I walked into a Jason’s Deli in early August believing Adam Mares was about to offer me the Deputy Editor position at Denver Stiffs.
We were talking in the Stiffs writer chat the day before, and he had been acting funny for roughly 24 hours. I couldn’t place my finger on what could be bothering him, but I quickly found out the next day. Adam told me he was stepping down from Stiffs that day.
It was unexpected, but not completely unforeseen. Adam Mares has turned himself into the most important voice in Denver Nuggets media today. His rise, working as Site Manager at Denver Stiffs during the last four years, has worked in parallel with the rise of the Nuggets over the last four years. His deep dives are clear, concise, and insightful. He shapes the narrative for Nuggets fans from Denver, Colorado to Sombor, Serbia to Melbourne, Australia and has changed the way Nuggets fans perceive the game of basketball. If you don’t listen to Locked On Nuggets at this point, then you completely missed the boat. Go look up his podcast documentary “Thrill” for the best representation of his work as an analyst, media presence, and Nuggets expert.
Wherever Adam goes next, he will do well, pushing the envelope of what it means to cover basketball in new and interesting ways. I have full faith that whoever locks down Adam’s services will be happy they did so.
There is no replacing Adam Mares, but I’m sure as hell going to try.
Adam initially recommended me to be the next Site Manager of Denver Stiffs, and I was initially apprehensive of taking the job. I knew how hard Adam worked every single day to make Stiffs as great as it could be, but I didn’t know if that was what I wanted to do. I just finished my last year of college, writing for Stiffs from afar at the University of South Carolina while I studied Sport Management. The last thing I expected was to be recommended for the top position at Stiffs this soon. I knew I wanted to be in sports, but I thought I wanted to work for a sports organization.
Writing about basketball never crossed my mind until the 2015-16 season, when Adam gave me a chance to post some of my fan posts on the front page of Stiffs. After that, I spent some time honing my craft at FanSided before returning to Denver Stiffs permanently in May 2016. Ever since then, Stiffs has become my passion, my obsession even. Ask any of the members of the group chat last season as I continually submitted articles at 4:00 in the morning on the east coast after watching a Nuggets game the previous night. Stat of the Week became my brand over the last three seasons. The Nuggets Numbers podcast grew exponentially during the last calendar year. This offseason, I immersed myself in providing the most comprehensive Nuggets analysis possible, both reflecting on previous seasons and projecting forward.
As Site Manager, you can expect more of the same from me. Responsibilities may have changed, but the urge to generate elite content has not wavered. Zach Mikash will be returning as Deputy Editor to be my right hand man, doing what he does best in keeping the site and its contributors organized. There will be new writers and creators woven into the fabric of the Stiffs culture, all with experience covering this Nuggets team. The podcasts will remain plentiful, and there will be fun and interesting changes to the podcast network going forward that Stiffs readers (and listeners) will certainly enjoy. Stiffs Night Out will continue in all its glory as an event to unite Nuggets fans under one roof.
More news will break over the next few weeks, both in preparation for NBA Media Day on September 30th and opening night for the Nuggets on October 23rd. We have some great ideas in the works and some great people ready to contribute.
The Stiffs legacy left behind by so many excellent leaders before me—founder Andrew Feinstein, Nate Timmons, Jeff Morton, and Adam Mares—will never be forgotten. It’s the work of those gentlemen that have afforded me the platform to speak to the largest Nuggets blog and community in existence.
This is where my heart and soul goes, in honor of the leaders before me, to help Denver Stiffs take its next steps forward. We aren’t done. We will never be done.
Let’s have an excellent 2019-20 season, Nuggets Nation.
