You've got the Krekman and Lyndahl Podcast.

Listen live every weekday from ten am to noon on Altitude Sports Radio ninety two to five and on the Altitude Sports Radio app.

Hey, it's been a while since we've played the the official show open at three o'clock, no crosstalk.

Today, we're going old school.

We're jumping into Crekman and Lindahl just before three pm here on this Tuesday in Denver, New Year's Eve, tomorrow night, winding Down twenty twenty five.

I produce this show.

My name is Mark Springer, and I am here with you until six pm.

Alberto your Uetta is in my seat today.

He's rocking his UTEP jacket pullover thingy.

You should be hearing the Independence Ball right now.

That was on the schedule, but because of the Nikola Jokicic news, we shuffled things around today on Altitude Sports Radio ninety two to five.

And if you're looking for Independence Bull updates, I got you covered, okay, if that's what you were tuning in for.

If you saw on our schedule we were promoting it, perhaps maybe we were.

I don't know if we were.

We were right now you were supposed to be listening to.

With eleven forty five to go in the fourth quarter, the Radiance Technology's Independence bull Louisiana Tech were favored over Coastal Carolina.

Coastal Carolina got out to a fourteen to three lead at the half, but the Bulldogs of La Tech have charged back to make it fourteen to twelve.

They just went for two and couldn't get it.

Oh what are we missing?

Well, the reason when we're missing this is because Nicola Jokicic.

I mean we thought he tore his acl last night.

I mean, how about this, Well, just a week or so ago, Cam Johnson goes down right in pain holding his knee in the game in Dallas, and last night, like the very end of the first half, Nuggets are just taken a sixty three to sixty one lead.

They'd come back from double digits down in the first half in Miami, jokicch and Murray leading the charge.

This half is almost over and we're seconds away from going to the locker room and the Nuggets possibly having a two point lead.

But then Jokic gets stepped on friendly fire by Spencer Jones, similar to cal mccarr and gave landiscog.

I mean, there are similarities.

And I see people on Twitter last night on social media, they're like, ah, Spencer Jones.

Damn you, Spencer Jones.

Dude, he's bodying up Hi May HAWKEZ Like he's just ding them up and he steps on the dude behind him steps on his foot.

What do you want him to do?

Spencer Jones is a good defensive player.

Jokic goes down and he's writhing in pain, and then the Heat would go on to win that game by quite a few, one forty seven to one twenty three.

The final, this game was tied at the half.

I wonder did the Nuggets win that game last night if Jokic stays in.

They needed that one because they lost the opener of the what is its seven game road trip in Orlando.

It's I mean, it's a lot of solid on this There's no East Coast teams here that blow you away.

Granted the East in general is not as good as the West, but they're all solid teams.

And you're on the road for seven straight.

It's tough.

It's tough, and it just got even tougher.

I do wonder if the Nuggets would have actually won.

That's how good Yokic is.

So what did the Heat win by?

They win by like twenty four.

Is Nicole Jokic worth twenty four points?

He might be.

He might be.

That's how good he is.

And that's that's why we shuffled everything because it's Nicola Jokic.

I mean, in the pantheon of who reigns supreme in Denver sports history, there are two names.

There are two names.

As far as who holds the crown, who wears the crown, who carries the torch.

I think most people and myself included, would say that it is still John Elway.

But my goodness, NICOLEA.

Jokich is right there, and you can make the argument that it's him.

And so when it appears that he might have torn his acl we change things around on Altitude Sports Radio, your home of the Denver Nuggets.

That's what we do.

Great news though, I mean, all in all, considering the optics of what it looked like last night, great news that it's just a left knee hyper extension, no structural damage, and he will not be out the rest of the year.

That's all that matters.

Yes, this is going to hurt their seating, because Nikola Jokicic.

I mean, like I just said, he might be worth twenty four points.

He's the best player in the game.

He is.

I love Wemby.

Wemby's a freaking nature.

He's still very young.

Yokic is in his prime.

Sga is a free throw merchant.

Yo Kich is that all around game.

The way he sees the floor, his basketball like Q is off the charts.

Like you could lose any other Nuggets player and you'd still feel like okay, as long as Big Honey's out there, as long as the Joker's out there, we've got a chance.

Just the way that he he lifts everyone around him, He rises all ships, the way he gets his teammates involved.

Yeah, the way he sets everybody up his own ability to score.

If the Nuggets don't happen Tokoliokic, they can have everybody else.

They could be one hundred percent healthy outside of nikoliokicch and.

They'd be screwed.

You need that, man.

He is everything everything.

To this team.

So good news.

And what are the odds that you know, man, I'm conditioned.

I think we're all conditioned to think that when you see a pro athlete go down, writhing in pain, holding their knee.

The automatic thought is that's an ACL.

That's just what that's what we've just been conditioned to.

I'd say, like, I don't I don't know the numbers, but gut feel, I'm gonna say like over ninety percent of the time, well over ninety percent of the time when you see a player go down holding his knee, like, the knee is the one thing you don't want him to be holding.

I hold that ankle, hold that hamstring.

Ah, the knee, No, not the knee, because we know what acls mean.

I guess the achilles would be the other.

If you're holding that heel and lo and behold.

Whether it's Cam Johnson or Nicola jokicch both of them, they're just like Cam was a bone bruise and Yokich is a hyper extension.

It really is a Christmas miracle that both those dudes will be back.

It appears here in a couple months.

I mean, maybe you're thinking through the All Star break something like that, because the All Star Break is like mid February, and again it will hurt their seeding.

You know, maybe they are not.

A home seed, Maybe they're not one of the top four seeds anymore, and it's just a testament to how tough the West is.

You know, Houston in LA, the Lakers and the Rockets are one game back of the Nuggets.

Wolves who.

Forced overtime on Christmas Night, or a game and a half back of the Nuggets.

It's really those three teams.

The Sons are playing some plucky basketball, They've gotten the benefit of playing the Pelicans and Wizards of late.

But the Suns are three games back in the seventh seed of the Nuggets.

Now I mentioned the All Star break.

One thing that I was thinking about today is and I thought he was already in I thought that Jamal Murray was already going to be an All Star.

He was already going to be on Team World.

But a couple of things here I'm not wondering.

Is the Yoki you're gonna play in the All Star Game.

So he's gonna be reevaluated in four weeks.

That'll put us in early February.

And let's see, the NBA All Star Game is mid February, February fifteenth.

So I mean, if everything goes hunky dory then and yo kitch, you know, if it's four weeks is best case scenario, then yeah, yo, Kitch is back for the All Star Game.

But I don't know, do you just do you just play it safe?

Do you just hold him out through the All Star break?

Make sure that that knee is one hundred percent ready to go.

Even if he is back before the All Star break, why play him in that stupid game?

Why play him in that absolute nothing?

Whatever the hell this is gonna be tournament twelve minute game format USA versus World.

Nobody cares, But that's an extra spot.

That's an extra spot on Team World.

So if there was a if, if Jamal was like the last man out, now his own teammate's probably not gonna play, and a nugget needs to be in the All Star Game, and there's only two who can make it given the and maybe Aaron Gordon would have had a chance.

And again, nobody really cares about the All Star Game.

But hey, I think Murray Murray's now he's in.

Now, he's in for sure, and he'll represent the Nuggets at All Star weekend and announce Jamal's team overall.

Now going forward, and I mean, this is a behemoth of a road trip, even more so without Nicole Jokich.

Unfortunately, Jamal Murray's playing the best basketball of his career.

He looks like he's as calm on the court, and the game has slowed down, slowed down for him more than ever.

He's He's gonna have to do it with at least the next game or two.

Perhaps, I don't know if you're rushing Aaron Gordon or Christian brown Back.

Reports were that they could play on the back half of this road trip.

We're still on the front half of this road trip.

Do you expedite either one of them to play even tomorrow nights in Toronto.

Toronto just had a nice comeback win last night at home against the Magic.

Toronto's better than people give him credit for having a solid season.

Friday in Cleveland, Cleveland just had a really nice win in San Antonio, a team that I'm very high on.

Evan Mobley's back.

Cleveland's at one hundred percent.

Essentially tough game.

I mean, if you don't have if it's just Jamal and look, they're deeper than they've been in recent years.

But stars carry this league.

High end talent carries this league.

So I don't know.

I'll be curious to see if Christian and or Aaron are playing tomorrow night or Friday.

Early reports were back half of the road trip, which would mean, you know, Sunday in Brooklyn, Monday in Philadelphia, Wednesday in Boston.

But I think now it's a guarantee that one of them's playing on this road trip because you're gonna need them.

You're gonna need him and more minutes for Yonas.

Valentiunis now too.

And you know, one of the talking points or speculation with Jonas and his hesitation to play for the Nugets and his preference to play for Panathenaikos in the Greek League and the EuroLeague, one of them was and maybe this was just speculation, but I mean, how many minutes is Yona's gonna get playing back up to Jokic.

You know, he'd been playing for some lowly teams in his career and his good player, but that meant he's a starter and he's playing like, I don't know, thirty minutes a night something like that, you know, playing behind Jokic.

He has not seen that much court time this season, but now Jonas will get it, and it's the best backup center that they have had in years I'll go back to Mason Plumley.

I think he's even better than that in terms of a guy who can be your starting center and be effective.

He's a beast.

He's not Jokic.

Nobody's Jokic, nobody's even well yo Yonas isn't.

Close to Jokic.

That's that's the level that Nicola is on.

But Yonas Valentiunis, if that's the guy that you're asking to step into your starting center role, you'll take that all day.

You'll take that all day.

He's been averaging thirteen minutes a game this season.

He's gonna go like twenty five minutes a night at least now going forward, So you know he's gonna get the minutes he wanted.

If there was any hesitation from him, oh I'm not gonna get the minutes.

Is this the role I really want?

Now?

You got a chance now to help keep this season afloat and maybe help this team maintain home court position for the first round of the playoffs.

So big moments ahead for Yonas Valentiunis and a chance for Jamal Murray to to really cement if there was any doubt his All Star campaign and where he's at in this league, and Jamal's shot is money right now, it is smooth, but the two man game goes away.

Yonas will not play it the same way that Jokich did.

Nobody can play it that way.

Uh So, Murray's gonna have to be that scoring guard and you're gonna need a lot of threes from Tim Hardaway Junior.

And Bruce Brown's role is gonna have to increase, Julian Strather's role is going to increase.

Maybe you start to see a little more Jalen Pikett because it's just a it's just a trickle down.

Jokiches out for at least four weeks.

Peyton Watson playing for a contract.

You know, he's great defensively, has been much improved offensively this year as he gets into his own, you know, a few years in the league playing for that contract, Peyton Watson, big moments here for him.

And then now the expectation that you know, will or the expectation for sure that both of those players, Gordon and Brown are back on this road trip, like now you have to Now you have to and will one of them be back in the next two games, because they're very they're without force starters man.

Injury luck is a real thing.

The Broncos have benefited from great injury luck this season.

I know, you lose JK Dobbins and it hurts, but when that's about all you've lost, when you look at the rest of the NFL, look, it's a physical, brutal sport.

Basketball is physical too.

You're gonna lose dudes.

The fact that the Broncos only lost JK Dobbins is great injury luck.

The Avs have had great injury luck this season.

The best team in the NHL, and they have had the most players play in every single game for them this season.

I think it's fourteen players have played in every single game for the Avs this season.

That's more than any other team has had as many players play for them in one hundred percent of their games.

So the Avs have had great injury luck.

Injury luck is a part of this, and unfortunately it did bite the Nuggets.

It has bitten the Nuggets.

But on the bright side, none of them are out for the season and they're as deep as they've ever been, so maybe home court advantages slide away.

But I've always said the key is to be as healthy as possible in the Playoffs's why the Chargers are resting starters on Sunday.

They gotta get Justin Herbert right, we'll talk about that.

We got Chad Brown coming up at four.

He's gonna talk Broncos and NFL.

Lots of guests today.

Coming up next, Chris Dempsey is gonna join me.

We're gonna get even more into this Nicola Jokic injury, what it means for the Nuggets.

Vicklm Barty joining the show at four twenty.

We'll talk Nuggets.

We'll talk Broncos as well with Vic.

We'll talk about all of it with Denver sports legend Vick Lombardy coach Mike Sandford joining us at four forty five.

Connor McGahee on at five twenty to talk AVS.

Expecting to be joined by Scott Hastings and Katie Windy as well today, possibly my dude Alex Ryan Emmy will join me at some point.

We'll talk Avs and everything else.

We love all the sports.

Here are an altitude.

It's Radio ninety two five.

Chris Dempsey.

Next, You've got the Krekman and Lyndahl Podcast.

Listen live every weekday from ten am to noon on Altitude Sports Radio ninety two to five and on the Altitude Sports Radio App.

It's Correkman and Lindall.

It's out Dude Sports Radio.

Mark Springer in for Natan Andy.

My dudes are chilling today and I'm chilling with you, guys.

Reacting to the Nicola Jokic injury news.

All is well, or at least it's way better than it could have been.

That's a win.

That's a massive win.

We got keywords on an Avs ticket Tuesday, coming for you at four twenty and five twenty your chance to win tickets to see the Avs in the Blues tomorrow night on New Year's Eve at Ball Arena.

So tune in at four to twenty and five to twenty two chances to get your names in the hat for those tickets.

Also keep you updated on the Independence Bowl.

It should be on right now.

The Louisiana Tech Bulldogs have taken a twenty to fourteen lead over the Coastal Carolina chant of clears Man, the.

Drama we're missing.

The Independence Bowl was supposed to be on this very radio station right now, but instead we're reacting to Nicola Jokic injury news which I'll take my tongue out of my cheek is far more important.

We won't.

We woke them in from Altitude Television.

Chris Dempsey demps, Hey, it's a good day to be Nicola Jokic's knee right.

Listening to your intro there, and I thought, you know, it's funny because it's pretty rare that you get news that a player is going to miss at least a month due to a knee injury, and we're all like, whoa, that is great.

But here we are right with Nikola Jokic because we all know it could have been so much worse, but it isn't.

And so you know it's going to be upon the Nuggets now to keep themselves afloat while he's gone, and hopefully you know that involves getting Christian Brown here back soon and Aaron Gordon after that, and so they can be as whole as they can be without their star player.

When you saw him go down, and Cam Johnson for that matter, too, weren't we all thinking uh oh, because when you see that and typically like the we are trained now, it's a Pavlovian response for us to think grasping the knee and writhing in pain equals acl But both those players are going to be back in a handful.

Of weeks at least.

That's those are the reports that.

We're getting Gordon and Brown probably back soon, won at least by the end of this road trip Demps.

As long as they're healthy going into the playoffs, that's all that matters, right, Yeah.

Absolutely, one thousand percent.

You know, the minute you drop Nikola Jokic back into this lineup, this team becomes a lot of don't care where they are in the standings.

They're they're at worst, at worst the second best team in the in the Western Conference, and so you know it's and then and then and then look spring if if they if they end up playing basketball, if they that puts them kind of down in the standings.

And let's just say they slide in the sixth spot.

I mean, that's the scariest six six seed team that you will r up to play, you know, Yeah, the three seeds is gonna be like, what come on, man, we can read this team.

So yeah, but I think to your point, health is the only thing that matters with this basketball team.

They're capable of winning games anywhere.

And you know, they had won eleven straight road games, you know already to this point.

This you know at some point this season, so you know, as long as they're healthy, they can win anywhere, they can beat any team, and so that is definitely the most important thing.

Uh, demps, do you care at all?

And this was something I was maybe gonna bring up in the first segment but didn't get to.

I'm looking at the odds to win MVP this season and Yokich is off the board now.

SGA is a minus four fifty favorite to win MVP.

Do you do you care about that at all?

Yeah, it's too bad, you know because and I said this on the broadcast last night, I said, you know, the thing is, if he doesn't get to the sixty five game threshold, he's not going to win the MVP, which is too bad because he will be the MVP because we can all see that with our eyes.

But there is that threshold, and honestly, I think that threshold is good.

I mean, maybe it needs to be a little bit lower in terms of backing down toward more sixty games, but I do think the NBA has to have it because you just can have a player play forty games forty five games and then win an MVP or something like that.

So this is just very unfortunate for Nicola, you know.

And but but you know, look, he's won three of them already.

The prize is the title, and so as long as he's on the court, playing at an MVP level in the playoffs, that is really all that we all that we really want here.

It's just it's too bad that he probably he won't get that due to a technicality.

What do you think this does for Jamal Murray specifically?

I mean, he's carrying this team now.

Now it's his team for the even when Gordon's back, and Brown's back, and and maybe Cam Johnson is back before yolks, maybe k is the last return.

I mean, it's Murray's team.

I don't think it's Aaron Gordon's team, even if he were healthy.

This is Jamal Murray's team.

The way he's played, the way that he is a scoring guard.

Let's just start with him.

What does this mean for Murray?

It's a big deal.

You know, He's he's got to perform, and he's going to have to perform under pressure, you know, the the Unfortunately for him, now every defense will just try to take him out of the game.

You know that that's the first Especially with no Aaron Gordon and no Christian Brown and no Cameron j Hnson, They're just going to just blitz every ball screen, try to get the ball out of his hands at all times.

He's going to draw the best defender, probably two of them on most possessions.

They're going to get real, super physical with him.

So his life is about to get real complicated, real fast.

And so what he and I think this is this falls on David Adelman as well in the coaching staff.

You know, they have collectively have to figure out a way to keep him operating in as much space as possible.

And then if he's assuming double teams, it's just kind of double teams that they want so that they can get the ball, they can get other players open for wide open shots.

And so if you can do that with Jamal, use use the extra defensive attention to create advantages elsewhere on the court, but then still also get him off the ball to get him back on the ball so that he can work in space and with some one on one situations.

It's the best combination of things that will help him continue to be able to approximate what he has started the season with right now.

And so what you don't want from Jamal is for him to put a bunch of pressure on himself to and really feel the weight and the burden of that, and then to have that manifest itself out on the court by taking just a thousand shots, because that's not necessary in this offense the way they run it.

And you know he's still going to get obviously the lion's share of the shot attempts.

You just don't need to force them in this offense.

This offense generates great shots for everybody.

Let the offense continue to generate great shots for everybody.

And yeah, might his points per game tick down a little bit.

I think they probably will, but maybe they just tick up a little bit in the same time.

And I think that would be the best version of Jamal.

And we'll see we're starting to get some of those answers tomorrow.

How they want to attack things with him, and how they want to use him, and how they kind of keep them clean and throughout the game more often than just having a defense just to attack them and get their teeth into them and really take him out of a game.

What about Yonas Valentune is going from you know, thirteen minutes a game now he's getting well north to twenty going.

Forward for the next four plus weeks.

You know, I think Dempsey's the best backup big they've had since Plumbley.

I think he's better than Plumble.

He's not Jokic.

But if there's anyone who you're gonna say, okay, I'm somewhat comfortable with him stepping into that role.

I'm comfortable with Yonas valanciunis.

Correct me too.

And I'm actually, honestly, there's a piece of me that's very eager to see what happens here because so one of my favorite stats in basketball is per thirty six and so basically just saying, if this player played thirty six minutes per game, which is basically starters minutes, what would that player average?

And so the averages are extrapolated over per thirty six of thirty six minutes, and his last I checked or something like twenty two points and thirteen rebounds per day yet and that's yeah, So that was that, Like, you know, he was really packing a lot of production into just a very few minutes a night.

And what we know about him from his past in this league is that he's a double double.

He's a walking double double.

He just really is.

And so I I honestly expect a slew of double doubles out of him, and then and then maybe on a handful of these nights some really major double dough like something like twenty three points eighteen rebounds something like that, I can I think we can expect on about a handful of these occasions from him.

But also to your point, you know, I don't expect there should be no changes in how the Nuggets operate.

They they're still going to run split action stuff.

They're still going to have a lot of creative, creative stuff, a lot of pen downs for shooters, a lot of dribble handoff actions, and all those things are going to say exactly the same with ionis valencunits because he can do it.

And then he's a player also that you can throw the ball to on the block and say, big fellow, please go get us a high percentage bucket, you know, if they are in age routs or something like that, or even if you just are just kind of uneasy with how many jumpers are being shot in a particular game.

He can go get you a high percentage bucket as well.

So I'm not saying that obviously he's Nikola Jokich, because he's not.

But what I am saying is if he can, he can probably average sixteen ish points ten rebounds per game, I think during over this course of this spin, and that would be more than enough.

Especially if you start getting guys like Aaron Gordon and Christian brown Back and then obviously eventually Cameron Johnson as well, they can start everybody can start dividing the scoring up.

I mean, Aaron Gordon was having maybe the best scoring season of his career before he was out, and so if they can reprise those roles, I think, to your point, this is the best big that they've had behind Jokic, and I think he'll play like it.

You know, I'm looking at some bench players, some some bigs who got some minutes late once yoke which goes out just before the half last night, Zeke Nagy gets nine minutes, okay, Doron Holmes got eight minutes.

Hmm.

Is this an opportunity for Doron Holmes to get some more NBA, you know, high leverage playing time.

I think so.

You know, it's very hard to figure out what their plan is with him right now.

And I say that because you know, the this injury thing isn't new this season to the Nuggets, and they've just had players kind of dropping like flies.

And what we haven't really seen is Doron Holmes on the court in a significant way until last night, really, and so I it gives me a little bit of pause in terms of trying to project how they will use him, you know, going forward, while while they're still missing some players.

I think for Zeke Nagy, I think it's pretty apparent to me that they're comfortable with Zeke Nagy on the floor, and I think he will just be the backup center while Yoni Valentiunis is the starting center.

And then when Aaron Gordon comes back and is passed all the minute restrictions and everything, I think what they'll do is they'll do matchups, and so some nights you'll see Aaron Gordon be the starting center, You'll Jonas Valentnist be the reserve center, and some nights you'll see Yona Salentunis be the starting center, and then when he goes off the court, you just slide Aaron Gordon over as your backup center, and then you use Zeke Naji to kind of backfiell those things in case there's foul trouble or anything else.

So you know, but in none of those scenarios that I mentioned, John Holmes and so we'll just see, you know, how they use him.

But I'm very hesitant to say that there's going to be an uptick in his minutes in any kind of significant way until I see them actually put that into practice on the court.

Is that still hesitation of him coming off the not from him himself but from the staff, and maybe it is his own achilles coming off the Achilles injury.

I mean, he's back, he's been You've seen his numbers with the Grand Rapids gold He's been great in the G League.

Do you have any sense of what are they slow playing him out of an abundance of caution because he was drafted to be an impact play or to be part of the rotation fairly quickly.

You know, he had experience at Dayton, But it feels like they are they are just really playing this cautiously with Deron Holmes.

Yeah, it's interesting because you know what it's it's his career arc right off the top is super interesting to me because last year, when the Nuggets quite clearly needed so much bench help right they, it felt like he was absolutely about to be a part of the equation.

But then he tears his achilles, yeah, and you know, and then so he's out the entirety of season.

So now he comes back this season and there's just not a need for I mean, they they acquired so many players, uh to to bolster the bench.

Now it's he's he was in a situation.

And this is what I thought when when you when I was asked about Doron Holmes prior to the season, my general take on it was, well, I think it's gonna be tough for him this season because they literally went out and got all the all the bench players, you know, to to help them in this season.

And so from that standpoint, I do understand why he hasn't actually played almost at all because they don't need him.

And I think with you know, so, you know, that's why it will be interesting these next few weeks because they kind of do need them, but do they kind of need them about do they feel about that?

And because Zeke Naji's playing more, does that push him down the road a little bit more as well.

You know, I think they to your point, I think they do know that they have time with him.

Nothing has to absolutely be rushed.

So if they feel like he needs more seasoning, he just needs to keep playing in the G League before he can have an impact with this team this season or I think more like next season, then that's what they're going to do.

But if they're going to just be so injured, especially in their front court, that they just need bodies and they finally have to put them on the court, then I think they'll do that too.

But it seems to me that they're doing a lot more the former and they don't want to necessarily get into too much of the latter.

So I think for him, the question he's got to ask himself and ask those coaches, his coaches, and I'm not talking about Ryan Bowen, who does not.

I mean the you know, the system they run is what this is what the Nuggets run so that players can seamlessly fit.

But I would go to the coaching staff here, you know, David Adelman, you know, JJ Burrea, you know, and say, Okay, when you look at me out there, what do you need to see from me that will let you know that that can translate to the big club, and I would get a ants with the big club, and those would be the answers uh that he seeks.

And then he needs to put that into practice in the G League so that when they watch him they can see that that how that would translate for the Nuggets and then put him on the court.

But I think this is He's going to play sparently the season, and I just think that's the way that's going to be.

Do you have any update, any new sense on Gordon and Brown?

I mean, the reports were back end of the road trip for both of them, although it feels like Christian's a little closer.

I mean, Dempse's sprained his ankle.

It must have been a pretty severe ankle sprain because he has been out several weeks.

I'm not trying to you know, just you know, trash on an ankle sprain, but man, it's that must have been one of the worst ankle sprains you could have gotten.

The hammy, you know, Gordon's had you know, uh, you know, muscle issues in his leg, and I understand slow playing that, but is there any new sense now that Yokich's out that you know, is could one of them play tomorrow nights or Friday nights?

Do you know anything new?

I don't how I would say this, you know, so at the beginning of this road trip, David Adelman did say that he thought that maybe they both had a chance to play by the end of this road trip.

I think Christian Brown, to my eye this is this is to my eye.

When I watched him and during warm ups yesterday do the work on the side with Felipe Ichenberger, the strength and conditioning coach, he looked really close to me, and you know, just from cutting.

You know, that's you know, if we're talking about foot ankle injuries, you know, can you be explosive when you push off of that?

And he looked really good to me.

Now, obviously there's still a matter of conditioning and all those things.

You're not exactly running when you have an ankle injury, and so your conditioning is not going to be where you want it to be.

But that's why I think there's minute restrictions and all those kinds of things.

You can just play yourself back into shape over time.

So I wouldn't be surprised to see him.

Maybe not tomorrow.

I think that's a little bit much.

But after any any game after tomorrow, I wouldn't be surprised to see Christian Brown.

Now, Aaron Gordon has a history of hamstrings and calves and all these kinds of things, and so even as it looks like he's ready to roll, I think they'll still slow play that just a little bit.

I mean, Aaron will push to get on the court.

But it's you know, if you just even go back to the playoffs and last season, and it just he's these things are kind of cropping up a lot, and so he plays a style that's very explosive and very physical and puts a lot of pressure on things like calves and hamstrings, just the way he holds defenders off and and and really explodes to the rim.

So if he played by the end of this road trip, actually maybe mildly surprised because I think they probably slow play that even a little bit more.

But certainly those are two, those two are close to coming back.

But I I think Christian is to my eye, he looks he looks pretty.

Close, okay, and you know that's that That's probably what I would have assumed, And certainly more clarity there from someone like you Demse who is close to the situation with Gordon though, and you know, and I understand protecting him given his history with Hammys and Calves and all of that.

Would there be an added sense of urgency right now or or is this team they know they're gonna make the playoffs.

There's not a sense of urgency of all, we got to protect this seed.

That seed.

They're still gonna do everything they can to make sure that Aaron Gordon is good in the long term.

Yeah, I think they're not gonna worry about a seed.

I mean, they would like to get it.

Let's put it this way.

You don't want to follo out of the top six.

You don't know, you don't want to fall into the plate.

And I mean that's that.

Nobody wants that.

But I'd team of all time.

They would be they they really would.

Oh my gosh.

But I mean, but if you if you just play five hundred basketball, like from here, from this point right now to when ever Nicola comes back, So that would just mean everybody would have been back, because I think you're right.

I think Nicola would be the last one back.

So you know, if they played just five hundred basketball, their record would still be not bad, and that would put them probably still squarely in the top six.

And I don't think they'll worry about the seeding.

Well when he comes back, you could make a mad dash, you know, from whenever he comes back to the end of the season to try to improve receied as much as possible.

And I'll just be honest with you.

I mean, maybe outside of the San Antonio Spurs and the Rockets, you know, if they start to separate themselves out, all right, then fine, But I don't think anybody else is going to really run away from the Nuggets, even during this twenty five games or whatever it is, before you get every single player back.

So I fully expect that they would be a top six seed, but I don't think they're going to worry about it until they get, you know, fully healthy and then really make a run at it, because you know, all they want to actually be going into the play you know, they have the luxury of that.

You know, if you're a young team and you're going into the playoffs, you really do want a higher seat.

So if you're the San Antonio Spurs, you actually really do want home court advantage because you want your young players to have more comfortable games at home than very pressurized games on the road.

If you're the Nuggets and you've already done this championship thing and you've just restocked with veterans like Valanceyunis and Tim Hardaway and Bruce Brown and these guys who have been through it before, it doesn't really matter where the games are because they can handle themselves at home or on the road.

So if that's going to be the case, then all you need to be is healthy, because when you're healthy, you are a problem for everybody else in the league as well.

And so I think that's for the Nuggets.

That's really They're going to be their only concern.

That is tremendous stuff from Chris.

He's on Twitter at Chris A.

Dempsey.

You watch him on Altitude Television Demps.

Thanks for coming on your favorite show today, even with Nate and Andy not here.

I appreciate you, man.

Yeah, no problem at all.

And also I was watching the Coastal Care line up.

Oh it's a great game.

Yeah, it is a great game.

They've they've been doing it.

It's been fun.

It's been fun.

But appreciate you having me on my guy and we'll talk soon.

All right.

There, he goes Chris Dempsey of Altitude Television.

We love them, you love them, and man, I feel even better.

I feel even better about the Nuggets prospects over the next few weeks after talking with Demps, and it's got me thinking about the type of message that the Nuggets can send to the NBA if maybe they play a little better than some might expect them to play without the best player in the world.

We'll talk about that a little bit on the other side.

Plus, the Avs got a big win.

That's all they do is win another one over a very solid LA Kings team last night.

Coming up top of the hour, we'll talk to Chad Brown.

We'll talk Broncos in NFL with him.

All that Coming up next on Outitude Sports Radio ninety two five.

You've got the Krekman and Lyndahl Podcast.

Listen live every weekday from ten am to noon on Altitude Sports Radio ninety two five and on the Altitude Sports Radio app.

Welcome back to Correkman and Lindahl.

Mark Springer in for Nate and Andy on this Tuesday after noon.

Got the Lake called to do this because of the Nicola Jokic injury news.

It's it's the news that had us terrified, or at least what was the update going to be this morning.

Nicola Jokic going down last night, very end of the first half, got stepped on by Spencer Jones friendly fire and went down writhing in pain holding his left knee.

News today is good news, all said and done, just a hyper extension of the left knee and Jokic is going to be reevaluated in four weeks.

Had Nikola Jokic been deemed to have torn his acl or something of that nature and therefore would have missed the rest of the season, that would have meant the end of the season for the Denver Nuggets.

And I think that.

I mean, it's the deepest team they've had since they won a title, and honestly might be deeper, you know, just just length and number of players that they can rely on.

And some of these guys, you know, maybe even a Julian Strawther now late first round pick of a few years ago, you know, had some moments in the playoffs last year.

A guy like that can grow, maybe even more so now with more minutes and and and Strather, you know, had been out with injury, and wasn't even a guy that they were necessarily relying on off the bench.

That's how deep they are and were how deep they are when they're one hundred percent healthy.

And I think there's still a very good team even without Nicole Jokic if everybody else is healthy.

But without Jokich, you can't win a championship.

You just can't.

As good as Murray is, as well as he has played, as improved as Aaron Gordon is as a three point shooter, and and you know what a two way player he's become.

And Christian Brown getting the big, nice contract for a young dude, and he's getting better and he's great.

And Cam Johnson was you know, somewhat of an equal return for Michael Porter junior.

And then the money you freed up in the other assets you were able to.

Cam Johnson is akin to MPJ.

It's it's very good.

It's better defensively than MPJA.

Mpj's playing very well with the Nets, and MPJ is gonna get a wounded Nuggets team here on Sunday.

Nuggets are in Brooklyn.

Nets just went into Minnesota in one.

They did loose to the Warriors last night, but before that, they were in Minnesota in one went over the Raptors.

Who the Nuggets play tomorrow night?

Toronto's better.

Actually, you look at some over the past couple of weeks, the Nets are actually playing all right, and that's gonna give mpj's Nets a real chance on Sunday.

I don't know.

Maybe Christian Brown's back by then.

Talking to Chris Dempsey, it probably does not sound like Aaron Gordon is back by Sunday.

Maybe next week in the final two games of the road trip, but even that after talking to Demps doesn't sound extremely likely.

I do get it, though.

Look, this could end up being a rough road trip.

I think if you can, man, if you could steal a couple, I'd call that a win.

I'd call two and five now at this point a win.

It's unfortunate because I they honestly might have been one in one on this road trip.

They might have won that game in Miami last night if Yokic didn't go down.

I know they lose by twenty four.

Jokic might be worth twenty four.

And then the shock too, like how that hurts?

Uh hurt?

Like he's the leader of that team, he's the blood of that team and you see him go down, that's gonna shake you, you know, not just for the you're thinking about the second half of that game, which is what this means in general.

I'm sure there was also a mental aspect for that team last night in the second half, you know, because you see him down in pain holding his knee, just like us.

I'm sure they're making some assumptions.

Is that an acl is our guy?

Is our leader?

Is he not only out for the second half this game?

Is he out for the rest of the year.

But again, great news.

He appears appears not to be.

And I say appears, I mean the reports are he won't be.

He'll be re evaluated in four weeks.

He'll be back by the end of the season.

So that is great news.

And could this team surprise some people?

Hey, here's a chance for because again, you're not gonna win a championship without him, But.

Can you win some games.

That a lot of people are gonna count you out of now without Jokich?

Can you have maybe a little bit better of.

A record than some might expect you to have, Like if Murray can just kind of take this team over and Gordon when he comes back, will certainly add to that as well, Christian Brown.

Chance for them to take ownership a little bit, but get some wins and have a little bit better of a record than that maybe some were expecting you to.

They're obviously not gonna, you know, go on like an an eight game win streak without Yo Kich or anything like that, or win six.

Maybe they could win six of eight and all of a sudden you're looking at this team and you're like, Okay, there's that depth and Yonas Valentunis is a serviceable, serviceable backup big more than serviceable.

We got a text here shot mas.

The text line one price, one person, one hour, three h three five oh four oh nine to two five.

Uh.

This texture asked when was Valentuna starting on a legit playoff team.

I'm optimistic about Gordon and Brown back soon and with Murray and valentun As, we can weather the storm.

I mean, and I think you know his initial question, When was Valentuna starting on a legit playoff team?

Yeah?

I mean, look, he's been on like the Pelicans, the Kings, the Wizards, but you watch them play, I ain't choose to be on those teams.

He is a guy that ended up kind of you know, bouncing around the league.

And he's not an All Star, but he's a good center.

He can hold his own and this team could surprise a little bit.

I think that's a challenge for them.

We'd love to see.

We'd obviously love to see it, you know, to keep the seating in a better position, but also to show this is not just a Jokic team.

I mean, you talk about the non Jokic minutes in recent years, what a disaster those have been.

And as part of the reason why, you know, he should have won MVP last year, and he's won the three MVPs.

When he goes off the court, the team crumbles.

Is that not the most valuable player?

And so on the flip side, if this team performs a little bit above expectations without him, the people will say, oh, he's not the MVP.

Well now, he still is the best basketball player in the world.

But this team is capable of you know, look at the teams just below the top six.

You know, your Phoenix and Golden State is older Memphis Portland.

There's no reason that if this team gets Gordon and Brown back, even without Cam Johnson, still, you know, for the next few weeks with Gordon and Brown back a week or so from now, that if they're playing the Grizzlies and Blazers and Jazz and Mavericks and Clippers and Kings and Pelicans of the world, but they're still not an above five hundred team, a little bit of a tick above five hundred.

The talent's there, and to Chris Dempsey's point, something that he talked about, like he now, Dempsey thinks they're going to play a similar brand of basketball.

You know, Jokic or excuse me, valent Chun is still running that pick and roll, the dribble handoffs, you know now to be valanchounis to Murray, that action still at the high post.

And I think there.

Will still be a lot of that, But I do think that Jamal Murray is going to have to be more of that true create your own shot guard.

You might need to dribble more, might need to be more of a creator himself.

And the offense starts running through Jamal instead of Jokic at that high point, and Jamal is the one directing more traffic.

It's a big opportunity for him.

It's a huge opportunity for Jamal Murray.

Coming up here kind of the way that like Devin Booker plays with the Suns.

Speaking about that team that's in the seven seed, like Murray, I could see him playing more of that type of guard.

Like if you watch a Sun's game, the offense flows through Devin Booker, everything is get that dude the ball, especially until Gordon gets back.

Right now, we might be seeing more of get Jamal Murray the ball and let's see what he can do off the dribble and Murray has a chance to show that he's one of the better guards in the NBA here over the next few weeks.

All Right, we're gonna take a break.

When we come back, we're gonna talk Broncos and NFL with Chad Brown.

It is the weekly Tuesday visit with Chad here on the Crkman and Lindahl Show.

I'm Mark Springer in for Nate Nandy.

It's out to do Sports Radio ninety two five.