Adelman Responds to Wolves' Jaden McDaniels Calling Jokic, Nuggets 'Bad Defenders' in Viral Video

Denver Nuggets head coach David Adelman was rather dismissive of previous head-turning comments from Minnesota Timberwolves forward Jaden McDaniels calling a number of Denver players "bad defenders."

Adelman told reporters Wednesday, "I can't wait for his podcast" and the comments will "help his social media" while also pointing out the Nuggets are sixth in the playoffs in defensive rating through the first two games of their series with the Timberwolves:

After Minnesota tied the series at one with a 119-114 victory in Game 2, McDaniels said "they're all bad defenders" when discussing Nikola Jokić, Jamal Murray, Aaron Gordon, Tim Hardaway Jr. and Cam Johnson:

Cam Johnson also responded to McDaniels' comments:

While Denver's overall defensive numbers in a small sample size look fine through two games, it struggled on that end of the floor for stretches while blowing a 19-point lead in Game 2. Had it finished that game with a win, it would be in full control with a 2-0 lead.

Instead, the Timberwolves have home-court advantage with the series shifting to Minnesota.

Timberwolves-Nuggets Highlights

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Denver was also an ugly 21st in the league in defensive rating during the regular season, per NBA.com, which was the worst mark of any team that made the playoffs. It finished with the third-best record in the Western Conference in large part because of its offensive brilliance with Jokić once again playing at an MVP level on that end of the floor.

So, McDaniels wasn't necessarily wrong about his opponent's defense.

Still, it was shocking to see a player make such incendiary comments, especially in the middle of an ongoing playoff series. Adelman and the rest of the Nuggets players may publicly dismiss the notion they are using them as bulletin-board material, but they have undoubtedly discussed McDaniels' overall thoughts on their defense.

And it also wouldn't be surprising if Denver players bring the comments back up if they do recover from the Game 2 loss and go on to win the series and advance to the second round.

If the Nuggets are going to do that, though, they will likely need to play better defense the rest of the way than they did during the regular season.

Their next chance to bounce back is Thursday's Game 3 on the road.