Popeye Jones took a moment to clear the air before his third game as acting head coach of the Denver Nuggets.

After his second game, a loss to the Dallas Mavericks, Jones said he thought rookie Bones Hyland knew more of the playbook than was the case. Hyland disputed that, saying he was comfortable with the plays from the guard positions, but not as much at the small forward. Prior to Wednesday’s game against the Jazz, Jones cleared things up.

“I think that was a bad comment,” Jones said. “Bones has been tremendous.”

Jones said he should have given Hyland three plays to run when the team was operating in the half court. Hyland responded that wasn’t necessary.

“Bones is like ‘no, no, no, coach.’ You know how Bones is,” Jones said.

“That was my fault.”

The plan for Wednesday was to have Hyland play more of the two guard, where Jones sees his future. Denver’s acting head coach said Hyland could turn into a player in the same mold as Utah guard Jordan Clarkson.

“He comes in off the bench, and you better have somebody that can guard him or he can really fill it up,” Jones said of Clarkson.

Clarkson’s been in the league since 2014 and scored a career-best 18.4 points per game for the Jazz last season. Hyland’s averaging 8.4 points in 17 minutes per game as a rookie.

“He’s going to have a tremendous career,” Jones said of Denver’s rookie. “He’s going to be here a long time.”