Utah’s Quin Snyder once coached Josh Kroenke, now the Denver Nuggets team president

Denver • Of all the players Quin Snyder coached at Missouri, arguably none has risen as high quite as fast as Josh Kroenke.

The 6-foot-4 guard never put up much in the way of numbers — he averaged 2.6 points per game in his career. But he was Snyder’s first recruit, the now-Jazz coach recalled, and he could always expect a strong effort from him.

“Josh was on some good teams,” he said. “You could count on Josh to do what he could do to help you win a game.”

That’s still Kroenke’s business: helping his team win games. But now he does it as the president of the Denver Nuggets.

Kroenke happens to be the son of Stan Kroenke, the owner of the Nuggets, the Los Angeles Rams and a number of other Denver-area teams. Josh became team president at only 30 years old. He also represents the team to the NBA board of governors.

Snyder said he maintains a “special relationship” with Kroenke, and they sometimes get to interact in the offseason.

“You know what he did? He made coaching rewarding,” Snyder said. “When you get to coach players who are selfless as a coach, you like coming to work every day. That’s what he was.”

After a game earlier in the week that had him looking pale, Denver’s Will Barton appeared hale and hearty after Friday’s shootaround. He appeared to have kicked the flu, thanks to some rest and lots and lots of fluids.

“I have to pee right now,” he said. “I didn’t take an IV, but you would think I had. Five bags of water and gatorade — it equaled that, probably.”

Flu season for everyone else also means it’s flu season for the NBA. For people who travel as much as NBA teams do, some illness is inevitable.

The Nuggets were hit with two cases this week: Barton and Juancho Hernangomez (who did not suit up against Utah) both caught it. Coach Mike Malone said he’s taking extra precautions with hand santizer and vitamin C for the entire team.

“I’m not shaking anybody’s hand,” Malone quipped. “If you can do anything to kind of control it and keep it from spreading throughout the locker room, it’s really important because it can wipe the team out pretty quick.”

Raul Neto and Rudy Gobert still were not available for the Jazz against the Nuggets. … Thabo Sefolosha made a start at power forward after missing the previous game against the New Orleans Pelicans.