There were plenty of verbal lines to read between the lines when the Nuggets’ top executives and coach convened Friday at Ball Arena.

Team president Josh Kroenke, executive vice president of basketball operations Ben Tenzer, executive vice president of player personnel Jon Wallace and coach David Adelman were smart enough not to show their entire hand over 45 minutes ahead of an offseason full of difficult decisions.

Here are five takeaways from the Nuggets’ end-of-season press conference:

1. Adelman safe since January

The decision to bring back Adelman to start a second full season comes down to one’s ability to take Kroenke at his word. The nonbelievers say Adelman’s job was never in jeopardy due to ownership’s unwillingness to pay three coaches for a new hire to take over next season. That would’ve meant firing Michael Malone and his successor roughly a year apart, and Kroenke said Friday ownership doesn’t take those decisions lightly. So, Adelman’s back after the Nuggets finished third in the Western Conference despite dealing with the most significant injury of Nikola Jokic’s NBA career. That’s when the coach impressed ownership.

“That’s a real testament to what DA and the group did when Nikola went down,” Kroenke said.

“That’s when ‘DA’ and his staff really shined. Some of the creative looks they were doing with our lineups … I think that’s actually the only time you really got a chance to — from my perspective and my dad’s perspective — to see our depth.”

The scary knee injury that sidelined Jokic for most of January was hardly the only ailment Adelman dealt with. Peyton Watson missed stretches of the regular season and all six playoff games with hamstring strains. Aaron Gordon’s hamstring and calf issues flared up multiple times, limiting him to 36 regular-season games and three of Denver’s six playoff games. Cam Johnson also missed a month of the regular season.

“This season was, in a lot of ways, the season that never was, because this group never fully got a chance to show any kind of rhythm,” Kroenke said. “When you’re going to have the amount of turnover and change that we did last year … I think these three guys did a hell of a job.”

The first-time NBA head coach vowed to put the lessons learned from a challenging first season to use.

“For me as a leader, I have to hear other people’s criticism that I trust — people that know what goes on behind the closed doors here, the players,” Adelman said. “Having those conversations, I think, always makes you better. It’s a learning process as you go into this position.”

2. Embracing a new era

The need for a new No. 2 and/or “Mr. Nugget” is sounding realer by the day.

The two-man game between Jamal Murray and Jokic has been a Nuggets staple for as long as Denver’s been a championship contender, but it’s never been less effective in the playoffs. The need for additional ball-handlers has developed in the last two postseasons after the Timberwolves and Thunder found success hounding Murray with physical defenders the length of the court.

“You’re going to have to help (to) initiate offense easier. That’s just going to have to (happen) for us to adapt to the league, because the league has adapted to us. That’s a testament to how great Nikola has been, how great Jamal has been, the coaching staff over the years,” Wallace said.

“They’re going to pressure us. That’s just constant at this point. I think collectively we’ll figure it out.”

When healthy, Gordon provides everything the Nuggets need from their tertiary star — a presence around the rim, a reliable 3-point shot, defensive versatility and another player capable of bringing the ball up the court. When he’s not healthy, something that’s been a 50-50 proposition for the last couple of seasons, the Nuggets have too many holes to fill.

“Aaron is such a unique player in our league,” Adelman said. “There’s guys similar to him in certain attributes, but I think he’s unique to himself.”

The front office appreciates Gordon’s on- and off-court contributions, but tough decisions are to come.

“I love Aaron Gordon. You know that I think the world of him, just like the entire Nuggets nation does, but there are some things that we’re going to have to look at,” Kroenke said. “This team looks a lot different when Aaron Gordon is healthy. I think everybody can acknowledge that. We need a healthy Aaron Gordon, so we need to figure out how to make the most of him and get the most out of his body for the benefit of the team, that’s for sure.”

3. Retaining Peyton Watson is a want, not a need

One of the most impactful decisions the front office must make will be about Watson’s future. The 23-year-old enjoyed a breakout season in his 54 games, but he wasn’t healthy enough to help in the postseason. Now, he enters restricted free agency. The Nuggets will have the opportunity to match any contract the wing receives.

“Peyton had a great year. He obviously grew a lot,” Tenzer said. “We hope Peyton’s a Nugget for a very long time. He’s been great for us.”

Matching the high end of offers that Watson’s set to receive this summer will put the Nuggets in a salary-cap predicament. Keeping him and not shedding a significant amount of salary serves as the fast track to the second apron. Cleveland was the only team in the NBA to exist in the second apron this season.

This issue could’ve been avoided with a contract extension last summer. The Nuggets instead prioritized Christian Braun’s extension, worth $125 million over the next five seasons. Now, Watson could be fetching a similar deal in Denver or elsewhere.

“We tasked Peyton in the preseason of growing. We went to visit him, walked him through what the expectations were, without the expectation of getting the minutes that he got in that stretch of January. You have to congratulate him, give kudos to him for staying the course. What he showed us is what we knew he could do. He did his part,” Wallace said.

“We hope he’s a Nugget for a long time. We’ve got to continue to hit on these homegrown talents.”

4. Staff shakeup

Adelman praised his assistants at the same time news broke Jared Dudley interviewed for Portland’s vacant coaching position. After a 14-year playing career in the NBA, Dudley is climbing the coaching ranks. After four years in Dallas, Dudley joined the Nuggets as Adelman’s lead assistant and was tasked with coordinating Denver’s defense. The injuries made everyone’s job harder.

“I was extremely proud of the staff. … I thought the staff, I’m talking player development, video, they just kept a really good vibe throughout the year. I really think it helped us get through some tough times,” Adelman said.

“With that being said, though, we lost in the first round. … Leadership means you look up and down your own staff. If we can make it better, we will, but at this moment right now, if I was going to ascribe that staff, I would say they did an absolutely great job during a really tough year.”

Adelman did bring up looking at the training staff in his postgame press conference after the Nuggets were eliminated. That’s a must after Gordon and Watson reaggravated soft-tissue injuries, while Braun came back too soon from an ankle sprain, needed additional time off and never looked the same.

“Everything is on the table,” Wallace said. “We’ve got to take a deeper dive or look and kind of see where those ailments are coming from and kind of put it on these guys to make sure they have themselves in shape and ready to play when the season starts.”

5. Tax season

Ownership has said it’s willing to pay the price to contend, but it’s never had a better excuse to save money.

If the Nuggets can avoid the luxury tax, they will reset their clock as a repeater team, which comes with significant financial penalties. Doing so will come with scrutiny. The 11 players under contract for next season already have Denver $10 million over the first apron. That’s before Watson’s big raise. Improving the roster and staying under the tax line is going to be a tough needle to thread.

Last summer, the front office realized having three players on max contracts wasn’t a viable path forward under the new collective bargaining agreement. So, they traded Michael Porter Jr. and a first-round pick to get Cam Johnson on a cheaper contract that allowed the Nuggets to add depth.

A similar challenge awaits this summer.

“I don’t want to say that we’ve regressed, but complacency would be a key word that I think I saw in some areas in some people this year. So, there’s going to be some challenges, absolutely,” Kroenke said.

“I don’t want to be masked in my frustration for how the season ended. I think anybody that’s a fan of the Denver Nuggets should be frustrated. Anything that a fan feels, I probably feel it a thousand (times more).”