David Adelman is looking to make adjustments in the future.
The Denver Nuggets' season is over and now is the time for the annual tradition of exit interviews with players, executives and the coaching staff to kickstart a period of reflection ahead of the offseason.
Considering the way that the Nuggets' season ended so prematurely after being taken down at the hands of the Minnesota Timberwolves, there is a lot to reflect on and several issues that need to be addressed that revealed themselves on the court by season's end.
Fixing Issues
One of those big issues was the Nuggets' over-reliance on Aaron Gordon to be a major playmaker on the team and the fact that without him on the floor, the offensive scheme of the team is majorly stilted.
Denver Nuggets forward Aaron Gordon (32) reaches for a loose ball in front of Minnesota Timberwolves forward Jaden McDaniels (3) in the first quarter during game two of the first round of the 2026 NBA Playoffs at Ball Arena. Ron Chenoy-Imagn ImagesAt times this season, the Denver offense needed to run through Gordon and to his credit, Gordon's versatility on the floor made that easy. One of his greatest strengths as player is that he can fill a number of roles on the floor. Gordon can be a physical post player or a playmaker that can set up looks for the team around him.
The downsides of that dependency on Gordon is that not only does the team have a dependency on Gordon that leads the team into dysfunction when he isn't on the floor, but it also puts strain on Gordon that can lead to injury, something that Gordon dealt with a lot this season and ultimately kept him sidelined for most of the playoffs.
Denver Nuggets guard Jamal Murray (27) and forward Aaron Gordon (32) celebrate after a score during the second half against the Minnesota Timberwolves in game one of the first round of the 2026 NBA Playoffs at Ball Arena. Christopher Hanewinckel-Imagn ImagesAdelman Addresses the Aaron Gordon Issue
Pushing multiple players to slot into the role that Gordon has nearly solely been occupying will be one of head coach David Adelman's main focuses going forward, though he's also acknowledged the role that he has to play in that as well.
"Aaron is such a unique player in our league," Adelman said (via Nuggets). "I will say this: we have to rely on more people to bring the ball up the floor and we have guys on our team that have gotten better at it... but if somebody's out, other people have to step up. On top of that I have to put them in a situation that's comfortable for them."
The Nuggets do have the depth on their roster as it is in order to make that push, now it's a matter of Adelman adapting his existing players into that role in order to fill the void that Gordon can leave other when he's switched out or kept off the court with injuries.