Really happened to be joined by romy Bean from CBS Colorado. Bean's how are
you doing tonight? The FM? I know your name is CFM. What
a great surprise. I'm doing great. You're one of the few people who
call me PFM. I mean, look, there's two pfms in Bronco country.
People didn't know, so everybody, this is the other one. This
is the other PFM right here. Well, hey, I wanted to talk
to you a little bit about the Denver Nuggets. The reserves announced today for
the All Star Game, and notably missing was Jamal Murray. Just your thoughts
on that, you know, it's unbelievable. I saw somebody post I guess
Jamal Murray might go down as one of the top players to never get an
All Star nod. It's you knew that. It felt like with Jamal going
into last year, there was the okay, well, it's gotta win a
championship, all right, what can he do? You know? And he's
playing excellent this season. So many times he's carried this team with or without
Nicola Jokich. It's the best two man game in the NBA, and it's
a two man game. I realized he plays with Jokich, But it's just
disappointing because Jamal deserves to be there. He's, well, you know,
one of the best players in the league and the West is crowded. You
give it that the West is crowded, but but it sucks because he deserves
it, you know, and he should be there and you hope that he
gets there one day. And you know, it's one of those things too
where look, you know what, Jamal probably used it as as fuel,
but low key, it's like, all right, won the championship, Like
and I'm playing great this season. What more do you want from me?
You know, just it's not fair I have to ask you about that,
because yeah, I mean, the Nuggets won a championship and has been it
was a couple of years since the franchise and have been in this particular position.
But if you are Jamal, it's got to mean a little more to
you other than just say, hey, I got a title, but in
an All Star game, even even though we know that in this All Star
Game it may not really count, like we're talking and talking about baseball,
but it has to mean something to him, knowing as though, hey,
this is how the voters voted and you're still not viewed in that particular All
Star fashion. Oh. Absolutely. And Jamal is one of those guys that
carries a whole lot of chips on his shoulder. I mean that's how he's
built. That is definitely gonna tick him off. There's no no reason that
well, no reason that it shouldn't he should be mad about it because when
you look at the Nuggets, you know, look at what he was out.
You know for those playoff runs. This team couldn't win a championship without
Jamal Murray. Obviously Jokic as this goes, you know, this team goes
as goes, But when Jamal was out with the knee injury, this team
couldn't get far in the playoffs. I mean, this team does not do
what they do without Jamal Murray. He's a championship caliber players, absolutely an
All Star And it does make you feel like, well, what more can
I do? Right because and at the end of the day, big picture,
yeah, winning championships is a whole lot more important. But it's frustrating.
You know, it's gonna be frustrating for him too, knowing that it's
out of your control and it's just unfair and you mentioned that the West is
loaded here. I mean the other reserves are Paul George, Devin Booker,
Steph Curry, Kawhi Leonard. I mean, these are like established names in
the league that it's just tough to crack into that list, and then once
you do, then you sort of tend to start to make it year after
year after year. Oh right, and some of it, you know,
there's always a fan voting part two, so there's always a little bit of
a popularity contest. And you know, again I knock on any of those
guys, but no, those guys are defending champions. Yeah, that's true.
And there have been nights this season where Jamal Murray has just been I
mean, unbelievable. I think in a lot of ways, he's a heart
and soul of the Steam and people know that. And that's why I think
people in Nuggets Nation get really upset because they know Jamal brings so much more,
even than just his play to the court. I know, I said,
you know, this team goes as Jokic goes, but Michael Malone's say
it all the time, like Jamal Murray is the heart and soul of this
team. You know that there's things more than even just his play that they
come an All Star. But people outside the market who don't watch, well,
they don't care about that. Now, Romie. Last night the Nuggets
faced off against the Thunder, no Nicola Jokich, But it seems whether Nicola
Jokic is in a game or he's out of the game. But when they
when the Nuggets face this Thunder team, it's like no fear with these young
guns. And do you think of all the teams in the West that we
can say, well, the Nuggets may need to worry about, may not
be the Clippers. Is it the OKC Thunder? You hit the nail on
the head. They are just fearless and they play with so much confidence for
such a young team. They play you hard every single night. I mean,
they are a fun, fun team to watch. I still think when
it comes to playoffs, though, and you look at any seven game series,
I still feel competent in the Nuggets beating anyone in a seven game series.
I don't see OKAYC beating them seven times. That being said, they
are three and one this season over the Nuggets. But I think it's a
lot of experience comes into play in the postseason. A lot of other factors,
but yeah, this is a dangerous team, and you know Sga is
a dangerous player. The Douggets have trouble guarding him. He's just such a
dynamic player. He's theother one of the teams you have to worry about,
but the Timberwolves or a team that the Nuggets really have to worry about,
even though the Nuggets always are always get the better of the Timberwolves. I
do also again think the Nuggets could beat them in a seven game series,
but I think that's the Timberwolves. Okay. See, they all make for
tough competitions. The West is a little bit tougher this year than it was
last year. To me, it just felt like last year all the competition
was in the East. I just couldn't see anyone remotely close to beating the
Nuggets. There's also a lot of talk about the Clippers. I think the
road through the West is a lot tougher this year than it was last year.
And look, if I didn't want the Nuggets to win, I totally
be pulling for Okac because what a fun young team. But I think experience
will take over when it matters most with the Nuggets in the playoffs. Yeah,
SGA has really elevated into that all star type of player. And it's
fun to see guys do that. And you mentioned it, Romi. There
the top of the West right now really crowded, a tight bunch there with
Minnesota, Ok, see the Clippers and the Nuggets. The Nuggets are nineteen
and four at home this season. How big of a deal do you think
getting home court advantage in the playoffs is going to be because of course that
was huge last year for that run. Well, I think that it is
huge. And this gosh Ballerina in the playoffs was absolutely insane. And then
of course the project of being a champion. I think they've have like twenty
three straight sellouts. I mean, you know, all seasons. So the
energy is there. It's the real deal. The players will say all the
time it makes a difference, and it absolutely does. And I think one
thing that the Nuggets do that this has bothered us with the Broncos forever,
is the Nuggets take advantage of the altitude, which I feel like Broncos teams
have not in recent years. Right, they come out hot, they try
and run these guys off the court, run them out early play a really
fast ball game. They know that they can use it to their advantage.
Mike Mullen is very open about that, and I think it's huge, and
so that is a big piece where they know that that's something that you can
utilize in Denver, along with the crowd and everything else. So it does
feel like with the West being a little tighter, I think, yeah,
extra home games do matter at this point, but I also believe the Nuggets
feel they can meet anybody anywhere. But I love how they play at home.
I love how they take advantage of the altitude and the crowd's insane,
So you certainly would want it, especially when the West looks tighter. So
once again known nikolea. Jokis. But we did see coach Malone roll out
the other night against Casey with somewhat of a smaller lineup, And with that
rollout, we saw twenty one minutes from Peyton Watson. How impressed have you
been with Peyton Watson thus far? Oh? I love it. Peyton Watson
is so dynamic, especially defensively, and I think he continues to prove to
Michael Malone that he can be a dynamic defender down the stretch and in the
playoffs, and you've seen him on some of these guys even throughout the season,
right on kd On Giannis, he continues to make big, really big
plays. He uses that wingspan. He is long, and he is strong,
and he's i think most dynamic on the defensive side of the ball,
and he can come up with some huge plays. You know, you almost
look at last year, Christian Brown is kind of the kind of the darling
of the bench. I feel like Peyton Watson could be that guy this year.
He just makes so many dynamic defensive plays. He plays really hard plays,
really tough. I think, and look, Michael Maloll loves defense.
That is how you win that man's heart. But I also think when you
look at him offensively, you know, the knock on Peyton last year was
that he was just a little reckless with the shots. You know, he
was young and crazy and kind of doing whatever he wants. Even there,
you can see he's taken more care. He passes it when it's not coming
to him. So you've seen his game grow and grow at a really fast
rate. But I think just defensively, Daton Lauson shows that he can be
a really really dynamic defender. Be I think a huge piece of this team
defensively in the postseason run. Talking about snubs, I mean he got snuffed
from that Rising Star game coming up All Star weekend too, So no love
for the defending champs here in the NBA. I guess one thing I wanted
to ask you about romy You know, Joel embi did not play against the
Nuggets here in Denver yet again. The seventy six ers got fined for that.
And one of the things that Nick and I are going to talk about
coming up here in a little bit is this sixty five game threshold to be
considered for some of the postseason awards. Joel Embiid did hurt his knee and
now he's going to be sort of on that line where he might not be
eligible. What do you think about this role that the NBA has put into
place. I like it. The NBA had a massive problem with load management,
with players not playing, and they're at the point where they have had
to do something about it. I mean, it has gotten so out of
hand resting guys for such long periods of the season, and you know,
you can prefer to guys that you want. I saw something the other day
that Michael Jordan, I don't even know, like you know, all the
eighty game seasons he's pay you look at Kobe Bryan. I know I sound
like the old man, get off my lawns. But the one thing you
know, Kobe always said, right was he never tried to never miss a
game because he knew that person sitting up in that very top corner seat maybe
spent all the free money that they had that month to come see him,
and he wanted to make sure he could see them. I think it's important.
There's a huge problem in the NBA with star players sitting out way too
much, and I think it's just come to a point where they got to
do something, and then it becomes unfortunate when you have a situation like this
Joelle. Yeah, he did actually hurt his knee, but you know what,
earlier in the season, maybe you shouldn't have blowed managed. I know,
eighty two games a lot, but there's guys Nicola Jokich's this twenty five
games going back to the twenty eighteen season. So everybody, you know,
if you're hurt, yeah, don't play. But as they say in some
of the other leagues, right, or you hurt or you're injured. So
I think that I'm all on board with it because I think that the NBA
has to fix that problem and they're doing what they can too well. Romie.
When you look at the AFC West and over the past couple of weeks,
things have gotten really intriguing. The Broncos add Cody Rager to the front
office, Pete Hartmichael is now on as an offensive assistant. But looking at
other teams, you think about what the introduction of Jim Harbaugh today and then
the news breaking that Antonio Peers decided to Cliff Kingsbury to his offense as his
new officeer coordinator. How do you think those hires make the AFCs that much
more intriguing? Do you know what's the funny guys? My answer is I
do think it makes it intriguing. But I feel like every year, not
just us, like nationally, everyone's like the AFCUS man right, a couple
of years ago, Oh man, I'm looking at all the quarterbacks in the
af US and now it's like, look at all the coaches in the AFCU
wes Like every year it's got the potential. Everybody's talking about it, you
know, being about this crazy vauntae division and then it has just been the
Chiefs and the rest hanging out. So I am hoping that this year it
actually lives up to the off season hype, because there's been quite a few
off seasons where there's been the hype, right, and it hasn't been there.
However, Jim Harbaugh, I mean it is huge. Jim Harbaugh's one
everywhere he's gone, you know, and he's a proven winner. Players buy
in. It feels like if there's one guy that can stop the Chargers from
chargering, it's Jim Harbaugh and it's in huge and obviously what is he going
to be able to get out of Justin Herbert and Antonio Pierce is the right
man for that job. I mean, Mark Davis would have just been such
a jump if he had gone out and gone somewhere else. Those players,
I think, you guys can just test this. I've never seen players play
for an interim the way they played for him. I mean, he knows
how to galvanize the team and now bring it in a guy like Cliff it
does. It just makes the AFC WES once again one of the most interesting
divisions. And you know what, I hope it is because this Chiefs run.
I mean, I respect it, but it's crazy right for Super Bowl
in five years And part of that not to take away from anything they've done
right, but I mean they've just rolled over this division year after year after
year. It would be great the other three teams could really shore up and
make it, make it so it's a it's a dogfight all the way down
the stretch. I think that'd be better for the NFL as well, and
it'd be a lot better for us, to be honest today, During his
intro press or, Jim huh said that during the transition period he's interested in
living in an RV near the facility Rummy. He says he wants to live
and he kind of looked at his wife and was like, Hey, are
you gonna Are you on board with this? What do you think living in
an r V? Football twenty four to seven? Now, I feel like
it's cool when Gardner Minshew does it. I don't know if it's that cool
with Jim Harbaugh's doing it, like God bless his wife. Like you're a
grown man with a wife, Like you're gonna make your wife? Don't know?
A hotel right by there? Head coach, have him build you a
shower in a bed in the facility. Can you know you can do whatever
you want? It's a little weird about it. Hold on, Rummy,
I'm gonna see. Let me see if I can change your mind, because
I was trying to do it with Phil as well. I know, when
we think about r v's, we sometimes think about those crusted iron deficient stains
on the r V. But we're talking about so Cow, We're talking about
Tenson Town. Have you seen some of those double decker rbs. Yeah,
but don't I just feel like he's trying to be like the la version of
Dan Campbell, Like this is like I live in an RV. Yeah,
the four season he lives in a van down by the river. Yeah,
that's what Robby. The last thing I wanted to talk to you about.
Obviously you're close with coach Prime up there and see a sad CU Boulder.
The schedule just came out for next year, some new teams on there with
with the Buffs moving to the Big twelve. What do you think about this
late coming up here this fall? Yeah? You know what. I actually
when they first made the move to the Big twelve, I was like this
would be great. Big twelve is kind of a weaker football division than the
Pac twelve in my opinion. I kind of said all those things, But
we don't know what she is going to look like. Just looking at the
schedule, I think it's a schedule. I think there's, you know,
a high ceiling there, but there could be a low floor depending on how
things go. I think that there's some pretty tough teams there all around.
There's gonna be some interesting trips too, Right, they go to Florida in
September. Now, I know there's a lot of Florida boys on the team,
but if you look at the history of the Broncos, for example,
tend to struggle in Florida and September, there's a lots of interesting dynamics like
that. You know, I've never fared well against Texas Tech. I think
that. I think it's gonna be great. I think that the Buffs just
fit so much better in the Big twelve, fits who they are so much
better. I'm excited about that. I think the interesting thing is we don't
know what this bus team is going to be look like. We've obviously seen
the work they've done, and they've shored up the trenches and a lot of
the spots that they need to But we're still kind of waiting on the defensive
coordinator, still waiting to see what Pat sure we're going to do, if
it'll be different this year. We know they've got the town skill positions,
but it's hard to say what this team's gonna look like until we see it
right on paper. Right now, it looks like they've brought in all these
guys. But I do think it's gonna be you know, I think it's
gonna be a tough play. I think it's gonna be a tough season.
I love that we got Nebraska and TSU at the beginning of the year,
and you know what North Dakota that's gonna give me. Yeah, that's nothing
to give me either. That's a that's a tough stretch to start the season.
So it's one of those things where you got to come out hot,
right you kind of because there's that second half of the late after that second
by that looks like a really tough stretch. So they got to get some
some wins early on and exciting one. Well, romy thank you so much
for hopping on here. Always a pleasure to talk with you and love the
inside. What a treat. Thanks for having me, guys. Thanks,
Bean's appreciate it. That's romy Bean from CBS Colorado.