Spencer Jones

And I'm a firm believer in, yes, the camp Johnson injury absolutely matters.

But if you're saying, well, we don't have Spencer Jones or alpha Diallo available in the Julian Strother's out, but you've already lost right.

Or at that point, I think.

i watch them and even during like kind of their highest moments i don't know if they have a path to being peak nuggets anymore and the closest thing they get is if all the starters are healthy and then they have i guess two they have two shooters in there with cam johnson jamal murray and you trust aaron gordon but just after that it's how are you supposed to ever reach your final form on the offensive end and i do not trust this team defensively.

That might be a function of, well, let's see Alfa Diallo and Spencer Jones come back for sure.

But even the offense feels like it's working with a slimmer margin for error.

And I don't know how much of that is, they are like incorporating DeMar DeRozan is weird because he's just so functionally different than what they're used to.

So a lot to go over on this episode of Nuggets Digest, guys.

back in july the denver nuggets made a move after the thunder signed spencer jones to a two-year 12 million dollar offer sheet a deal that the nuggets would match bringing spencer jones back to the team jones went undrafted in 2024 and he started on a two-way deal and played 11 games for the grand rapids gold in 2024 to 2025 averaging 17.5 points and eight rebounds not in february after 46 games for denver 34 of them starts the nuggets signed him to a standard contract Last season, he averaged 5.5 points and 3.3 rebounds in 64 games while shooting very well on top of that.

That's a G League fine to turn into a rotation player for $6 million per year on average annual value.

But matching that offer did two things.

One of them gets on a two-way deal when by the end of the year, Cam Whitmore does get that 15th roster spot, and that is a real need right now.

Cam Johnson is day-to-day with an ankle sprain.

Alpha Diallo has a wrist injury, and Spencer Jones was out with a hamstring for a little bit, and Julian Strother is out till December.

This team is already hurt.

They have high aspirations coming into the year.

for sure i mean trevor brazil was a second round pick and he came into the nuggets a team that's absolutely stacked at power forward the position he plays but what happened was you know cam johnson who you know is a three four gets hurt opening night spencer jones who's primarily a four um hurt before the season has even started in training camp and so it's opened up minutes and possibility for brazil and i mean played a little bit in the first couple games you know like 15 20 minutes and then started last night in New Orleans and I mean he's been a revelation man I mean the lineup with him Aaron Gordon and Nicole Yoka just absolutely cooked especially on the defensive end just that amount of length and size and athleticism with him and Gordon has kind of changed the Nuggets look on defense so It's really been the big bright spot so far.

I mean, it's really been the one positive, you know, other than a couple other minor things that I feel like we can really hang our hat on and say, okay, like we're really encouraged by this so far.

Yeah, he sounds like he's going to be an X factor in this game against Phoenix on Friday.

And I like that they have gotten to that.

That will change when Spencer Jones is back.

There'll be some smaller lineups when Cam Johnson is back.

But I do think that, uh, There's some good stuff here from this rotation, and there's a lot to be encouraged by, both in the way that Denver approached it, but also the way that the process went.

And I don't necessarily think Aaron Gordon has a matchup.

He definitely has a matchup advantage against Miles Bridges in all areas.

But, like, there's some stuff as Denver tries to figure it out, and the lineups to end the third quarter, even really to end the first quarter, but, like, mostly the third quarter, if you get Cam Johnson back in there, if you get Alpha Diallo back in there, if you get Spencer Jones back in there, these are guys that I think raise your defensive floor in those times, and especially when they're playing with Jokic.

as long as he's making the right decisions and continuously kind of in a good position where the the thought process is correct the direction that they're going is correct he's going towards the rim he's not staying at the three-point line the entire time like if if he's in that position and the Nuggets have the right pieces around him I think those end of first end of third quarters are going to be pretty good and then you can kind of play some more concentrated bench lineups and some staggered bench lineups where But there's better fits across the board.

Opened up minus three, looks like four, total right around the opener.

Diallo questionable, Cam Johnson questionable, Spencer Jones, Strother out, Iguodaro questionable, Mark Williams out.

I mean, the Suns are really small, but Nuggets should be able to take advantage.

For that reason, I would agree with the total going up a little bit here.

I'm sure he'll be motivated to try to play.

They have not had Spencer Jones who, Sam Presti made that a little bit difficult for them to deal with.

And they also have not had Julian Strother all season.

He gets injured before the season begins.

Okay.

Give me some thoughts on Alpha and Spencer Jones.

Did Spencer Jones play?

Spencer Jones did not play.

Oh, interesting.

I know.