You want to talk records? Fine. Darian Hagan put up a 28-5-2 mark as CU’s starting quarterback. Kordell Stewart went 27-5-1 as the Buffs’ QB1.

If Shedeur Sanders’ No. 2 jersey is retired for eternity at Folsom Field, then Hagan’s No. 3 and Stewart’s No. 10 better be next.

“It’s just so disrespectful,” former CU great J.J. Flannigan told me by phone Tuesday, “in so many ways.”

For Hunter, CU’s second Heisman Trophy winner, Folsom immortality was fait accompli. Sanders, son of CU coach Deion Sanders and the best pure passer in Buffs QB history, probably would’ve joined him. Eventually.

Welcome to 2025, where “eventually” means “in a few days.” The Buffs are retiring Shedeur’s No. 2 and Travis Hunter’s No. 12 at Saturday’s spring game.

The premise is fine. The timing is bonkers.

For one thing, the younger Sanders and Hunter officially hung up their CU helmets only four-and-a-half months ago at the Alamo Bowl. While the Buffs capped off a 9-4 season, it was, on the whole, a night to forget.

If that seems like a mighty quick turnaround for a jersey retirement, you’re right — the late, great Rashaan Salaam’s No. 19 was honored 23 years after he won the Heisman Trophy. Byron White and Bobby Anderson had to wait a year to see their numbers retired. Joe Romig had to wait two years.

And while we’re on the subject of waiting, the Buffs traditionally retire jerseys about as often as the Army hands out Astronaut badges. Before this week, CU had only honored four such players, and only one Buff — Salaam — has been recognized for their efforts between 1973-2023.

One in five decades. Now, two in one weekend?

Factor in the rush, and no wonder several CU football alums are ticked off right now.

“Even if they had come to Coach (Bill McCartney), even if he had NIL, he wouldn’t have done anything like that,” said Flannigan, one of Coach Mac’s best recruits. “I don’t believe Coach Mac would’ve done that.

“I don’t have a problem with Travis (seeing his number retired). He did something that nobody’s ever done. But even then, let him be gone for a few years. You do it before he leaves?”

2 Soon.

Flannigan wore No. 2 for McCartney’s Buffs, and proudly. The Los Angeles native ran for 1,187 pre-bowl yards and 18 pre-bowl touchdowns for CU’s 1989 national runner-up, a team that many swear was better, pound-for-pound, than the ’90 crew that beat Notre Dame for the natty a year later.

CU’s featured a bunch of stellar “2s” over the years. Richard Johnson. Flannigan. Brian Calhoun. James Kidd. Laviska Shenault. But J.J. thinks the man who succeeded him with the number, ex-Buffs cornerback Deon Figures, is still No. 1 when it comes to CU’s all-time No. 2s.

“Put Deon Figures on that list above me,” Flannigan said. “I’d put anybody on that list above me. (CU’s decision) is disrespectful to the accomplishments of Eric Bieniemy, Alfred Williams, guys who haven’t gotten their (jerseys retired), haven’t gotten their due.”

The icons from the Buffs’ greatest era — 1984-2005 — are long past due. And justifiably frustrated. Flannigan was talking to Bieniemy on Monday night after CU announced the double-jersey ceremony.

“And he was like, ‘Come on, now, reel us back in,'” Flannigan said. “He was not pleased. At all.”

Flannigan was so disappointed that he went on Facebook to post that he’d “never show up on that campus again until the athletes that built that program get some semblance of respect from the current coach. We have officially been bought and sold for popularity.

“I don’t know how many people texted me (Tuesday) and said, ‘Man, I’ve been wanting to say that. I’m glad you said it,'” Flannigan recalled.

2 Soon.

Ex-Buffs QB Joel Klatt, who’s had Coach Prime’s back from Day 1, told Fox Sports’ “First Things First”  he’d warned AD Rick George that early jersey retirement wasn’t going to land well with his peers.

Klatt said George told him,  “Listen, (these guys) changed the trajectory of our program. They saved our program, in a lot of ways.”

He’s not wrong. College football is on the cusp of another seismic shift. The game is run by television networks now. Nobody loves Deion the way TV loves Deion. Win or lose.

Flannigan has known George for almost 40 years now. George helped recruit the kids under McCartney, who put CU on the front page again in the late ’80s. Which only leaves him more confused.

“This is not about me being mad at Rick,” Flannigan stressed. “I’m disappointed in the decision.

“Everything I say is said out of love, not hate. Not anger. None of that. It’s said out of love. It means I love my university.”

He’s got nothing against Shedeur or Travis, either. Heck, he’s even planning on taking the 24th off from work to go watch the CU duo get taken in the first round of the NFL Draft.

“I want to see those guys go high (in the draft), and I want to see them go to a team they deserve and where they can thrive and build their brands and their athletic abilities,” Flannigan said. “I’m rooting for those guys. This is not about me not rooting for them.”

It’s about fairness. It’s about where you set the bar and why.

Hagan shined on the biggest stages imaginable, steering the Buffs to two national title games and winning one of them. Stewart threw arguably the single greatest pass in Buffs history, won a lot, and helped define what the position could be for a generation.

Nobody in black and gold has ever slung the rock around like Shedeur. But CU’s had QBs who left just as rich a legacy. If there’s room for 2, there’s room for 3 and 10.

Want more sports news? Sign up for the Sports Omelette to get all our analysis on Denver’s teams.

As in, Available For Sale.

At least, that’s what Kroenke said Monday when I asked him about a report claiming the owners of the Nuggets were unwilling to move their talented but mercurial forward — supposedly because Josh and Michael Porter Jr. both happened to hoop it up at the University of Missouri.

M-I-Z, Tigers For Life. Keep the colors flying skyward and all that.

“You know, I did see that somewhere,” Kroenke, the Nuggets’ president, said of the MPJ kerfuffle. “And if it wasn’t such a serious accusation, I would probably laugh a little harder.”

Yeah, but that max deal …

“I think that any kind of report saying that we’re not open to trading everybody, you know, possible to improve the team,” Kroenke continued, “is a complete falsehood.”

Great, so what would it take to …

“And the other thing that I’ll say is, I don’t know where that person got their sources from,” Kroenke said. “But I’m surely not going to be greenlighting any trades around here when I don’t see complete organizational cohesion and we’re not maximizing the group we got.”

There it is!

Not to rain on social media’s parade, but I’ll believe the Kroenkes are “quitting” MPJ when I see it. They love the dude. They love the shot. They love the narrative.

“Let’s talk about him on a human level and what he’s been through,” Kroenke stressed. “I mean, several back surgeries, being told he was never going to play again … slipping in the NBA draft to a place where we were privileged enough to take a player that talented, then working through the setbacks that he’s had, not only on the court with his back, but off the court in his personal life as well.”

On a strictly personal level, MPJ has a good soul. He’s also had some tough, tough stuff land on his plate. On the occasions when the young man decides to get inside his own head, he’s prone to vanishing spells. Porter’s at his best when he’s not busy being his own worst enemy.

The ex-Mizzou standout’s also played an average of 16 more regular-season games over the last two years (158) than Jamal Murray (126) has. Even if you had no idea what kind of stat line MPJ had coming on a given night, when the Nuggets needed him at the startling line, he’s usually been there.

And by golly, whether you like it or not, they need him. Right here. Right now. When MPJ’s put up 17 points or more over the last two postseason runs, the Nuggets are 8-3. When he’s held to single digits, they’re 5-4. A playoff coin flip.

The Lakers last spring were so preoccupied with not getting a Blue Arrow through the heart again, they were happy to let MPJ try and beat them. He obliged, averaging 22.8 points and 8.4 boards and draining 48.8% of his treys. Porter looked very much like a max contract player doing max things at max moments.

Unfortunately for — well, for all of us — Minnesota saw the tape from the first round. The Timberwolves got in Porter’s face from the jump to see how he liked a change in temperature. The results were decidedly lukewarm: 10.7 points and 5.7 rebounds per game, 32.5% from beyond the arc, and a whopping 25 points, combined, in Games 4-7

The Nuggets blew the largest Game 7 lead in franchise history, the Wolves stole their mojo the way Gollum stole Frodo Baggins’ ring, and things around Chopper Circle have felt a little disjointed ever since.

“I think we have to be open-minded toward everything,” Kroenke continued. “(That’s) player trades, seeing value in the draft where others might not, or perhaps finding a skill set that fits with our roster in a way that other people might not see. And so we’ve got to be open-minded on all fronts.”

They can start with the frontcourt. Porter’s carrying a cap hit of $35.86 million. It goes up to $38.33 million next season, then to $40.806 million in ’26-27.  “Open-minded” isn’t going to be any easier nine months from now.

“So I need to be aware of what’s out there, how to make this team better in all facets,” Kroenke said. “And so back to my main message: (This) season’s not over yet. But once the season is over, I think we’re going to be as open-minded as we’ve ever been about everything.”

Alas, the NBA isn’t just a business. It’s a cruel one, as cutthroat as they come.

Kroenke was a millionaire willingly falling on several swords Monday, a rare trait for the owner class. But at the same time, Josh fessed up to maybe his greatest weakness as a pro sports CEO: letting relationships and friendships cloud his judgment.

That last part is why he said he didn’t have the heart to can either coach Michael Malone or Calvin Booth last fall, even though everybody in a 50-mile radius knew that relationship had turned toxic. And also why he didn’t do it at the All-Star break, even though the Nuggets were getting fat off the dregs of the league while routinely getting their teeth kicked in by the likes of the Thunder and Cavaliers.

And it’s why Kroenke still wants to “maximize” the “group he’s got,” even though that already happened two years ago — and there’s no getting that same mojo back with the pieces you’ve surrounded Nikola Jokic with. Penuriousness may land David Adelman Malone’s old job on a full-time basis, whether the Nuggets’ performances warrant it or not. The affection for MPJ is as much about sentiment as anything else.

That’s not how you build a dynasty. It’s how you build the Rockies.

Want more Nuggets news? Sign up for the Nuggets Insider to get all our NBA analysis.

Sean Keeler: Never seen a dead cat bounce quite that high before. Maybe the Nuggets had stopped listening to Michael Malone, but they heard Josh Kroenke loud and clear, didn’t they?  My head says it’s the Nuggets, but my head also told me that Malone would win the “Cold War” with Calvin Booth and the front office. So going with the heart on this one. And that heart’s wearing a burgundy-and-blue sweater right now. It could be the Gabe feels. It could be the sunshine. But I’m leaning Avs.

Renck: It is a juxtaposition with the way they finished their season, getting their coach and general manager fired. But the Nuggets boast a better chance of advancing. The Clippers have won eight straight, and Kawhi Leonard is averaging 25.7 points over his last 19 games. So, it comes down to this: Can Aaron Gordon cool Leonard, keeping him around 20 points? Nikola Jokic has given Ivica Zubac fits in the past, though Zubac is positioned to push Christian Braun for the league’s Most Improved Player award this season. There are many X factors. But it comes down to Gordon taming Leonard.

Keeler: Every NBA fan base deserves an Aaron Gordon in their lives — an unselfish superstar with mad skills and a moderate ego, a plugger who’ll do whatever a team needs at that moment. Take 25 shots? Can do. Be a defensive stopper? He’s your man. The only worry I’ve got isn’t AG’s heart — it’s his wonky right calf. The spirit is always willing. But what if No. 32’s body won’t cooperate? The only way the Clip Show sails on is if Kawhi goes crazy, and it’s not fair to expect Peyton Watson and Christian Braun to slow Leonard alone.

Renck: The Avs finished on cruise control, using the final few weeks to get healthy and work on line combinations. They will be juiced to face former teammate Mikko Rantanen and the endless agitator Jamie Benn. Can the Avs avenge last season’s playoff loss to the Stars? Of course. But it comes with the uneasy questions: Will untested goalie Mackenzie Blackwood meet the moment? And can Gabe Landeskog be a factor? Neither the Nuggets nor the Avs has margin for error (which is why Russell Westbrook playing hero ball is so dangerous). Based on the home court and the remaining bump from interim coach Rick Adelman, the Nuggets have a better chance of moving on.

Keeler: I didn’t believe in miracles until I saw Landy skate with the Eagles on Friday and Saturday. I didn’t believe in the Avs, either. Peter DeBoer and Jamie Benn have some kind of hex on the Mile High City right now that defies logic, let alone explanation. But this time? This time could be different. For one, the Avalanche will have almost a week of rest before Game 1 in Dallas, marking the first time Colorado’s had more days off heading into their first-round Stanley Cup matchup since all the way back in 2006. Fun fact: That opponent 19 years ago? Dallas. In a series, get this, that also started in Texas. A series the Avs went on to win, 4-1. Sometimes, history rhymes.

Even if Gabe Landeskog never skates a shift at the American Airlines Center, Lone Star faithful oughta be quaking in their chaps.

The Stars got Mikko.

The Avs got Miracles.

I mean, sure, our old pal Mikko Rantanen got $96 million out of Dallas.

Can’t put a price on mojo.

Just hand Landeskog the ESPY now. No NHL player has ever skated again after the kind of cartilage repair the Captain had done. No NHL player had even seen a second act.

Until now.

And wouldn’t you know it? In Landeskog’s conditioning debut with the AHL’s Colorado Eagles on Friday, the man wasted no time getting in everybody’s hair.

Eleven minutes into his first competitive game in 1,020 days, Landy got sent to the box for hooking. Blue Arena was tickled pink, of course. So he waved. Twice.

He put a kid in a headlock. He popped another dude into the boards. He camped out in front of the crease, just like old times. He fired from the slot. Fifteen shifts. 14:49 of ice time. Two penalty minutes. $200 tickets.

Can’t put a price on good vibes.

If O Captain’s knocking, the Avs are rocking. Gabe’s the cherry on top of this crazy sundae Avalanche general manager Chris MacFarland has been building for months.

In January, MacFarland wanted to shake up his roster. In Nuggetsland, that means sitting on your hands and fighting with your coach. Not Mac.

First, he shocked us all by shipping Rantanen to Carolina. In isolation, it felt like insanity. In hindsight, it was the beginning of a genius makeover. The Avs at Christmas offered two lines of stars and two of scrubs — the perfect formula for getting bounced early from the postseason.

MacFarland didn’t just solve the franchise’s eternal 2C problem. He went out and grabbed a 3C for fun. He forged five lines of depth. Then, for good measure, he went for the feels by bringing defenseman Erik Johnson, a fan favorite, back home.

Now imagine a locker room with EJ holding court in one corner and Gabe doing the same at the other.

To paraphrase Yogi Berra, 70% of winning a Stanley Cup is half mental. It’s the ultimate spring grind. A nine-week battle of wills.

For two straight Aprils — since Landy’s been out of action, really — the Avs have looked soft in crunch time. Soft in the head. Soft in the spine. Soft when it counts.

You think anybody on that club’s going to want to dog a shift and then have to look Landeskog in the eye? Or disappoint Johnson, who just turned 37?

Colorado will go this postseason as Valeri Nichushkin goes, same as it ever was. Better believe No. 92 and No. 6 know how important No. 13 is to this franchise’s quest to lift Cup No. 4. You think Val wants to let Gabe down now?

“You keep putting the work in, and day-by-day you keep doing it and keep believing,” Landeskog told reporters late Friday night after his AHL return.

“The days become weeks, and the weeks become months, and finally, years have gone by and now you’re playing again. I never thought this was ever going to get to this point and get this big and get this much attention, and that was never my intention. I’m just trying to fight my way back, and here we are. So yeah, it was a fun night.”

Darn straight. Looked good, didn’t he? At least from what you could make out via your laptop or smartphone.

Even if it’s on a third or a fourth line, seeing Landeskog in burgundy and blue gives you 2022 goose bumps all over again. MacFarland’s getting the band back together, kids.

“I’ve always tried to kind of stay present, live in the moment,” Landeskog reflected. “(I’m) still going to do that. I don’t want to look too far ahead, but I do know that I feel good (Friday) …  Hopefully I feel good (Saturday), and we can keep working and I can keep practicing. And we’ll see where it takes us.”

It’s 49 miles to Loveland, we’ve got a full tank of gas, and Gabe is throwing guys around.

Hit it.

“It was fun,” Landeskog said. “The headlock wasn’t necessarily planned (Friday) morning. But it’s part of the game.”

The Eagles have Landy. This flight’s starting to smell like another round-trip ticket to Lord Stanley. In fact, you might even say it’s in the Stars.

They smile. They laugh. They talk.

With Michael Malone’s paranoia gone and Calvin Booth’s pettiness absent, the Nuggets are enjoying basketball again.

The Nuggets divorced from their two highest-profile employees and were awarded custody of Rocky.

Everyone is taking ownership. Except ownership. Discarding Malone and Booth without a press conference was unprofessional, but Josh Kroenke cared more about future results than showing respect.

To his credit, the Nuggets are 2-0 since the seismic shift.

Malone’s exit cast David Adelman as a Disneyland dad. Have a blast, kids. Who wants cotton candy and a Lightning Pass to Space Mountain?

When Kroenke made the move, Adelman, to me, was simply keeping the seat warm. The general rule is to never hire the interim because rebound relationships cloud judgment, leading to misguided decisions.

But watching him this week on the sidelines, in huddles and during press conferences, I decided Adelman deserves serious consideration. In fact, if he wins a playoff series, Adelman should get the job.

And here is a novel concept if that happens: All assistants’ contracts match the length of Adelman’s.

The issue for Adelman is simple: Can he prove he is not the right man at the wrong time?

His resume is worthy, but his first reference is the guy who just got canned. Doesn’t that leave him guilty, or at least compromised, by association?

Not necessarily.

Adelman and Malone share similar traits. They are basketball lifers, sons of former NBA head coaches, detail-oriented. But Adelman does not run hot like Malone. Holding players accountable with brutal honesty, while “preaching sacrifice, and showing a lot of humility,” as Jamal Murray explained Friday, helped Malone lead the Nuggets to their only NBA championship.

But even with a massive contract extension, he did not feel comfortable, his distrust of Booth a guiding force in his daily life. And when a marriage goes bad, the parents often don’t realize the tension it creates for those around them.

Adelman, the team’s former offensive boss, was always careful to credit Malone even as he was his own man. The coaches were left with no choice but to take his side as they were working on expiring contracts. Whether Malone signed off on this or the Kroenkes forced his hand when giving him a new deal, it was bad business, undermining trust.

Adelman found himself caught in this drama. But let’s be clear, he worked for Malone. He is not Malone. They offer two distinctly different personalities.

The modern NBA demands coaches pick a lane. In a players league, it is impossible to give pats on the head and kicks in the butt. It is an either-or proposition, as Malone discovered at the end of his tenure.

Adelman is a good vibes guy. Positive affirmation. This leaves him vulnerable to being taken advantage of by players, but this has not yet surfaced.

“I want a competitive spirit. If you want to have fun, you have to win. I have been around teams where we lost a lot and I liked everybody but it sure as (heck) wasn’t fun,” said Adelman, inadvertently describing the Rockies’ business model. “How hard you play and how connected you are is what fun means.”

Adelman is not your average substitute teacher. He has interviewed for multiple head coaching vacancies, with the buzz around the league that Portland will try to bring him back where his father coached if they fire Chauncey Billups.

Plus, he appears to have a strong working relationship with Nikola Jokic. The unspoken purpose of last week was not to get rid of the feuding Malone and Booth, but to keep Jokic happy. Adelman gives Jokic freedom to be more of everything on any given night — scorer, rebounder, passer, vocal leader.

“He is talking more. He makes us talk more and wants us to communicate,” Jokic said of Adelman. “He is giving me quick tips.”

Unburdened by the lineup and rotation politics involving Malone and Booth, Adelman has demonstrated meritocracy with minutes. Whoever plays the best plays the most. And plays last. So one night Russell Westbrook was on the bench. The next night he was in the mix.

Do we know if can do this over 82 games? No. That is why the next few weeks are so important.

“We talked about that a lot as a group. Write all the articles you want. We are good,” said Adelman, showing the type of edge needed to transition from riding shotgun to driving the car. “We are going to play the guys to win the game.”

It is clear that if the Nuggets don’t hire Adelman, they want someone like him. Minnesota’s Micah Nori, a former Denver assistant, fits. But what makes Nori a better candidate than Adelman?

David — don’t call him Dave — Adelman checks all the boxes. If this team advances to the second round of the playoffs, call off the search. There is no reason to bring in a big name. And based on history, there is no reason to think the Nuggets would pay for one anyway.

It all hinges on the postseason. If he crushes the audition, Coach Interim becomes Coach Adelman.

Want more Nuggets news? Sign up for the Nuggets Insider to get all our NBA analysis.

And hey, the muckrakers up in the Grading The Week offices get it. You blow up the spine of your organization in one fell swoop, the calendar tends to get booked. Meetings. Flights. More meetings. More flights. Clandestine staff discussions. The usual.

But you dismiss the winningest coach in Nuggets history (Michael Malone) and then not-so-quiet quit your general manager (Calvin Booth) on the same Tuesday, and there’s no news conference? No franchise leaders to face questions from the local press? No erudition added to five paragraphs of very carefully worded, almost mollifying, explanation?

Oh, the legal eagles up at the GTW offices get that, too. Lawyers. Contracts. More lawyers. More contracts. Clandestine separation agreements.

And to be clear, Josh and his father Stan don’t “owe” GTW, The Denver Post, or any local reporters anything. It’s their team. Their toy.

But you know who they do owe? Nuggets fans.

The Front Range faithful who two summers ago lined the streets of downtown Denver, giddy to the last. The diehards whose dedication made all those decades of passion and pain worth it.

Josh Kroenke dodging non-KSE media — D.

Curious, though, isn’t it?

Words on Malone: 207, all from a statement released to the media.

Words on Malone to anybody but Vic Lombardi: Zero.

Words on Booth: 105, also via a statement.

Words on Booth to anybody but Vic: Still zero.

And take it from us: Local reporters have tried. Now, none of this is a knock on Lombardi, a local media icon and still a favorite GTW listen.

But would it kill Josh to offer up a little juice outside of Kroenke Sports & Entertainment platforms? It wasn’t as if the Nuggets were out making national headlines or anything.

And speaking of headlines, is it right that Nuggets fans heard more from Nikola Jokic, Best Dang Player On The Planet, on Malone than they did from the guy who, you know, actually made the decision to can The Joker’s coach?

Sure enough, in the days following Black Tuesday, unnamed sources abounded. But as of early Saturday morning? Still no Josh. Still no Stan. Just the same 207 and 105 words on Malone and Booth, respectively.

So many questions, too. Including one of the biggest, still unanswered: Why … now? Other than “(allowing) us to compete at the highest level right now,” as the statement read? What moment finally broke the camel’s back?

The “Cold War” stuff allegedly going on behind the scenes between Malone and Booth was among the Front Range’s worst-kept secrets for more than a year. So how come those disagreements were waved away by Josh, Malone and Booth during an end-of-season news conference last May? And side-stepped by Malone and Booth during the team’s annual preseason media day this past fall?

Everybody who heard Nuggets pressers could tell, in hindsight, just how starkly the tone had changed compared to, say, 2019-2024. For years, the Nuggets were the anti-NBA team, a locker room’s tone set by an unselfish star in Jokic who never cared about the credit — or the spotlight. Players who didn’t fit the team-first/family-first mantra — Bones Hyland comes to mind — were phased out. Finger-pointing and drama were kept largely in-house. Whenever neutrals or reporters levied criticism in public forums, Malone defended the guys in his locker room as if they were loved ones.

This season, the blast shields didn’t just come down — Malone sometimes found himself turning the lasers on his own guys, usually in exasperation after a run of inexplicable defeats. Something was broken. Everyone knew it. But until Josh clears the air on the Nuggets’ three-sided power triangle more anonymous beans will be spilled to fill gaps in the narrative. And we’ll promise you this: None of it’s going to have any side smelling like roses.

Want more Nuggets news? Sign up for the Nuggets Insider to get all our NBA analysis.

The Nuggets want you to believe through a battery of sourced stories that they had no choice but to fire coach Michael Malone and general manager Calvin Booth. This was apparently the NBA’s biggest feud since Shaq and Kobe. Apparently, I missed Malone’s diss track.

Even if the timing was brutal, the Kroenkes clearly had their reasons to can them after watching a joyless season dissolve since the All-Star break. But we are also seeing damage control wrapped in shameful denial by the players.

We cannot let them off the hook. They were unhappy with Malone’s criticism, his yelling, his rotations, his preferential treatment of Russell Westbrook (OK, I’ve got their back on that one).

Is that license to throttle down? To play defense like they were in an All-Star game?

Athletes control effort, attitude and conditioning. That is what has made this season so disappointing.

Jamal Murray showed up out of shape after signing a four-year, $208 million max extension. He stank for the first 21 games before finally working himself back into form. But even that proved short-lived. He has missed eight of the past 12 games entering Friday with a hamstring injury.

Michael Porter Jr. continued to show us all who he really is: a medical marvel who is wildly inconsistent from game to game, quarter to quarter and possession to possession. When he is not making 3s, his value is virtually nonexistent.

Nikola Jokic, who is having a historic offensive season, lost interest in defending at the top of the key and stopped committing to his role at the level of the screen.

Aaron Gordon couldn’t shake a calf injury that siphoned half his games this season.

Westbrook played at one speed, and his tired Porsche-in-a-school-zone act deployed airbags multiple times over the last two weeks, making it clear Jalen Pickett should take his minutes in the clutch.

There are numerous examples of why Malone and Booth deserved to be canned. But let’s not forgive the performance of the players. Just because warring factions existed behind the scenes, it does not excuse the lack of effort and communication.

For the Nuggets to go on a magical postseason run, it starts with those in uniform pulling in the same direction, not the schemes of interim coach David Adelman.

Young and restless: Rockies outfielder Zac Veen approaches baseball with a childlike enthusiasm. No need to take the wag out of the puppy’s tail, but it is important as he navigates his call-up to lean on veterans like Ryan McMahon and Kyle Freeland. He has the talent to make it. But he must adopt routines to simplify everything.

Carmelo’s request: Basketball Hall of Famer Carmelo Anthony wants the Nuggets and Knicks to retire his jersey. No problem. But Denver’s comes with a caveat. His No. 15 goes into the rafters after Jokic’s as a sign of respect for the franchise’s greatest player.

Shedeur’s spot: When it comes to Cleveland, can we believe them? The Browns adding 40-year-old Joe Flacco and failed first-rounder Kenny Pickett suggests that they will pass on Shedeur Sanders with the second overall pick. There is growing buzz that they will take CU’s Travis Hunter. If that’s the case, the Saints would be silly not to take Sanders at No. 9, forming an ideal fit with new coach Kellen Moore.

Want more sports news? Sign up for the Sports Omelette to get all our analysis on Denver’s teams.

“I’m just forever proud to be a Pio,” the DU goaltender whispered, eyes puffy and red, a few minutes after his Pioneers fell to Western Michigan in double overtime, 3-2, in a Frozen Four semifinal. “I love this program with everything …

“Yeah. Yeah, I don’t know.”

You know where DU is without Davis on Thursday? Buried between Thomas Hart Benton and Adolphus Busch. A national champion blown out of its title defense with a wave and a whimper.

“It (stinks) to lose, for sure, when you’re expected to win championships,” DU forward Connor Caponi told me matter-of-factly in the Pios’ locker room. “So yeah, heartbreaking for the guys. And really sad that we couldn’t help our goalie out more than we did.”

Davis didn’t just deserve the victory. He deserved a Nobel Prize for grace under fire, a primetime Emmy for sheer guts.

The Broncos outshot DU 12-3 during the first period, 18-5 during the second and 10-5 through the first overtime. In his Pios finale, Davis faced 47 attempts, turning away all but three.

Context: That’s twice as many stops (22) as his WMU counterpart, Hampton Slukynsky, had against Davis’ teammates. It was one-way traffic from the jump. If Davis hadn’t kept DU within shouting distance, the crying in the Pios camp would’ve started a heck of a lot sooner.

“Credit to Matt Davis,” Broncos coach Pat Ferschweiler said, “for holding them in there. We were really pushing in the second period.”

If you’re an NHL front office, how have you not called this guy? Especially after the show he put on at the Enterprise Center? The Avs are happy as clams with Mackenzie Blackwood, who’s 28 and blocks out the sun. But you can never have too much of a good thing.

Matty Davis is a good thing. A special thing. A two-time national champion with the tattoos to prove it.

He deserved another happy ending, another trophy. Instead, his collegiate eligibility ended on a crazy bounce, the way most of them seemed to go against Western. Some 26 seconds into the second extra period, the biscuit bopped off DU defenseman Zeev Buium’s stick, bounded straight to Western Michigan forward Owen Michaels, and wound up kissing twine.

You gotta be bleepin’ me.

“He’s a heck of a goaltender,” Michaels said of Davis. “It’s not too fun playing against him. His resume speaks for itself. He’s a winner. And he keeps it nice and stable back there for their team.”

He’s the kind of netminder you can build a dynasty around. It was the first time Davis had given up more than one goal in an NCAA tourney appearance.

While DU’s offense floundered, Pios captain Carter King rallied the troops between periods. Coach David Carle tweaked their forecheck in the neutral zone to put more heat on the WMU d-men in the third period. The added temperature worked like a charm. And with two goals over the final 13:11 of regulation, thanks to Aidan Thompson’s rebound and Jared Wright’s 5-hole poke, the Pios darn near gave everybody in maroon a carDUvascular episode late.

Without Davis pulling rabbits out of hats over the first 40 minutes, though, the Pios don’t have a snowball’s chance in Aruba. At one point, with 7:45 left in the opening stanza, Matty D even found himself defending the crease without a stick, squatting like an MMA fighter.

“MATTY-DAVIS!” the DU faithful chanted from one corner of the arena.

Clap, clap, clap-clap-clap!

“MATTY-DAVIS!”

Davis spent so much of the opening period standing on his head that, 11 seconds into the second stanza, his mask came off.

“I can’t speak enough about Matty,” Caponi said. “He’s obviously a phenomenal goaltender. And if you’re an NHL team, I don’t see how you’re not all over him. And he’s obviously a gamer. And it’s been an honor to share the ice with Matt. And I wish nothing but the best for him in this future. And he’s gonna have a great career.”

Just turn on the tape. Any tape. But especially the NCAA tape, when the lights burned brightest.

“I mean, I was just trying to do whatever I was called upon to do,” Davis said softly. ” And you know …”

A pause. He trailed off.

“Can you reflect upon the memories,” a reporter asked, “the four years, the titles, the friendships?”

“Yeah,” he said, the hurt surfacing again. “Sorry.”

The moments were a blur. So were the salvos, furious to the last. With 7:43 left in overtime, Davis took a flukey bounce and caressed it off his right pad, his right abdomen, then his right pad again. The biscuit somehow trickled forward, to the point where a prone goalie managed to cradle it between his helmet and his hands.

“How?” I wondered.

“Yeah,” Davis replied. “I mean …  yeah. I was just trying to do whatever I could.”

Another pause. Longer this time.

“Sorry,” Davis said. “I’m not giving you much here.”

It’s OK, man. You gave the Pios plenty.

Want more sports news? Sign up for the Sports Omelette to get all our analysis on Denver’s teams.

On a sun-splashed Thursday at Coors Field, with fans’ growing apathy reflected in the 18,593 paid attendance, they toppled the Brewers 7-2.

It was a victory that masked the ugliness of the first month.

Losing the first two home series of the season should qualify as shameful. For the Rockies, this is normal, the 3-9 start fitting in with a 3-9 mark last year and a 20-loss April in 2023.

That alone is reason to remain disgusted with this team. But worse, the Rockies possess a quality that most professional organizations avoid like gas station sushi: They make players soft.

Has there ever been a pro team in our city more comfortable losing?

This is why what I unearthed in the postgame clubhouse offered a morsel of hope. We want the players to care, to show that they are no longer treating Coors Field as a 4A minor league weigh station, that they realize results matter.

Ryan McMahon wants to be part of the solution if this team ever gets good again. He gets it.

Filling the leadership void created by Charlie Blackmon’s retirement, he spoke to the team after Wednesday’s 17-2 ear boxing by the Brewers, a travesty that featured four errors and a flammable bullpen.

“I am not really a loud guy. I am more of a one-to-one guy. When there are times that something needs to be said, I won’t be afraid to say it,” McMahon said. “Most of the time, it’s how you react in baseball and life. I think the guys took the message well.”

For way too long, too many players have been just happy to be here, and even more have been here only because the Rockies are the worst team in the National League.

The Rockies are on pace for a third consecutive 100-loss season, and there is no reason to suggest any moves will happen. Owner Dick Monfort values loyalty over competence. Patience over consequence.

This is what happens when a franchise operates in a vacuum, shakes its fist at the clouds about a salary cap and treats analytics like hieroglyphics.

Nobody expects this team to flirt with a .500 record. But is it too much to ask them to compete? To locate a compass and single-mindedly pursue a destination. We all agree that the Rockies are a draft-and-development organization that doesn’t draft or develop well. But manager Bud Black must embrace the youth movement.

“It’s hard,” Black said. “You want to win every game, but you have to balance the now with the future.”

The onus is on him to navigate the task. No excuses.

Keep giving at-bats to Zac Veen — he plays with his platinum blond hair on fire and delivered a celebration after his eighth-inning double that made me wonder if something was smoking besides his bat. Bring back Jordan Beck. If that means curtains for Sean Bouchard, who cares?

Any veteran in this clubhouse must bring an edge — as Ryan Feltner demonstrated by working out of a fourth-inning mess with a primal scream. They must set an example that will help the development of Veen, Chase Dollander and Michael Toglia.

The organization comes across as rudderless. Nothing is stopping the players from establishing a culture.

It is why the Rockies must release Kris Bryant. He is a nice guy. No one disputes this. It simply sends the wrong message to use a DH more concerned about not getting hurt than getting a hit. He has missed four starts in the first 12 games. At the same age of 33, Todd Helton played in 154 games with a surgically-repaired back.

The Rockies need swag, confidence. Brenton Doyle is one of few who fit this description.

“Ryan gave us a good speech. That was a rough one,” said Doyle, who delivered three hits and five RBIs in the win. “It shows a lot about us on how we responded.”

Watching the Rockies lightbulb flicker, the juxtaposition with the Nuggets remains striking.

They robbed the winningest coach in franchise history of his dignity Tuesday, firing Michael Malone to give the team a chance for playoff redemption. They canned general manager Calvin Booth to demonstrate their distaste for the team’s performance and the tension the pair fostered.

This as they woke up Thursday with the No. 4 seed in the Western Conference. The Rockies will need a telescope to see the postseason by month’s end if they are not careful.

The Kroenkes excel at silence, at living in the shadows. But regardless of my opinion on Malone’s exit, at least they want to win.

Is that thought even allowed at 20th and Blake? The concept has become foreign. And rarely discussed because that would demand Monfort holding accountable Rockies lifers who have failed upward.

Maybe Thursday is the start of something, of a retreat from embarrassment. Monfort is not selling the team. He is not hiring a real president, desperately needed to diminish the owner’s influence on baseball decisions.

Progress will happen only if Black holds players to a higher standard, if McMahon and others keep reminding their teammates they are sick of losing.

“It is about understanding we are better than (what happened Wednesday). We don’t need to just settle. We can make (bleep) happen,” McMahon said. “I think you saw that.”

Want more Rockies news? Sign up for the Rockies Insider to get all our MLB analysis.

Please, Santa. Keep the pony. Keep the Porsche. Keep the PS5.

Give me a second Nuggets All-Star.

Give me twin titans in blue and gold. Give me Magic and Kareem. MJ and Scottie. Give me basketball’s Butch and Sundance, repping the best dang sports town on Earth in February, then scaring the crapola out of the Western Conference come April and May.

Oh, and one more thing, Santa. Give me a general manager with the guts and the chutzpah to make it happen.

Give me a general manager blessed with a tongue smooth enough to convince Stan Kroenke to give his blessing — then get the heck out of the way.

The Nuggets owe Joker an All-Star. They also owe him a power structure with one vision, one voice.

Yes, ex-coach Michael Malone had a down (and puzzling) year by his standards. He also deserved a classier exit than the latest NBA pink slip in 44 years. Josh Kroenke was wrong to eschew a news conference Tuesday, but right on this front: Malone and Calvin Booth couldn’t go on working under the same roof.

Drafting guys your coach won’t play was a waste of everybody’s time — Jokic’s most of all. A house divided against itself cannot stand. Or play defense. Or watch film, apparently.

From here on out? Everything should be on the table. And, Joker aside, everyone.

The Nuggets need big thinkers and big swings to go deep into the playoffs again.

For eight years, we’ve watched Jokic turn “meh” players into good ones (love ya, Will Barton). We’ve watched him turn good players into great ones (take a bow, Jamal Murray).

But we haven’t seen what The Best Player On The Planet looks like when he’s got a wingman with serious, honest-to-goodness NBA gravitas running alongside.

And no, a 36-year-old Russell Westbrook doesn’t count, Santa. I mean, 2017 or 2019 Russ? Sure. We’re talking somebody else in their prime. Somebody who makes the “A” block on SportsCenter.

They owe him, Santa.

This organization owes Jokic a serious run at another ring. A serious run with serious stars — and a serious GM.

Otherwise? If the Nuggets aren’t careful, he could ask for the next ticket outta here.

The Joker could go coastal, the way LeBron James did after pretty much single-handedly putting Cleveland on the map.

There are about a half-dozen NBA bluebloods that would love to do to Denver what the Lakers just did to the Mavericks in that Luka Doncic heist.

Historically speaking, players whose profiles are considered “too good” or “too big” for a certain NBA market tend not to stay in said “not-big-enough” market. The agents, the TV execs and assorted string-pullers behind the scenes have spent decades funneling The Association’s biggest stars onto the league’s biggest stages. By design.

The Joker is a different cat. But the forces tugging on the king’s robe, the ones whispering into his ear, are motivated by the same things they always have been.

Jokic? Dude just wants to win. Now. He turns 31 next February. No. 15’s in the kind of shape, mentally and physically, where he could do this forever. He shouldn’t have to wait that long for his next best shot at a ring.

And the Kroenkes shouldn’t fool themselves into thinking that simply removing Malone and Booth will solve whatever ails this franchise. Tuesday was merely Deck-chair Liberation Day. The Titanic’s still sinking, and the icebergs are everywhere. Job’s not done.

Are the Nuggets due for a dead cat bounce? Probably. But on the whole, this thing — this season, this roster, this iteration — is done. Flush it. Start over.

Sure, the only way Michael Porter Jr. probably passes a physical with another team is if Mr. Magoo’s reading the charts. But by golly, you’ve gotta try.

The Thunder have two All-Stars. So do the Mavs. The Celtics and Bucks landed two; the Cavs have three. Why not give the Joker a fair fight?

The Nuggets don’t need a soft reset — they need a reboot. They need a GM with experience. Ideally, they find someone who can get the Nuggets’ good-but-not-great players on great-player contracts off the books with one hand while navigating an NBA CBA purposefully designed to stonewall dynasties with the other.

Former Warriors exec Bob Myers would tick most of those front-office boxes. So would Dennis Lindsey in Detroit. Alas, those two feel like longshots as long as Stan Kroenke prefers to promote from within rather than bid on top-shelf front office talent.

The Kroenkes could argue that the insular approach got the franchise its only ring. It also got one of the most frustrating, dysfunctional title defenses in league history, a 2023-24 season that’s only going to look more damning, in hindsight, for all the parties involved. If Stan and Josh aren’t content with simply winning one Larry O’Brien Trophy, now’s their chance to show it.

Want more Nuggets news? Sign up for the Nuggets Insider to get all our NBA analysis.