The Nuggets don’t give consistent effort, and they don’t have an identity. They also need a jerk on this team who will put a foot in anyone’s butt when needed.
— Derek, big bad man
Kiz: Trends aren’t established after only five games in a long NBA season. But keep your eye on this: It seems as if the Nuggets could be trying to change — or at least tweak — their identity. Although he’s still a triple-double machine, Nikola Jokic’s scoring average has dipped to 21.2 points per game, his lowest since the 2019-20 season, a year before he went on his MVP tear, establishing himself as the No. 1 player on the planet. Has Joker won the last MVP of his career? And have the Nuggets decided they might be a more dangerous team if they aren’t so reliant on the big fella’s scoring?
The Nuggets need a hard reset. They should fire coach David Adelman and hire Tom Thibodeau on a one-year deal.
— P.N. from Tennessee
Kiz: Michael Malone, the lone coach in Nuggets history to lead the franchise to a championship, was not everyone’s cup of tea. He was more like a living, breathing and sometimes seething can of Red Bull. Malone urgently demanded the team to play hard and wasn’t afraid to rip players when...