The Nuggets came out and showed pride and a lot of promise on Wednesday night, winning their first game under interim coach David Adelman, 124-116 over the Kings in Sacramento. The team showed some fight and energy, battling on defense and running some crisp offensive sets.
Other than the energy shift and the natural bump from major changes and a new coach, the Nuggets mostly looked like the same team they’ve been all year. They were playing harder and with more purpose, and they busted out a few new wrinkles on both sides of the ball, but they certainly didn’t look like they were trying to reinvent the wheel or anything.
Pickett dominates minutes over Westbrook
But there was one very notable change in Adelman’s first game and it involved the point guard rotation. We immediately saw a drastic shift in how the minutes were dispersed between Russell Westbrook and Jalen Pickett.
Russ has been playing heavy minutes all season, starting and closing many games and averaging close to 30 minutes a contest, while Pickett has mostly wallowed away on the bench, completely out of the rotation.
Apparently, this was an example of a major rift between Calvin Booth and Michael Malone. They couldn’t agree on playing young players versus veterans, and Malone was hesitant to trust a young “Booth guy” in Pickett.
Things swung drastically in the first game of the Adelman era, however. Pickett started and played 31 minutes, including crunch time. He finished with 18 points and 4 assists on 6/10 shooting and 5/7 from three, with solid defense all night.
New career high for Jalen Pickett and the Nuggets get their first win under David Adelman.
— Katy Winge (@katywinge) April 10, 2025
“Sometimes in life tough things happen. And you need your brothers there to pick you up.” pic.twitter.com/PXLQ5VUQs2
Westbrook losing his rotation spot in real-time
Russ, on the other hand, played just 16 minutes and shot 2/11 from the floor and 0/4 from three with 3 turnovers. It was another rough showing for Westbrook and it seems like this is a real sign of things to come. The coaching change is going to come with a shift in how the young players are managed and this may be the biggest example.
This is the first game since December 5th that Westbrook has played fewer than 20 minutes
— Adam Mares (@Adam_Mares) April 10, 2025
Pickett looked great and made multiple clutch plays down the stretch. Meanwhile, Russ has gotten worse as the season has gone on and has been an unreliable turnover machine recently. With Jamal Murray’s status a major question mark, the Nuggets are going to need a lot of production from the point guard position.
The sample size is small, but Pickett has put forth a great case to usurp Russ’ job as the backup point guard to Murray. Malone was obviously hesitant (at best) to lean into this swap, but that time is over. Adelman seems to understand what must happen and if game one is any indication, he’s exactly right.
If Murray is able to return, there’s a very real chance that Pickett will get the first crack at bench minutes and Westbrook will be out of the rotation. It would be a sad ending to Russ’ first season in Denver, which has gone far better than expected. But it looks like the right move and it looks like another team has made the same realization about Westbrook by the end of a season.