Want Broncos Country to love you, Russ? Be like Gordon
Want this cowtown to love you, Russell Wilson? Be Aaron Gordon. Be coachable. Be flexible. Be humble.
Be the guy who checked his ego at the door the minute he was traded to Denver. The guy who talked from the jump about having one goal here, period. And then walked it, all the way home. Shirtless.
“I felt like I was going to be a defender for this team, a defenseman for this team,” Gordon, the Nuggets’ uber- versatile forward, said after his monster Game 4 in the NBA Finals. “I knew I was coming in to play defense and make ( everybody else’s) job easy.
“I like to play defense. That’s my niche. That’s how I came into the league, defensiveminded. As far as the offensive side, it was just get in where I fit in, find cuts, find openings, find transition buckets, try and get easy ones, and then just — really, just get in where I fit in.”
Be Aaron Gordon.
Get in where Broncos coach Sean Payton needs you to fit in.
“When I’ve watched ( the Nuggets) — we all get caught up and you get excited, but the star players are unselfish,” said Payton, who sat courtside for the Nuggets’ Game 5 titleclincher, soaking in the confetti and the celebration, taking pictures and mental notes. “And I feel like it’s a team that enjoys each other.”
Patrick Surtain II is the Broncos’ Nikola Jokic, the first line on the opponents’ scouting report. Justin Simmons is Jamal Murray. Jerry Jeudy is Michael Porter Jr., gifted and mercurial to the last, on the cusp of putting it all together. Be Aaron Gordon.
Do what’s asked. Do what moves the needle, moves the chains. Even if it’s beneath you. Especially if it’s beneath you. For Gordon and the NBA champs, that meant the dirtiest work imaginable. Guarding the other team’s star. Boxing out. Rebounding. Grinding. Cleaning up the glass on offense and
letting the other guys do the sexy stuff out on the wings. And never complaining.
“The best thing he did is really accepting his role,” Jokic said of his Nuggets teammate earlier this month, “and he’s ( done) a great job of that.”
Be Aaron Gordon.
No. 50 was blessed with small- forward chops, an enforcer’s granite bod and enough hops to fill a microbrewery. In another timeline, he gets the green light to do what Paul George does every night.
Gordon could’ve demanded more shots. He could’ve just forced his own, the way Bones Hyland started chucking and ducking for kicks. He didn’t.
“Aaron,” Nuggets coach Michael Malone stressed, “is the definition of selfless.”
Be Aaron Gordon. Hand off. Get the ball in Jeudy’s mitts and let him run around and play hero. Don’t take a checkdown as a personal slight if it keeps the Chiefs’ defense on the field and keeps Patrick Mahomes cooling his jets.
“There’s some muscle memory that we have to overcome,” new Broncos offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi said of Wilson, his QB1, last week. “He’s used to doing things a certain
way, and we’re presenting a new way of doing things. He shows up every day ready to work. He’s the same guy every day — same attitude and he’s really fun to work with.
“I think the answer for him is what the answer is for everyone: Work hard every day, get your fundamentals down and understand what you’re trying to accomplish.”
If the goods are still there, Russ, the moment finds a way. In the playoffs, teams got so tired banging with Jokic or chasing Murray around screens that they threw their fourth- or fifthbest defender at AG and hoped for the best. Only Gordon’s a better shooter than even good lineups’ No. 4 or No. 5 stoppers, as the Wolves, Suns, Lakers and Heat found out the hard way.
“( I appreciate) Aaron Gordon guarding the best player every night, knowing that he wants to shoot some step- back threes here and there,” Murray said after the Nuggets won it all.
“( And) we said, ‘ No. Get your ( expletive) in the dunker ( spot), dunk the ball, play defense and we can win a championship.’ And he’s just so unselfish, man.” Be Aaron Gordon. Be unselfish. Be discreet. Be efficient. Get your butt in the dunker spot. Accept a role. If Gordon is any indication, the wins will find you. So will the party. If you let it.