ways to go to match the Derrick White-led club of 2016-17, which started the Pac-12 schedule 0-7. Yet given the various ways the Buffs have managed to lose games thus far, combined with the quality of teams on the Big 12 slate, it����ap not too soon to put the Buffs on watch for approaching the ’16-17 team’s mark.

After hosting the 21st-ranked Mountaineers, CU hosts Cincinnati, which dropped out of the top 25 this week, before embarking on another winnable road trip at Oklahoma State.

“At the end of the day, the effort doesn’t matter if you’re not winning games,” Hammond said after Wednesday’s defeat. “We’re 0-3. So we’ve got to come into that next game with a mentality that we’re 0-3 and we have to win. You don’t want to say any game is a must-win, but when you start that bad in the league you’ve got to start climbing up. We need to win these next few games, especially at home, no matter who the opponent is.”