{"id":478015,"date":"2026-02-19T14:44:11","date_gmt":"2026-02-19T14:44:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/478015\/"},"modified":"2026-02-19T14:44:11","modified_gmt":"2026-02-19T14:44:11","slug":"nuggets-mourn-doug-moe-the-motion-offense-pioneer-who-helped-change-the-nba-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/478015\/","title":{"rendered":"Nuggets mourn Doug Moe, the motion-offense pioneer who helped change the NBA"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Denver Nuggets head coach David Adelman argues for a call in the second half of an NBA basketball game against the Memphis Grizzlies Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2026, in Denver. (AP Photo\/David Zalubowski)\"\"Denver Nuggets guard Julian Strawther, right, goes up for a shot over center Jonas Valan\u010di\u016bnas and Memphis Grizzlies center Lawson Lovering, left, in the second half of an NBA basketball game Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2026, in Denver. (AP Photo\/David Zalubowski)\"\"FILE \u2013 Denver Nuggets head coach George Karl, left, chats with assistant coaches Doug Moe, center, and Adrian Dantley during a time out against the Los Angeles Clippers in the first quarter of an exhibition NBA basketball game in Denver on Oct. 9, 2007. (AP Photo\/David Zalubowski, File)<\/p>\n

DENVER | Before looking ahead to the remainder of the season, the Denver Nuggets spent some time Wednesday reflecting on what the late coach Doug Moe meant to the city, the franchise and the league and how his offensive innovations changed the NBA.<\/p>\n

Moe, an ABA original who will be remembered most for his motion offense and the equally entertaining shows he put on while prowling the sideline during his decade coaching the Nuggets in the 1980s, died Tuesday at age 87.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, we talked about it as a team today,\u201d coach David Adelman said. \u201cFor the younger guys who maybe didn\u2019t know the impact he had on the game, we made sure that was communicated. Obviously, a Denver sports legend. And for somebody like me who grew up around this league and saw the innovation of offense that he brought to the NBA, I think he doesn\u2019t get enough credit for the wide-open freestyle that we play now.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s sad to hear of his passing, very lucky to be in a fraternity of people who can say I got to do the same job as him,\u201d Adelman added. \u201c\u2026 It\u2019s such an honor to do it because of people like him that really did change the game.\u201d<\/p>\n

That message hit home.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou see his name up in the rafters and all that he\u2019s accomplished,\u201d forward Cam Johnson said. \u201cYou talk about these people who are the pioneers of our game, who pushed the envelope and allowed us to have what we have and the type of league that we have now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Looking ahead, Adelman said the Nuggets need to get healthy and play better defense if they\u2019re going to make a run at unseating Oklahoma City as NBA champions.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur offense has been elite throughout the year; our defense has been up and down,\u201d Adelman said. \u201cSo, if we could find a happy medium there we\u2019ll be a very dangerous team.\u201d<\/p>\n

One that could contend for a second Larry O\u2019Brien Championship Trophy during the Nikola Jokic era.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s already a winning DNA here,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cThere\u2019s already that championship mentality. We have a roster where the other four starters have won (an NBA title). We have No. 15 (Jokic) and what he brings to the table. I just think we have a lot of talent and a lot of basketball I.Q. and as it continues to evolve there\u2019s so many levels for us to reach. We haven\u2019t maxed out our team. I think there\u2019s a lot of things on the table for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Nuggets bolstered their depth after losing to the Thunder in seven games last summer, and that depth has been tested with all five starters missing time and six of their top rotation players going out for significant stretches.<\/p>\n

The Nuggets, who are third in the Western Conference at 35-20, are still missing two defensive stalwarts in Aaron Gordon and Peyton Watson, who are both recovering from strained hamstrings.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt does put a lot of pressure\u201d on the rest of the roster, Johnson said. \u201cYou look at a guy like Peyton and how he\u2019s able to make really high-level plays protecting the rim. A.G., too. You miss those guys. Everybody else has to be a little bit sharper in rotation, in game plan discipline.\u201d<\/p>\n

With such an injury epidemic hitting the Nuggets over the last two months, Johnson said the All-Star break was especially beneficial.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust a little bit of a reset,\u201d he said. \u201cA lot of guys have been banged up across the board. Some guys have been out, some guys have been playing through some things. So, just some time to rest, recover and then mentally refocus.\u201d<\/p>\n

The West race is so tight, with just six games separating the third-seeded Nuggets and the eighth-place Golden State Warriors, \u201cso it\u2019s going to be intense,\u201d center Jonas Valanciunas said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been really successful offensively,\u201d Valanciunas said. \u201cNow, we\u2019ve got to turn that and be more successful defensively. We\u2019re capable. That\u2019s our focus.\u201d<\/p>\n

AP NBA: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/NBA<\/p>\n

\n\tRelated<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Denver Nuggets head coach David Adelman argues for a call in the second half of an NBA basketball…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":478016,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[6430,4134,1753,220994,129510,4137,355,1756,99],"class_list":{"0":"post-478015","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nba","8":"tag-cam-johnson","9":"tag-david-adelman","10":"tag-denver-nuggets","11":"tag-doug-moe","12":"tag-george-karl","13":"tag-jonas-valanciunas","14":"tag-nba","15":"tag-nikola-jokic","16":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/478015","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=478015"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/478015\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/478016"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=478015"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=478015"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=478015"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}