Bruce Brown Officially Back | The Joker Hysteria

Bruce Brown Officially Back | The Joker Hysteria

Bruce Brown’s officially back in Denver. The Nola Jokic extension conversation has of course reached stupid levels. And we’ll take a look at Nugget Summer League. All that coming up on Locked on Nuggets. You are Locked on Nuggets, your daily Denver Nuggets podcast. Part of the Locked On podcast network. your team every day. Welcome to Locked On Nuggets, your daily different nuggets podcast, part of the Locked On podcast network. Your team every day. Thanks for joining us and making us part of your day, being with us Monday through Friday. Do appreciate you guys joining us, being an everydayer, being a true Sicko and joining us each and every day during the offseason, in season, postseason, pre-season, all the seasons. We do appreciate you guys’ support. You guys mean the world to us. My name is Matt Moore. I’m the senior NBA writer for the Action Network. I write a substack called The Denver Dig that covers all things Nuggets. Working on two things right now talking about the JV conversation as well as kind of a lot of things we’ll talk about on today’s show. Plus, I’m going to do a piece that talks a little bit more about Michael Porter Jr. Uh programming note. Uh tomorrow on as you’re listening to this on I’m recording this live on Wednesday night on Thursday at 4 Eastern to Mountain. There we go. 4 Eastern, two mountain. Uh we’re gonna do a threeman weave show with Swiper, Ryan, and I. And we’re going to talk about Michael Porter Jr. and his legacy with the Nuggets because Mike issued his farewell video today. And we’ll kind of talk about that. and we’ll get into just kind of the history of Mike and what he meant to Denver and his contributions to the finals team because Mike deserves his own episode for kind of getting um the respect that he deserves uh for being such a big part of the team that won a championship and did was there for a lot of it. So, uh all right. Uh we today we will talk about summer league. I’ll get into some of that. Uh doing a little bit of a preview on that. Summer League tips off on Thursday. Uh, I’m going to talk about the Joker extension conversation. Hasn’t been too bad, but I still want to go ahead and get my thoughts known about it. But we’ll start with this. Bruce Brown’s officially back. Nuggets announced on Wednesday that Bruce Brown has officially resigned with the Denver Nuggets. Um, there’s and I love seeing it like the videos from the Nuggets on Twitter. Reddit is just Nuggets Reddit is just full of love and appreciation and photos and videos and all the stuff of Bruce. And I think it’s really great when you get an opportunity to see a player that means this much to a fan base come back because it very rarely happens. It just you don’t see it a lot that the folk heroes come back because they usually wind up being folk heroes for other teams because there was a reason that they were gone. But the only reason that Bruce ever left was because the Nuggets physically could not resign him. They were not allowed to offer enough money to keep him under the CBA. and for him to have reached this point where he understands where he is valued, where he is happiest. And you know, I’ll say that for um we’ll have other conversations this summer about Bruce’s fit and some of the basketball stuff and concerns because like we try and be balanced on the show. We try and present you with the most accurate analysis that we can of the situation and we can’t ignore that Bruce struggled in not really struggled in Toronto and they struggled in New Orleans but he didn’t want to be in Toronto and he didn’t want to be in New Orleans and Bruce Brown wants to be in Denver and I have long said it was such a challenge for years when I started covering this team. It was such a challenge finding anybody who wanted to be a Denver Nugget, who wanted to be with this franchise, with this team in this city. And Bruce loves Denver. He loves Denver. He loves the vibe, the scene, the aura, all of it. Like Bruce genuinely loves Denver and he loves playing with Joker and he loves this team and he’s going to be very happy uh I think to be back. And look, we’ve seen second acts not work out. Um, Aaron Aalo, I think, is a good example of how that doesn’t always work out great. A lot of that was coaching because almost immediately Aaron Aalo was like, “Oh no, what have I done?” Uh, during the Brian Shaw era, but I I do think that just having the motivation of being back where you belong, being back where you feel comfortable, being back where you’re happy is going to make a huge difference for Bruce. and he’s going to get to play significant minutes and he’s going to get to make significant plays for a team and play on in games that matter again. And that’s really important cuz he was not playing in games that mattered in Toronto and he was not playing in games that mattered in New Orleans. Um, so that to me is kind of like where we get to with Bruce is is for the most part I am most excited that Bruce is able to come back into a situation where he’s going to be happiest and be comfortable in the NBA because it’s a league that does not make you comfortable a lot of the time. Um, from a basketball perspective, I still think that there like I just think it’s going to be great to see him defending again. It’s going to be great to see him pushing the ball up the floor and just having that base level of competency I think is going to be such a big boost for this team. For it not to be as erratic as it as it has been at times both with the young guys and with Russ. Even if Russ comes back, I think Russ and Bruce could play fine together. I don’t expect Russ back at this point, but I I don’t think that’s a problem. Bruce’s ability to mesh with just just about everybody is an underrated aspect. There’s nobody really that you’re like, man, Bruce does not belong in this lineup. He pretty much fits everywhere. Um, and that to me is is excellent. Uh, I’m happy to have him back in locker room conversations to be able to ask him questions again. I’m excited to be able to see the interactions between him and his teammates who love him. You know, so many guys were so excited for him. You know, Aaron was like, “My guy’s going to get the bag.” When it came to Bruce after the championship there, those guys are going to love having him back. It’s going to be a big boost. It just is. The the vibes are going to be a lot better this season. they have to be because the bar was very low. But even then, that the Nuggets have elicited the kind of change that I think the team knew it needed and I think that the vibes are going to be um a lot better with this team going forward. Uh on the other side, I will talk to you a little bit about the Jokic extension, why my position on it, try not to be too polyiana and try not to be too pessimistic. We’ll talk about that up next on Lockout Nuggets. Today’s show is brought to you by Monarch Money. You ever wish managing your money fell easier? With Monarch Money, it can. Whether you’re growing your savings or planning a big purchase, Monarch puts you in the driver’s seat. It’s like having your own personal CFO giving you full visibility and control over your finances. Monarch Money is more than a budgeting app. It’s a complete financial command center. You can track all your accounts, investments, and spending in one place. So, in addition to managing your money, you’re also building wealth. You can find something that’s that’s that’s eating into your budget significantly that you didn’t realize. Takeout, subscriptions, those type of things. They’ll add up to more than you expect. 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So, um let’s talk the Joker non-extension. Um for the most part, I haven’t seen a lot of nonsense about it. for the most part. Locked on NBA actually threw up a video about Yokic rejecting the Nuggets and talking about that that perspective because, you know, got to get the clicky the clicky clicks. We’ve done it here on the show before, too. Um, I struggle with this because there is a tendency. I was talking to somebody who had covered the Thunder a long time back in 2016 after Durant left for the Warriors. And I was talking to him and I was like, “Did you have any idea?” And he was like, “Genuinely, no.” And he said, “But the problem was there were signs all along, but I ignored them because I was used to the person that he was when he got here, which was a kid, and he’s not a kid anymore.” And Joker, I’ve always kind of kept that in the back of my head, right? The thing though is that we don’t growing up doesn’t mean leaving. like growing up and becoming a professional and a dad and all these things doesn’t mean that suddenly Joker’s like, “Yeah, I’m in it for the star power. I want to be the biggest star in the world.” Like, that’s just not ever who he’s going to be. I don’t think from my perspective, I still don’t see him leaving. He still has a very close relationship. And I do think that for Joker, there is a certain inherent you drafted me, you believed in me, you developed me, you gave me these opportunities, you pushed me along the way, you supported me at every turn. He was frustrated this year. They addressed the roster. I think it’s very difficult to find an argument for why Joker would leave if it’s because he has a better chance of winning a championship elsewhere, does he? And the reason I say that is just because like nothing really works out the way that you think anymore in the NBA. Um, you know, Kevin Durant goes to Brooklyn and teams up with Kyrie and Harden. Nope. Goes to Phoenix, teams up with Booker and CP3. Nope. Then Beal, nope. Um, LeBron and Anthony Davis. Oh man, what a combo. Won the title. Ah, they’re going to win multiple net. Nope. Haven’t been back to the final since, right? I get the Lakers talk and not there’s a long established history of stars leaving their teams to go to the Lakers and Joker can decide that that’s what he wants. He wants to play with Luca and heads on out there. Entirely possible, right? That’s a decision that he might make. I do not I am never gonna be on this show saying what I think Joker is thinking. I think it’s the most asinine useless folly that you can possibly commit yourself to is trying to get in the head of Nicole Yokic. Um, I have on record statements from him and I have things that I know about his relationship with the ownership group and those things I think are real. They’re not everything, but I also do not find any reason to. Um, this is all to say like the point of the extension is just that by waiting he gets more money. Like he just gets more money if he waits. It’s like 30 million more. It’s a big gap. It’s a lot of money there. There was never And that was why Josh at the press conference when Ryan asked about the extension was like, “Well, we’re going to offer it to him, but we’re also going to lay out everything.” Because they’re not going to do something where what I knew they weren’t going to do is be like, “Hey, we’re going to offer you the most money right now because they wanted to be like, “Hey, you can this is what’s best for you. You can make more money if you wait a year.” You know, and some guys have taken the extension and some guys haven’t. And Joker chose to wait. And I I personally don’t see it the way that Ryan does. I think Ryan does see it as keeping the pressure on the front office. I think Jeff Morton definitely sees it as keeping the pressure on the front office. I haven’t heard DMVr because I’ve been doing this thing called going outside. Um but I’m I’m sure Adam may have like referenced this as well. I don’t know what Adam thinks, but I I will just tell you that I don’t think that’s part of the equation for him because Joker’s either I think Joker’s response would be, “Well, no, if I was unhappy, I would just leave.” Like, if I if I didn’t want to be here, I would just not be here. You know, he’d demand a trade or do whatever. Um or he would say like I’d finish my contract and then just go. He’s I don’t think he’s one to play games. Exerting your power is definitely part of the NBA superstar power structure, though, so I don’t want to ignore that. I’m just saying like I personally have a hard time fitting that image into my head of what Joker would do. Um, and so I don’t find it compelling to talk about this. I just don’t. And I also just think that there’s I think that there’s always going to be an element of fans extrapolating their feelings when the players feel very differently going to work. I just do like I don’t think Joker is as frustrated as you are with the team. I just don’t think or were. I don’t think that there’s um much in the way of that retention. So, uh, Jeff says, “Do you think the sacking of Malone changes his mind?” Probably. I would say that he’s probably he Joker could have made it more clear how much he loves and appreciated Malone and chose not to. Now, maybe he just wasn’t asked and he would still go out of his way to say that. Like, that’s fine. That if he I can be totally wrong on that. I’m just telling you, I don’t have any reason to think that like I don’t have any reason to think that that firing Malone hurt the case to get to get him to sign the extension. I don’t think that that factored in. And honestly, if they kept Malone, I don’t think it would have factored in, but I think it probably was something that he’s like, “All right, I feel better about the future about where the team is at.” Um, this is a good comment from Philly Urbanite. Uh, Jokic leaves work at work. That’s a very accurate statement. Um, yeah. So, somebody was asking about the coaching staff. Nino was asking about what’s the coaching staff structure, who retained. Uh, Popey Jones is gone. Uh, he’s going back to Dallas. So, uh, Ryan Bowen still around. He’s going to coach the G-League team under Chad Isy that was reported. Um, I’ve heard Isky. I would be I think Bowen is probably a really good candidate for the G-League job, but I don’t know if he wants to do that. So, we’ll see if that’s the case. um brought in JJ Berea, brought in Chair Dudley. So, it’s a a new staff. It’s younger in some ways, and it’s I think a little bit more established. Those guys have Dudley in particular has is like very active and current on these type of things. Um, Poppy very loudly says Yoga said he hates attention, so he doesn’t want to be in LA. He loves his privacy and quality time with his family. He doesn’t want attention. I kind of agree. Like, he can be comfortable. I mean, look, it’s nice in LA. There’s a reason all the players love it there. But what I don’t want to do is I don’t want to sit here and be like, he’ll never leave for the Lakers. And I don’t want to sit here and be like, they better get their act together cuz Joic is watching. I don’t think either of those things are true. Like I just don’t like I just I personally do not think that those things are what has happened. I don’t think Joker is keeping a knife to their throat being like you better you better put a championship team around me. That doesn’t sound like Joker. And I also don’t think it’s like Joker would never leave. No. If Joker’s like, “Yeah, yeah, let’s do it.” If if his wife is like, “Hey, I really want to go to LA. Just warm her there.” Seen that happen before in Denver. Uh, so I think I don’t have a lot of concern about Joker extending. If you were like, “What’s he gonna do?” I would just say, “Yeah, I think he’s going to extend.” I have no way of knowing. I’m just guessing. But I would tell you that I think Joker’s going to extend next year. I think this is all pretty wrote and formulaic. I think they’ll have a better season. I think they’ll have a better playoff run. And I think that he’ll resign. Um, uh, Hurricane, they got four guys on staff. Feels a bit short. No, they retained a lot of the second second, uh, bench guys are still going to be here and they’ll probably fill out a few more by the end of the year. They don’t publicize a lot of the stuff, which annoys me. Um, they’ll do an email which announces the full coaching staff sometime in like August or September, and that’ll tell us like exactly who’s here and who’s not and those type of things. um looking through the comments. But yeah, um ultimately I do not think you have any reason to be concerned about Nicole Joic leaving and I don’t think that this is like I will also say that there’s a lot of belief from my my media brethren and I understand their position on it. I personally do not think the entire like it’s good that he’s he’s keeping them on their toes. I don’t think that that’s a good thing. I don’t think people operate well in that position. Um, the 2023 title team did not win out of a level of desperation and fear. The 2024 Celtics did not win out of desperation and fear. The 2025 Thunder did not win out of desperation and fear. The 2021 Bucks did not win out of desperation and fear. It’s not a good environment. If you notice all these years when LeBron’s got his like knife to the throat doesn’t go well. never goes well when LeBron’s done that in the past. It did not help at all. So, um, up next, I’ll take some more of your questions. We’ll talk about summer league, do that a little bit, and we’ll wrap up here on Locked on Nuggets. Back around Live Nugget, thanks for joining us and making us part of your day. Appreciate you guys being with us. Jeff uh Udeno says, “Do you see the team as constructed now as title contenders?” Yes, I think they are tier two. I think it is Thunder and then I think the second tier is Cavaliers, Rockets, Nuggets, and probably Wolves was wolves at the very end of that. I think that’s it. Like you have to you have to put the Nuggets I think there in that conversation. Now that’s on paper. We’ll see how it works out on reality because sometimes the paper doesn’t match up, but we’ll see how it goes. Um, Hurricane says, “Is there a difference between desperation and fear and abject indifference that Booth brought?” You know, I think um I think Booth felt the pressure and I think that Booth didn’t know how to address that pressure with the Malone situation is that if you see it as we can fix all of this if you’ll just play my guys, then until the guy plays your guys, like you’re setting it up to where it’s no longer in your control where everything would be fine if this other guy wasn’t this other guy’s a problem. If he was gone, then everything would work out. And both of them presented that the the issue that way to my understanding. Both of them presented it that way. Malone, I will say, whether it was just words in public and PR or not, he made overtures publicly. He tried to be like, “We got enough shooting. Ros’s good enough. We got enough guys. Tension’s healthy.” Like Malone. Malone did not dig. And after the hit piece that was put out last fall on Malone, Malone did not fire back. He just went to work. That was it. Became the winningest coach in Nuggets history. So, but at the same time, they did create that environment. Um, this front office, I think, definitely has more of a fire under their ass because Josh lit it like that. That was my big takeaway from everything that happened was there was in the aftermath there wasn’t just okay sure glad those guys are gone. It was those guys are gone and if you guys don’t get your stuff together everybody’s fired. I’m cleaning everybody out. Like that’s what Josh is bringing right now because that’s what he thinks the organization needs. And so they’re kind of fighting in another that’s the more direction I think that they’re going. And to be fair I think that these guys took the opportunity to do to have new thinking and actually capitalize on it. And that’s really good. They didn’t set on their hands. They weren’t overly cautious. Connley came in was honestly really cautious for a while and these guys have been aggressive. Um Carlos asked, “Has there been an inkling what the Nuggets will do to that 15th roster spot?” Not going to know that until the JV situation gets resolved because if he gets the buyout and they have the MLE, they can split it into two players and then that 15th roster spot could be even better. Or they can trade for somebody. Um, if JV is in, which it does sound like he’s going to be by Vic Lombardi’s comments this week, it sounds like this is going to get resolved. If he’s here, then I would expect it to be somebody they find either undrafted free agent, maybe a veteran that’s hanging out there, but I think it’ll be like a late small ad. Um, I wouldn’t say it’s going to be any sort of anything explosive or huge at this point, although I’ve been wrong before on those kind of things. Um, I don’t understand this person that is like, I’m just going to come into this Locked On Nuggets podcast and talk about how Jokic is a Laker. I don’t understand you. This is why it’s the worst franchise on the on the planet. It’s the worst. It’s the worst fan base on the planet. Genuinely is. Um, is there still a way Denver conducts? Yes, there are there are mechanisms to get there, but you’re going to have to go to Ryan for details. We’ll talk about that with him later this week. Um, okay. Summer League. I want to talk about that before we get out of here. Summer League, Hunter Tyson there again. I’m not sure what Hunter can show. That’s going to really bully you over, but this is a good environment to do it. All eyes are going to be on Deron Holmes obviously because he’s the guy. He’s, you know, the the rookie in them was very hype coming in last year and just I just want to see him be able to stay healthy, get through this thing, you know, look like he can play with physicality and force coming off the injury. That’s the biggest thing I’ll be looking for. Uh I’m excited about Spencer Jones. I just am. Ree Beakman, they seem to have a big pull for given tomorrow Bates the two-way contract was really interesting. I think that’s really fascinating. Dragutin says Joic said he’s trading Yok or Josh said he’s trading Yic at the time. It’s funny because like I was like this is not a big deal like come on guys like he’s not trading Yic and Cam was Swipo was like this is a huge deal and I was like come on it can’t be and then it was like everywhere and I just I always underestimate I think the things that stick. It’s not that I can’t imagine things flaring up and being a big deal for a day. It’s the stuff that sticks that I think is really interesting. Like that comment like really stuck with people like do you think that Josh Kroni wants to trade Nicole? Like what what in his history? Why would they have offered him the max extension the minute that they could have if Josh Kroni wanted to trade Nicole Yokovic, right? Like Crocki was talking about like the the worst case of worst case of worst case situations. Like that’s what he was referring to. And even then I don’t think they would do it. It’s just weird to me that this continues to be like even a joke that gets brought up. I think it’s really weird. It’s like it was an off-the cuff comment and like honestly the bigger thing that I really hate with it is that this is why Josh doesn’t do pressers and the fans I think would benefit from hearing from Josh more. And there’s this double-sided sword. I’m not saying that he’s not resp like he can say whatever and not get criticism for it, but it’s like when a comment like that gets blown out onto ESPN the next day, it just shows how buffoonish we are as a media group. It really does because like there were substantive answers and and thoughtful stuff in that presser that we never got to that no one ever talked about because we had to talk about Josh Kroni saying you know if in a parallel universe if we need to stock up ammunition for the water wars we’ll trade Nola Joic like it to me it’s it’s nuts. Um summer league back to that uh not a lot in terms of you know importance. This is one of the le lesser important summer leagues for the Nuggets when you kind of look at it. Dron’s stuff is obviously, I think, important. Getting something out of the two-way guys would be good. And I kind of wonder if David’s going to take a little bit more of an emphasis on that, even though he’s not coaching the summer league team. Andrew Mudson is. Um, that’s an interesting choice, too. So, sometimes the new coach wants to get his hands dirty and really do the work and and do the summer league stuff, but David’s been here for so long, knows the program, and doesn’t need to do it. So, I don’t think it’s an issue. Um, yeah, there’s still just like, yeah, but it’s kind of true about the crocky. No, it’s not. Um, I am curious this week about obviously the JV thing is a huge kind of crick in the neck with everything. The Cam Johnson trade going through, I will tell you, I was relieved like that. I was I was relieved when the Cam Johnson trade went through just to know that like everything wasn’t going to fall apart on them getting that that big piece like no matter what happens after that was the biggest piece because it got them the trade exception and lowered the salary like Cam was the move of the summer and everything else I think is just kind of details. Um, and so JV is a big component, but I don’t think it’s like make or break on the season. I think Mike Weisberg says, “Are you surprised that Excel commented on the record of Smartstein on wanting to guarantee the second year?” No. Uh, Mark’s really good at this stuff. the secondyear guarantee makes a lot of sense as a leverage play, right? To try and be like, let’s lock in that money and make sure that he’s not just going to be here dumped as an expiring non-G guarantee because that I think is that I’ve talked a lot about the familiar reasons like the family stuff with JV and other things that I’ve I’ve kind of heard on the edges. But if this might be just as simple as like, hey, I am not winding back up on the Wizards. I am not going to finish the season on the Kings. I think the Nuggets generally don’t have plans for that. I think they’re like, “No, we’re we’re going for it.” Um, okay. That’s going to do it for lockdown nuggets for today. Appreciate you guys being with us. Check back tomorrow, 400 PM Eastern, 2:00 PM Mountain time, and we will do the Michael Horror Jr. farewell show. Although Mike, we’ll see. We’ll see Mike here. His trivia video is going to be great. I think when he comes back, we’ll talk about that. We’ll get swipe of thoughts on everything else. We’ll see where we’re at. We’ll have more on stuff for you this week. Thanks for joining us on Locked on Nuggets.

Matt Moore breaks down the latest Nuggets news as Bruce Brown signs, the Joker conversation rages, and the latest on Nuggets Summer League.

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