Adelman says Nuggets are chasing again: ‘Vegas doesn’t think we have a chance’

David Adelman looked at the odds. He didn’t like what he saw, but he knew what it meant.

“Vegas doesn’t think we have a chance from what I looked at,” the Nuggets coach said Wednesday after Denver’s final practice before Thursday’s season opener at Oklahoma City. “So I think there’s a lot of excitement about chasing as opposed to being chased.”

Denver isn’t where it has been the last several years. Their title odds (+2500) sit just on the edge of the top 10.

Whether a team with one of the best players in the world should embrace the underdog role is a fair question. Nonetheless, the Nuggets are here, as underdogs, and they haven’t been this overlooked since before they won the 2023 title. The Nuggets have had a target on their backs for a while now. Only this year, coming off a first-round exit, has it become clear there’s good reason to believe there are better teams in the West.

So Adelman pointed further back, to 2020, 2021 and 2022, when the Nuggets were still climbing.

“We’re back in that situation,” he said. “I think that’s a good thing for our guys.”

Nikola Jokic, Jamal Murray and Aaron Gordon may not be on the same kind of climb they were earlier this decade, but some of their teammates are. Christian Braun, on his first big contract, is trying to re-prove his worth. Cameron Johnson, in a contract year, is playing for his next paycheck. And a handful of young players are trying to make the league or stay in it.

Those are individual climbs. The collective one starts Thursday against the team that has been in the way.

Oklahoma City beat Denver in Game 7 of the second round in 2025. On Tuesday, the Thunder opened their season by beating San Antonio 116-104, the team that knocked them out last spring. Jared McCain scored 20 points and made 6 of 8 3-pointers off the bench. On Thursday, the title favorites, at +250, host the Nuggets as 8.5-point favorites.

“They have a million people they can play,” Adelman said. “There’s so much focus on Shai, and there should be. The guy’s an incredible player. But McCain makes six 3s last night. There’s always something else out there.”

Jokic has been on the other end of that depth for years. Some of their thorniest pieces are gone: three of the five role players who crushed the Nuggets over the past two seasons were sent out this offseason. But younger Oklahoma City talent is expected to step up and fill those roles in different ways.

Adelman noted the Thunder have thrown everything at Jokic: doubles from the top, help from the baseline and Alex Caruso fronting him in a Game 7.

“They are definitely a challenge for every team in NBA,” Jokic said. “So, it’s good to see where we at.”

His plans for the night before the opener are less intense. He’s having dinner with his friend and fellow Serbian Nikola Topic, who plays for the Thunder.

“I’m not going to feel nervous,” Jokic said, then thought about it. “I always feel nervous before the game. I think that’s normal. And it should be like that. I think that’s why I’m playing this sport.”

The biggest reason for belief, in Thursday’s game and this season as a whole, is a familiar one: Aaron Gordon’s health.

“When Aaron plays, we’re as good as any team in the league,” Adelman said. “Aaron is part of that trio. That’s how we have a banner up there.”

He’s right. When Gordon played last season, the Nuggets outscored opponents by 13.8 points per 100 possessions. But there’s belief that Gordon is no longer the only athletic option. The rebuilt bench has several players who can do some of the things Gordon does better than just about anyone in the league.

“They beat us a couple times,” Jokic said of the second unit.

He was especially impressed by Alpha Diallo, the EuroLeague Best Defender award winner, who was brought back to Denver, where he played high school ball, to solve a long-known Nuggets problem: perimeter defense.

“He’s really athletic,” Jokic said. “He can beat people to the spot. He know how to play a little bit dirty, too.”

A little dirty is exactly what the Mile High City needs. Denver has taken years of cheap shots from the Thunder, and a Timberwolves team led many to question the Nuggets’ toughness.

Murray, who guards Diallo in practice, agreed.

“He just really does a good job of denying and making it tough to get the ball,” Murray said.

The biggest bench addition is on offense: veteran surgical scorer DeMar DeRozan. Murray said it’s been fun to watch DeRozan work in practice “as a basketball fan.”

The highest-paid bench player expected to make an impact is Spencer Jones, who signed an offer sheet with the Thunder this summer before staying in Denver. He missed the entire preseason with a hamstring injury but is “full go,” Adelman said. The former two-way player from Stanford was forced into the lineup last season and thrived.

But nobody had more on his plate last season than Murray, and he’s asking for more. Murray, an All-NBA third-team pick last season, believes he deserved better.

“I thought I could have made All-NBA second team,” he said. “So, striving for that.”

Murray said he’s coming into this opener more relaxed than he used to be. He’s better at reading the moment, the crowd and his own emotions. The Nuggets’ season ended in May, earlier than they wanted, and he spent the summer training MMA and staying away from basketball.

“Whether we win or lose, rough start, fast start,” Murray said, “we know we’re ready to take on the challenges this year.”

So the Nuggets go back to chasing, with few outside Chopper Circle picking them. Adelman is trying to use that as motivation.

“I think they’ll embrace that,” he said. “Here we go.”

Related

Expert NBA picks: Panel fails Nuggets’ offseason, most see second-round exitNuggets make contract decision on young shooterNuggets’ Julian Strawther out at least six weeksJulian Strawther leaves preseason game with knee injuryNikola Jokic does hilarious stand-up bit in new Sprite adNuggets drop classic jersey to celebrate 60 years and ABA history