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Aaron Gordon Outlines How Denver Nuggets Make David Adelman's Job Easy

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By JH Kubicek | Last updated May 7, 2025 3:33 PM ET

The Denver Nuggets are led by one of the smartest basketball players ever in Nikola Jokic, and his IQ has rubbed off on the rest of the roster.

Aaron Gordon, Christian Braun, DeAndre Jordan, and even Russell Westbrook have built on their careers playing next to Jokic, and it allows the coaching staff to draw up plays instead of worrying about whether or not the roster is talented enough to make the plans happen.

After firing Michael Malone at the end of the regular season, the Nuggets thrust first-year head coach David Adelman into the skipper's spot. While Adelman has long been on the sidelines as an assistant coach, he hasn't had to grapple with butting heads and characters as a decision maker.

Luckily, the Nuggets are making that easy for him.

"We have high IQ guys on this team and high character guys on this team," said Gordon. "So when we're speaking to each other, it comes from a place of experience, knowledge, wisdom, and compassion. And yeah, it just allows (David Adelman) to just focus on the X's and O's and some of the pep."

Even when it comes to drawing up plays, Adelman can rely on his players. Jokic has been seen orchestrating the Nuggets on both ends of the floor and from the bench, and he is often deciding rotations and substitutions.

That's not to say that Adelman isn't doing his job, but the team knows that they need to put the self aside, especially given how fresh their head coach is.

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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