Denver Nuggets head coach David Adelman has never been one to mince words when he sees fit, but after the Nuggets' 117-108 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves on Sunday he truly didn't hold anything back. 

Adelman's biggest gripe with his team after their performance on Sunday, their eight loss in 12 games, was a lack of effort from the supporting cast and the strain that's put on the main Denver stars Jamal Murray and Nikola Jokic.

Both Murray and Jokic played close to 40 minutes in the loss and 60 points, but if Adelman had his way, he would rotate his stars much more often to lessen the burden on them.

The problem that Adelman has run into though is that he hasn't been able to find a rotation that can maintain Denver's momentum when they are switched, forcing him to fall back on his most reliable weapons.  That's where his frustration stemmed from after the game and it led to him making a demand of effort to his team.

"I have to find a unit that'll actually do it, compete at a higher level, because to me that was the game," Adelman said (via DNVR Sports). "Then I had to extend minutes and I'm playing guys into the ground [and] I can't do that... Just need more from everybody."

The Nuggets have an abundance of talent on their roster, but it's seemed that Adelman hasn't found combinations of this talent that can keep up the same level of competition that he needs from them. 

In games against opponents like the Timberwolves, a talent gap isn't something that can be relied on and the level of effort that's brought to the court decides everything. That's what had Adelman so upset after the game: what changed the game wasn't the Nuggets being outplayed, it was them being outworked. 

Straining his top players through excessive minutes is an especially big problem for Adelman considering the injury trouble that the Nuggets have had this season.

Jokic has already missed significant time this season and with Denver still down Aaron Gordon, Adelman truly can't afford the risk of overworking his stars to the point that they have to miss games altogether. 

It's not often that Adelman makes such an outright criticism of his players, even if he's more than comfortable of discussing flaws during interviews. Effort is one of those traits that is completely out of a coaches hands though, and making such a frank demand in a postgame presser could be the jolt that Adelman is hoping for.