SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Spencer Jones still needs to practice at least one technique before he can master his sporadic role with the Nuggets: Shedding his warm-up sweats and getting from the bench to the scorer’s table efficiently.

“I’m always kind of scurrying to get my pants off,” he said, laughing.

Alas, Jones doesn’t work for an auto racing pit crew, so no analytics exist to track his speed from seat to center court when David Adelman points his direction. That part is a work in progress. Otherwise, the 24-year-old Nuggets wing is thriving as an unheralded defensive specialist this season — his second with the franchise on a two-way contract.

What Denver asks of Jones requires the willpower to shift from complete inactivity to maximum intensity in seconds.

He checks into the game when

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