Aaron Gordon's Injuries, Confidence in Nuggets FIXING Their Biggest Problems, & More | Roundtable

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1:03in a financial plan. With the Northwestern Mutual Financial Advisor as your partner, it's not only possible, it's personalized. So if you're tying the knot, closing on a house, or welcoming a little one, you'll be ready for whatever life tosses your way. It's the right time to feel less stressed and more certain. That's a better way to money. Let's get started at NM.com, the Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It looks really bad right now, but I mean, I can't get past the fact that we're in a mini perch. You can't expect to achieve your highest possibilities and goals without your ideal line

2:04at the place. I mean, we're missing our best defenders. You can't overstate that. If you miss Jamal for a year, you're dead. If you miss your best defenders suddenly, you're seemingly fixed deepens as worse than it's ever been. And so I mean, I understand why everybody's freaking out. The vibes have been atrocious, like absolutely atrocious. This is probably the most down we've been for in the last five years. I think, I think, no, it's not the most down. I think it's a specific point in time where this is year three of the injury fatigue excuses. Ironically, they've never been more valid than they are right now. You know, it's like, yeah, of course, they're struggling with these injuries, but no one wants to hear it, right? No, they don't. And that does also, there is a sort of bottom line need. This is a results-based business, right? So if they fall short, it's, all right, sure. Well, it was because they were hurt. How many years in a row is this going to be the store? I think that's a good point, man. I'm just kind of tired of the

3:05tired narrative. Yeah. I'm tired of talking about are these guys in shape? Yeah. I'm tired of talking about, you know, is yoke in shape? Yes. It's kind of over. I'm kind of just over the excuses, you know, even even if they are valid. I know. I think the thing about this shape, though, I was thinking is Aaron Gordon. We feel like he's coming back. He's missed five weeks, six weeks, whatever. It's been like you bounce back on that, but it's been more than five, six weeks because he wasn't back for that long. Yeah. It really is like four months that he's been out. He played the beginning of the year. And since then, it's been in and out. And so like when we think about the rust factor, how long will it take? It might take actually a little bit longer than we're expecting since he hasn't had a huge run even in the middle of the year. And he was gone most of last two. Like, Aaron Gordon has been, it's actually getting to the point where we start to have uncomfortable conversations about whether or not you could rely on Aaron Gordon to be anything other than a cheerleader. Like we need his production on the court. He's

4:08that his introduction to the Denver Nuggets was the turning point on the championship era. Yeah. Even though we didn't get it done that year, it's like that is what truly opened it up. And like now you know, like you don't you can't play him on a back-to-back. Otherwise, he's going to hurt his hamstring. And it's like non-contact stuff to where you're just white knuckling and watching every one of his games because he's so vital. Yeah. And you don't want to have this, but this thought was like, oh my god, are we? Like, did we theoretically moved up Mike because maybe his longevity has always been in question? But he's been way more durable than Aaron Gordon has been the last several years. Yeah, I will say the thing that I think it really comes down to. I mean, look, we always say the regular season doesn't matter. And I think this year is the ultimate. They have 20 games. It's a lot of time. It's still actually a lot. By the time they get paid, it might be 12 games, but it's still a lot of time. And to me, the defining trait of the Nuggets, a couple of them, one, they've been really tough in resilience. Why they've come back from 3-1 twice,

5:09and they just had a lot of resilient like wins over their tenure. But two, they're connected. And the Nuggets haven't been connected this year at all. We'll talk. But they haven't really had a chance to. And it all comes down to you. Do you think that there's something about this group of players that can come together when it matters or not? And that's what I'm looking at. The Nuggets actually still are pretty good, despite the fact that they're on a scale of 1-10. They're at like a two-unconnection. But I think they can find it like that if they just get their guys back. Well, they did last year very quickly. Just like that. They found it last year. I mean, they did have to go seven games against the clubbers. But the clubbers were good. They went seven games against the Thunder. Should have won that series. So they found it last year with absolutely notes. I'm even less time than they'll have this year. Worse vibes. Way worse vibes. So can they? Yeah. They could. All right, good vibes. Actually, that bad for the team. I mean, I know they're low, but I don't know. I don't know if they're that bad for the team. I think there's a fan base. Yeah,

6:10I mean, you're in the locker room. Like, what is it? Look, they're bad for one guy. I came Johnson, isn't there? Oh, man, he just buried here. Has it been bad for a while or is it? No, no, it's very recent, is he's like, because here's the thing. People forget can't actually have been playing pretty well for about a month, right? But that's a good thing, man. But he hit that he hit kind of a rock bottom in their biggest matchups. And particularly after the mic trade, you're thinking, well, there's one thing. Maybe you score fewer points, but you're better in these games will take it. And it hasn't been there. So he's in a rut. I think everyone else, you know, I think the core kind of knows how to navigate this. I have no doubt that Aaron Gordon, you could you marry, configure this out 20 games. I do think it puts a new coaching staff in a tough position. They mentioned having to sift through all this data and how meaningful is all the data, the lineup data, you know, so they still need to figure out what the best versions of themselves look like. And the coaches, I think, have had the least to work with in that regard. Few things are as uplifting as the greatest moments in sports. And nothing brings us together quite like team USA at the Olympic winter games from NBC Universal's iconic storytelling to the

7:12innovative technology across Xfinity and peacock. Comcast brings the Olympic Games home to America, sharing every moment with millions. When team USA steps onto the world stage, we're not just watching. We're cheering together. This winter, we're all on the same team. Comcast, proud partner of team USA. You're juggling a lot, but you can still squeeze in a financial plan. With the North Western Mutual Financial Advisor as your partner, it's not only possible, it's personalized. So if you're tying the knot, closing on a house or welcoming a little one, you'll be ready for whatever life tosses your way. It's the right time to feel less stressed and more certain. That's a better way to money. Let's get started at nm.com, the Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Well, that's my other big cluster. It's like, is it time to start having a conversation about David Adelman in this position? Like, is his approach? Are we seeing holes in his approach

8:16that a team that is theoretically made up, not theoretically, that is made up of veterans and guys that should be able to self-lead? Are we seeing some holes in that philosophy? Do we feel like David Adelman was able to pull these bags together? No, I think he's been dealt pretty on fair hand for your head coach. And honestly, until the last month, I feel like he navigated it as about it, about as well as anybody could have hoped he would, right? He's in a tough spot, you know, and I do think he's messed up a few times over the last stretch, but I feel like any coach would, you know, like, is he doing that much worse with the hand he's been dealt than any other good coach in the league? Well, maybe, to me, it's all fair. This is basketball. It's what happens. You kind of just have to roll with it. A lot of teams have had injuries and they've come away with it. I mean, here's the thing. What do they have to do? What do we have to see in these next? They are coming up on statement week. You can really call it statement two weeks if you want to because

9:19it's two weeks where they're all tough. So what do we want to see in this stretch? That's, I mean, in a weird way, maybe statement week could not have been coming at a better time. I kind of agree with it. It's your chance to turn all these narratives around to swell belief, to get just the train going in the right direction. So you look at it and go, that's a really tough stretch of schedule, or you could say, guys are coming back. You go beat these teams and it's all back on the table. I mean, it's your statement week. It's life or death week. Yeah. It really is. Are we still doing this or not week? Yeah. It's like, are we actually going to do something or not? I know. And you know, what things going bad, I mean, the conversation gets crazier and crazier and you start going into an offseason where Nikolayokit just not signed. I'm just telling you, like, go back. This is telling you, like, this is where it spirals into for people. You know, and it's like, this is like why it feels so dire. I don't agree that that is where we're at, but I'm just saying, like, for the fan base at large, it's like, that we're getting into those kind of conversations. And

10:22it's like, I do feel as though if they show heart and resolve and they're able to come up big and big moments, which I feel like they did against the thunder. They just missed that goddamn shot. They beat that, like, if they beat the thunder, I actually think most of the games of the stretch, they've been good to treat the nicks, the thunder, even the Timberwolves to the wheels fell off with the manch, but it hasn't been like they've played terrible. It's the thing that sucks is against the jazz and against the warriors they played terrible, but those are bad teams. One of them caught them. One of them almost did. What I want to see from the nuggets is a seriousness and an execution on both ends of the four, because it is the time where I think they've been working towards that effort. You can kind of hit and fall into that rhythm quickly. Execution actually takes practice. And I think they've actually been practicing that, you know, for the last half full games. For these next ones, I want to see it. I want to feel like the team executes game plans the way they did against the Celtics. Couldn't agree more. Yeah. Couldn't agree. And I mean, they've been pretty good against good teams lately. Right. Maybe they just are the team that

11:27plays up to their composition and down to their composition. They've been that team a lot in the Yoke Tierra. They have been, and I guess that would build well for the playoffs. That's what's exciting though about this upcoming schedule. There's a lot of good teams, a lot of playoff teams. So are we, do we feel good about the fact that we're going into this stretch without dev? No. If that's true, I hadn't considered that actually. I didn't expect that. It was along with the theme of the season. Everybody getting hurt. Four to six weeks. But would you trade dev for Aaron Gordon? No. Oh, okay. No. All right. Mr. D, Mr. DNBR for Mr. Mugget. Can't do it. Can't do it. Few things are as uplifting as the greatest moments in sports. And nothing brings us together quite like Team USA at the Olympic Winter Games from NBC Universal's iconic storytelling to the innovative technology across Xfinity and peacock. Comcast brings the Olympic Games home to America, sharing every moment with millions. When Team USA steps onto the world stage, we're not just watching.

12:28We're cheering together. This winter, we're all on the same team. Comcast, proud partner of Team USA. You're juggling a lot, but you can still squeeze in a financial plan. With the Northwestern Mutual Financial Advisor as your partner, it's not only possible, it's personalized. So if you're tying the knot, closing on a house, or welcoming a little one, you'll be ready for whatever life tosses your way. It's the right time to feel less stressed and more certain. That's a better way to money. Let's get started at NM.com. The Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company Milwaukee, Wisconsin.