Cam Johnson is David Adelman’s biggest puzzle to solve

The Nuggets are 5-4 and 10th in the West, and the midday show wants Cam Johnson to stop playing like "just a guy" next to Jokic and Murray

BY JOEY FREEBURG

Nov 11, 2026, 2:46 PM

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Watch: How can David Adelman get Cam Johnson more involved? | 51 seconds

The Nuggets are 5-4 and 10th in the West, and the midday show wants Cam Johnson to stop playing like “just a guy” next to Jokic and Murray.

The Nuggets have had an uneven start. They’re 5-4 and 10th in the Western Conference, and the second-half comeback against New Orleans in the home opener has been the exception more than the rule. Several things are behind the slow start, but Cam Johnson’s inconsistency is near the top of the list.

Some nights, Johnson is the dependable perimeter shooter Denver traded for. Other nights, he barely shows up in the box score. On a recent edition of “Dover and Cecil” on 104.3 The Fan, Cecil Lammey said fixing that is the head coach’s most important job.

“I think that’s probably David Adelman’s biggest puzzle piece to figure out. It’s his biggest Rubik’s Cube to assemble, or to turn. You gotta figure out how to make Cam better,” Lammey said.

Cam Johnson came to Denver in the 2025 offseason in the trade that sent Michael Porter Jr. to Brooklyn. He was expected to take over much of Porter’s role as the floor-spacing forward next to Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray. That transition hasn’t gone smoothly. In his first season, Cam Johnson averaged 12.2 points, 3.8 rebounds and 2.4 assists, but he played only 54 games because of injuries, most notably a bone bruise in his right knee.

Lammey said the problem has been finding a rhythm and keeping it.

“You gotta figure out how to make Cam comfortable. Because at times, and you have to know this from a year ago, Cam didn’t fit in, then he did, then he got hurt. Then he came back and he didn’t fit in, and then he kinda did but then he disappears,” Lammey said.

That has followed Johnson since he arrived. When he finally looked settled last season, an injury pulled him off the floor. When he came back, he had to find his place all over again. His late-season and playoff play was encouraging enough that Mike Evans said Johnson showed “a little bit in the playoffs, at the end that I didn’t see all season long.” Nine games into this season, that version of Johnson hasn’t shown up consistently.

Lammey thinks the bigger issue is Johnson’s mindset.

“Cam Johnson looks too comfortable with just being a guy. He looks too comfortable like, ‘Am I fitting in?’ Like, it’s almost as if he’s intimidated by Joker, or at least intimidated by the role of ‘I gotta make sure that Joker’s getting his and Jamal’s getting his, and then I’m just kind of a guy and I’m here,'” Lammey said.

Playing next to Jokic can do that to people. Jokic controls the offense, and Murray is the second option. A player can easily decide his job is to stand in the corner and wait. Johnson is a good shooter, but Denver needs more than that from him this season. The Nuggets traded Peyton Watson, Aaron Gordon’s health is still uncertain, and the bench has been thin. Denver needs another player who looks for his shot.

“I would like more ownership from Cam Johnson where he’s like, ‘I’m the man. Give me the rock,'” Lammey said.

That doesn’t mean Johnson should take over the offense from Jokic. It means attacking closeouts, hunting good shots and playing like someone who belongs on the floor with two stars. Adelman can help by designing more actions for Johnson and getting him touches early in games, but Johnson has to want the ball.

The Nuggets have plenty of time to climb out of 10th place. Lammey thinks getting a confident Cam Johnson back is one of the clearest ways to do it.