{"id":188608,"date":"2025-10-04T00:56:07","date_gmt":"2025-10-04T00:56:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/188608\/"},"modified":"2025-10-04T00:56:07","modified_gmt":"2025-10-04T00:56:07","slug":"cam-johnson-gets-nuggets-rite-of-passage-at-training-camp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/188608\/","title":{"rendered":"Cam Johnson gets Nuggets rite of passage at training camp"},"content":{"rendered":"

SAN DIEGO \u2014 After making it through training camp in good health, with the exception of a few bruises<\/a>, the Nuggets expect to have their full roster available for their preseason opener, coach David Adelman<\/a> said.<\/p>\n

This will be Adelman\u2019s first time managing an NBA roster through the usual series of five preseason exhibitions, which can present an awkward balance between needing reps and wanting to avoid injury. His plan for Saturday (7 p.m. MT) against the Timberwolves? In all likelihood, he\u2019ll let his starters run, at least for a while.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think because our schedule, the way it is \u2014 playing tomorrow, most likely off with the travel day, playing again, most likely off the next day \u2014 you\u2019ll see our guys play,\u201d Adelman said. \u201cI think it\u2019s important. It\u2019s almost like it\u2019s a practice for them. We went light today for that reason. And then we\u2019ll get back at it next week.\u201d<\/p>\n

The first two games will both be played at neutral sites. After a week of practice at UC-San Diego, the Nuggets will meet Minnesota at Pechanga Arena, the former home of the San Diego Rockets and San Diego Clippers that\u2019s stationed on land now tapped for redevelopment by the Kroenke family. Denver will then visit Vancouver for a matchup with the Raptors on Monday.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy father actually played for the San Diego Rockets way back in the day,\u201d Adelman pointed out. \u201cGreat jerseys. \u2026 I don\u2019t remember who else was on that team, because I wasn\u2019t alive for 25 more years.\u201d<\/p>\n

Denver\u2019s injuries have been limited to a collision that required Spencer Jones to get stitches and the ongoing right wrist affliction of Nikola Jokic, who says he\u2019s unconcerned but once again left the gym with it iced on Friday.<\/p>\n

Johnson gets first Jokic experience<\/p>\n

It comes for every Jokic teammate eventually.<\/p>\n

A pass that takes you completely by surprise.<\/p>\n

Newcomer Cam Johnson experienced his rite of passage as a Nugget this week.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe threw one at me that was pretty unexpected the other day,\u201d he said. \u201cI kind of bobbled it, too. I felt bad. But everybody\u2019s like, \u2018Hey, get used to it.\u2019 I\u2019m like, I\u2019ll take it. I\u2019ll take it. But you know, it\u2019s a lot of the no-look ones where his body\u2019s kind of turned, and he goes the opposite way that (he passes it). It\u2019s gonna be really cool to get some good looks off of that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Other than the relatable bobble, Johnson said he feels like his acclimation process to the starting lineup has been smooth throughout the week. The Nuggets went through some of their script offense Friday in a 5-on-0 environment, looking at end-of-game situations. The main \u201cobstacle\u201d for Johnson, if it can really be called that, is committing new terminology to memory. The concepts themselves, he has down.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s pretty quick,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s just a matter of getting out there and playing, and actually hearing it. You see it on the sheets. You go over it slow. But then you get out there, and the first time we call X play or X defensive coverage, you hear it and you process it. Then over time, it gradually just picks up from there until it becomes instinct.\u201d<\/p>\n

More drop coverage with Jokic?<\/p>\n

Denver\u2019s interest in defensive malleability continued to be a training camp theme Friday, as the team also spent some time working on pick-and-roll coverage.<\/p>\n

Afterward, Adelman outlined how the staff hopes to give Jokic autonomy in determining how high up the floor he should position himself \u2014 whether that\u2019s at the level of the screen like normal, or in a drop to deter the paint without a helper more often.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s so many levels of drops,\u201d Adelman said. \u201cHe won\u2019t be just at the rim like he\u2019s (Rudy) Gobert. But it\u2019s just looking for maybe a little more of (him defending) down the floor, a couple steps down the floor. And more so, I think what we\u2019re trying to create with him \u2014 he\u2019s so high-IQ \u2014 is the Marc Gasol model, where he\u2019s choosing his levels depending on the quality of player or what the player does well.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe all know his IQ is so high, but we have to work on that and allow him to work on it in practice.\u201d<\/p>\n

Originally Published: October 3, 2025 at 5:38 PM MDT<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SAN DIEGO \u2014 After making it through training camp in good health, with the exception of a few…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":188609,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[557],"tags":[64,63,3893,3912,3896,3897,1662,3913,12979,3899,3914,63748,3905,590,3906,3907,15343,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-188608","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nba","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-cam-johnson","11":"tag-colorado","12":"tag-david-adelman","13":"tag-denver","14":"tag-denver-nuggets","15":"tag-front-range","16":"tag-injuries","17":"tag-injury","18":"tag-latest-headlines","19":"tag-marc-gasol","20":"tag-more-nuggets-news","21":"tag-nba","22":"tag-nikola-jokic","23":"tag-nuggets","24":"tag-schedule","25":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/188608","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=188608"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/188608\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/188609"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=188608"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=188608"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=188608"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}