{"id":240837,"date":"2025-10-25T23:28:08","date_gmt":"2025-10-25T23:28:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/240837\/"},"modified":"2025-10-25T23:28:08","modified_gmt":"2025-10-25T23:28:08","slug":"i-scrimmaged-with-denver-media-vs-nuggets-coaches-and-lost-by-98","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/240837\/","title":{"rendered":"I scrimmaged with Denver media vs. Nuggets coaches and lost by 98"},"content":{"rendered":"

Thanks, Joe Mazzulla.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s all my internal monologue could muster as I sprinted back in transition again, legs on autopilot by now, after our fourth \u2014 fifth? \u2014 consecutive live-ball turnover. If I were lucky, Aziz Leeks would try a highlight dunk too ambitious this time. Maybe I would fetch a long rebound on a botched windmill.<\/p>\n

I was not lucky. The Nuggets\u2019 support staff<\/a> was not bored yet. We had not reached that stage of the proceedings.<\/p>\n

Thanks, Joe Mazzulla.<\/p>\n

His idea was equal parts earnest and diabolical. Coaching staff vs. Media. Player development specialists against beat writers and podcasters. A good-natured exercise in relationship-building that doubled as an admittedly amusing experiment in the basketball talent gap between NBA coaches and the people who cover them.<\/p>\n

Mazzulla, the mysteriously intense head coach of the Celtics, surprised the Boston media last week with news that his staff would be scrimmaging against them. This quickly descended into hilarity when the coaches further ambushed their unwilling challengers with a full-court press for the entire 12 minutes. The final score went predictably viral: 57-4.<\/p>\n

\u201cI did see that,\u201d Nuggets coach David Adelman said when asked how the Nuggets beat would hold up.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have a lot of former NBA players on my staff, but no, that would be interesting. It would be fun,\u201d he continued, with enough hesitation in his tone to indicate to us what was already obvious. \u201cI don\u2019t know. I think we would do OK.\u201d<\/p>\n

And a few days later, there I was, experiencing a real-life record-scratch moment, helplessly trying to chase down Leeks on a fast break for the sixth \u2014 seventh? \u2014 possession in a row.<\/p>\n

\"MediaMedia players Adam Mares and Katy Winge mix it up with player development coach Ben Potts during a scrimmage between the Denver Nuggets coaching staff and local media members at Ball Arena on Tuesday, Oct. 21, 2025. The coaches escaped the practice facility by way of a thrilling 114-16 win. (Photo by AAron Ontiveroz\/The Denver Post)<\/p>\n

Turns out, a lot of people who work in media are masochistic when it comes to #content. I\u2019ve never seen a Nuggets practice so packed. I\u2019d estimate there were almost twice as many credentialed journalists at Ball Arena for this event than for Game 7 of the Nuggets vs. Clippers playoff series five months ago. Because of this, we all took abbreviated shifts and rotated out every four minutes. Probably for the best, because it ended up being four minutes of running suicides.<\/p>\n

My mistake was playing in the very first group, when the coaches were fresh and motivated, with no cushion on the scoreboard yet. No, I\u2019m not good enough to be a starter, even at the Denver Press Club. But ace photographer AAron Ontiveroz and I have irreplicable pick-and-roll chemistry, so we were a package deal.<\/p>\n

This is where I admit that Adelman\u2019s two most recognizable assistants, JJ Barea and Jared Dudley, did not participate. (Neither did Adelman, who cited a torn Achilles tendon he suffered once in a pickup game. None of them wanted the smoke, I guess. Sad.) Barea and Dudley were not just NBA players but really good ones. I suppose that makes it more embarrassing to reveal that my lineup lost our minutes 14-0, setting the tone for a 114-16 smackdown.<\/p>\n

But look, they have a deep roster over there. Barea and Dudley\u2019s minutes went to guys like Leeks, Cam Griffin and new video coordinator Ben Potts, who were basically competing against each other in a dunk contest more than against us by the end of the proceedings. After I was done, the game turned into a conveyor belt of bounce-pass alley-oop attempts and reverse jams. Griffin\u2019s hops are considerable. Potts posterized my fellow Mizzou alum Matt Moore, who refused to make a business decision because we are a press corps with integrity.<\/p>\n

Adelman stopped in to gawk at the scoreboard for a bit, and who knows, maybe to scout for candidates to fill the Nuggets\u2019 15th roster spot as well. The media MVP trophy went to 104.3\u2019s Zach Bye, who contributed both points and rebounds to the cause. He\u2019s waiting for Denver\u2019s call, I\u2019m told by sources familiar with the situation.<\/p>\n

Also making an appearance to watch was Nuggets guard Christian Braun, who apparently had nothing better to do with his time after signing a five-year, $125 million contract extension 24 hours earlier.<\/p>\n

On the day of that 57-4 demolition in Boston, Braun had been one of the first to suggest that we set up our own version of the matchup in Denver. \u201cPut Bennett in the action,\u201d he said as reporters entered the locker room after a Nuggets preseason game.<\/p>\n

\"Altitude'sAltitude\u2019s Vic Lombardi lets the fans know that he is him after knocking down a 3-pointer during a scrimmage between the Denver Nuggets coaching staff and local media members at Ball Arena on Tuesday, Oct. 21, 2025. The coaches escaped the practice facility by way of a thrilling 114-16 win. (Photo by AAron Ontiveroz\/The Denver Post)<\/p>\n

I\u2019m sure they would have tried, but there just weren\u2019t enough opportunities for the coaches to run their half-court sets because they were getting too many easy points in transition. I\u2019ll say this in defense of myself, though: I was not responsible for any turnovers during my stint (unless I\u2019m forgetting one, it truly was a blur), and I recorded one defensive rebound after contesting a missed shot. Other than a 3-pointer that I bricked, it was about as successful as four minutes of getting outscored 14-0 can be. And I\u2019m just in it for the individual stats anyway.<\/p>\n

My only regret is that players and coaches weren\u2019t instructed to file an instant story at the buzzer, conduct postgame interviews, update their gamers with quotes on deadline, then do a second story. Maybe next time.<\/p>\n

In all seriousness (since this was a deeply serious game), it can be refreshing to let yourself be humbled sometimes. When my job involves asking players and coaches about an inadequate performance on some nights, there\u2019s something to be said for being willing to do so with a little self-awareness and humility. I\u2019ll happily run it back next year. Denver\u2019s coaching staff should be hungry after failing to push the margin to 100 this week.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ll be in the lab in the meantime \u2014 2026 is the year I introduce some off-the-dribble scoring to my game.<\/p>\n

\"ZachZach Bye smiles as he is named media MVP after a scrimmage between the Denver Nuggets coaching staff and local media members at Ball Arena on Tuesday, Oct. 21, 2025. The coaches escaped the practice facility by way of a thrilling 114-16 win. (Photo by AAron Ontiveroz\/The Denver Post)<\/p>\n

Originally Published: October 25, 2025 at 8:00 AM MDT<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Thanks, Joe Mazzulla. That\u2019s all my internal monologue could muster as I sprinted back in transition again, legs…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":240838,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[574],"tags":[64,63,6183,726,1663,3912,3896,3897,1662,3913,3914,1685,3905,590,3906,3907,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-240837","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-basketball","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-ball-arena","11":"tag-basketball","12":"tag-christian-braun","13":"tag-colorado","14":"tag-david-adelman","15":"tag-denver","16":"tag-denver-nuggets","17":"tag-front-range","18":"tag-latest-headlines","19":"tag-media","20":"tag-more-nuggets-news","21":"tag-nba","22":"tag-nikola-jokic","23":"tag-nuggets","24":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/240837","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=240837"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/240837\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/240838"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=240837"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=240837"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=240837"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}